GENRE – ROM-COM Openings, Dear Jhon, Bridget Jones Diary, About a Boy, Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, The Notebook, Wild Child

Rom-com conventions

From looking at five different Rom-Com openings I have decided on some main conventions

 and key things that appear.
Rom-Coms I looked at:-
Dear John
Bridget Jones Diary
About a Boy
Love Actually
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Notting Hill
The Notebook
Wild Child

VOICE OVER AT THE BEGINNING

Bridget Jones Diary opening scene

At the beginning of Dear John, Bridget Jones Diary, Love Actually

 and About a Boy the voice over is normally by the

main protagonist of the film and it is usually, particularly 

in these examples, a really important and meaningful message

 that is conveyed. In Love Actually for example, Hugh Grant

 talks about love and how its everywhere and when it comes down 

to it, thats all that matters. It also gives us an

 insight to the character, in Bridget Jones Diary her voiceover tells us a lot about her 

situation, "It all began on New Years Eve on my 32nd year of being single. Once again

 I found myself on my own going to my mothers annual turkey curry buffet, every year

 she tries to set me up with some buffy haired bore..." In this first 20 seconds or so we 

Love Actually opening at Heathrow Airport

already know that she's single and she has been for some time, she's reluctantly going 

to her mothers and that her mother has had some disastrous 

attempts at finding her a boyfriend. The voice over gives exposition.

Dear John opening

About a Boy opening

LOVE TRIANGLE

The Notebook, showing the love between Noah and Allie

 In almost every rom-com there is a love triangle,

 this is a situation where there is a couple who are

 "meant to be" but there is another person who 

also loves one of these people. In Bridget Jones

 Diary theres herself, Daniel Cleaver and Mark 

Darcy, in The Notebook its between Noah, Allie

 and Lon. The love triangle usually is what the

 film is based around, e.g The Notebook the

 whole film is based around the fact that Allie, a well to do upperclass lady, is in love with Noah, 

who's a low class working man, but she is destined to marry Lon who is also a well to do business

 man. This then takes over the full film as we see the tragic tale of a girl who has to choose between

 her heart and her mind. 

BINARY OPPOSITE WITHIN LOVE TRIANGLE

Daniel Cleaver

Mark Darcy

Within the love triangle of the films, there is always binary opposition between two characters that the main protagonist has to choose between. For example in Bridget Jones Diary, Bridget has to choose between the-well-to-do, upperclass barrister, Mark Darcy and the sleazy yet charismatic Daniel Cleaver who also happens to be her boss. Another example of this would be in The Notebook, Allie has to decide between her summer romance and first love Noah, a country boy who's very poor and only has his love to give her and Lon, her parents choice, a wealthy handsome business man who can giver her everything she's ever wanted and more.

THE "MEET-CUTE"

Notting Hill opening scene, two shot

This is the first encounter of the two potential romantic characters in an unusual or comic circumstance, film critics like Roger Ebert referred to this as the "meet-cute" situation. During this

 the scriptwriters often create a humorous

 sense of awkwardness between the two 

characters by an initial clash of personalities

 or beliefs, an embarrassing situation, a comical misunderstanding or a mistaken identity. 

InNotting Hill the two protagonists meet in Hugh Grants characters bookshop when a man

 hides a book down his pants and then asks for an autograph off Julia Roberts' character 

which creates an awkward atmosphere between William and Anna. They then run into each

 other again and this time William spills his drink all down Anna's top which is an embarrassing

 situation for them both yet humorous for the audience.

THE REUNION 

At the end of every Rom-Com the two main characters that 

were established as the "meant to be" pair reunite at the end

 of the film. In The Notebook, when Allie sees Noah's picture 

in the paper she immediately drives to his house to see him 

again and when they're reunited, although awkward at first, their love is rekindled. 

ADULT VS. TEEN

Four Weddings and a Funeral Cast

Wild Child dinner scene

Another common convention of the Rom-Com genre is that there are two main types of them, teen Rom-Coms and Adult Rom-Coms. The difference between the two is that and adult one is usually centred around the "adult life" so the main protagonist will be 20+, they usually have the "meet-cute" in the workplace or around this, their main audience is 18+ whereas in a teen Rom-Com the main protagonists are under 18 focuses on aspects of teen 

culture and the aim for their audience is 12-18. Wild Child is an example of a teen Rom-Com

 as the main protagonists are all below or around 18, Four Weddings and a Funeral is an example

 of an Adult Rom-Com.

OPENING SHOT

Establishing shot of Bridget Jones Diary

Opening of About a Boy.

Opening of Wild Child.

The opening shot of a Rom-Com is normally an extreme long shot of the surrounding area but with its focus on the main protagonist. 

In the films  Love Actually, Bridget Jones Diary, About a Boy and Wild Child a tracking shot or a 

panning shot is used and it will follow the main character with either an audio bridge over the top or a voiceover. 

AUDIO BRIDGE

The audio bridge in almost every Rom-Com is either pop or pop/rock music being played while 

the establishing sequence is taking place.

TITLES

The titles that run through the opening sequence of a Rom-Com are usually in a sans-serif font and have the attributes of a hand-writing, swirly or bubble nature. Also the colour is usually a bright and bold to connote that it isn't a serious film. For example in Bridget Jones Diary they use a mix of bubbly 

styled writing and also a hand-writing styled font.