A Prologue introduction into love themes – Occasionally you hear voice over the Main characters which introduces the film. The Credits continue the love film.
Different styles of text e.g.: hearts, flowers, wedding bells, etc.
“Boy Meets Girl” Two Protagonist Characters – Man and Woman hesitant to become romantically involved. There are Hints that they may be a good love match. Some form of an argument or disagreement is likely to occur. And they ultimately reunite. And one of the two makes the grand “gesture” to Live Happily Ever After.
There’s always a hero and the hero must be involved in some sexual or romantic pursuit. The hero usually is desperate to win or win back the lover of another character. The hero must pursue some additional visible desire. The characters in the romantic comedy never find there situation humorous.
Opening Sequences:
Happy Music
Title
Style and Title
Party in built up area
Split up with previous girlfriend and meets a new girl
Landscape
Meet by accident
Meets two main characters: 2 different locations.
The typical settings of a romantic comedy are:
High School
America
Clubs/Bars
Holiday
Bedroom
Restaurant
Dining Room
House
Work
The typical characters of a romantic comedy are:
Cheating men/women
Uncommitted men/women
Hero
Protagonist
Children for previous marriages
Geeky boys/girls
Cheerleaders/Jocks
High School Characters
Mother/Father Figure
Clumsy Character
Character that falls in love too easily
The reference where I got this information from: http://www.screenplaymastery.com/RomanticComedies.htm
The Camera Angles in Romantic films start off on a very low level, you see an overhead of the main characters, the audience are engaged more when extreme close ups are made. Close-ups are made on the characters emotions and facials expressions; we see mid-shots, and wide-shots which show the audience what is happening around the main characters in the film. Camera angles are used in Romantic films such as an eye line match where it portrays two characters gazing into each other eyes. The audience see Transitions, we see slow fading when it goes from a sexual love scene to the next day when they wake up, the transitions also fade in and out this is so that the editing is not visibly seen by the audience and there more engaged on what is happening in the film then the editing. There is also a shot reverse shot this is used to show two characters speaking to each other. Continuity is used so that the film makes sense. The characters can not change clothes or have one house and then the next day have another house because the audience would become confused and loose concentration on the concept of the film. The speed that is consumed is slow motion this is mainly done to represent two people falling in love at a certain speed.
Pretty Woman
The film pretty woman opens with a black screen with large font writing saying the names of which the film is associated with. In the background you can hear diagetic sound of voices which is the characters. The editing then becomes visible as it fades into two hands and the diagetic dialogues you can hear in the background make more sense as you can see what is happening. We don't see any faces until 20 seconds into the film at first we only see hands. This visual effect leaves the audience thinking whose hands they are and what is going to happen next. There is diagetic sound again as a piano is played in the background of where they are. different titles are being displayed during the sequence it is the opening names of characters and who is featuring in the film. we see a man talking on the phone further on into the film and the camera gradually zooms into him and his conversation as he walks over to the window to continue his conversation the camera tracks around him, we see his reflection in the window. We hear diagetic sound as the woman on the other side of the line can be heard so we as an audience understand what the conversation is about clearly. We can tell 'Edward' is a central character as the camera stays based on him further on into the film. we can tell the film is romantic through the diagetic sound of the piano in the background and the venue of where it is set. it looks like a posh mansion and the people around all talk posh the males have suits on and the women are dressed in heels and dresses. The flowers and food around on tables make the evening look romantic. we can tell that the people are wealthy as when Edward runs out the building he goes to a car a man who runs after him asks him why he doesn't take the limo. We gradually see how wealthy these people are when we see the sign of Hollywood and the man shouts that Beverly hills is down the hill. The camera is tracking with the car as he drives up the hill and the camera zooms out into a cutaway of the sign Hollywood. non diagetic sound is heard of music whilst he drives his car we hear diagetic sound of the engine and the car skidding. the camera tilts down on the car and tracks along with it as he drives it then gradually zooms out further into the bushes and then fades into a view of the city and titles then appear again on the screen introducing the main characters. non diagetic sound is heard again but louder and the camera continues to smoothly pan across the city.
Notting Hill
The film start off with a black screen and non-diegetic sound is heard a voice over and cheering in the background then atmospheric music begins to play and the black screen turns into blur and a close up of a woman’s face appears .
