Looking At Openings

The Sixth Sense Opening Scene

This scene opens with white credits on a black screen, the credits fade in and out along with a non-diegetic soundtrack which sounds mysterious and has some loud pitched noise and then goes back to a low one, this is what sets it up to be the psychological thriller because straight away we know that it isn't going to be some happy, romantic comedy film.

Creation of Enigma

After the credits have finished we are welcomed with a black screen and then introduced to a woman walking down into the cellar (a stock setting of this genre) there is then a huge contrast when she walks back upstairs to a romantic,cozy, living room (binary opposite) When the couple go upstairs into the bedroom, the phone is buzzing because it has been disconnected and has fell on the floor and the window has been smashed, why?? The slow movement of a shadow and the woman's little scream and the slow paced camera movements when the man is walking to see who is in the bathroom builds up enigma and tension due to us wanting to know who is in there and we are curious as to why someone has broken into their house. The music throughout then starts to get a little louder and much more faster. When the young man shoots the male protagonist everything is silent and then the gun shot is very loud in comparison, we are then looking down on the characters and are shown that the man is in fact wounded and everything slows down, this creates enigma because we do not know if he is going to live or die because it fades out to a black screen and the music gets much louder.

Introduction to Characters

The characters are introduced very well in this opening sequence, due to us finding out a lot of information about the characters and their relationships. We learn that the protagonist (the man) works in child psychology via his award (showing that he is good at what he does) and the young man in his bathroom, we also find out a lot about the young man in the bathroom even though he isn't a major character, but by having him tell us about himself we get an idea as to what the protagonist's job is and also what he is like as a character, he seems empathetic and wants to help, we are shown this by his speech and how there is a close up on his face and we see his emotions towards the situation. The young man also helps to build up the plot of the story due to shooting the protagonist because it creates a huge plot twist at the end of the film.  'The Next Fall' we learn that the protagonist is indeed alive and we are also straight away introduced to a young boy and learn a lot about him without actually meeting him or hear him speak, due to the close up on the psychology report, also because we know the protagonist is a therapist/councillor, and he has a psychology report on the young boy, we learn that this young boy is a little out sorts and needs some sort of help. 

Pace and Rhythm 

Everything from camera shots, movement and editing is very slow paced creating tension and building up the unknown, even when the frantic and dangerous situation is happening everything still seems slow paced due to wanting to create enigma and tension. Even the credits at the beginning are slow paced. When the young man shoots himself in the head we get a slow pan across the wall and do not see his death but know he shoots himself because of the bullet sound and putting the gun to his head, this acts as if there is no rush and that nothing bad has just happened and even when the young woman runs to the bed it gets slowed down. 

Setting up the Plot

The shooting at the start of is the most major plot set up of the film, even though you don't really realise until the end of the film, if your clever and observant enough you may notice it earlier.If this shooting did not happen, we would not have gotten the information that we did and the plot and ending would have had to have changed and wouldn't have been what it is. Seeing the little boy and psychologists report also sets up the plot because we then know that the film is going to revolve around this little boy and his cognitive issues and the male protagonist is going to help because we learnt earlier on that he is a child psychologist.

Mood and Tone

The credits are the first things to appear on the screen and from this we get a sense of mystery and suspense because we have no idea what is going to occur after these credits, what we are going to see and who we are going to be introduced to. The music was very subtle to start off with but would get a bit louder, pitchier or chilling when intense events were happening like when the protagonist was trying to talk to the young man also when the young man was talking and got angry. At the start in the living room there is some slow jazz music creating a relaxing vibe and romantic vibe, the lighting is high key connoting that they feel safe and love one another. Whereas in the bedroom, the lighting is quite low key creating a scary intense atmosphere. When realisation occured and when the young man was talking about himself, the music got faster and louder, and we start to sympathise with him, music cuts off so when we hear the bullets they have more effect and sound much louder and we notice them more.