Sixth Sense is a film released in 1999, staring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment; it's a supernatural thriller film about a young outcast boy, Cole, who is able to see and talk to the dead. He gets help from a child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm, who is going through personal problems himself and the film ends with a major plot twist.
There are many moments throughout the film where the suspension builds adding to the thriller genre, however for me there is three main scenes where this is shown well.
The Kitchen Scene
The first is the kitchen scene where it's a school morning and Cole and his mother are going about their daily routine. Cole's mum walks from another room which seems to be the laundry room and into the kitchen. She sighs and closes a couple of cabinets that have been left open, she isn't surprised by this and calls Cole - it's seems as if it's a normal thing; that Cole opens the kitchen drawers and never closes them. Cole then enters the kitchen and sits at the table eating his cereal, whilst his mum walks back into the other room to retrieve a piece of clothing (Cole's tie), when she returns, seconds later, Cole is in the exact same position; however all the kitchen cabinets and selves have been opened as if something or someone was looking for an object. She screams in shock as it's clear that Cole couldn't have opened all of those drawers in such a short amount of time. As she closes the cabinets slowly, Cole looks terrified with his hands placed firmly on the table and lies claiming that he was looking for Poptarts, He then rushes off to school and Cole's mum notices the hand prints he left behind from sweating so much on the table. Diegetic sound plays with a radio in the background, and the sound of their dog barking; this is to make the audience feel at ease - these are familiar sounds that we're used to hearing on a regular basis.The mid shot shows both Cole's mum, Cole and part of the kitchen, which allows the audience to trust the scene as they can see everything of importance and therefore they don't feel like anything is being hidden from them. The camera tracks Cole's mum as she leaves the kitchen and so because of this the audience can't see what's going on in the kitchen, there are no sounds that indicate that anything sinister is happening either. The camera pauses on Cole's mum as she turns around and walks back into the kitchen, which means that the shot turns into a over the shoulder shot; the audience see the frightening scene at the same time Cole's mother does - her scream scares the audience and creates a similar reaction. From the camera angle, the audience can see Cole sitting in the same place but all the cabinets open, the camera shakily zooms in closer; this increases the suspense as it's unclear whether the disjointness represents a found footage camera shot/angle or that it's used to add to the uneasiness tension in the room. Non - diegetic sound isn't used in this scene, as it's clear that the intention for this scene is so that the audience couldn't detect that anything scary was going to occur, it was a true surprise. This adds to the realistic element, because even though the diegetic sound fades during the climax of the scene, it slowly returns reminding the audience that it's a normal day, similar to the one that we all experience daily.
Stuttering Stanley Scene
The second is the stuttering Stanley scene where Cole is at school and his teacher asks the class what the building was used for, nobody knows the answer and so Cole speaks out claiming (correctly) that it was a place where people were hung. The morbid quality of the answer for someone of such a young age surprised the teacher and so he, as the audience would expect, denies this instead claiming that the school used to be a legal courthouse. They bicker back and forth, before the teacher ends up staring at Cole in disbelief along with members of the class; this angers Cole and he tells them to stop quite forcibly. The camera angle flickers between the two of them in a shot reverse shot, as the diegetic sound of a clock ticking in the background is heard adding to the suspense. As Cole then shouts at his teacher calling him a 'stuttering Stanley', non diegetic music builds in the background. Cole's teacher walks towards Cole slowly, which makes the audience apprehensive as they know something bad is going to happen soon enough. The camera changes between close ups of Stanley and his teacher to show their facial expressions, it also zooms in meaning that the audience can't see what's going on in the background. As Cole's teacher begins to stutter, Cole closes his eyes which in turn makes the audience want to do so too, the non diegetic sound is much louder at this point and Cole begins to shout as if trying to be heard over the sound. Cole chants 'stuttering Stanley' continuously with non diegetic sound surging noisily over the top, it reaches a climax until the teacher slams his fist on Cole's desk, labelling him a 'freak'. This is suspenseful, because the audience know something is going to happen due to the non diegetic sound, but they don't know what or when; this makes them nervous and wanting to look away.
Münchausen Syndrome Scene
In this scene, Cole and Malcolm have attended a funeral in order to reveal the way young Kyra Collins died. Her dad watches a video surrounded by the entire funeral guests, in which Kyra's mum is seen intentionally making her daughter ill in order to look after her for longer; but it backfires and Kyra dies. The main part of the scene alternates between the video playing and a close up of Kyra's dad's face in a shot reverse shot; this is done to show the emotions and reactions play on her dad's face caused by what he's seen. Every time the camera cuts back to the video, it zooms in subtly; whereas originally the TV was in the frame as the scene continues on, the camera zooms in adding tension and atmosphere - as it's clear that there's something that the audience need to see and therefore need to play close attention to. The video shows Kyra's mum walking in and after placing the tray on a shelf, returns with what seems to be poison and once again the camera zooms in to highlight this; to emphasise that what is currently happening is wrong. When zoom is used, it makes the audience submerged in the action and feel more involved in a scene, which therefore heightens the suspense. Eerie non - diegetic plays in the background building up as the scene reaches the most climatic moment, which adds tension as voices from the video is heard in the background. The camera shot changes to an extreme close up as Kyra eats the poisoned soup, which draws attention to the main point of the scene that Kyra was wrongfully murdered by her own mother. The scene shows an over the shoulder shot of Kyra's mother, as the non diegetic music changes to atmopsheric violins; this camera angle is used to show the reactions of the other funeral guests as the audience feel like Kyra's father approaching the murderer of his daughter - his wife. The sound increases volume as the camera angle changes to medium shot of Kyra's dad, it zooms in shakily reflecting the hostility in the room. The camera does the exact same when focused on Kyra's mother as she tries to come up with an excuse.
What were key moments of suspense and how were these created?
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