The Sixth Sense is a psychological horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It tells the story of Cole Sear, an isolated boy who claims to be able to see and talk to dead people (with the famous line, "I see dead people"), and child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe who tries to help him.
The first deleted scene that I would like to talk about is the extended ending. It is a scene that shows a video display of Malcolm. He was expressing his love to his wife on their wedding day. Shyamalan deleted the scene because he thinks the scene makes the ending too sad and the information is repetitive, although it is his favorite one. But I think this scene should be included because it makes the ending more touching.
The second deleted scene is a scene where Cole was playing with some toy soldiers while having a conversation with Malcolm. The purpose of the scene is to show that compared to other children, Cole has the knowledge that is way beyond what Malcolm could imagine. Shyamalan deleted this scene because he thinks it has too much information for audience to digest, which is again not necessary. I think the scene is redundant in the sense that it will not affect the flow of the film even if it is eliminated.
The third deleted scene is the scene where Cole visited Mr. Marshall, accompanied by Malcolm. The purpose of this scene is to let audience realize that Cole can gather special information from ghosts by knowing where Mrs. Marshall’s diary was placed. It also indirectly shows that Cole has been helping the ghosts. This scene was deleted because Shyamalan does not want to confuse the audience as he thinks the impact he intended to create was not successful and hard to be understood by audience immediately. I agree too, because scene was shown too early. Audience will not have enough information to imagine that he was helping the ghosts.
The forth deleted scene is a follow up scene of visiting Mr. Marshall. It is a scene where Malcolm went back to Mr. Marshall’s house to check whether he is better off or not after the help of Cole. I think the elimination of this scene will not affect the progress of the film, as the duration is just about one or two minutes.
After watching the deleted scenes of The Six Sense, I learned that director cuttings are of paramount importance to a film. One has to arrange different film clips in a systematical order that is clearly understood by the audience. Also, the director even has to delete his favorite scenes if they affect the overall flow of the film. Choosing significant scenes to bring out the theme of the film also requires professional directing skills and artistic perspectives. The Sixth Sense is definitely a film that has the above criteria.
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