The romance genre is quite a wide one and can be split into varies different sub genres or hybrid genres, such as:
- The rom-com genre, this is probably the most well known and widespread example. This is a very successful hybrid genre and has proven to appeal to a large audience, stereotypically female.
- Romance Drama is a sub-genre that has become increasingly popular over the last few years. An example of this might include the film 'If I Stay' which involves a serious car accident- demonstrating the drama side of the genre- but also includes a main female and male protagonist who are in love, this shows the romance side of the genre.
- Fantasy Romance/Time Travel Romance films have also become more widespread. These involve a mythical/make-believe element in the narrative, but still conform to stereotypical codes of the romance genre, like the characters or props used. An example of this is the film 'About Time' this is about time travel so it fits under the fantasy and time travel genre, however it involves two main love interests and uses slow/gentle music, showing the romance side of the genre.
- Gothic Romance
- Science Fiction Romance (fairly similar to fantasy)
- Paranormal Romance
- Historical Romance
- Romance Thriller
- Contemporary Romance
- Traditional Romance
- and Adventure Romance
Conventional narrative structure:
- The narrative of romance films/trailers usually follow a conventional "boy meets girl" set up, which consists of the main male character meeting the main female character and them eventually falling in love. This has proven to be a successful narrative structure of romance films in the past, the target audience often expect to see a plot like this in romance films.
- Often the film will involve some sort of disequilibrium which forces the characters to break up or be separated, the cause of this could be: another character, one of them moving away, or even one of them dying etc.
- The film will most likely have one of two endings. The first being the "happily ever after" ending where the love interests are reunited and live the rest of their lives together, therefore this is the equilibrium in the film because everything is solved and the characters are happy. The second ending is the opposite of the first where the love interests don't get back together, often this is due to one of them dying. This usually happens in tearjerker or Romance Drama films, sometimes even social realism films.
Conventional characters:
- Films of the romance genre usually include two main protagonists, the majority of the time this is a female character and a male character that fall in love and then the film is based upon their relationship. Occasionally the protagonists differ but in the majority of romance films there will be a male and female who have some sort of relationship and play a key role in the narrative.
- An antagonist is usually included in romance films too, this antagonist plays a part in trying to break up the main love interests in some way. The antagonist can differ quite widely but stereotypical examples are: the father of the female who dislikes the male character and doesn't want him to be with his daughter, the popular/jealous girl who doesn't want the couple to be together or the popular male boy who also doesn't want the couple to be together.
- Sometimes romance films will include the "gay best friend" type character who is friends with the main female protagonist.
- Often the characters will be teenagers, possibly in large friendship groups e.g. the stereotypically popular group of cheerleaders, compared to the stereotypically "geeky" group.
Mise En Scene:
- The location is often somewhere rural, because it is perceived as beautiful and peaceful which are both associated with the romance genre. For example, a wood or lake somewhere, maybe even a costal area.
- On the other hand many romance films are set in secondary (high) schools as the characters in the film are teenagers. Also this is used to appeal to a teenage audience as they can relate to the characters because they are the same age and often have the same hobbies.
- Some romance films are set in city locations and the stock characters could be young businessmen/women who meet in a work location and fall in love.
- Flowers are a prop conventionally used in romance trailers/films because they symbolise beauty and have connotations of love and affection. Giving them as a gift has been perceived as romantic for a long time and therefore they are used as a way to emphasise romantic feelings between characters.
- Costume is very varied for the romance genre. It often depends on what sub-genre the film falls under. However for most romance films the characters will just wear casual clothing such as jeans and t-shirts/coats. This is because the stock characters are often teenagers and teenagers are often stereotyped to wear casual clothes.
- The costume could be business wear depending on what the narrative consists of or who the stock characters are. For example, if the film is set in a city location and includes working mean and women, then they will be likely to be wearing business wear at some point or other in the trailer.
Camera Shots/Edits:
- Close up shots are used to emphasise the significance/importance of certain things in the narrative. Often these are close ups of the characters face or something the character is holding which immediately allows the audience to notice this specific thing and gets them wondering what part it plays in the narrative.
- Long/Extreme Long shots are used to show the characters full costume so the audience can make their judgement on the character's personality from this.
- Shot reverse shot edits are used to clearly show a connection or relationship between two characters, most commonly the romantic relationship between the protagonists.
- Establishing shots are used to show the location so the audience can instantly get ideas of what kind of the narrative the film might follow/what characters it might include, based on its location. For example, if the establishing shot shows a high school then the audience know that the stock characters will most likely be teenagers.
