The SIXTH SENSE trailer

The sixth sense is a horror film based in America, created for 16+ audiences with a basic trailer length of 2 minutes 20 seconds. There is a lot of camera work throughout the trailer. Long and mid shots are there to portray the surroundings of the scene. Close ups are portray the facial expressions on the main characters faces, and zoom-ins allows the camera to focus on particular characters. There is a low angle on door subjecting to the audience about to jump out.

Sound is very important in all sorts of media especially trailers. Music and sound in trailer allows the audience to catch the genre of the film itself. In the sixth trailer sirens are heard, a connotation of danger. Also the dialogue of the boy in the trailer is so innocent and frightened that the audience is drawn to that and sympathise with him. This is evident as he speaks to his mum about the accident telling her the woman that was hit by the car is standing right next to his window although the audience and the mother herself cannot witness this unnatural situation. The ending of the trailer consists of scenes that dramatically change in a quick and snappy transitions with flash of light, a fast pace rhythm, sounding like a heartbeat, illuminating the boy’s fearful emotions within the trailer. Most trailers happen to have a three-act structure similar to a full length film at the beginning starting with a scene that gives the audience an idea of the story. For example the young boy having dialogue with his mother through the first scene of the trailer telling her he sees dead people and they speak to him. This demonstrates to the audience that the young boy has supernatural powers and such things are not normal in that world as his mother did not believe him at first. Moreover Dialogue lines such as “I see dead people” half way through the trailer rises tension and suspension for the audience, and it is also introducing us to the characters and narrative.

The flaring of flame in the first shot warns the audience of danger, setting a negative tone. Furthermore, the floating of the red balloon in the middle of spiral stair cases is connotation the young boy’s curiosity and the discovering dangerous things. The non-diegetic gives us an awareness that as he walks up the stairs with curiosity to explore the big house, he will encounter something dangerous and open doors to danger in his life. The trailer also shows him in class being the odd one out, illustrating his is an outsider, a different child from his classmates. Even in the hospital the young boy is not safe. There seem to be nowhere to hides setting a horrific genre within the trailer through tension and narrative. No friends to talk to and his mother seem to find him strange except from the man (Bruce Willis) in the trailer he seems to be around with. The girl under the hospital bed allows the audience to see her just the way the boy is seeing her in the trailer. This shows the boy has nowhere to hide. Even a hospital which has mise en scene for being a place of healing and safety, these dead people seem to be able to find him.

Editing is seen through smooth fades in traffic seen to illustrate the length of the traffic. Quick flashes of light and darkness after each camera shot to demonstrate the rapid and danger of the situation the little boy is into. The second act is the dramatic climax from the film is shown through the trailer as the boy seems to be going through a petrifying stage in his life and things must be done quickly to prevent him for hurting so the pace of the music and shoots increase to emphasize this. The third act is the few last seconds of the film as it has powerful orchestra illustrating the emotional moments of the film and through this the audience is drawn into watching the film. In this trailer the only voice over heard is mostly of the boy and the dialogue he has of the man (Bruce Willis) and his mother. The voice of the little boy draws the audience in as his voice is so sweet and innocent adding sympathy from the audience as he seems to be haunted by ghosts. There no hardly captions as the dialogue placed in the trailer explains all the audience need to know about the film from a trailer.

The editing, sound, mise en scene and the fast heartbeat pace of the trailer makes the audience nervous but curious. Also the clear plot works well as it does not give away too much. Just through this short trailer the audience is able to depict the film genre, which is horror, they also learn what the film is roughing about (a young boy that can see the dead) and the narrative of the film is that he is a scared lonely boy going through a traumatic stage in his life with no friends or parents to support him except for this man (Bruce Willis) who seems to be his only companion.