Year: 2019

        The film The Sixth Sense could easily be considered one of the greatest films made. While watching this film I was looking at it through many different perspectives and feel as if the director focused on perfecting the same topics i was looking to analyze and determine how great it actually was. although i had a lot to choose from, the topics I focused on in the film the Sixth Sense are the lighting, and the sounds and music emphasized in the film.

         In the film you see many different scenes where the director uses the style of low-key lighting in order to emphasize the dark or creepy moment that are either currently happening, or in the transition stage of close to happening. By the director doing this I feel like he does a great job in isolating the thrill in the movie and leaving his audience on the edge of their seat in desperation to know the upcoming events. Horror movies take a lot of time in working with the lighting in order to always give a darker/overcast type of look to give a night impression throughout the entire movie. For example, even when you see cole at school conversing with his teacher the shadows from the clouds outside give it a gloomy day look inside classroom. If i was to just join the movie at the time exactly i would have the perception that I was watching a scary movie just by the lighting of the film.

        Along the importance of the lighting in the film, I also feel like the sound effects and music used in the film are definitely essential in aspirations to make the movie as creepy and scary as can be. The director use a various amount of sounds, especially in pop up scenes or scenes that at one point lead up to being a thriller or horror scene. When you hear the banging coming from the top of the staircase during the house party being thrown, you hear an echo that sounds as if it passes through the entire house. The director does a great job here at using one of the most creepiest knocking noises you could imagine in a home that huge. I feel like if the director used any other pitch it wouldn’t fit the context correctly and would more than likely confuse his audience. Not only does the director do a good job of emphasizing the sounds, he does a great job at emphasizing the silent parts. In a scary movie the silent before the obligatory scene is so essential to adding suspense in the film. For example, right before the scary lady vomiting pops up in the “do not enter” tint with cole, there is complete silence in the film and the pop up is so sudden that im sure it even scares the director when he watches his own movie.

        this film is said to be one of the great 100 scenes and i can  easily see why. The director does a very well job while making the movie when it comes to stay on track and being very persistent with the story line. by the director doing this, i feel like he reduces the confusion that can be easily assumed in a movie that jumps around a whole lot. By analyzing films like these we gain a deeper understanding on what it takes to create a great film.  By using specific vocabulary it helps us understand what what the words truly mean deeper than just a definition. We are also all on the same page when it comes to a understanding of terminology and get to practice what we are taught in class.

sources:

https://vialogues.com/vialogues/play/27037

 (Links to an external site.)

http://baratieri.tripod.com/id26.html

 (Links to an external site.)

https://www.varesesarabande.com/products/sixth-sense-the-vinyl

 (Links to an external site.)

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/oct/22/the-sixth-sense-film-frightened-me-most-sian-cain

 

Below are select movies that film scholars chose to argue if they belong in the list of 100 Great Films or not. Evidently, we are able to articulate and argue better our opinions about a film because of the vocabulary we learned studying film. We are able to specify and accurately voice our opinion with the cache of terms we have at our hand. Here are the films:

Arrival by Denis Villeneuve

Reordering

• • Villeneuve’s method is not unique in a general way, but the specifications that composes his method to communicate to his audience amplifies and elaborates the story. By subverting the order of how the story unfolds, Arrival’s plot becomes far more robust. If films have the dichotomy of restricting the information or providing an omniscient stance to the audience, Villeneuve amalgamates the two by restricting the information that he is providing omniscience. For example, the introductory scene is an encapsulation of Louise’s relationship with her daughter, but the audience does not find out that this scene is an introduction to Louise’s acquiescence of the alien’s non-linear language. Every aspect that Villeneuve presents is an invitation to an assumption based on expectations but is subverted once the arrival of the climax and the denouement.

Arrival belongs in the Top 100 films. It uses the medium of film and applies it to a familiar aspect of our lives—communication. The film is significant because unlike any other film, Arrival explores the audience as the one subjected to the lens of the camera. It applies all the audience’s biases and subverts all their assumptions. The film pushes critics to analyze a subject in a critical manner than before. It can only be unpacked with the technical diction that is learned through studying filmmaking. Because of the subject matter it explores, the filmmaking lexicon provides a more specific analysis of Arrival.

The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan

Cinematography

• • While using shots, M. Night Shyamalan makes their shots to convey varied messages and emotions to the audience. For example, in the magic scene when Malcolm talks to Cole, there uses a tracking shot that move the camera to Malcolm. While moving, the audience only see Malcolm on the middle of the screen talking to someone in the chair. When the shot shifts to Cole, Shyamalan makes the audience a little confused about this “magic” moment and therefore pave a deeper clue for the existence of Malcolm. Then, Shyamalan uses a lot of continuity editing in many scenes to create a sense of smooth and flow for the story. For instance, in the scene of Cole is trapped by the other two boys, the shots of Cole’s mother’s upstairs create a high level of continuity that makes the body actions of the character natural.

