Group Planning-Shot Sequence and Shot List

As a group we planned our Shot Sequence's and did a list in order to ensure our movie shoot goes well. 

Here is a video of our Shot Sequence with us discussing what changes we made to and how we improved it. 

Here is our Shot List which we planned before shooting our film opening to see which shots we were going to include and which not. Here are the final shots we were going to include.


Click to Enlarge

By Guleed Hashi & Bansari Raval

Storyboard for Film Opening

This is our storyborad for our film opening. The storyboard mainly shows what shot types we will be using and how our idea looks visually. A storyborad is created in the planning stage of film making.

Posted by Bansari Raval 

Group Planning-Initial Idea's

Our Final Initial Idea

Out of our two initial ideas we picked the romantic comedy. This what about a young gay male that falls in love with another boy in his school (The Jock), he brings himself to confess and to add to it he does it on camera with his males best friend only to find out that his love in on the stairs with a female. The gay boy (Tyler) thinks he has been lead on be cause of how friendly the jock (Max) was not understanding it was all cause Max thought they was just good guy friends sharing secrets and talking and only doing so because he was unaware of Tyler`s homosexuality.

The unconventional side to this is that:
1) He is gay instead of that girl like boy, boy likes girl scene.
2) His friend the camera that he is his moment with is a straight male this also challenges the gay boy has girl best friend stereotype.
3) Also Tyler is wearing average boy clothing instead of that feminine look, wearing colours like pink etc... He is dressed slightly masculine for a teenager making it impossible for Max to have been suspicious. Moreover, his does not talk in a gay feminine tone or give off gay body language which is another major stereotype.

By- Guleed Hashi

Target Audience

The target audience for our film are young teenage females and males aged between the ages of 15-20 and maybe even higher. The reason for this is we are dealing with homosexuality in an romantic comedy genre which is rarely shown and an older and preferably mature audience would be ideally better to view a film like ours. Our audience will include a higher number of girls as romantic comedies are tend to viewed by young girls to older women.  Therefore we are likely to target more young girls than boys.


















Posted by Guleed Hashi

Initial Ideas

Guleed and Bansari’s initial ideas

Idea 1

Genre- Romantic comedy

Mise-en-scene- Busy school hall, our preps will be books, normal casual wear that will be worn by all characters to make the environment more obvious. Also it will be done in a school so that it helps it more realistic.

Idea­- This idea is about a Rom-Com with a guy liking a boy in her school who is your average ‘jock’ type character which is dating the hottest girl in the school. Our two minute opening sequence will be done like a found footage, the boy will come `recording the best moment of his life with his friend (male) down the school corridor to confess when he is shocked by what he has seen. This gives it an unconventional twist.

Idea 2

Genre- Crime Thriller

Mise en scene- Court Room, Car park, Men and women in suits, Cars

Idea- This idea consists of an young man that has joined a law firm recently, this young man gets framed and goes to make a deal with a major partner at another law firm, however this means that he has to go behind his bosses back but he is not sure if hurting his close ones is worth clearing his name. There will be non-diegetic music to add suspense to the opening.

Posted by Guleed Hashi

Homosexual Characters in Romance Genre

Homosexual Characters are hardly ever seen in romantic comedies, and if they are they seem to be an extra comical show piece in the whole film to add to the comedy of the film. They are hardly portrayed as equals of the heterosexual characters in the films and have very limited amount of screen presence usually lasting in minutes or even seconds sometimes.

However they're have been a wide range of films that have portrayed homosexuality as they're central themes however they are not romantic comedies and if they are they are independent films.

A big breakthrough film for portraying homosexuality in mainstream cinema was the film Brokeback Mountain. Till this date no film has portrayed homosexuality as well as this. Ang Lee won the Oscar for Best Director in the year 2006. The use of mainstream actors brought light to the film. Actors such as Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway brought even more success to the film with their brilliant acting. The film was backed by independent distributer Focus Features and with a budget of only $14 million the film became a huge commercial and critical success earning $178,062,759 and 3 Oscars.
Brokeback Mountain may be considered a contemporary classic with it's groundbreaking portrayal of not only romance but daring to portray homosexuality in front of the mainstream audience's even in the 21st century. As a media student I see that films like this to be made in the near future may still take some time, but what ever it may be it's worth a try.

