Welcome to my second post!
Lately I have been conducting research on comedies, and more specifically, romantic comedies. I love to laugh, a romantic comedies just add an extra flare and I find these movies to be so fun and entertaining. After conducting my extensive research over the past week or so, I have come prepared and ready to enlighten you with my new-found knowledge! <3
The target audience for romantic comedies is usually teenage girls. Being a teenage girl, I can say that this is a very appealing genre because me and my friends love to laugh and we all love romantic stories because it is new and interesting to us! The actors in these films are usually young adults, so the lives they're living and things they are going through can usually be pretty relatable and appealing to young girls to watch.
Comedies as a whole are basically a type of genre that's whole purpose is to make you laugh! They are lighthearted and funny, and usually are found to exaggerate many components of the film itself for a humorous effect, some of which include but are not limited to language, situations themselves, the characters, the actions, and the relationships. Romantic comedies do all of the previous that I explained but focus more on love and romance.
You may be wondering how exactly directors of romantic comedies are able to produce them, so I will explain some production techniques for you. High key lighting is usually utilized for most of the film because the whole point is to be happy and light hearted. Lighting also tends to be more dramatic and exaggerated. Many graphic matches can be found in romantic comedies since they can be easily used in a humorous way. Dutch angles are used in this genre because it can create dramatic confusion. Sound wise, the action that is being viewed from onscreen usually matches up with the music that is being played sometimes in an almost too perfect, or ironic way, creating a humorous effect.
Romantic comedies are advertised to you through a multitude of different methods. Mainly commercials especially during the movie previews for another comedy. Social media can also spread the word quickly if the trailer is good enough. Many of the most funny jokes are conveyed through the short trailer in order to draw in the most people possible. And because it is a romantic comedy, trailers usually leave some type of cliff hanger for what will happen relating to the main theme which is the romantic relationships between the main characters. The conclusion of the romantic comedies is never shown because that would spoil the whole film and therefore nobody would need to go see it. Additionally, many jokes are left out so there are still some fresh ones in the film when people go see it and they haven't already heard all of them.
The latest and most popular example that I can think of is Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu. This film embodies the romantic comedy in a numerous amount of ways. It is a story of a women who finds out that her boyfriend comes from an extremely wealthy family and he is one of the most eligible bachelors in his country, Singapore. She learns to deal with all of the jealousy and his disapproving mother. With a simple synopsis you can nearly tell that this is a romantic comedy because its main focus is on a love story but it is so exaggerated and extreme that you would find out your boyfriend is a billionaire, travel all the way to Singapore, and win over his mother in that short time period. The lighting throughout the film is high key and very colorful and fun. I remember in one specific scene they showed the instance when a girl from Singapore discovered the main male character was bringing a girl home she texted her friends in Singapore and the word got out extremely quick. The director showed the word getting out by hundreds of different texts and faces appearing at the screen in a short span of time and some said very humorous things which was to make the viewers laugh. This is why this film fully embodies my genre.
An iconic and classic romantic comedy that was produced in 1995 known as Clueless directed by Amy Heckerling. This film is a great example of a romantic comedy because it mainly shows viewers an extreme exaggeration of how teenage girls were living in the 90s. The main character is the most popular girl at Beverly Hills High, she has her popular best friend with her popular boyfriend and the two can't be bothered to care about doing homework or anything but go shopping. Until they need to raise their grade so they help to of their teachers get together. Then Cher wants to do more good deeds for the world so she decides to take on a poor basket case and help her because pretty a popular too, in the mist of it all Cher finds love that she never expected! This film embodies what it means to be a romantic comedy because of the exaggerated story plot, high key lighting throughout and the fun, upbeat songs that are played. There are no deep, dark issues going on, everything for Cher is light-hearted and fun.
In case you need some extra clarification, I highly recommend you check out these great examples of romantic comedies!
I appreciate all of the support thank you so much for reading! Enjoy the rest of your night and I hope to talk to you soon! <3
Lots of Love,
Lina