Structuring

• • The biggest feature of this film is the complexity of its narrative structure. The director divides into two storylines, one is the romantic story between Malcolm and his wife and another is Cole and his mother. The narration is developed between the two storylines. Early clues make audience understanding of the film into confusion. Audiences will completely understand the whole story after the disclose at the end of this film. In this film, the director used temperature several times. There are times when the temperature drops and the characters breathe white. Among them, when Malcolm approaches his wife, she wraps her shawl tightly around her in her sleep, a clue that Malcolm is dead.

Sound/Eeriness

• • A key element of thriller films like this one is the method of editing used throughout the film.  “To intensify feelings of fear in the audience, film artists use sound, lighting, timing, motion and other stylistic devices” (Fu).  In The Sixth Sense they altered the lighting and sound during the suspenseful parts to create a deeper reaction in the audience. In the opening of the film you can hear an eerie sounding violin playing and the theme of classical music carries on throughout the film.  The high pitched whining of the violins really seems to put people on edge and adds to the suspense of the situation. Another aspect that adds suspense is how light or dark a certain scene is. For example, whenever Cole runs into his ghosts the lighting gets really dark and the violins in the background get louder.  “The unusual lighting causes tension in the audience” (Fu).

In 2016 The Sixth Sense was number 89 on AFI’s Top 100 list of movies from the last 100 years.  When this film was first released in theaters it was number one at the box office for a solid 5 weeks and raked in 40 million dollars (Atlantic).  The reason behind The Sixth Sense’s immense success is mostly due to how well they pulled off the twist at the end. The movie started off with a graphic scene of an old patient breaking into the psychologist’s home and shooting him in the stomach.  Before finding out what happens to the psychologist the plot line introduces the boy and you kind of assume that he just healed from his injury. At the very end it is revealed that the psychologist actually died from his gunshot wound and was one of the many ghosts visiting Cole to try and find the help they need.

Oculus by Mike Flanagan

Chunking

• • A way to analyze the segments of this film, you’d have to break the film into smaller more explainable chunks. The movie can be looked as broken  into 3 chunks. Life prior, during, and after the encounter of this evil mirror. Some chunks are spoken in past tense but during present time, something similar to a flashback. These chunks are unified by action due to the mirror and all characters being present in each segment. Some segments are in fact out of order. During some scenes the producer would have the character experience a in-depth flashback, allowing the viewer to build a logical bridge between the two actions. The producer also kept the actual meaning of the mirror away from the viewers to create a more dramatical suspense feeling. If the meaning was revealed earlier than the movie would not be as interesting.

This film wouldn’t be considered a great film due to it not having a significant impact on the overall genre of horror. The cinematography of this film is elite and usage of each individual segment plays a role in the huge success this movie had. Oculus is a tightly enacted chamber drama that just happens to include supernatural phenomena. By analyzing films critically, it allows viewers to get a better and well rounded understanding of the film prior to watching it. This way of analyzing films also allows the viewer to grasp a more enhanced ,thought out ,analytical conclusion.

Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash

Atemporality

• • The film also plays with diasporic temporality. The film does not have a linear, straight plot line, which was a very different narrative style that was in opposition of the traditional Hollywood blockbuster storytelling. Dash wanted the audience to experience the film through the various connections between generations. The film is not plot-driven and is dependent on the relationships and dialogue between the family members. There are three narrators: unborn child (of Eula and Eli), matriarch Nana, union of what represents all of black women. We can see it as a visual poem – a focus on women and their bodies that doesn’t objectify or sexualize them. The broader theme of the film is thereby amplified by the interactions and visual images of and between the females of the film.

Daughters of the Dust, without a doubt, should be included within the top 100 list because of the groundbreaking historical factors in being the first feature length film directed by an African American woman and therefore distributing a story and perspective that was ignored for generations. It stands as a classic not only within the independent film industry, but of all cinema for its beautiful portrayals of female relationships, fearless themes and cinematography, and the cultural meaning for so many people of color around the world. It is incredibly important to analyze films critically because whether we want to admit it or not, they lead us as a culture. We invest so much time, money, and efforts in celebrating this industry. It is extremely personal when you bring into context of how we, as a society, plan dates or events around going to the movie theater or having movie nights in our homes. It is especially important in this newer generation, considering how we have such easy access to online media sites such as Netflix. We are bombarded with so many narratives and characters that we become desensitized to it all. However, those images and themes stay with us. But only the movies that have the big bucks and people who allow these films to be distributed are consumed by the mass. It is crucial that we participate in researching the development, production, politics, social, and historical factors that go into creating a movie.