 Posted by Bansari Raval

Preliminary Tasks

 

Before we got into our groups we had to do Preliminary Tasks in order to test our filming skills. Here is video of our Preliminary Tasks. Our Task includes Match on Action, Shot Reverse Shot and the 180 degree rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Bansari Raval and Guleed Hashi 

BBFC Rating's

All films carry a classification clearly outlining what age the film is suitable for and which not. The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) take care of classifying and rating films in the UK. Here is a image showing all the film ratings:-

We as a group decided to rate our film a 15 due the fact it deals with homosexuality which to some what is a bit hefty for a 12 rating and not as serious for a 18 rating.

Posted by Bansari Raval

Logo's

The DreamWorks logo shows a young boy on a crescent moon while he is fishing, this logo came from the disagreement of co founder Steven Spielberg and visual effect supervisor Dennis Muren. Spielberg originally wanted a computer generated image however Muren suggested a hand painted one, then Robert Hunt was contacted to do both and he used his son to be the model for both images, soon after Spielberg likes the CGI (computer generated) image better.


The Warner Brothers logo has the same shield and WB initials in it however it does change according to what the movies is going to show. It originally looked like s shield with a picture of the studios opened in 1918 in Hollywood in the background of the WB.

The 20th Century Fox owned by William Fox who founded his company in 1915 this was done through a merger of two of his companies called Great New York Film Rentals and a production company called Fox Office Attractions Company. At first he focused on making theatres but slowly started making more and more movies but lost control and soon was put in jail for bribing a judge to try keep his company out of bankruptcy in 1930 and his company merged with the new 20th Century Pictures in 1935 and then the logo changed.

Posted by Guleed Hashi

Film Production and Distribution Companies

Film Production and Distribution companies are companies that help the film financially and if an conglomerate help the film establish on a global market. On a production level they help produce the film sorting out the budget and other things such as casting, who will direct etc. On a distribution level they help market the film and exhibit it globally.

Here are a few companies that do this:-

Universal Studios- An American conglomerate film company, it is known to be one of the oldest surviving companies in the world. They have worked there magic for a long time and continue to do so. They celebrated 100 years in 2012. The company is based in California but is a globally established company and known around the world. It is the second oldest studio in the world. Universal Pictures have produced and distributed many famous here are some examples of these films:-

 Paramount Pictures-  The company was founded in 1914 and is like Universal celebrated 100 years in 2012. It is like Universal on of the oldest studios to still exist in Hollywood and is globally well known. It is one of the last studios to be based in the Hollywood district of L.A. It is the third oldest studio in the world. Here are some the films they have a hand in producing and distributing:-

Dreamworks Animation-  Another famous American film company which is quite recently found. It was found in 1994 and since than has produced and distributed a string of successful films and continues to do so. Here are some examples:-

Posted by Guleed Hashi

Titles

Romantic Comedy film titles tend to be designed with bright and fluffy colours, showing straightaway it is a 'happy' genre full of the love and harmony people would expect them to be, with the design of the titles doing them full justice. As you can see from the films here the titles are either in the colour of white showing simplicity and connoting purity or bright pinks and reds which are ideally the key colours of love which you can never go wrong with if used.

Posted by Guleed Hashi 

Target Audiences

Romantic Comedies have an specific target audience like any other genre. They usually seem to target a large female base between the ages of 15-65 plus due to the story lines conventionally follows around love. Typically the woman falling in love with another man.These sorts of films tend to attarct females more than males as the women wish to be in the central protagnists 'shoes'.

A graph here shows breifly in percentages which age group is likely to watch romantic comedies the most. As you can see from the graph they are most likely to be viewd by 15-24 year old. Thisn maybe due to most romantic comedies are either teen romance s or based on a young woman falling in love rather than older owmen in their 40's.

