Genre Research: The Captive

For the film, I chose The Captive. It is about a child getting kidnapped and the parents needing to find clues to save her. At the beginning of the movie, I looked for many things. Firstly, the camera angles, movement and shots. I found that the tracking shot, pan and establishing shot were most relevant. I then started to look at other things like the character's costumes, they wear winter clothing because it is snowing where they are. I try to find some types of lighting but at this point in the movie, there are none. I see that there are not that many notable actors except Ryan Reynolds. Usually, in crime movies, makeup is used for injuries but there are none yet. Some of the props used consist of phones, brushes, glasses and a piano. The sounds consist of different types of dreary music that bring down the mood. For editing, I see shot-reverse-shot, cross-cutting and jump cuts. The element I liked was The unknown factors of the movie that keep you interested and make you want to know more, putting you on the edge of your seat. The disliked two elements from the beginning of the movie. Firstly, due to the fact that it is the beginning of the film, it becomes slightly slower due to the need for character development. Secondly, since it is the beginning of the film you have to quickly learn the storyline which can cause some confusion at times. I then started to look for things in the middle part of the film. At this point, the story is developing a lot more and is becoming more interesting. The movie uses a close-up shot when two characters are video chatting. Also, a two-shot when two characters are in real-life conversation. The costumes used at this point are police uniforms and orange jail jumpsuit. These are used to represent cops and inmates. When it is daytime the lighting is brighter but at night the lighting is darker. At this point in the movie there is still no combat and thus no makeup is used for injuries. The sound still just uses eerie music to make the movie creepier. For the editing aspect, it is pretty similar. It uses shot-reverse-shot for conversation. Jumpcut for switching scenes and cross-cut to have two scenes happening in unison. The element I enjoyed from the middle part of the movie is the fast-paced build-up to the movie's climax which keeps you interested in the film. The element I disliked is how it takes so long to reach the film's climax. At the end of the film, there are a lot of similarities. These include CAMS, CLAMPS, and editing from the beginning of the film to the end. Something that was different was the sound used. When the climax was reached the music was upbeat and fast but in the end, the music was slower and happier. The element liked was how the whole story was wrapped together and the good guys prevailed. The element that was disliked is how the good guys always win so the movie is always predictable. All in all, the movie was good and represented the crime genre well.