Narrative Codes and Conventions of Romantic Comedy

Currently Romantic comedy is one of the most popular film genres there are. In 2008 comedy topped all other genres including action and thriller. Of course there are certain expectations you would expect to see in a Rom Com and they started in some of the very earliest Romantic Comedies such as The Apartment. The Apartment was made in 1960 and has which was a typical story line of “boy meets girl, boy looses girl, boy gets girl back”. This is a very basic story line however even to this day big Hollywood movies use this same method such as 500 Hundred Days of Summer, which is a more recent Rom Com being made in the year 2000 however it has the exact narrative of a film made in the early 60’s. However even those two separate films share the same narrative the substance of the film is very different, making each Romantic comedy different from the other.

Another film which was made in the early 80’s called Sixteen Candles, also contains roughly the same sort of story line however this time, instead of the boy winning the girl back the girl gets the boy back. This is slightly different to the “typical” romantic comedy however it still shares the same concept of two lovers meeting, having trouble and splitting up. This romantic comedy was aimed at teenagers so it includes things teenagers would be interested in such as adolescent love, young parties, school, cheating and other things that a stereo typical in a young persons life. Another more recent teen Rom Com called John Tucker Must Die, made in 2006 share similarities between the story line because the main characters are three young girls, in a school, who like to go to parties and things a “typical” young teenager would do, who find out their boyfriend has been cheating on them and swears revenge.

No matter what age the Rom Com’s target audience is the film will normally include an attractive male or female as the main actor because this will appeal to all ages and all sexes. The male is normally slightly dorky, however loveable and the female is usually quite sexy and independent (someone woman can resemble themselves in). I also found out in my question air that attractive characters are one of the main reasons why people watch Romantic Comedies so it is crucial the film includes them


Research into Romantic Comedies & Classification

2008 was a great year for the Box Office UK as it grew to a record £850 million. The top film of 2008 was Mamma Mia which is a romantic comedy and has gone down in history by becoming the highest grossing film of all time in the UK, which means romantic comedies becoming increasingly popular. Another romantic comedy which was in the top five best film releases of 2008 is Sex in the City which was made in the USA.

Four Weddings and a Funeral is an English romantic comedy which is the top independent UK film which shows that the public do enjoy watching romantic comedies even if they are independent. This is also inspirational for me and my media team as we will be an independent group making a romantic comedy.

Comedy is currently the UK’s favourite genre and making almost a quarter of the Box Office in 2008. Comedy was the dominate genre of films sold in 2008 accounting for around 22% o the market figure. The next genre was action with 18% of all sales. However although comedy did exceptionally well in 2008, it did perform as well as it did in 2007.

Comedy was again this year the top grossing genre which means comedy alone turned over £222.4 million, which was followed by action which achieved £203.7 million. Primarily, comedy did so well because of the record breaking Mamma Mia which was the highest grossing film of all time.

In 2008 the Box Office released 140 comedy films which toped all other genres, however only 7 romance films toped the UK box office which states that romance is not as popular has comedy, however merging the two genres it will be drawing two types of audience together so that will be increasing the amount of viewers.


Classification

All films in the UK must carry a classification indicating the age group suitable to view the film. The British Board of Film Classification classifies most of the films of the theatre, however some local authority’s also can grant their own classification.

The box office released 193 films and15 rating topped all other classifications. It also made the most gross profit at the box office. The top film of this classification was Sex in the City which is also a romantic comedy and classified 15 rated film. The lowest gross profit made at the box office was 18 rating which only turned made 0.1 million gross box office. This is because of the rude and offence nature of 18 classified films the audience is very restricted.

From the classification 15 and above the nature of the film contains much stronger material than any other younger classification. Most of the older classified the films (depending of what genre it is), are more likely to involve adult – oriented topics.

If the classification of the film is U rated, then the film is limited to what it can show. The film has to make sure that all the material showing is suitable for all ages and contains no material likely to harm or offend anyone of any age or culture.

PG classification is abbreviated for Parental Guidance. Which means young children are suitable to watch the film, however an adult should be present at the time because the child may feel uncomfortable at times as the film may contain mild, infrequent language or mild fantasy violence.

The next rating is 12A, which means 12 years of ages accompanied with an adult. This classification allows the film to have mild language, moderate violence and sex; it is also aloud to show drug use which is band from any younger rating.

Rating 15 is the next rating above 12A and there is a large gap between what can been shown in a 12A and a 15. 15 is currently the most popular rating of film mainly because the martial approved for the film is much stronger and can me more attacking/shocking. The language in a 15 can be a great deal stronger and the film can contain scenes of a sexual nature and strong violence.

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org/media/pdf/2/p/2009.pdf

Story Board And Making Of Production

The making of our short video:

I worked with a colleague of mine names Jaime Sugar as we were both doing a romantic comedy and we then decided to work together. At first when we got the equipment together set it up and found our location and everything seemed to be going well. We then realised the concentration, patience, and time we needed to record the short production. And realised it was more stressful then we thought it would be. Once the video had been completed and we watched it back, we had positive and negative feedback and we saw that the lighting in the production was dark at certain points but this could not have been helped due to natural lighting. we saw that the panning of the smoking shelter could have been done before we have a long shot of character A walking up towards the shelter which could have made the production look more understandable. people thought that the shots in the beginning looked a bit disjointed however overall people liked the match on action and the over the shoulder shot conversation between the characters and the production turned out good. If we where to improve the production we would wait for the natural lighting to become more clear so that you can see what is going on more in the production. It would be important that the character used contnuity in there clothes and accents. The different camera angles we used where long shot, close up, shot reverse, match on action, and medium close up. we panned around the shelter and we also did over the shoulder shot.

Above is the storyboard to our production.

Research Into Existing Products

Codes and Conventions of a Romantic Comedy.

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.

Romantic comdies are sexy, always habe happy endings, they involve deception and the hero alwats pretends to be something there not.

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.