This is a textual analysis of the party scene from the Sixth Sense In which Cole sear, the young boy in the film, is locked in ‘the dungeon’ my two boys at the party.
The sequence begins with a wide medium shot of Cole and another boy at the party facing each other, this is represented by profile shot. The profile shot already indicates a sign of confrontation between Cole and the other members of the party. Cole is a isolated character, always battling, whether its with his disbelieving mum or the other boys of his class, the profile shot shows a sign of confrontation. In this shot the first use of M. Night Shyamalan’s use of the colour red, a colour which is used throughout this film as a sign of danger. Within this scene the only character involved with Cole is the one that is represented in the profile shot, the one which is against Cole, the boy also doesn’t appear to be entertained by Coles efforts.
The next shot is one of Cole sat on the stairs, in the background his mother, Lynn and another parent are talking. Cole is separated by his mother and the other parent via bars, another way of showing how Cole is both separated and isolated from even his own mother. The 2 talk about Cole, how his ‘problem’ and lack of social standing doesn’t get him invited to a lot of parties, the last one being a year ago.
As the discussion develops the camera slowly zooms in on Coles face, as he looks up the stairwell, represented via a point of view shot to see a red balloon, once again with the use of colour.
The next shot, we see Coles shadow walking up the stairs towards the Balloon. As he walks up the stairs we see his feet, the red carpet, is shown in which Cole walks upon. We have diegetic dialogue of someone off screen talking, pleading for someone to open the door and let him out, “I cant breathe, if you can hear me open this door”.
A point of view shot from Coles point of view looking into a open door that leads into darkness. This shot is followed by a shot looking out of the dark hole at Cole stood on the stairs looking in, this time the voice is more aggressive “Open this door or ill break you”.
The camera looks down the stairwell at two boys, talking until one looks up and notices Cole at the top of the stairs, the boy explains that his dad made him invite Cole. The music begins, we have high pitched spaced sounds. The screech of a violin and other stringed instruments follow, similar to the sound of the theme associated with Jaws.
The next shot, one looking at Cole, as the two boys behind approach him.
Cole turns around to look at the two boys, the boys on either side of him, inter framing him within the scene. Cole wishes one boy happy birthday. We have a shot reverse shot for the conversation.
As the conversation develops, then decide that the boys are going to put on a pretend play, in which requires Cole to be trapped in the dungeon, the dark hole in which Cole can hear the voices off and is clearly afraid.
After the 2 boys drag Cole to the dungeon, we have a shot looking at the closed door, we hear Cole banging on it and screaming for them to let him out, his voice is muffled, as it is clearly being obstructed by the wooden door.
Another shot looking up the stairwell to the red balloon popping.
Coles mum is then seen looking up the stairs as she hears screaming coming from above. She walks up the stairs, the camera constantly above her, as she moves up the stairs, we see all the boys from this whole sequence, the boy which wasn’t amused by Coles magic trick and the two boys that locked him in the dungeon. She realises It is Cole trapped inside the dungeon, as she frantically tries to open the door. We have a line of bars behind her which can be symbolic to that she is trapped and cannot reach Cole, there is also a physical barrier between the two, the wooden door in which her son is trapped behind. We hear the child screaming from within.
The door opens, as she pulls him from inside the pace of the action goes in slow motion, this is to show the trauma of the incident, as the use of slow motion is often used in war films, when the camera witnesses something traumatic, for instance the use of slow motion in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Saving Private Ryan’ in which actor Tom Hanks witnesses the slaughter of his fellow troopers.
The scene ends with dialogue from a different scene over the top of the end of this scene, the dialogue is off a doctor, which is sure enough the next scene.
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