Movie Shots

Thriller properties

People present: 2nd January: Joe & Steve  - 11th January: Steve
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Working Title: LIFT?
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Location: Lift, Multi-story car park, Foyer, Street,
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Content: Man holds mysterious bag in a lift, another man in the lift stares at him suspiciously.
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Characters:
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Camera shots: Close ups, over the shoulder, moving shots, medium shots, high shot, low shots,
mid shots, worm-eye view,
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Sixth Sense Essay

Plot

The film Sixth Sense centres on a man called Malcolm Crowe, a successful child psychiatrist happily married to a woman named Anna. Returning home from an awards ceremony, Malcolm gets confronted by a man called Vincent Grey, who is a distraught former patient of Malcolm, who shoots him and then commits suicide. Months later after this confrontation, he recovers and meets up with a boy called Cole Sear, a shy and troubled 9-year-old boy. Cole claims he has been seeing disturbing situations that he can’t explain. Lynn, Cole’s mother, gets concerned about his fearful behavior, and blames it on her recent divorce and Cole getting bullied at school. At the start, Cole is very uncomfortable communicating with Malcolm, but he comes to trust him and shares a dark secret with him, “I see dead people.” He also says that the ghosts don’t always know that they’re dead. Malcolm notes Cole down as having similar symptoms to Vincent Grey, and diagnoses him as delusional. Eventually, Malcolm begins to realize that Cole can communicate with the dead and that Vincent could aswell.  He also believes that the ghosts are kind and that they just want help from him.

Symbolism

Symbolism is used quite a lot in this film. The main symbols used were colours e.g. they used red quite a lot, when there was a significant moment in the film, it can also symbolize negative emotions or events happening. The colour red is usually associated with anger or rage, embarrassment or pain. Examples for this are when Cole ran to his tent, which he used to hide from ghosts, the tent itself was red. Another scene for this was where Cole was standing at the top of the stairs, and was just staring at an open storage space because in truth Cole saw a ghost. The two boys didn’t know Cole’s condition and made fun of him and push him in, Cole was wearing a red sweater and there was a red birthday balloon in that scene.

The colour white is also used for symbolism in this film. At the start of the film, the ex patient of Malcolm’s, has a white streak through his hair. Then later in the movie it is shown that Cole has the same white streak in his hair. This has been done to show the connection between both characters and their cases. Another part in the film that links these two characters is that when Vincent Grey confronts Malcolm and says to him "I don't want to be afraid anymore." Later in the film Cole says the same thing to Malcolm.

Ghosts in the film, are symbolized by a thermostat or being able to see the breath of living characters. This is used at the end of the film where Malcolm walks in to find his wife sleeping on a chair. She was watching their wedding video. They communicate the first time in the movie, and as he approaches her you can see her breath, almost like a cloud. This is where Malcolm realizes he was shot by Vincent in the stomach.

More symbolism used in the film is where Cole walks into a room, there is a girl ghost hiding under the bed, she gives Cole a box, the box is red and inside the box is a tape rapped in red velvet. Then when we see Cole delivering the box to the man he is meant to we see a woman in the background dressed in red, this is to show that she is the main part in this scene.

The Cast

The main star of the film was Bruce Willis. He played a big role in this films success. He was a big worldwide star even before this film. His previous work included his role in Die Hard in 1988, then again in 1990, where he played a guy called John McClane.

Advertising

Poster

There are many posters used to promote the film ‘The Sixth Sense’. There are posters that are called ‘Teasers’, and there are other posters that give abit more about the film and what to expect from it.

The first poster, straight away we see that it is going to be a Thriller and that it will include actor Bruce Willis, you can also see that it may not be just a Thriller but maybe a bit of horror aswell because of the way the title ‘The Sixth Sense’ is written.

The second poster used to promote it is more of a teaser. This is because it does not describe much about the film and doesn’t give anything away at all, only that the film will have something to do with the number 6.

This third poster gives much more detail than the second one and the same, if not more, than the first poster. Once again it shows that Bruce Willis will be in the film and it also shows that the film will be about the number 6, the same as the second poster does.

Trailer

The trailer explains a great deal of the film and what people should expect to see. It is very dramatic, The trailer of this film is fast paced, and strike fear of the unknown in a clear way, it uses fast images and fast lights to add effect to show that this is a thriller. You hear the child, Cole in the film say ‘I see dead people’, this shows the person who is watching the trailer, that this film is not just a thriller, but a bit of a horror aswell and also gives a clear plot of the story without giving away much detail. There is a long silence at the start of the trailer, which adds more drama and suspense to the film. There is a consistent non-diagetic music in the background of fast-tempo music and there is also a very effective use of a heartbeat pulse. All these effects make the thriller scary without giving much detail away.

Camera shots

Close Up - Shows facial expressions and emotion

Big Close Up - Again to show emotion and facial expressions, just much more dramatic

Extreme Close Up - One again to show emotion and facial expressions, and an even closer shot to add much effect and drama

Medium Close Up - Shows most not all of the person (Head, Neck and Shoulders)

Mid Shot Shows much more of the person including their waist this time

Long Shot - A shot that shows the whole body of the person

Two Shot - A shot which includes two people in

Over the Shoulder Shot - A shot that looks over a person's shoulder, to see someone else, gives drama and effect

Point of View Shot

Establishing Shot

Low Angle

Worms Eye View

High Angle

Aerial Shot

Canted Angle

Popular thrillers from the last 20 years

;There will be blood (2008)
;Dogville (2003)
;Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
;Heat (1995)
;Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
;Silence of the lambs (1991)
;Inception (2010)
;The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)
;Law Abiding Citizen (2010)
;Die Hard 4.0 (2007)
;The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (2009)
;Shutter Island (2010)
;The Crazies (2010)
;From Paris with love (2010)
;Along Came a Spider (2001)
;Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
;Face Of (1997)
;The Fugitive (1993)
;No Country For Old Men (2007)
;Michael Clayton (2007)
;Number 23 (2007)
;Taken (2008)
;Deception (2008)
;Eagle Eye (2008)
;Vantage Point (2008)
;Salt (2010)
;The Ghost Writer (2010)
;2012 (2009)
;Hurt Locker (2009)

Definition of a Thriller

There can be quite a few different types of thrillers including Crime, Disaster, Mystery, Religious, Conspiracy and Supernatural. A thriller usually uses techniques such as Suspense, Tension and Excitement. There is normally a murder scene or an act of violence and crime in a Thriller to add to the suspense, Tension and Excitement. Characters normally used in Thrillers are assassins, Stalkers, Criminals, Terrorists and Characters with Dark Pasts are the main ones used.

North By Northwest

North By Northwest - Title Sequence, Musical Score. Watch more top selected videos about: North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock

North By Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock

;Sequence of lines join to make a grid, which gives a sense of perspective
;Words come onto screen from left, right, top and bottom
;Arrows of title 'North By north west', pointing North and North West
;Grid of lines turns into side of a building (Skyscraper)
;Reflection of street on the side of Skyscraper (Taxi's)

;Soundtrack very fast paced and chaotic
;Rhythm of music goes with the rushing around of the people on the streets