Sixth Sense Essay

Media Analysis

Sixth Sense:

The first shot that we see of the mother and her child is looking in through the window at an angle so you can see the boy and his mother. The focus of the shot is the boy’s face, he looks scared and really traumatised whereas the mother looks serious and like she is concentrating on what is going on. The first words of the boy are ‘I’m ready to communicate with you now’. These words are very strange words for a young child. He then goes on to say about how he knows that a woman has died in this car accident. The mother shows a lot of shock at this and the camera angle shows quite clearly her emotions towards the words of this child. The boy looks very vulnerable as he is slightly lower than the eye-level camera shot and the scene creates suspense very well as the boy builds up very gradually into letting his mum know that he can see this dead woman. The typical conventions of a thriller would show that when the boy says ‘She’s standing outside my window’, there would be some sort of sudden sound but in this film it is very blunt and very strange as no new sound is played. The camera shot then changes to look at her to allow the audience to see the emotion register on her face. The woman’s face allows the audience to see that she is starting to believe in him as she takes a glance out the window when she turns to look at him. The camera shot then changes again to show a shot from her perspective looking at the child. Behind the child is a woman with blood running down her face, the woman clearly cannot see the dead lady as it doesn’t register on her face. The camera zooms in on the boy as he talks about ghosts talking to him. The scene begins to make you feel uncomfortable as the boy starts going into detail about a traumatic event but the conversation is very normal and there’s change in tone in either person’s voice. The very quiet atmosphere within the car adds to the tension and the woman seems very scared by what the boy is talking about. The mother looks very shocked when the boy says about his grandmother coming to visit him as she then realises that he may be telling the truth and it makes the audience want the woman to understand and believe her son. The boy then gives evidence about him seeing dead people as he starts to recall events that he shouldn’t know about like the grandmother seeing her dance which makes her react in a very scared and shocked way like she knows that he must be telling the truth even though she is trying to convince herself that it isn’t possible. The editing of this scene is just complete straight-cuts throughout the conversation. He wants his mother to understand as seen by his concentration and work rate to justify what he is saying. The mother starts to cry because she knows for definite by this point that he isn’t lying about what he is saying and it scares her and makes her feel sorry for him.