Blog #1 Romantic Comedy

1. Genre: Romantic Comedy
2. Genre conventions - content: films with light-hearted, humorous plot lines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles.
3. Genre conventions - production technique:
1. Two main types of editing techniques used are straight cuts and cross cuts. Straight cuts are used to establish continuity to the story. Cross cuts may be used to establish a certain action happening at two different locations. The pace of the editing will be slow however subtle and significant changes do occur throughout the film, such as when the character starts to fall in love with someone the pace of the editing will increase to show this change.
2. High key lighting and bright colors of the costumes are found in romantic comedies, used to brighten the atmosphere and add to a happy element of the rom-com.
3. Happy facial expressions and body language of couples holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes.
4. Film/magazine sample #1: An example of a film that embodies romantic comedy is Love Actually because it is about nine intertwined stories that examine the complexities of the one emotion that connects us all: love. Among the characters explored are David (Hugh Grant), the handsome newly elected British prime minister who falls for a young junior staffer (Martine McCutcheon), Sarah (Laura Linney), a graphic designer whose devotion to her mentally ill brother complicates her love life, and Harry (Alan Rickman), a married man tempted by his attractive new secretary. All these stories focus on the idea that true love is triumphs all despite all struggles in life.
5. Film/magazine sample #2: Another example of a film that embodies romantic comedy is Bridget Jones’s Diary. This is  because it is about a 32-year-old woman named Bridget (Renée Zellweger) who decides it's time to take control of her life -- and start keeping a diary. Now, the most provocative, erotic and hysterical book on her bedside table is the one she's writing. With a taste for adventure, and an opinion on every subject - from exercise to men to food to sex and everything in between - she's turning the page on a whole new life.
   This film perfectly fits this genre because it is filled with light-hearted lines and explores Bridget’s awkward encounters with men.
6. List of other film/magazine examples:
1. Tiger Beat (tigerbeat.com)
2. J-14 (https://www.j-14.com/)
3. Clueless (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/clueless)
4. Crazy Rich Asians (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crazy_rich_asians)
5. Love, Simon (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_simon)