The score of the opening sequence
uses violins and pianos to set the mood of mystery. The pitch of the piano is
very high; this frequency is slightly distressing for human ears at a high
volume. This puts the audience on edge to prepare them for the theme of the
movie. The score begins quiet as it shows the titles for the movie, however,
when the main title ‘The Sixth Sense’ appears, a loud sting induces fear into
the audience as it is sudden. This makes the audience relate the idea of fear
and terror to the ‘sixth sense’.
After
this musical climax, the score is softer as it shows the rest of the titles. During
the rest of the opening sequence, an ambient wind sound is present. This
demonstrates to the audience how quiet and void of life the basement is, as
wind would only be heard if no other noise could be heard. This was done to
make the audience fear the basement and what is in it because people fear what
they cannot see or hear.
The light bulb slowly awakening
from the darkness at the beginning of the sequence, after the titles have been
shown, could be a metaphor for the idea that something is slowly awakening in
the basement before the woman comes down. This light bulb is not clearly shown
as a light bulb when it first begins to light up. This gives a brief moment for
the audience to interpret what the orange glow is before it is fully revealed
to be a light bulb. This adds to the common theme in the sequence which is the
fear of the unknown.
Another
element of mise-en-scene that demonstrates this theme is the very low key
lighting in the basement. This blocks the audience from being able to see
everything within the room which. This inability to see or hear the
surroundings makes the audience fear it, as previously mentioned. [SCREENSHOT
OF SHADOWS] The director gives many hints through the mise-en-scene that the
basement is not a commonly visited part of the house. These include the woman’s
shiver to demonstrate the room is not kept at a warm temperature; the dirt and
dust engulfing the room and the atmospheric silence. The representation that
the room is not commonly used by the occupants of the house accumulates to the
idea that it is lifeless.
The titles at the beginning of
the sequence are in a small serif font. This style of font is most commonly
seen in professional, formal writing; therefore the audience can gather that
the film is not light hearted or causal. The titles have been animated to fade
in and out in front of a black background. These fades create imagery of ghosts
or similarly mysterious things.
The black background also possesses connotations of darkness and the night –
both scary and fearsome concepts.
The slow paced editing with no music makes the scene seem calm;
this contrasts with the genre of the film. This makes audience members who know
what the film is about feel on edge as they may feel that something is about to
happen.
One of the first shots is the
master/long shot of the entire room. This is useful to show to the audience
that the room is very dark and empty. It also is used to add a sense of mystery
towards the female character as, for a long time; we do not see her face or
body close up.
This shot is also a crab shot, as it
is from behind the wine rack. This conjures an idea that the character is being
watched. This is relevant because the audience is made aware later in the movie
that she may not have been the only entity in the room. This ‘other entity’ is
also demonstrated by a mid-shot of the woman facing towards the back of the
room. This shot looks like it should be a two-shot as it give ample amounts of
room within the frame to have a second character – however one cannot be seen.
The character is also facing towards where the second character should be, which
seems unusual as there is nothing to be seen.
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