Our initial narrative expectations before we view this film clip would have been limited at the time of the films release. The reason for this is that the film The Sixth Sense (1998) was the Writer/Director M.Night.Shyalaman's first real mainstream film. However being just over ten years since it's release we are now more familiar with his narrative style, for example we are more aware that there is going to be some kind of plot twist in a thrilling/ supernatural format. Also for this particular film clip, the previews give us a clear indication that the film is a supernatural thriller, from the hushed tone of voice to the cold beats between dialogue.
This particular five minute sequence begins with the protagonist (Malcolm) and his wife entering their bedroom, slightly intoxicated having just celebrated together. This sets up a feeling of safety and security that most associate with retiring to the bedroom. This feeling is instantly subdued by the directors decision to input the sound of the phone beeping, having been knocked off its receiver giving us a sense of emergency that helps the viewer to relate to the situation immediately. Having now set the situation that leads to Malcolm being shot and unknowingly to the viewer, killed. Shyalaman has created a catalyst for the films progression, although unlike a typical detective films narrative such as Sherlock Holmes, which tend to be more omniscient, we are not aware of the true facts that are occurring, so we are unable to begin piecing the plot together. Thus unusually we do not realise just how pivotal this five minute scene is at the time, like we are more familuar to,
Bordwell and Thompson note:
We make sense of narrative, then, by identifying it's events and linking them by cause and effect, time, and space. As viewers, we do other things as well. We often infer events that are not explicitly presented, and we recognize the presence of material that is extraneous to the story world. In order to describe how we manage to do these things, we can draw distinction between story and plot. (Bordwell & Thompson, Pg 80).
This I feel this was a well organised, intentional event that the director chose to do, to increase the impact of the effect at the end of the film (even if Shyalaman later admitted that Malcolm not actually being alive, was not added until the fifth draft of the film script).
The only information we are privy to in this clip is the story duration which takes us back ten years to 1989, it is the events from the protagonist's past that have a major connection with what is happening in the present and it is this story progression that we actually see, although the plot point is disguised as a fade to black into the next scene, revealing that Malcolm is seemingly alive and well with the written legend Next Fall.
But Secretly the narrative has changed, the character that has acted as an agent and made this change possible is Vincent Gray, it is his emotional issues related to his childhood that connected him to Malcolm that ultimately leads to the event that takes place subsequently altering the potential path of the protagonist.
The spacing of these events is well defined as in such a short amount of screen time we are exposed to the the back story dating back ten years, gradually building the story until we reach the plot point at the end of the clip. Finally establishing the mood of the film and creating it's supernatural tone, which typically of Shyalaman's style, frequently tends to have Philadelphia as it's backdrop to create a cold and creepy diagesis. We also feel as though we are witnessing the events from the Malcolm's point of view, even though there are only a couple of shots from his angle. This could be because when we are not seeing what he is seeing we are viewing his reaction to everything. Something I find very important to the story of any film, forming a certain type of bond with the character. Syd Field shares the importance of this in his book, Screenplay: The foundations of screenwriting),
When you think about it, underneath this skin of ours we're really the same, you and I; certain things unite us. We share the same needs, the same wants, the same fears and insecurities; we want to be loved, have people like us, be successful, happy, and healthy. (Syd Field, Pg 63).
M.Night.Shyalaman establishes most of the things that unite us, in this five minute clip as such things a fear, stress, anger, disappointment and abandonment enter the script we instantly gain a rapport with the main character.
Bordwell, David & Thompson, Kristin. Film Art: An Introduction 9th edition. New York:McGraw Hill, 2010. Pg 80.
Field, Syd. Screenplay: The Foundations of screenwriting. U.S.A & Canada: Delta Books, 2005. Pg 63.
