The Sixth Sense by Manoj Night Shyamalan
Through close analysis of the restaurant scene and the scene where Dr
Crowe is in the hose with both Cole and his mother, discuss the
techniques used to make the audience believe that Dr Crowe is alive.
The Sixth Sense made in 1999, a suspense drama thriller directed by
Manoj Night Shyamalan.
Dr Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist, one night he
and his wife were celebrating his award, for his “recognition of
outstanding achievement in the field of child psychology”, was visited
by Vincent Grey an ex-patient. Before Grey committed suicide, he shot
Dr Crowe. A year passes and he is signed on to a boy called Cole Sear
played by Haley Joel Osment, who has the same conditions as Grey.
A couple of chapters into the story it seems that Dr Crowe is still
alive. It is a detailed plot twist, full of scenes that confuse the
audience, making them believe that Dr Crowe is alive. For example the
scene at the restaurant and when he is with Cole and his mother at
their home highlighted the plots twist.
To answer the question above, I am going to look at the techniques the
director uses to make the audience think that Dr Crowe is alive in the
two scenes.
At the beginning of the restaurant scene, the first shot is a long
shot, which establishes the scene, so the audience knows where the
scene is set. Then we see Anna at a table, dressed in red with her
head down, the table is at centre of shot, the audience see that this
shot focuses on her. Gradually the camera zooms in on the table as Dr
Crowe storms in quickly and apologises immediately. This demonstrates
to the audience tha...
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...s late. Another example is when the interview shot was reversed onto
seeing Anna taking the bill, because it shows she’s angry at him for
being late and that she would rather take the bill instead of him
taking it; this happens in some arguments between people. In the scene
when Dr Crowe was in the house with Cole and his mother, Manoj used a
medium shot two shot when there was no conversation between Dr Crowe
and Lynn, which was a good technique that made the audience believe
that Dr Crowe was alive because in that shot, we assumed that Cole’s
mother and Dr Crowe had been talking to each other, (when we felt as
though we walked in on something). When Cole’s mother left Cole with
Dr Crowe, we again assumed that she’s going to leave him for a
psychiatric session with the doctor, making us believe that Dr Crowe
is alive.