Posted by Bansari Raval

Genre Moodboard

This is our Genre Moodboard we made for our genre.

Posted by Bansari Raval

Stars and Typecasting in Romantic Comedies

Typecasting is the process which by an actor or actress gets strongly idnetified for a specific character or type of roles they pursue. Actors and Actresses are usually better with doing a range of genre's throughout their career's however their are those some unfortunate stars who end up doing the same genre repetitively inevitably to end up being typecasted. In this case these stars of opted to only do the romantic comedy genre.

Jennifer Aniston- Starting out with one of the most famous sitcom's ever to come out on TV at the end of the 20th Century Friends. She became a household name immediatly, however it inevitably typecated her as a Rom-Com queen which till this date she has never been able to really forge and show a wider vareity of roles. Here are some her Rom-Com's:-

 

Picture Perfect (1997)

Rumour Has It (2005)

The Break Up (2006)

Marley and Me (2008)

He's Just Not That into You (2009)

Meg Ryan- One the best Rom-Com actresses to ever grace the silver screen. She may not have done a whole load of romantic comedies but she is best remebered for them. Here are the films that lead to that:-

When Harry Met Sally....(1989)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
You've Got Mail (1998)




Matthew Mcconaughey- As an actor Matthew Mcconaughey as tried to do many different types of films but the films again he is best remebered for are his cheesy Rom-Com's. Here are those films:-

The Wedding Planner (2001)
How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days (2003)
Failure to Launch (2005)
Ghosts of Gilfriends Past (2009)




Julia Roberts- As an actor she is probably one of the best in Hollywood however most of her films that have given her that recognition are all romantic comedies. And it doesn't do her justice that she stared in one of the most famous romantic comedies of all time:-

Pretty Woman (1990)
My Best Friends Wedding (1997)
Runaway Bride (1999)
Notting Hill (1999)
Valentine's Day (2010)


Posted by Bansari Raval

Director's Style

Every Genre have a set of significant directors to their name. Romantic Comedies seem to have many as well but the four which I identified to be masters in this genre are:-

Rob Reiner
He has directed many Romantic Comedies over the years. Some of his most famous romantic comedies being:-


The Princesses Bride (1987)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Rumor Has It.....(2005)




Garry Marshall
The director of the perhaps the most famous rom-com film ever Pretty Woman (1990). Other than that he has directed many other rom-coms as well. Which are:-

The Other Sister (1999)
Runaway Bride (1999)
The Princess Diaries (2001)
Valentine's Day (2010)
New Year's Eve (2011)






Nancy Meyers
She is maybe one of the most successful female directors in Hollywood who have made very successful films. Her films include:-

What Woman Want (2000)
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
The Holiday (2006)
It's Complicated (2009)







Woody Allen
He has done a whole range of genre's experimenting with his films but he has given the industry some of the most memorable romantic comedies. Here are some of them:-

Annie Hall (1977)
Manhattan (1979)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Midnight in Paris (2011)







Posted by Bansari Raval

Gender Representations in Romantic Comedies

Gender Representation plays a big part in Romantic Comedies since stereo typically they revolve around a female character and the films tend to be female centric. Due to Romantic Comedies being targeted at females over the years the types of films that have been made have changed but still stick to the codes and conventions of the genre. There are many female characters in romantic comedies that are similar in the way they are presented to the audience, however different.

Holly Golightly- Breakfast at Tiffiny's (1961)

One of the most famous characters in film history and played by well known Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn, Holly became an household names in the early 60's. Holly is represented as a free and independent woman in society which at the time was new as women's role in society was usually to stay home and take care of the house and the children. However 60's was a change of a many things for women. Many called it a decade of liberation of women. Holly living up to those expectations as a young and attractive women who lived by her own rules. Holly was not a stereotypical representation of a woman in romantic comedies who tend to be 'damsel in distresses' or in 'love' with a man who doesn't acknowledge them that way.

