- and the romantic relationship of
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, andrelationships.
- Usually bright and feminine colors are used: pink, red, orange, etc.
- Climax is usually an argument or consequences of an action, and
- 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 stereotypicallyabout heterosexual couples, recently though it has expanded.
- Genre conventions--- production
- Sound is very closely related to the moods and feelingsof the main character
- There is often used of diegetic and nondiegetic sound
- Mid shots are used to set a more emotional connection withaudience
- close ups used to show the main characters emotions, usedto make the audience
- feel empathy
- two shots are used to show how the relationship developsthrough the film
- Panning shots are often used to show attachment of two people
- To portray the emotion better, romance films tend to usenondiegetic sounds and fast cuts are used to increase intensity
- as an argument may ensue
- Over the shoulder shots are used to keep the conversation betweenthe 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 andscene
- Costumes are very generic and specific to the time period, as
- 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
the easiest most effective way to reach teenagers or young adults.
of their relationship, with a hint of the problem they will have, like
The Fault in our Stars.
- The trailers are often optimistic, and show the usually attractive
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
creates publicity for free for the producers, a fandom
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 thesetting, 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
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
- 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.
More examples of romantic films:
- Call me by your name
- Titanic
- La La Land
- P.S. I love you
- The Shape of Water
- Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
- Blue is the warmest color