RomCom Research

In todays lesson we watched various films in the genre of 'RomCom'. We watched RomCom films that are classic, typical examples of films from this genre. We watched; 'Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason', which showed a female protagonist going through the stages of a relationship, haplessly. The comedy element remains throughout this film, and even the most serious of scenes make you giggle at times.
The next film we watched was 'About a Boy', which was a good choice to watch after 'Bridget Jones' as in this film, there was a male protagonist. So instantly we go to see how the two different genders are portrayed differently in similar situations. Even though this film had a male protagonist, it still had many common traits of a conventional RomCom film.
After this, we watched 'Music and Lyrics' and I found it to be quite a disappointing RomCom. This was because, in the previous two i had watched, during the opening minutes, you instantly knew the genre, but in this film, they used an unconventional opening-which was very good, as it was different and got the comedy element in there straight away. But, even after the initial opening sequence, the plot and script was poor already.
Then lastly, we watched 'Rumour Has It.' Which immediately had a common convention of a typical RomCom, and the audience were informed of the genre straight away as the romantic element was shown immediately-mainly through script. Out of all of the films, i found this one dragged on a bit at the beginning, and the opening sequence simply continued on too long.I found the opening to this RomCom a bit more serious than others also.
There were three main similarities found in the four RomComs we watched. We believe, that these three similariities are essential conventions of a traditional RomCom film. The first similarity, and probably the most obvious, and most important in terms of getting both elements of the genre across to the audience straight away, would be a sort of hypocritical, contradictory commentary that is similar, and acts like a thought track to the main protagonist. Not only does this convention provide comedy, but it is a way of letting the audience into the mind of the main character. This convention, makes the audience feel as if they all know things that they shouldn't, or aren't meant to know-giving the audience a real sense of involvement in the film. Also, even if the protagonist is just talking, and the commentary isn't acting as a thought track, they talk in a very chatty, informal way-as if they had known the audience for years. In addition, the protagonist at times advises the audience, and almost speaks to them as if they are speaking 'words of wisdom.'
A second convention that we picked up on, is a sort of sarcastic mock of the worlds ideallic view of love. This provides a comedy element also, as it is mocking what the audience, supposedly, believe love will/could be like. This convention is normally placed at the beginning of the film, generally in the open sequence, where it is made clear this isnt accurate. This element also involves the audience as the protagonist and other characters are mocking what the audience's views are supposed to be. This convention, i feel, is important as it shows the audience that even though the RomCom is most likely to have an ideallic ending, it isn't a smooth path all along the way. This convention connotes that, although they show it to a 'perfect extreme', as perfect as it is-its seriously nothing like real life.
The last similarity that we all notifed was the credits, and how they remained the same throughout all the RomComs we watched. The credits seem to unassumingly appear and dissapear on the screen, not distracting from the action at all. They are simple,aren't anything special as nothing 'flashy' is displayed through transtitions and other editing techniques. I feel that this editing style is used so the audience pay attention to the opening sequences, which seem to be rather important in this genre, in terms of grabbing the audience as soon as possible-generally by making them laugh. If the editing of the credits were made into a big deal, then the audience would have to take notice of them, and the action would instantly become irrelevant.
As a group, we have made a decision that these three conventions are like rules we have to stick to, and are elements that need to be included at one point in our final piece. There are certain elements of the films we viewed that we would like to incorporate into our piece- the majority of them being comedic moments. But, also, one of the RomComs used alot of music which is an aspect we are really, really keen on using-to hopefully provoke emotions amongst the audience. (Mainly laughter.)