Sally Albright-When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Another bright and witty character represented as a strong feminist and thinks she knows what men should do and shouldn't. However throughout the end of the film she becomes the 'damsel in distress' and feels no man will love her after breaking up with her fiance. She ends up calling Harry for a leaning shoulder to cry on, showing she is reliant on a man after all to help her through her problems.

Vivian Ward- Pretty Woman (1990)

Julia Roberts become an household name after this film, however her portrayal as Vivian is still something that comes as an unconventionality in the romantic comedy genre. Due to the fact this maybe is the only romantic comedy that showed the female as some what in a negative light since she played a prostitute. Her dependency on men comes through the fact it is her job that she does due to the situation she puts herself in which is explained in the film. It may challenge the gender stereotype with Vivian roaming the streets at night to earn an living shows she's much more strong and brave than the audience initially perceive her to be. However the films ending conforms to the societal stereotype of a 'happily-ever-after' ending of the two main characters settling down, therefore Vivian is not exactly seen as a challenge of the female representation in Romantic Comedies but just seen as 'unconventional'.

Bridget Jones- Bridget Jones Diary (2001)

Bridget Jones is probably the most annoying character you can come across in this genre. She is represented as independent and a career orientated woman. However her drawbacks would most probably be that she constantly talks about the lack of a 'man' in her life which can sometimes get really strenuous for the audience to watch. Understandable she is in her mid 30's but getting involved with the wrong men and than crying her heart out with not getting things right in her life sounds like a child not getting they're favorite toy for their birthday. This to me is a wrong representation of woman in the genre. To this date this film has either become a mockery for film critics and audiences alike or they have praised Renee Zellwegar's performance what ever be it this film still either stands to irrtate audiences or watch when they probaly feel extremely down.

Romantic Comedy films have since become sterotypically like that following the trend of women being reliant on the man for something even though they are shown as 'independent'.

Men in Romantic Comedies are seen as the prey to the females 'predetory' advances which always some how seem to end up wrong in contemporary rom-com's. However many rom-com's represent the male protagonists who are opposite the female lead to be careless about women and their hearts. They are shown to be womanizing, players who use women to satisfy themselves than leave as soon as they become 'bored'.

An example of this is Hugh Grants character Daniel Cleaver who is an unforgiving womanizer and never takes a relationship (if that what it could be called) seriously and cheats on Bridget with another work colleague.

Homosexual characters are hardly ever shown in romantic comedies and if they are they are portrayed as a joke or side kick which genrally brings comic action to the films. They usually if at all are hardly ever portrayed on screen or don't have that much screen presence. They hardly ever show affection on screen where as the hetrosexual couples do, the difference highly evident. There are only certain films that I can list as examples due to limited films made on this topic.

Here are certain examples:-

Must Love Dogs is a 2005 romantic comedy film, which involves a side homosexual relationship which is mentioned breifly and not focused on as a side story showing that this is just breifly hinted at.



I Love You Philip Morris is probably one the only romantic comedy film to portray a homosexual relationship between to protagnists as the main storyline of the film. The film shows Jim Carrey's character fall in love with Ewan McGregor's character and the different events that follow them throughout the film making them seperate and reconcial throughout the film. However it only had a limited release grossing around $20 million.

 The Broken Hearts Club: a romantic comedy, is a 2000 romantic comedy film, which deals with  issues throughout the film all surrounding homosexual relationships. The film focus's on universal themes of romance, acceptance and family as opposed to serious issues like AIDS, coming out and sex which are more controversial and sterotypical topics that are covered in LGBT films. The film got a limited release and only ended up grossing $2,019,121.
Overall homosexual characters are hardly portrayed in romantic comedy films due to public acceptance and them finding it's a bit too post mordern to be shown in films in the 21st century today. If films are released they get limited releases therefore not finding a wider audience to view the films. They are mainly treated as independent films.

