Introduction & Codes And Conventions Of Romantic-Comedy

This is a blog that contains all the media work i have carried out over my AS year, it is going to contain my class and study notes and detailed descriptions of three different film genres - romantic-comedy, thriller and horror
The first genre i shall cover is Romantic-Comedy
In this post i shall cover the codes and conventions of this genre focusing on:

• opening
• marketing (posters/DVD and CD covers)
• camera/editing/sounds/mise en scéne
• narrative
• connotation and denotation

i shall include examples of British and American rom-com.  These include

• P.S I Love You
• Knocked Up
• Cars

So these are the codes and conventions of romantic-comedy (i shall make a post for the other films this is a generalisation of rom-com)

Opening.
The opening to a rom-com can be varied.  It can either begin with a production and/or distribution logo, sometimes edited to fit the genre of film i.e it could be made red and pretty for love, or it could break in half (like a heart, rom-com).  Then in some rom-com's there's also a prequel.  A prequel is something shown before the movie, to explain a back story behind anything from characters or a symbolic object.  This is a narrative device, (however you could argue that if it uses a symbolic object it is a plot device as props are plot devices).  During prequels a variety of characters tend to be shown majority of whom will be the main focus throughout the plot, the prequels introduces them quickly and immediately allows the audience to know what this character or characters are like.

Marketing. 
Rom-coms are marketed in a variety of ways and each advertisement shows us it is a rom-com and why here are three examples (the three mentioned previously)

This is a poster from the film P.S I Love You (2007) the writing is shown as a messy handwriting, which hints to the background of the film, i.e a letter.  The writing is also written in red which shows love and passion, which again backs up the film genre.  The writing underneath the title reads "sometimes there's only one thing left to say", which again informs the reader what this film is going to be based on, the imagery also shows a couple happy together, so they are obviously the couple in love.  There are however things that occur in the film that you wouldn't expect based on the genre being shown, which is shown in the poster but unless you know the background of the movie would not fully understand.

 This poster is for the film Knocked Up (2007) the title is very big and bold grabbing your attention, in slang most people would know that 'knocked up' is a term used in reference to pregnancy, however, the image and terminology shows that this is not a happy or planned pregnancy as the couple involved look distant and awkward with each other.  Another piece of imagery that hints towards the pregnancy for people who aren't familiar with the slang term used is that they are in a waiting room together, and there is an image of a growing baby inside the womb behind them.  This film goes completely against the stereotypical rom-com genre, but still contains all of the necessary codes and conventions of the genre.  The small writing located in the top left corner reads "From Judd Apatow, Director of "The 40-Year Old Virgin" comes a comedy about a one night stand, that became something more."  This again hints to the plot of the story, without completely telling the story before it has happened.

This is a poster for Cars (2006), although initially this sort of film would class as a childs film i felt that it suited the codes and conventions of rom-com perfectly, it involves a car who gets waylaid from his bid for greatness and ends up in radiator springs, there he meets the town folk and at first they all get off on the wrong foot, McQueen is forced to help out around the town as a sentence for ruining the road and while finishing his work he befriends the towns folk and becomes very close to sally.  I thought i'd add cars into my Rom-Com's so i get a wider view of Rom-Coms, as now i have two for a more adult audience and one for a younger audience.

Camera, Editing, Sound and Mise En Scéne.

CameraInitially in a rom-com i have noticed that they like to use establishing shots to show where they are, for example P.S I Love You is set in New York and shows an establishing shot of the golden gate bridge, and Knocked Up shows two establishing shots, one of the males house and one of the females house, showing the differences between them, they also use a lot of close-up shots with one of two people focused on, this is to show the relationship between two people, and their closeness.  In some rom-coms they also use close-up shots of props as a plot device, such as an engagement ring or in P.S I Love You a tape recorder and letters.

Editing

Shot-reverse-shot is also used in alot of rom-coms to show relationships and conversations between characters and invite us into their private moments, cross-cutting is also often used as well as sometimes match-on-action.

Sound

Diagetic and Non-Diagetic sounds are used throughout rom-coms like most films, the can be anything from a door closing and high heels, to music over the action to show the current mood in that situation.

Mise En Scéne

Mise En Scéne is vital to a rom-com as it can completely set the scene within seconds it can tell you whether a man is having an affair in a hotel room, or if he's on a date with his wife, it can tell you everything about what is going on and helps us to understand the story further by keeping us informed of the actions.  For example, if a man were to be having an affair, and we weren't yet sure on who these characters are, the mise en scéne can hint towards it before it's even been announced.

Narrative.
The narrative of a rom-com is simple..boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, girl and boy split, girl and boy receive closure.
So, in a little more detail, two people shall meet and form feeling for each, they shall then spend a wide amount of time enjoying these feeling they then break up for whatever reason and then they meet up at the end to either create a happy ending for the audience or a sad one depending on whether or not they get back together.
A rom-com isn't a genre in its own right, it is a mixture of two separate genres with their own codes and conventions, rom-com is a sub-genre mixing comedy and romance and is also often referred to as a 'chick flick'

Connotation and Denotation
Connotation is a literal meaning of something being shown, whereas denotation is the underlying meaning.  This is used often in rom-coms as it can help the audience to understand what is going on and the deeper meanings for example in knocked up there is a start scene where there is a husband and wife, the wife is in the bed and the husband is on the floor, in connotation, this could show that there is trouble in the relationship, in denotation, this could show that the trouble between them has been going a long time and is testing the values of their current relationship.