Our media product is a two minute introduction
to a romantic comedy. Our aim was to create a product that represented this
genre as well as challenged some of its conventions at the same time. We spent
many hours researching films of this genre, and the stereotypes that come with
this type of film. Films such as ‘love actually’, ‘Scott pilgrim vs. the world’,
‘500 days of summer’, and even ‘Shaun of the dead’ all contain many of the
typical conventions of a romantic comedy. A few of these typical romantic
comedy conventions are listed below:
· male and female protagonists (girl is popular, boy is unpopular)
· narration to open/set the scene
· the main setting is an urban environment
· there is at least one montage scene
· there is often a rival lover (sporty, popular boy) trying to take the girl
· the soundtrack is catchy and is often played during a montage
So how did we deal with these conventions?
First of all, male and female protagonists.
Romantic comedies will usually always consist of one boy and one girl who fall
in love. We kept this convention as it is a must have for a romantic comedy
(unless the story features a homosexual couple). To develop this however, we
made the girl the unlucky and unpopular one and from watching our video, it is
clear that she is not having such a good time.
In the Luke's edit of the video, there is
narration, but my final edit did not have any. I did not want it because I believe we needed to choose either montage or narration, and using both together, (in my opinion) does not work.
The setting of our film certainly sticks to the urban convention. It is set in the areas of Wymondham, Attleborough, and Norwich, which are our local urban communities. I think that films use this setting for this genre of film because it allows many situations to be set up from the landmarks, shops, and general activity that goes on around them. This is why we did not wish to change this convention.
A montage, in my opinion, is one of the most important features of a romantic comedy. It is an easy way to show a situation change, or often progression of a character in either a training montage, or a montage allowing the character to become more associated with the female protagonist he desires. In my film opening, the whole intro is a waking up montage. I chose to do this because it helped to set the scene, and show lots of information in a very short time.
One thing that we do not see in our film intro is a rival character. This is because this character is not often introduced into the film until a later situation.
Finally, the music. As I have said in posts before, music for a romantic comedy must be catchy and usually in a pop style genre. Our music works with this because it follows these conventions.
The setting of our film certainly sticks to the urban convention. It is set in the areas of Wymondham, Attleborough, and Norwich, which are our local urban communities. I think that films use this setting for this genre of film because it allows many situations to be set up from the landmarks, shops, and general activity that goes on around them. This is why we did not wish to change this convention.
A montage, in my opinion, is one of the most important features of a romantic comedy. It is an easy way to show a situation change, or often progression of a character in either a training montage, or a montage allowing the character to become more associated with the female protagonist he desires. In my film opening, the whole intro is a waking up montage. I chose to do this because it helped to set the scene, and show lots of information in a very short time.
One thing that we do not see in our film intro is a rival character. This is because this character is not often introduced into the film until a later situation.
Finally, the music. As I have said in posts before, music for a romantic comedy must be catchy and usually in a pop style genre. Our music works with this because it follows these conventions.
Looking back, I did end up following a majority of the conventions of a romantic comedy. I think that the parts in which I did challenge conventions I did so successfully and I would not change these if I was to do the project again.
No comments:
Post a Comment