Posted by Bansari Raval

Character Types in Romantic Comedies

In romantic comedies the way the characters are portrayed in each movie is extremely similar; this is so that they are seen as the conventional romantic comedy character. It is usually about a guy that gets all the girls that he wants when he wants and a girl who is extremely pretty not like most of the girls this and is not so interested in him at first or doesn't show it and this is what makes him chase after her and want to eventually start dating her. Moreover, there is usually an ex-girlfriend in the movie that instantly does not like the ‘new girl’ that has her ex-boyfriends attention and tries to get in their relationships way either with her popularity and her friends or just being mean and making her look like a fool. A major example of this conventional type of movie is Mean Girls you have Cady (red head) is the new girl and then Regina (blonde to the left) is the ex-girlfriend. This type of conventional teenage romantic comedy happens all the time and is very common. Another example is Bratz its is the exact same thing however the change is in the scene, the characters, actors, script and a few other things but everything else is pretty much the same.

In addition in conventional movies like above there is always the ex-girlfriend or current girlfriends, friends that she has to help her look more intimidating but this is mainly used in high school based movies.

An unconventional romantic comedy is She’s The Man, the whole movie is done through a girl being around the guy she likes as a herself and pretending to be her twin brother at a football school (being the man). This allowed Viola (girl) to get the boy she likes through also being her brother Sebastian. This movie is not the mainstream romantic comedy that comes to people’s minds when they think about romantic comedies.

Posted by Guleed Hashi

Narrative Structure's in Romantic Comedies

Narrative stands for a process of telling a story. Narrative theories can be found in wide range of genre's, sometimes without you even realising that it consists of the theory. When writers write a story they tend to use these theory's as a base of what they may include in their story. My main focus will be four theorists who theories sudied the way narrative works in film intensively. Till this date these theories are relavent for the industry and types of film they make. In my case I will be looking at how these theories are found in the romantic comedy genre.

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory of Narrative

Todorov is a franco-bulgarian philosopher. He studied fairy tales to come up with the following theory:-

1. Equilibruim-A state of normality
2. Disruption-An event that disrupts the normality
3. Recognition-The hero recognises the disruption
4. Complications-The hero meets problems in trying to restore the the equilibruim
5. New Equlibrium-The hero restores a new state of normality  

All romantic comedy films tend to follow this structure making it an typical convention. Out of many films here is an example:-

The Break Up (2006) staring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn

Equilibruim-Gary Grobowski and Brooke Meyers (central characters) meet at a game, go on a date, start dating each other.
Disruption-They start argueing, with Brooke saying 'why can't you do this one little thing for me?' which leaves her feeling unappreciated, with Gary's  perceived immaturity and unwillingness to work on improving their relationship.He is frustrated by Brooke’s perceived controlling, perfectionistic attitude, and expresses his desire to have a little more independence
Recognition-They both fall out and break up, since none of tehm want to move out of their condo, they compromise and live as roomates. However they do things to provoke each other.
Complications-They both end up pushing each other to the limit. Eventually Gary tries to win her back by cleaning the condo and preparing a fancy meal. But Brooke cries and says she doesn't feel the same way. They than part ways with Brooke taking a tour around Europe and Gary taking an more active interest in his tour gudie business.
New Equlibrium- They both meet again coincidently with Gary bringing home some groceries and Brooke on her way to a meeting. After they akwardly catch up with what they are doing in their lives, they part ways but each glances back over their shoulder and they share a smile.

Vladimir Propp's Charcter Roles

Propp was a sovient formalist scholar, who studied fairy tales as well and recognised a set of stock charcters in every story.

