Although some elements of the romance genre have changed over time, there has always been the basic storyline of a romantic aspect between the two protagonists of the film.

The romance genre has many conventions, some that have stayedthe same and some that have changed over time, for different reasons.

There are some romances that stray away from the conventional romance, they have elements that differentiate them from a typical romance in an attempt to make themselves unique. Romance is a fairly diverse genre, and can have elements of other genres within it. For example, movies such as rom-coms as well as horrors, Sci-Fi's and Fantasy films that have romantic elements, and many other different genres.

ROMANCE

TYPICAL CONVETIONS...•Happy ending• Boy meets girl accidently, then coincidently meet again• Interfering, authoritative family member, usually mother or father•Love story is the most important facet•Usually triangulation--romance is being challenged by person or problem•Told from point of view of both lovers•Miscommunication--characters hate each other, then love each other•Escapist reading•Emotional appeal•Strong female characters•May be read for other details: Historical setting, clothing, adventure, mystery•Participate in characters’ lives--the audience gets to know their inner thoughts and feelings.

NOT-SO-TYPICAL CONVETIONS...Some romantic films will have elements that are not conventional for a romance. For example, the hit film ‘Titanic’ had a very unconventional ending – having the male half of the love interest actually dying at the end, meaning that the typical ‘happily ever after’ ending was not fulfilled.

‘Love Happens’ is another unconventional romance, because in this neither of the protagonists are looking for love, or have any of the characteristics of a typical romance protagonist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26HJ52yRz2s

The link goes to the Titanic trailer, it shows how it is a typical love story but it also shows the parts where the ship is sinking, which is a

large dramatic addition to a romance, making it a little less conventional.

HOW ROMANCES HAVE CHANGED OVER TIME...

The romance genre has changed over time due to many things, for example a change in audience; as the older generation dies out, the newer generation expects different things from films. For example, the more modern, contemporary romances are likely to have elements from other genres in them, whereas in the past more pure romances would have existed.

This links to a change in technology, because the audience know that technology is more advanced, and therefore expect things to be more realistic looking. For example, silent films from the 1920s wouldn’t satisfy an audience of 2009 because we already have films that have sound, and have other massive technological advances, another thing being that older films were in black and white, which an audience of today wouldn’t appreciate.

HOW I WILL USE CONVENTIONS OF A

ROMANCE...In our short film, we are intending to use both conventional and non conventional features of a typical romance. For example, we have the basic storyline of a girl who is unhappy with her current partner, then meets and falls in love with another man.

The ‘accidently meet, then coincidently meet again’ convention is kind of here, except instead of meeting again by coincidence, they have secret meetings.

We followed the story of forbidden love, which has specific references to ‘Titanic.’ We also made a reference to ‘Schindelers List’ which isn't a romance, but does have romantic elements to it. The rose in our film, is the only thing in colour, which reflects the little girl in the red coat; the only thing in colour in ‘Schindelers List.’

Another convention we use, is that of an interfering, authoritative character – Rose’s father. He sees the ‘secret’ meetings between Rose and William and tries to stop it by threatening William with his job.

In a way there is a love triangle, because although the fiancée doesn’t feature in the film, he is still there in essence.

CONTINUED…Another convention we use, is an emotional appeal. The audience is sad when William dumps Rose, and they long for the two to get together.

The rest of our story line goes very typically, with a conflict in the middle and then a happy ending. Even though silent, black and white films are outdated, we have decided to create one, adding comedic elements to help make it more appealing to a modern audience.

We are going to use the same style throughout the film, because we hope that if an audience will find it interesting, despite it being in black and white, and silent. We hope the comedy through stills will make things more interesting for the audience