As our primary research begins, we must first and foremost identify our genre. The first genre we looked at is 'romantic comedy', commonly referred to as rom-com.
Some of the codes and conventions include:
- Target audience: teenagers (mainly girls)
- Happy ending (marriage and children)
- Typical male and female, heterosexual relationships
- Soft, romantic music
- Stereotypical gender/sexuality roles.
- Filmed in a big city/town location (e.g. London/New York)
Some popular examples of films in this genre include: The Proposal, Wedding Crashers, The Holiday and Love Actually.
Conforming to the brief of our coursework, we decided to look at some examples of trailers to identify what we would have to include in our own to meet the requirements of the genre.
Trailers usually include a brief introduction to the protagonists, both male and female. There is usually a reveal in the plot, for example a couple going out to dinner or having an argument. The music is commonly a non-diegetic current track, with diegetic voiceovers from scenes shows. Both romance and comedy is shown.