Medium shots and close ups appear of the woman’s lifestyle these shots are seen through the editing of fade inn’s and fade outs we see transactions of images of magazine covers with her face on them the camera composition goes into shallow focus , the camera movement is the zooming into and out of the woman’s lifestyle. The film then begins and we see the title ‘Notting Hill’ a voice over is heard and its of a man telling his story and we see a man walking along the London streets, we automatically assume that its him who’s telling the story the camera begins to dolly across the streets as we begin to see different characters, we continue to hear atmospheric music in the background, the camera angles goes from medium shot of a drunken man looking at his tattoo into a fade out of a hair shop and a woman coming out fades out continue showing us different views of London Notting hill. We then see that the voiceover that was heard in the background of the non-diegetic music was the man who was walking around London, he walks into a house on the street and then the music slowly fades out we see a long shot of him at his front door and he begins to put a bike up a wall and he then shouts his lodgers name who then comes out of another room into the long shot. This turns into a medium shot as they begin to talk. We see an over the shoulder shot of a conversation between the man and his but we only see the over the shoulder shot from the lodgers point of view when the man begins to talk the camera shot becomes an establishing shot. This continues and then we hear non-diegetic sound again of the music in the background and the man begins to walk us to his work place we see this through a wide shot and the camera pans along with him he then start to tell us what he is doing in the voice over this is also heard amongst the music. The mise-en-scene is seen, the location is set in the heart of London Notting Hill.
Four Weddings And A Funeral
The films begins an invitation on a black screen in white writing, saying ‘’POLYGRAM FILMED ENTERTAINMENT and CHANNEL FOUR FILMS invite you to” and the titles continue, we hear non diegetic sound in the background of atmospheric music the black screen fades into a bunch of flowers on a book with the title ‘Four Weddings and A Funeral ’we then see a establishing shot of a man in bed sleeping his alarm goes off an we see a medium shot of the alarm and his hand turning it off the camera then –pans across with him back to his bed and we see a close up of his tired face. We then see another shot of another male in his bed sleeping and his alarm also goes off, this is a medium shot and we see from a low angle him switching off the alarm. The camera then goes into another shot of a woman coming out of a door into a room this is in a long shot, we then see her looking in the mirror, it then goes onto a close up of a fry up being made on a hob we see a medium shot of a man getting ready another man wiping another mans face and them laughing, it then goes back to the first shot of the male sleeping and he is still sleeping in his bed, we then see another shot which is a long shot of a woman walking down the stairs the camera then pans with the woman into another room. The camera then is set outside and we see a car in a long shot which then becomes a close up and the car stops, there a men on the side of the road next to the car and they begin to get in the car, non diegetic sound can be heard of the atmospheric music and we then see a medium shot of London bridge and the cars driving towards there destination. We then go back to the first male we seen and he is still sleeping he then wakes up and picks up his clock he realises the time and jumps up then shot then goes straight into another room where we see him running towards his sister and waking her up this is a medium shot. The editing then jump cuts to outside where we see him and his sister in a car at a wide shot. We hear them talking and then she says ‘it only goes at 40 miles and hour’ the camera then jump cuts again to a point of view of the back of the car driving very fast on a motor way diegetic sound can be heard of the engine.
Love Actually
The audience see the film love actually start with a fade into a medium shot of people in an airport it then goes straight into where a girl and a boy are hugging and begin to kiss, we then see another medium shot of children running towards some one we assume is there mother we hear we hear non diegetic music and a voice over then appear we hear him taking about what he thinks about the world whilst he is speaking we see loads of people hugging and kissing showing love to another and that where the title ‘love actually’ comes from. The screen then goes black and fades into a man with headphones on and his in front of a microphone this is seen through a close up shot. He begins to sing and we hear voices backing his voice we then see a long shot of 3 people singing along with him. It then goes into a medium shot and we see three men in a studio talking to the main man who was singing. There is then a re-take of the song they were singing and we see an aerial shot of the man who is singing sitting on a chair whilst he is singing. It then goes into a close up of him and he says ‘this is shit isn’t it?’ the man in the booth replies and then the scene jump cuts to a point of view of the London city. It then continues to a low angle view looking up into the shopping malls ceiling view ‘5 weeks till Christmas’ in writing appears on the screen and we see a long shot of a busy street in London and people shopping. Non diegetic sound can still be heard in the background as the music plays and the different scene are seen. We then see a close up of a draw being open and a man walking around his room and we then hear his girlfriends voice as she on a bed and is seen through a medium shot he kisses her on the head and wee see this through a high angle shit and we then see a over the shoulder shot of there conversation. The man then exits the room and we see a medium shot of the door he walks through. It then jump cuts to outside another house and it jumps again to a scene where a man is in his house on his laptop and he looks stressed with his hands on his head we can see this through a medium shot and non-diegetic sound can still be heard. We see him pick up the phone and make a phone call when the person on the other side begins to talk we see a shot of her walking in her kitchen with a pepper in her hand. We then see the woman and man come off the phone and an over the shoulder shot of the woman and her daughter talking.
