Mustard Cambur: Genre Research: Romance

Genre: Romance : love stories, that center on emotions, passion,
and the romantic relationship of

usually two main characters and the journey that takes them through
dating, courtship or marriage

Genre Conventions—content

Often a voiceover is used to to introduce theme and characters
The script often suggest the characters are meant to be
‘Boy meets girl’ is a common theme, meet cute
Often contains emotional feelings
Aimed at female audiences
Usually contains things that relate to love : flowers, weddings,
etc
Usually what happens on day to day life
A typical romance includes sexuality, status, gender, and
relationships.
Usually bright and feminine colors are used: pink, red, orange, etc.
Climax is usually an argument or consequences of an action, and

then one of the characters seeks forgiveness, and they end together.

Usually has an emotionally satisfying optimistic ending
Occasionally love has obstacles like illness, money,
discrimination, family, etc
Serves as a fantasy for audience “happily ever after”
Setting is usually an urban setting/big cities
Most of the time centered on female character
Through the years the genre has been stereotypically
about heterosexual couples, recently though it has expanded.

Genre conventions--- production

Sound is very closely related to the moods and feelings
of the main character
There is often used of diegetic and nondiegetic sound
Mid shots are used to set a more emotional connection with
audience
close ups used to show the main characters emotions, used
to make the audience
feel empathy
two shots are used to show how the relationship develops
through the film
Panning shots are often used to show attachment of two people
To portray the emotion better, romance films tend to use
nondiegetic sounds and fast cuts are used to increase intensity
as an argument may ensue
Over the shoulder shots are used to keep the conversation between
the characters
Establishing shot used to set the scene and location of the story
Long shot shows how close the characters are in their surroundings
Extreme long shot shows the scenery of where the characters are,
usually a famous landmark of the city, so audience can relate
Usually sound has instruments like piano, guitar, or violin
The music is key on setting the tone and mood of the film and
scene
Costumes are very generic and specific to the time period, as

they get happier the colors might get brighter

Institutional conventions-- marketing

Target audience is usually females
The posters usually include the couples in an embrace
Instagram and Snapchat ads are used often to target the teenage

girl audience, for high school romances like Love, Simon , since its '

the easiest most effective way to reach teenagers or young adults.

The trailers are often optimistic, and show the usually attractive

couple, and how “cute” their story is, where it is, and usually snippets
of their relationship, with a hint of the problem they will have, like
The Fault in our Stars.

Social media posts include interactions between the actors that are

in the romance film, interviews, and rumors of the actual actors dating,
creates publicity for free for the producers, a fandom

is born that “ ships” them, and the film can increase viewings this way,
like To all the Boys I've Loved before. This is a technique many Netflix
films use, since they are not shown in the movie theater, and rely on online
publicity.

Film example 1

Moonrise Kingdom

The movie begins with a long take that ends in a long shot of the
setting, the house of Suzy in an island.
It contains diegetic and nondiegetic sound
The colors are warm and bright
The characters are introduced in the opening scene
There is use of mid shot to create empathy and an emotional

connection with the audience, like when Suzy looks at the
camera in the opening scene

Day to day life factors are very prevalent.
Two shots are used to show the relationship of the characters

Film example 2

10 Things I Hate About You
Image result for 10 things i hate about you

The movie starts with sound that sets the mood of the film an
hints at Kat’s personality, as it switches when the music changes as she appears
There is diegetic, the bell, and nondiegetic sound, the rock music in the opening scene
The characters are introduced, however there is two love stories in this film and one of each story is introduced at first,
Kat and Cameron, however we meet Patrick and Bianca after, and the
two stories collide, but Patrick and Kat’s is the main focus
An establishing shot shows the setting of the film: a school
Climax is the consequences of the actions of Patrick, and it concludes in them ending together.