1. M. Night Shyamalan
M. Night Shyamalan is a very well known Indian-American screenwriter, producer and film
director. He is best known for his films Signs, The Village and, one of my personal favourite
films, The Sixth Sense. At the young age of eight Shyamalan was given a Super-8 camera,
one of the earliest affordable amateur film cameras, and this
seemed to spark his interest and passion in film making.
Shyamalan’s first ever film was titled ‘Praying with anger’ where
he independently raised all the funds for as well as directing,
producing and starring in it, this demonstrated how much of a
passion he had for his work.
Shyamalan is famous for having some sort of twist or surprise at the end of his films, one
important aspect of a thriller film. His films also focus on a mystery that must be solved. For
example, in Signs there are strange happenings around a family farm and the characters
(and audience) are eager to discover the truth, which turns out to be aliens. Shyamalan’s
thrillers contain a character or characters who are involved in an extreme situation, such as
Cole Sear in The Sixth Sense having the ability to see dead people. He is also great at
throwing in ‘mistaken identities’ and ‘red herrings’ to keep the audience engrossed and
guessing throughout. These emotions are heightened by the sudden peaks and lulls of his
films, all of which are central to a successful thriller.
Along with the typical traits of a thriller film Shyamalan practices, he also has unique ways of
making a film his own. One noticeable feature is the use of water representing death or
weakness. Michael Crowe’s murderer in The Sixth Sense is dripping with water, possibly
post shower, in a bathroom before he shoots Crowe dead and also the alien’s weakness in
Signs is being exposed to water.Shyamalan uses colour to subtly symbolise and foreshadow
events in movies. This is most cunningly used in The Sixth Sense with the colour red:

2. A Red balloon floats up a redstaircase, at the top of the
staircase is a cupboard where spirits are present. During this
scene Cole Sears is wearing a red jumper.
This is a major scene in the movie where Cole reveals to his
mother he can see dead people, it takes place after a fatal
bike/car crash and the fatality/ghost is present. The mother
wears a red jumper while the ghost has a red helmet.
Interestingly car crashes are present in other Shyamalan
films and do play a part in the storylines (the mother in
Signs died in a car crash).
The significance of the colour red is that it represents when a ghost or danger is present,
during scenes when there are no spirits nearby there is usually none or a very insignificant
amount of red present. This is extremely ingenious to the film as it tells the audience how
Michael Crowe is a ghost throughout yet they don’t discover this until the end of the film. It
is a ‘must watch twice’ film.
Finally, another feature Shyamalan uses is a
specific camera technique of filming
reflections. This is effective as it gives the
film a more ‘real’ sense. It shows the
audience how there ‘is no camera’ and also
enhances mystery because it’s not directly
looking at the scene or characters. Another
good example is the reflection of the aliens
in the TV set in Signs.