Genre - Romance

How do we define the Romance genre? Well, Romance films are romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres and on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters and the journey that their genuinely strong, true and pure romantic love takes them through dating, courtship or marriage. Romance films make the romantic love story or the search for strong and pure love and romance the main plot focus. We went over the conventions of the genre and this is what we discussed:

• Aimed at the female audience.
• Main characters have an introduction.
• A voiceover is used to introduce the love theme.
• 'Boy meets girl'.
• Normally contains a lot of strong emotions. (eg: sadness and happiness.)
• A typical romance film would include sexuality, status, gender and relationships.
• Often directors incorporate other genres into their films. Comedy is a common genre that is mixed with romance films.
• They are what happens in day to day life.
• A lot of symbols of love such as hearts, candles and wedding bells.
• Usually characters part after an argument or disagreement and then re-unite afterwards with a stronger bond.

We also discussed the pros and cons of a short film in the Romance genre and this is what we spoke about:

Pros:

• The film will have a simple and understandable plot and the film will get straight to the point, without much of a build up.
• There is usually a heavy use of different /impressive camera angles to make such a short film as impressive as possible. 

Cons:  

• There are less story lines and background analysis.
• In such a short time, the audience cannot connect with the characters in the film.
• The audience may/will be left on a cliff hanger, which can be a negative experience for some viewers.

Up next is a textual analysis of a romance film. I will analyse a short film called Vicky and Sam!