A comparison of the Opening Sequences in "The Others" and "the Sixth Sense", with a decision on which is the most effective and why?

Camera work is quite important in bringing across the message the director is communicating. For example like in "the Sixth Sense", Vincent Gray (Donnie Wahlberg), one of Crowe's few failures, revealed gradually, firstly at the feet, slowly creeping up to the knees, then up the legs and to the waste, then the chest and towards the neck and finally his face! This is an excellent technique to use as I mention above it creates suspense and keeps the audience watching. This kind of illusion puts the audience in a state of uncertainty as to what is real or not. In "The Others", at the very beginning when Nicole Kidman screams the camera appears to show her upright, but in reality she appeared to be lying on a bed, as the camera revealed in the following scene. This is a good way to twist the audience.

Setting is an important factor that can be very effective depending on how it is presented. Both films used a house as the opening location. However both houses weren't the same inside. In "The Others", the house was dark because Anne and Nicholas, the children were so allergic to the sunlight that they might die if exposed to it. So this added to the setting, making it gloomy and sad. Where as in "The Sixth Sense", in the opening romantic scene, the house was lit in candles, which again enhanced the romantic scene a bit more, apart from the lovely couple together.

Character development is also another important factor that can be very effective depending on how it develops. For example in "The Sixth Sense", Vincent Gray, the intruder, appears to be crying, and saying how bad he feels, and the mood is sad, and then in the wink of an eye, the mood changes to a violent tense one, and he shoots Bruce Willis and himself. This makes the audience think that if things appear a certain way doesn't necessarily mean it's so. However in "the Others", character development I think, isn't that effective, as the character was the same dominant way throughout the opening.

After analyzing both of the films, In my opinion, "The sixth Sense" has the most effective opening. I say this because at the beginning, instead of giving away the story, the audience is given a romantic and lighthearted scene, which is then dramatically shattered by a tragic one. This sets the tone for continual manipulation of the audience'' emotion by the director.