Codes and Conventions: Genre Rom-Com

Titles that fade in and out. In LA titles at point to not disturb any action/dialogue

the love triangle is the main foundatiuon of many rom coms,  main characters often have many flaws but more exaggerated.

There is often a main love intrest that we see before the second love intrest appears.. in bridget jones' diary the love between colin firth's character and the title character is presented by colin firths chararcter turning around well before bridget reaches him, and him looking at her.

An example of an atypical Rom-Com is About a Boy, this is what wrtiter tamar jeffer mcdonald, calls a homme-com, this is where the main character is a male as opposed to a female, the make uo of the film is styill the same, with the mans character flaws being exagerated.

in BJD Bridget Jones humiliates herself in front of the audience, this increases the relatability to the character and makes them seem more human.



original love intrest to start
second love intrest to create conflict, generally both are similar, but don't get along.
friend to give advise

non-diegetic audio to start often linking the final ident, as seen in our general codes and conventions

Codes and Conventions: General

We have looked at the following films:
Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007)
Bridget Jones' Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001)
The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998)
The Warriors (Walter Hill, 1979)
Now You See Me (Louis Leterrier, 2007)
Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee (Shane Meadow, 2009)


we have seen that the order of the idents is often based upon the a budget

Often there is an audio bridge linking the idents to the opening scene, for examples we have looked at the audio bridge was only between the final ident and the opening scene. In three of our examples, Hot Fuzz, Bridget Jones' Diary, and The Warriors, there is an audio bridge between the shot in the opening sequence.

The titles would commonly start with "production company presents" and/or "a director's film".
The order of the next set of titles often starts with the main actor/actress, and then finishing with producer and director.

The titles will often be formatted to fit the genre. For example the titles for Le-Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee, who's titles are cartoon-ish and not serious and have been adapted to fit the genre.

We have noticed that there is often an audio bridge between the final ident and the opening scene with non-diegetic music often fitting the genre, in Bolt we hear music-box like music that continues. Whereas in Bride of Chucky the music adds tension with it's stops and starts [EG]

The mis-en-scene provide exposition on the characters, the type of film and the setting. These are shown throughout our examples, in Le-Donk and Scor-Zay-Ze the mis-en-scene show us that the characters are messy and slobs. In The Truman show the shot is very basic and is cluttered with bottles along the bottom, showing the 'fly on the wall' type style of the film. In the Warriors the mis-en-scene shows the type of area that the film is set in, the graffiti and the grimey floors show that the film is set in a stereotypical downtown area.

In Now you see me a narrative enigma is introduced, with a mysterious figure in a hoodie standing at the end of each character's introduction. In Bridget Jones' Diary, binary opposites are introduced, Bridget's mum lives in the countryside, whereas Bridget herself lives in london. Throughout the opening of Hot fuzz equilibrium is introduced with simon pegg's character being introduced as being the superior cop and excelling at his job.

Genre Research: Clueless

Clueless

Amy Heckerling, 1995 (Rom-Com, 12)

Produced by: Paramount Pictures

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Budget: $12m

Box Office: £3m (UK), $49m (US)

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: 81%

Synopsis:

The film follows popular girl Cher Horowitz as she reaches her 16th birthday and searches for love.

Idents & Titles:  

There is one ident, for Paramount, it is linked by an audio bridge (of Kids in America) to the title and the opening shot, which is of the main character and her friends in a car. 

Following this is a montage, showing the protaganist and her friends at parties, shopping, and in school. The shots used to demonstrate the parties clearly support the male gaze theory, and it can be argued that they are only there to make the movie appeal to men. The music fades out to a voiceover from the main character. It sets up her character as well as her dad and her maid. 

She then, while driving her car (which she doesn't know how to drive properly), runs over a flower pot, introducing a comedic element to the film. She also introduces her best friend Dionne.

They are signified to be friends through the way in which they mirror each others action.

 She is presented as being desired by all the boys by having them look back at her as she passes.

This is where I thought the opening stopped. (4:12)

AP: Podcast 1

Amber is taking on the task of keeping you up to date with the production process.
This is her first podcast.

Genre Research: About a Boy

About a Boy

Paul and Chris Weitz, 2002 (Rom-Com, 12)

Produced by: Universal Pictures

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Budget: $27M

Box Office: £16M ($40M

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

Synopsis:

This rom-com is slightly atypical, in the fact that it features a central protaganist who is a man. The movie follows a man as he chases a single mum and bonds with her son, an outsider.

Paul and Chris Wietz are named

Titles:

The titles are mostly similar to previous ones I have looked out. Notable titles include the 3 main stars before the title of the movie itself and 'A Paul Wietz and Chris Wietz film', the latter title fits with the aueter theory.

The first we see of the main character

Arguably the second main character

Points about the opening:

The opening features a soft guitar song over the young boy's parts which picks up over the main characters parts. It also has a voiceover over the opening. This voiceover provides exposition on the characters and how they feel at the start of the movie. There is a general lack of romantic elements through the opening, though it is clear, though the cutting between the two (and the foreshadowing of hugh grant holding a baby) that the two characters will be link, most likely though the boys mum, as hugh grants character is shown to have an interest in single movies, as shown at the end of the opening.

foreshadowing the fatherly role

Genre Research: Love Actually

Love Actually

Richard Curtis, 2003 (Rom-Com, 15)

Produced by: Universal Studios

Distributed by: Universal Studios

Budget: $30M

Box Office: £36M ($59M in US)

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: 63%

Synopsis:

Love actually is another atypical rom-com. This time however, it is because we follow many interlinked characters as each of them find love. 

Titles:

The idents starts with Universal, then Studio Canal, and finally, Working Title . Each have their own audio.

