M. Night Shyamalan brilliantly manipulates the audience in The Sixth Sense and effectively reinforces character and concept through the use of cinematic conventions.
On first viewing, the watchers are manipulated to believe Malcom Crowe lives after being shot in the beginning of the film. After he is shot, the camera switches to an overhead view of him, a camera convention that symbolizes the belief of a spirit leaving behind their body when they die. Because of the text stating “the next fall” we are made to think he survived the shot and in time, has recovered. The director discretely hints through a number of scenes that this is not the case. The lounge room scene illustrates Malcom and Mum sitting across from one another. The audience does not actually see any direct interaction or
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When the blissful couple is discussing Malcolm’s award for being an outstanding psychologist, the film displays the award on an angle which warns the audience that there is something wrong. Consequently, in that same scene we meet a client who is unsatisfied with Dr Crowe’s work. After the couple realises an intruder is in the house, the camera begins to shake in order to reinforce the feeling of fear. Another technique used is the overhead view before Cole enters his school. This makes him appear small, vulnerable and alone, how Cole must feel when he has to see the ghost there. In the dining room scene, when mum and Cole discuss the moving bumble bee pendant they start in the same shot and then as an argument develops the camera pans across the table to show them in separate shots. This strengthens their different points of view. A similar kind of convention is used in the car scene when Cole decides to tell his mum about the ghosts. The camera instead of panning, flashes to each character throughout the disagreement, until they see eye to