Genre Research: The Prodigy

1. The whole movie was filled to the brim with two shots and closeups. This film also featured many tracking shots to represent the passage of time and movement. At times, tracking shots helped contribute to the build-up of suspense. Around the beginning of the movie, there was also a lot of shot-reverse shots to facilitate the viewer following the conversation. The amount of zooms in this movie is extensive and I believe that it was done to build up tension and suspense. 

2. The acting was nothing out of the ordinary. I expected them to play their role this way and they remained in character the whole time. The makeup was kept to a minimum for all of the actors to add to the “realism” of the film, this seems to be a common theme in thriller movies. Like the makeup, the costumes in the film were ordinary to have the same effect of realism. This film did not seem to have any typical props that would usually be featured in thrillers. In this film, the most important prop was the voice tape. Most of the film took place in the protagonist’s home. When it wasn’t in or by her home, the setting was going at the doctor's building, like by the woods or escaping it. The lighting throughout the movie was bright during the time of character development, but it was low during the suspenseful parts.

3. The film’s sound consists mostly of dialogue and “tense” music. The tense music helps enhance the scenes in regards to suspense and tension. If it weren’t for the added tense music, the film wouldn’t have the same sense of thriller that it does with the music added. The dialogue simply explains what is going on in the film. The music splaying lowly throughout the whole film and as the scene gets more intense the music gets louder.

4.  The edit that I noticed the most throughout the film was jump cuts. Jump cuts are usually used to help create distortion or confusion, usually after a confrontation or encounter with the antagonist. Like many thrillers, this film also featured shot-reverse shot editing. Throughout this film, they were shown to be over the shoulder and used during conversations. Near the resolution of the movie, the use of dissolve was used to really emphasize the long journey the mom took and the dedication the mom had.

5. The element of tension was shown clearly in the night scenes of the movie. During those times the audience really got to see the actual antagonist of the movie. The element of surprise was always present in the movie, especially at the end.

6. I liked the acting of the little boy, he did very well in playing an innocent boy who the audience would sympathize with and a monster of a man who deserved to die.

7. I disliked the ending and the mom. The mom was very predictable. She adhered to my belief that she'd be stubborn and try to solve everything herself. Also, in the end, the kid ended up winning. Because it also had horror mixed into the plot so I knew that the ending and it wasn't very pleasing.