The narrative function of mis en scene in horror films

Needless to say horror is a genre which relies heavily on a specific narrative in the film. A director or writer needs to pay special attention to how the story is constructed because most horror films have a fairly complex narrative. They tell a story which usually takes place over an extended period of time and may have multiple view points.

            A great example of a horror flick which has a well crafted narrative put together solely for that film is M. Night Shamylan’s film The Sixth Sense. In the beginning of the film Bruce Willis is accepting a highly esteemed award for being a great child psychologist in Philadelphia. After an award ceremony and a night of celebration he and his wife return home and begin to get ready for bed. Upon coming home Bruce finds in his bedroom an ex patient who is apparently lost it and angry with Bruce for not helping him. The intruder shoots Bruce and then kills himself. Bruce falls on the bed and the scene blacks out and across the bottom flashes one year later. The scene opens up with Bruce heading to talk to a new client. This new client ends up having the ability to see ghosts. After some time of befriending and talking with the child, the child convinces Bruce to try and mend his broken relationship with his wife. Bruce is encouraged to speak to her when she sleeps. When Bruce tries to talk with her he realizes that he is actually dead. His wife had not been ignoring him she had been mourning for him.

            That is the narrative of the film at its simplest form. The writer and director needed to create a narrative that had a long jump in the beginning. When the scene fades out and comes back one year later showing an apparently live and well Bruce Willis we assume he survived. The child who he speaks to all film has an ability to see ghosts and that is how we have been interacting with Bruce the whole time. The writer/director of the film needed to show you that the main character dies without you actually knowing, and then have you interact with him as if he were a ghost without you knowing and that is the reason he wrote the film as he did. The film would not have had the same effect if there had not been a giant twist at the end of the film.