The Hero-the character who seeks something

The Villain-who opposes the hero's quest

The Doner-gives hero a magical property

The Dispatcher-sends the hero on his quest

The False Hero-disrupts the hero's quest

The Helper-helps the hero

The Princess-the hero's reward

Her father-who rewards the hero

The Princess Bride (1987) is a cliche example of these stock characters, which are found in this film:-
 

Cary Elwes-Westley, a farmboy and Buttercup's love interest. (The Hero)
Robin Wright-Buttercup, Princess of Florin and Westley's love interest. (The Princess)
Chris Sarandon-Prince Humperdinck, heir to the throne of Florin, who becomes engaged to Buttercup. (The Villain)
Wallace Shawn as Vizzini, a self-described criminal genius of Sicilian origin and the employer of Inigo and Fezzik. (The False Hero)
Billy Crystal as Miracle Max, the last miracle worker in Florin, who was fired by Humperdinck many years ago, and saves Westley's life to get revenge on the Prince. (The Doner)
Margery Mason as The Ancient Booer, a woman in Buttercup's dreams. (The Helper)

 

Claude Levi-Staruss Binary Opposites

 

Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist. Levi-Strauss claimed that stories can only exisit with Binary Opposites, which are elements aganist each other, for example,

 

Macro Binary Opposites with in the story:-

• Hero vs. Villan 
• Protagnist vs. Antagonist
• Motivator vs. Observer
• Empowred vs. Victim

 

Micro Binary Oppositions wih in the story:-

• Woman vs. Man
• Strong vs. Weak
• Old vs. Young
• Rich vs. Poor

 

The Proposal shows certain binary oppositions such as:-

     Boss vs. Employee

           Empowred vs. Victim

  Woman vs. Man

In the film Ryan Reynolds character Andrew Paxton is constantly in conflict with his boss Sandra Bullock's character Margarate Tate.

 

Roland Gérard Barthes Codes

 

Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician. He explored how an audience decodes a text and outlined a list of codes that we all use to construct meaning from a text.

1. Engima Code-anything that sets up a question of a mystery
2. Action Code-actions and behaviour in the text that are universally understood (e.g. a fist fight)
3. Semic Code-the way characters, events, settings are ascribed meaning by the culture making the text
4. Symbolic Code-use of binary oppostions or psychological symbols
5. Cultural Code-codes that are understood throughout the world

Romantic comedies are pretty straightforward to understand so they hardly ever have codes in them to crack or solve. However all romantic comedies have the Cultural Code; the code is love, which is understood all around the world. They even include the Semic Code the culture making the text, so e.g. the type of setting affects how the story is told being an factor.

Many romantic comedies explore the cultural and symbolic codes here are a few examples:-

Posted by Bansari Raval

Sound Analysis in Romantic Comedies

Sound plays a huge part in as to why the rom-com genre is immensely successful. Their enduring popularity and way to recreate themselves is partially due to the soundtrack which helps the genre grab the audience's attention. The film will stereotypically start with a non-diegetic soundtrack score. The soundtrack usually will be either pop music or jazzy but it is always light hearted and upbeat. It plays in the background while we are introduced to the central character. Than while the non-diegetic score will play in the background the diegetic sound which is dialogue in the form of a voice over will typically take over.

Jerry Maguire (1996) film staring Tom Cruise and Renee Zellwegar had a really successful soundtrack. Their use of the song Secret Garden by Bruce Springsteen helped the song reach 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 due to the exposure it got from the film.

Love Actually (2003) soundtrack made the film a success. The soundtrack reached in the top 40 of the US Billboard 200 in and ranked no 2 in 2004.

While You Were Sleeping (1995) is an example of where non-diegetic sound plays in the background and diegetic sound in the form of a voice over from the central character plays in the background as well.

Posted By Bansari Raval

Editing Analysis in Romantic Comedies

Editing in Romantic Comedies tends to be simple. Looking at many rom-coms and finding that the two main types of editing techniques used are Straight Cuts and Cross Cuts. Straight cuts are used to keep conunity to the story, so it carry's on flowing. Cross Cuts may be used to establish a certain action happening at two different locations. The pace of the editing will be slow however subtle and significant changes do occur throughout the film. Such as when the character starts to fall in love with someone the pace of the editing will increase to show this change.

Posted by Bansari Raval

Mise-en-Scene Analysis in Romantic Comedies

The term Mise-en-Scene originates from the french meaning 'what is put in the frame'. The term discusses the  types of lighting and colour, props/costumes,hair and make up, body language and facial expressions, position of the characters and anything else in the frame.