The titles are not very noteworthy but include the phrases

'Universal Studios and Studio Canal present'

'A Working Title production'

'In association with DNA Films'

Points about the opening:

The movie title is presented in a unique way

The movie starts with a voiceover, which says the words 'love actually is all around', as these words are said they fade onto screen, all the other words fade away, leaving only 'love actually' on screen.

In the recording studio

The movie then cuts to a recording studio, where a christmassy song cover is being recorded, which leads nicely on, through an audio bridge, to a very quick montages of shots. While quick, this montage provides a lot of exposition. Through shots of the London eye, Trafalgar square and a christmas tree at a shopping centre the location and time of year are provided. This makes it clear how much information can be given through a short amount of time by using a montage.

As there are many characters, who each have their own 'story' to be set up the opening could easily be very overwhelming. However, the producers have avoided overwhelming people by carefully choosing what to show. It also helps that many characters are interlinked already, meaning multiple stories can be shown at the same time. This is particularly notable as it highlights the importance of good mise-en-scene.

The first montage shot

Second montage Shot

another montage shot

Genre Research: Bridget Jones's Diary: Edge of Reason

Bridget Jones's Diary: Edge of Reason

Sharon Maguire, 2001 (Rom-Com, 15)

Produced by: Working Title/Studio Canal/Universal Pictures/Miramax Films

Distributed by: Universal Studios

Box Office: £35M($40M in US)

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: 27%

Length of Opening: 6:30 mins. until end of titles, story has been set up by 10:05 mins.

Synopsis:

The second installment of the Bridget Jones series. his film continues 4 weeks after the first film. It focuses upon the continuing relationship between Bridget and Mark Darcy, but Bridget is already feeling uncomfortable over it.

Universal's Ident

Idents & Titles:

There are 4 idents, one for each of the production companies, Each features it's own theme or no sound at all, aside from working title's which has an audio bridge of non-diegetic music. We start with Universal, as they are the distributors and also have most likely inversted the most money out of the production companies. The final ident comes from Working Title, Most likely because it is a subsidiary to Universal.

First title, ordered (most likley)
by monetary input

The first title to come onto screen is "Universal Pictures and Studio Canal and Miramax Films present" The Company names have been made bigger and are written in a serif font, almost as though it has been written by hand. The rest is written in all caps, and sans-serif. 

The way the main 3 cast-member's
names came onto screen.

We then have the opening scene, which will be discussed later. In the next scene we get the 3 main cast members names, these come onto screen as though written out by a pen, they last about 3 seconds.  Over the next scene the remainder of the main cast's names are shown, along with important crew members, they fade in and out, and are as follows:

BRIDGET JONES: the Edge of Reason
Jim Broadbent
Gemma Jones
Jacinda Barrett
James Callis-Shirley Henderson-Sally Phillips (These were presented over lines, each hyphen represents the start of the next line)
Neal Pearson-Jessica Stevenson
CASTING BY Michelle Guish
HAIR AND MAKE UP DESIGNER Graham Johnston
COSTUME DESIGNER Jany Temime
MUSIC BY Harry Gregson-Williams
MUSIC SUPERVISOR Nick Angel
PRODUCTION DESIGNER Gemma Jackson
(There was a pause here while Bridget Jones, having parachuted through out these credits, lands)
EDITOR Greg Hayden
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Adrian Biddle BSC
LINE PRODUCER Bernard Bellew
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Debra Hayward-Liza Chasin

Director's name

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY Helen Fielding
SCREENPLAY BY Andrew Davies AND-Helen Fielding AND-Richard Curtis AND- Adam Brooks
PRODUCED BY Tim Bevan-Eric Fellner-Jonathan Cavendish
DIRECTED BY Beeban Kidron (Stylised with an underline at the end of the name)

Genre Research: Heathers

Heathers

Michael Lehmann, 1988 (Rom-Com, 15)

Produced by: New World Pictures

Distributed by: New World Pictures

Budget: $3M

Box Office: $1M

Trailer, Wikipedia

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Synopsis:

This rom-com explores dark elements, such as murder and teen suicide. Set in a high school, it follows the activities of  Veronica Sawyer, her boyfriend Jason 'J.D.' Dean, and their association with the popular clique of heathers. 

The Ident

Idents & Titles: 

Titles

There is just one ident, for New World Pictures, that doesn't appear to be edited in any way to fit the genre. Using an audio bridge, it transitions into the titles, written with a serif, bold font that is white with a pink shadow and are on black.

Opening Scene: 

Opening Shot

The opening shot is of the red scrunchie being used to tie up Heather Chandler's (HC's) hair, this introduces the scrunchie as being a key plot element throughout the movie.

Crushing the flowers

Matching clothes and croquet

The music playing is Que Sera, Sera. Somewhat ironically as in the opening the heathers clique crush flowers, wich could be connoting the crushing of dreams. This is the start of the dark themes throughout the movie.

Hitting Veronica

Comedic elements are introduced through them playing croquet, with balls and hammers of matching colours with their outfits, as Heather McNamara (HM) says to HC 'It's your turn Heather' to which she replys 'No Heather it's Heather's turn' meaning Heather Duke (HD). The darkness of this movie is further emphasised when the camera reveals that they were hitting Veronica, who was buried up to her neck in the ground, with the croquet balls.

Staring across the lunch hall

There is also a voice over for the transition of this scene to the next.

Romantic elements are introduced with J.D. looking across the cafeteria ate Veronica as they eat, the two then share eye contact, with veronica being so distracted she walks into a person as they are sitting eating

Walking into a chair

I decided the opening ended at 10:43, when the cafeteria scene ended, as all foreseeable plot setups had ended and main characters had been introduced.