The first feature-length film in theatrical distribution directed and produced by an African American woman, Daughters of the Dust, resounds with rich portrayals of character, location, and cultural legacy. Director Julie Dash embraces moments of cultural history from an Afrodiasporic-feminist modality by centering the dynamics of a Black family within the remote Sea Islands along the coast of Georgia. The history of the slave trade involving these Sea Islands intersects with Dash’s concern for African American journeys toward origins. This intersection provides the setting for both a personal and a metaphoric guide to rendering and reading African American women’s lives.

The film opens with fragmented images of blue-stained hands, a boat landing, and a fully dressed woman rising out of the water. The camera then concentrates lingering, medium shots on three different women. Yellow Mary and her companion Trula travel in a boat that stops to pick up Viola. Trula and Viola travel back to the Sea Islands in order to witness the passage of the family’s migration North as well as their great-grandmother, Nana Peasant. One of the profound narrative elements of the film is centering of women’s perspectives. The film is very much functioned through the complex relationships between female and female. There is no focus on women’s heterosexual patriarchal relationships with men, for male characters are few and insignificant. Not only is it also just a female iconography but arguably a feminist iconography; a telling of this particular African American history and the history of slavery and its aftermath. It focuses on a group; within that wide already marginalized groups, we get to see this subgroup of the Atlantic side.

The film also plays with diasporic temporality. The film does not have a linear, straight plot line, which was a very different narrative style that was in opposition of the traditional Hollywood blockbuster storytelling. Dash wanted the audience to experience the film through the various connections between generations. The film is not plot-driven and is dependent on the relationships and dialogue between the family members. There are three narrators: unborn child (of Eula and Eli), matriarch Nana, union of what represents all of black women. We can see it as a visual poem – a focus on women and their bodies that doesn’t objectify or sexualize them. The broader theme of the film is thereby amplified by the interactions and visual images of and between the females of the film.

A critical scene that demonstrates the closeness of the relationships is the family gathered around on the beach to celebrate and commemorate the elder family members and the crossing of their family onto the mainland. The scene starts with an extreme long shot of two people riding across the beach on a bicycle who start in frame and then go out. There is then a cut of a closeup shot of the elder in the family, Nana Peazant, speaking about the importance of their gathering. The camera is placed specifically that characters are blocked in such a way that they overlap, in a sense showcasing that no one person is ever by themselves. Thus, no character is ever in a single shot alone. There is always at least one or more other characters within the same shot. For instance when a shot of Nana speaking to the family is shown, the mother of another family member is shown behind her, as if to comment on the family’s supportiveness. Most of the characters lean on eachother and sit very closely which further reveals a since of protection and security amongst them that they value.

In addition, the costumes in this scene create an important aesthetic thematically. During the commemoration, there is a tight shot of half of the family sitting together looking up at the figures standing. It seems that the shot was put together in such a way that near the foreground of the frame from the center to the right, all of the characters are dressed in white and cream colored clothing. They also happen to be the younger members of the family. Whereas in the middleground and background towards the left, characters placed wear navy blue and black colored clothing. These are the older members of the family who take on leadership roles. This is important because the difference in costume immediately signifies a difference in the characters position or role within the family. It also indicates the severity of the elders’ past revolving around slavery and the history living on Ibo Landing, significant site for African American history and part of an importance slave resistance in 1803.

The non-linear centering of African American female relationships, the stylistic use of blocking, and costumes employed throughout the film suggest a running theme throughout that calls attention to the importance of unity and security amongst a Black family, as in efforts to remember to pay homage to those who have paved the way for the younger generations.

A worthy note made by classmate, Kimberly, was the relative comparison of this film to the movie Pick Up on South Street. It was mentioned that the movie was released during the Cold War and contained prominent messages that portrayed communists as the enemy. She also mentioned how the communist characters in the movie were all deemed unlikeable and shady.  Just from the characters alone, we as viewers can understand what themes and narratives the director of any film intended. Just as the communists were depicted as unlikeable, Dash portrayed all of the black women beautiful, complex, and un-sexualized. Highlighting a crucial and often hidden part of history. Drawing from another classmate’s film analysis, they had explained The Sixth Sense as a great film because “the way the director constructs the film to create tone keeps the audience on edge the whole time and then the ending shocks the audience and keeps them engaged seeking an explanation for the ending” (Finn-Mccue). Though the ending is no shock in Daughters of the Dust, there are deep messages that keep audiences intrigued to discuss and question what the ending – Yellow Mary staying on Ibo Landing – really means.