Their are certain colour's that can connote certain things:-
                                                          Red: rage,danger,danger,love,passion,desire,lust
                                                          Blue: calmness, tranquility,cold
                                                          Yellow: radiance, happiness,summer
                                                          Green: nature
                                                          White: purity,
These colour's typically are found in romantic comedies in order to associate certain things such as thoughts or feelings of the characters.

(500) Days of Summer (2009)      

In this scene from the film we see high key lighting an convention found in romantic comedies, used to brighten the atmosphere and add to cheery element of the rom-com. The colour's that are found in this scene are hints of yellow's and whites showing a livened up surrounding. The two characters in the scene are dressed up smartly indicating they are on date. The body language suggests they are comfortable with each other as they are staring into each others eyes and holding hands. There facial expression shows they are happy to be in each others company.

Notting Hill          

The lighting used in this scene is high key but in the middle, to set a warm ambiance to the scene. The colours used in the scene are majorly white in the background, in order to brighten up the scene, in this case not necessarily to connote something.The characters are dressed smartly again indicating to an gathering of some sort. However their body language and facial expression suggests they are comfortable with each other as they are smiling and two characters are shaking hands with each other.


Posted by Bansari Raval
          

Camera Shots Analysis in Romantic Comedies

Romantic Comedy's use typical camera shots in order to keep the story simple and easy to understand for the audience. This even adds to the fact that romantic comedies are usually female orientated therefore are stereo typically 'easy' to view and comprehend.

Common Camera Shots used in Romantic Comedies:-

Establishing Shot- This shot is used to set the scene and location of the story; where everything will take place. Pretty Woman uses many establishing shots to set it's location which is Beverly Hills, California. The opening shows the famous landmark Hollywood which automatically tells the audience where this film's location is. In Romantic Comedies these shots are usually shown from either the central characters point of view or are shown neutrally from no ones point of view. In Pretty Woman they are shown neutrally from no one's point of view.

Esatablishing Shots from Pretty Woman (1990)

Mid Shot- This shot is typically used to introduce the character to a more personal connection towards the audience so they get a better look at the protagonist. They can either be used throughout the romantic comedy or at certain scene's. These shots work well in showing body langauge; telling us how the chacrter fells without them having to speak.

An example from Sleepless in Seatle (1993) 

Close Up- The close up is typically used in Romantic Comedies to show the central characters feelings and emotions. They are usually a good shot to make the audience feel empathy towards the character.

Jennifer Lopez close up from The Back -Up Plan (2010)

Posted by Bansari Raval

Sub-Genre

The romance genre is a highly popular genre, however over the years films made in this genre have considerably decreased. the genre of films was highly popular when black and white films were made in Hollywood, also known as the Golden Age Period of Hollywood with critically alcliamed actors and actresses. The Romance genre branches out to many sub genre's.

Romantic Drama- these genre of films tend to include an obstacle the two lovers face which prevents them from falling in love or being together. Examples of these films include:- The English Patient, A Walk to Remember, Casablanca

Chick Flicks- These films are associated with romantic films that target the female audience. They may not have romance as a key theme in the film but revolve around a fenmale character and her trails and tribulations. Examples include:- Means Girls, She's the Man, Dirty Dancing

Romantic Action Comedies- These films bring together romance and action. The main protagnist are uaully aganist each other and finding ways to bring one another down. Examples of these films include:- Knight and Day, Mr and Mrs Smith, This Means War

Romantic Thriller- These films blend together the romance and thriller genre. examples of these films include:- The Tourist, The Bodygurad, The Adjustment Bureau

Romantic Comedies- also known as rom-coms are a sub-genre themselves coming from the Romantic genre and Comedy genre of films. They usually consist of light-hearted and humourous storylines that entertain the audience leaving them in a happy/cheerful mood.

Examples of Romantic Comedy Films

Posted by Bansari Raval