The Sixth Sense Opening

Opening Sequences – The Sixth Sense

As opening sequences is what we are doing, I decided to look closely at some opening sequences from famous films. The ‘The Sixth Sense’ is a psychological horror film, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan in 1999. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

It begins with a black screen. The credits are in a white simple font. They fade in and fade out, and the music subtly gets louder and quieter as this happens. As the writing fades in and out, the white colour gets a cloudy, ghostly look to it. The music matches this; it is very slow paced, eerie music that really creates a creepy atmosphere with an unnatural, spiritual feel to it. These credits continue for the first 3 minutes, building up the tension and the atmosphere so that when the film does start we are already on edge and completely engrossed in what’s to come. The first shot is of a light bulb, surrounded by darkness. This also adds to the tension as we are not quite sure where this is, or what its significance is.

The next shot is down in a basement or wine cellar. The camera is placed behind the rack of wine, giving it a stalker feel, like there is something lurking in the shadows watching. We then hear a creaking as someone comes down the stairs which further add to the tension as we don’t know who it is. This creaking is diegetic sound as those present in the ‘film world’ can hear it. As the scene goes on we realise it’s a woman in her late 30’s early 40’s presumably the owner of the house. She comes towards the wine rack the camera is placed behind, bends down and peers at the wines, the rack framing her face perfectly. At 3:46 we hear another diegetic sound, similar to a pin dropping, which you may think is very quiet but compared to the previous silence is very significant and frightening. The woman jumpily turns around and looks around the room. At 3:52 we see a long shot of her from behind the stairs banisters, further enhancing the impression she is being watched but also emphasising how alone and isolated she is in the darkness of the cellar, with no one to turn to for help.

We then see her run back up the stairs. At 4:00 we see a shot of a mantle piece, on it are candles and lots of cards that look like they’ve been made by children, with simple drawings and glitter. We can also hear the woman footsteps coming closer, another example of diegetic sound. Once the woman is back on the ground level of the house another character is introduced which is Bruce Willis’ character, we can assume they are in a relationship.

At 4:56 we see a very interesting shot. From the dialogue we have found out that Willis’ character has been given a frame “in recognition of his outstanding achievement in the field of child psychology”. The shot is looking into the frame he was awarded, in it we can see the reflection of their faces as she reads it too him. Now we can see things beginning to be explained; she says ‘I’ve never told you but you sound a little like doctor Zeuss when your drunk’ Implying they’ve known each other a long time, we can now assume they are married. We’ve also found out his job, he’s a child psychologist which could indicate why there are so many cards made by children in his home.

Although this is far long than the 2 minute opening I will be creating in a group, I think that it is still very useful. The build up of suspense is very well done and even though in the first 2 minutes we are still in the credits and even up to 5 minutes not a huge amount has happened in my opinion it is a very tense scene. A bit more about the characters is constantly being revealed as the scene goes on, their relationship, their job both of which we can assume will be significant to the plot of the film. Additionally tiny hints as to what might happen and the nature of the film are being exposed; e.g. the woman’s jump when she hears the pin drop sound. All of these factors are crucial for a successful opening sequence.

Budgets

This is a sample page from a motion picture budget;

Budgeting is a hugely important part of producing a film. When the script is still being developed, a rough budget will be made to convince producers and studios to give them the ‘go ahead’. During the pre-production stages a more detailed budget will be drawn up to ensure financing – this can sometimes be more 150 pages long! A budget is divided into 4 sections;
1) Above-the-line (creative talent),
2) Below-the-line (production costs),
3) Post-production (editing, visual effects)
4) Other (insurance etc)

There are many different elements that need to be accounted for and people that need to be paid;
Story rights: The right to produce a film based on a play or novel.
Screenplay: An A-list screenwriter can be paid a lot to write the first drafts of a script.
Dialog writer
Director: Usually a director's salary is about 7% of the final budget.
Cast: An A-list actor can ask for millions of £/$. However the rest of the cast are often being paid only the Screen Actors Guild minimum.
Production costs: The cost of shooting the film including sets, wardrobe, location filming, hotels and transportation.
Visual effects: (if required)
Music: The top film composers can also ask for millions.

Films often go over budget but technically they are ‘not allowed’ to do so. The Titanic is a very famous example of this, where the director James Cameron went way over on the budget but offered his fee to the studio. This is an example I found of the above for the film Spider man 2;
Story rights: $20 million
Screenplay: $10 million
Producers: $15 million
Director: Sam Raimi $10 million
Cast: $30 million
Tobey Maguire: $18 million
Kirsten Dunst: $7 million
Alfred Molina: $3 million
Rest of cast: $3 million
Production costs: $45 million
Visual effects: $65 million
Music: $5 million
Composer (Danny Elfman): $2 million.
Total: $200 million!

We are shooting our 2 minute opening to a film on a very low budget, so there are a lot of things we need to take into account. First of all we need to think about actors. Obviously we will not be paying anyone to act in it so we need to ask family and friends, drama students would be good. However it is important we choose people we can trust and who will be reliable, because if an actor doesn’t show up, it would completely bring film to a holt.

Secondly we need to consider the setting and location we will film in, and this has the greatest affect on the mise-en-scene and overall look. Again we will need to do things for free so filming in parks, woods, gardens, friend’s houses or school would be best.

The look of the actor is a huge factor and really adds to the overall look of the opening, and therefore it adds greatly to the effectiveness of our piece. Consequently costume, hair and makeup should all be kept relatively simple. This is not just because a simple, plain look is best and easiest when it comes to continuity, but also because all the clothes and make up will have to come from our group members, friends and family, as will the makeup artist and hair stylist, as we have no money to hire anything or anyone.