Director Julie Dash on production of Daughters of the Dust 

Daughters of the Dust, without a doubt, should be included within the top 100 list because of the groundbreaking historical factors in being the first feature length film directed by an African American woman and therefore distributing a story and perspective that was ignored for generations. It stands as a classic not only within the independent film industry, but of all cinema for its beautiful portrayals of female relationships, fearless themes and cinematography, and the cultural meaning for so many people of color around the world. It is incredibly important to analyze films critically because whether we want to admit it or not, they lead us as a culture. We invest so much time, money, and efforts in celebrating this industry. It is extremely personal when you bring into context of how we, as a society, plan dates or events around going to the movie theater or having movie nights in our homes. It is especially important in this newer generation, considering how we have such easy access to online media sites such as Netflix. We are bombarded with so many narratives and characters that we become desensitized to it all. However, those images and themes stay with us. But only the movies that have the big bucks and people who allow these films to be distributed are consumed by the mass. It is crucial that we participate in researching the development, production, politics, social, and historical factors that go into creating a movie.

Sources:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt9qfbvx.21.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fl2b_100k_with_tbsub%252Ftest&refreqid=excelsior%3Adde92b98c24dadcdae3c5d69893056fc (Links to an external site.)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20462733.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fl2b_100k_with_tbsub%252Ftest&refreqid=excelsior%3A4ef079c5f0b1264b9da01f27709ad3de (Links to an external site.)

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/16/movies/review-film-daughters-of-the-dust-the-demise-of-a-tradition.html (Links to an external site.)

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/daughters-dust-julie-dash-transportive-colonial-rites-passage (Links to an external site.)

I believe that the film our group is watching is a “great” film. I believe this because the The Sixth Sense utilizes several key elements used in filmmaking throughout the duration of the film, the film is also well received by several film critics, and the film is in fact listed in the Top 100 greatest films. 

When The Sixth Sense was released it had overwhelmingly positive reviews and spent several weeks at the top of the box office charts, “Leading the pack was Touchstone’s psychological thriller ‘The Sixth Sense,’ which was a left-field winner, grossing $43.8 million. The Bruce Willis starrer was a fall release that Disney pushed into the summer sweeps and effectively promoted into a must-see pic with good word-of-mouth and positive reviews. It iced an impressive $20,313 theater average,” (Leonard Klady). This quote from Leonard Klady emphasizes the early success that The Sixth Sense had and highlights how it was highly acclaimed at the time and highlights it’s tremendous box office numbers of $43.8 million which was over $2 million ahead of the next closest film, The Blair Witch Project. The financial success and positive publicity that The Sixth Sense illustrates just how great of a film it is. 

The film was directed brilliantly and because of this it gave the film a creepy feel to it but also kept the audience engaged the whole time, “Perhaps it’s the deliberate pacing, the almost contemplative timbre to the whole thing. And the chilliness, the sheer coldness in the air! It uses stillness, implication and silence in ways that reminded me of ‘Seven,’”(Dessen Howe). Dessen Howe discusses that because of the way the film was laid out, it gave the film a “chilling” feeling that the director was seeking when making this film in order to not quite give it the feel of a horror film, but more of a psychological thriller. I think the way the director constructs the film to create tone makes the film great because it keeps the audience on edge the whole time and then the ending shocks the audience and keeps them engaged seeking an explanation for the ending. This work by the director helped contribute to the greatness of the film. 

I don’t think it matters if a film is “great” or not in order to analyze it, films can not be great and still have plenty of content to examine that make them interesting. When films are great, however, it makes them easier to analyze because we want to watch them more and we appreciate the elements that make them great more and more as we break them down each time we watch them. But a film can not be great and still have a profound message or make use of other elements that we use when analyzing a film, but it may not do a great job of bringing them all together or it may not have a thought provoking story line. 

By analyzing films critically we gain an appreciation for all the work directors, editors, and actors have to do in order to produce a film whether it is great or not. When we analyze a film for key elements we can see what was important in the filmmaking process to every party involved and we also see how each element comes together to make a finished product to be viewed. Analyzing films critically also gives us a profound understanding of what a film is really trying to accomplish with its purpose and how it does that with each contributing element. 

 

Sources:

1. https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.lib.calpoly.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA55578607&v=2.1&u=calpolyw_csu&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/movies/reviews/sixthsensehowe.htm?noredirect=on