What’s going
on here?
Rules for
grades:
20 percent
mid-term exam
30 percent
final exam
40 percent
writing and homework
10 percent
attendance. I just give you 10 percent if you come to every class.
For every
hour of class you miss, I deduct (-1) percent. If you miss nine hours of class,
you fail
this class.
Every time
we watch a movie, we will do a different genre: horror, comedy, science
Fiction,
musical, animation, drama, classic.
We will
start with The Sixth Sense. The genre is horror.
What are the five senses:
Taste, touch (feel), hear, see, smell.
The sixth sense is intuition.
Let’s talk about the director of the
film for a minute: M. Night Shyamalan
1.
He is a “flash in
the pan.” You are famous for a short time only.
2.
He is a first
generation American. That means he was born in a different country or moved to
a different country when he is young. Second generation person’s parents come from
a different country.
First and second
generation people see the country differently, especially the surroundings
(because they are different from where they come from) and behavior of the
locals (again because it is different).
Shyamalan’s dad
wanted to go to a city in America that had a lot of history.
People said the
historical cities are Boston or Philadelphia.
Focus on
interpretation.
BTW, Patrick
Cowsill
a.)
There is a “bird’s
eye view shot” at the start of the film. I want you to think about the
director’s purpose in using this shot.
b.)
Soundtrack: ominous
(quiet but scary or dangerous) music to set the tone
c.)
Theme: an
important idea to a movie; something that happens again and again
One of the themes is the protagonist continually going to the basement.
What does the basement symbolize in this movie?
Color. Why does the protagonist always wear blue shirts?
He won the award as a psychiatrist. Why is he not proud that he won? Why
does
he doubt it?
d.)
Foreshadow: when
we get hints about what is going to happen later
1.
The troubled man
says he is a “freak.”
2.
The troubled man
comes from a broken family. Single mom family. F
e) Tracking shot:
camera moves with the actor
A church is a
sanctuary. Evil things will not enter this sanctuary.
Fall is not such a
lively season. The leaves have died and fallen off the trees.
The temperature is
cooler. The mood is bleak because the weather is bleak.
The surroundings
in fall are stark. He is speaking Latin.
That is the door
to the basement. The doorknob is red. In literature, red
symbolizes blood which means death. Why is
the doorknob glowing? The door to the basement is maybe locked. Did we see a
key? Why not?
Match cut for the camera. We use the match
cut to get from an old scene to a new scene in a movie.
Red shawl to red doorknob: match shot
(same) RED
The wife feels cold every time he comes in
the room. They have a problem in their marriage based on the suicide.