Horrors, particularly slashers are known for having great special affects. However we need to stay away from trying to re create gory, bloody scenes as it will just make our piece look very amateur. This is because we have very limited special affects therefore fake blood and fake wounds will have to be used, which will be very obvious and maybe funny to the audience. If we do decided to do a horror, this will definitely not be our desired affect.

Sound

ADR
ADR stands for Automated/ Automatic Dialog Replacement. Dialog that cannot be taken from production tracks must be re-recorded the process is called looping or ADR. This initially meant recording an actor who spoke lines in sync to "loops" of the image which were repeated alongwith matching parts of the recording tape. Although ADR is faster it is still a long meticulous job. An actor watches the image over and over while listening to the original production track on headphones as a guide. The actor then re-performs each line to match the lip movements. Actors vary in their ability to record it in sync and to recapture the emotional tone of their original performance

Diegetic sound
This is sound that is present in the “film's world”, anything that the characters are meant to hear for example a scream, creaking floor boards or a car engine.

Non Diegetic Sound
This is all the sounds that we as the audience can hear, but the characters in the film cant such as a narrator’s voice over or music.

On Screen
This is the sound that we can hear and we can see where it’s coming from because it’s happening in the shot.

Off Screen
Off Screens sounds are sounds we can hear but we cant see the source of them, we cant see what’s making the sounds as it’s happening out of shot, for example a scream or a knock at the door.

Foley Track
A sound effects technique for synchronous effects or live effects. The Foley technique is named after Jack Foley, a sound editor at Universal Studios. Foley artists enhance and create sounds to be added after filming. For example if the actors knock on the door wasn’t loud enough in the shot they would ask the Foley artists to enhance it.

Sound Bridges
When sound (music or dialogue) overlaps from when changing scenes. For example the dialogue in the previous scene is still being played at the beginning of the next scene, or the music from the next scene begins to play at the end on the previous scene. This creates a better fluency for the film and makes it less choppy.

Synchronous Sound
This is also known as Parallel sound. It is Music that matches with the action. For example frightening music during a frightening scene, funny, silly music in a comedic scene.

Asynchronous Sound
Also known as Contrapuntal Sound. Music that contrast with the action, for example happy, funny music playing in torturous, scary scenes.

Characters (costume and make up)

Vivian Ward

Vivian Ward is the confident, funny, gorgeous, quirky prostitute played by Julia Roberts in the film ‘Pretty Woman’ (1990). She is hired by businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to escort him to some high class social events; a world away from her everyday life, here we see her vulnerability exposed as she feels completely out of place, as she doesn’t fit in and fears people are looking down on her. Vivian is one of cinemas most well loved and easily identifiable characters, and hair, make up and costume played a huge role in this. For the first scene the costume of a blue mini skirt, over the knee boots and that iconic blonde bob wig we instant recognise and associate as Vivian from Pretty woman, and this look is replicated by many as a distinguished film character costume.

James Bond

James Bond is one of the most recognisable and well known film characters of all time! He is intelligent, suave, handsome, smooth, sophisticated and dangerous. Whether he has brown or blonde hair as long as he is wearing a tuxedo and holding a slick black gun and a martini glass, we’ll know it’s him. This simple, yet eye catching costume is very effective as it makes the character immediately recognisable to the audience, which is a key factor in keeping support and continuity as so far there have been 6 different actors playing Bond in 22 different movies spanning over 5 decades.

The Shining - Opening Credits

The Shining - Opening Credits

For our coursework we are making and opening sequence to a film, and credits are included in this. Therefore I have looked at ‘The Shining’s opening credits as example and inspiration as it is thought of by many as the scariest ever horror film. The film was made in 1980 directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel by Stephen King
It starts off with a forward tracking establishing shot looking out over a large lake with mountains either side of it. It then cuts to a birds eye view shot of a dense forest, with a road running through it with one car on it. The music begins straight away even though there are no credits yet. It is very low pitched with a slow tempo, and has an eerie, creepy feel to it. The camera follows the car, always slightly behind as it drives along the long winding road with masses of uninhabited landscape either side of it. This gives the impression they are being followed, and the wide stretch of land surrounding them emphasises their isolation and shows how alone they are, a long way from anywhere or anyone.
The credits are simple just like the opening sequence itself. They are not in a spiky font or dripping with blood, they are just pale blue, plain and easy to read. In my opinion I think this mirrors the significance of the film - How at the beginning they are just a normal family and Jack Terrence (played by Jack Nicholson) is just a normal guy – it plays on how anyone, even the people you love and who love you can turn against you, and go insane. However despite the simplicity of the credits, I think this opening sequence is still very scary and the music plays a big role in this. The creepy low pitch tune gets slightly louder and then a high pitched, whiny score is put in its place this has a strong ghostly feel to it as it sounds like distant screams and howls giving the audience an idea as to the nature of the film. At 2:34 we then see an image of the hotel, it is at the bottom of a mountain further stressing the sense of seclusion about the setting of the film.
Obviously we cannot do birds eye views shots of vast forests and remote mountain hotels like The Shining, however I do think there is a lot we can take from this as an effective horror opening. Firstly the point that stands out for me is that it doesn’t have to be fast paced and gory right away, the opening can be more subtle and still be just as scary. Also I think the change in pitch of music works really well in keeping a long sequence interesting and this clip also shows that both very high and very low pitch music can be very effective in horrors. Additionally I think the sense of isolation is very disturbing with no one around to help you, and I think this can be just as well achieves on ground level