Conventions of romcoms:
Romcoms are sub-genres of comedy films, and are light-hearted films, based on love and romance; and true love conquering different obstacles.

Romcoms are a genre of film and are usually associated with love; and are mostly aimed at women. Their is a basic narrative for romcoms which most romcoms use and this is, there is usually two protagonists (lead characters) usually a woman and a man; and they meet fall in love and everything is happy and good; there is initial equilibrium, but then the equilibrium is disrupted by some obstacle to their relationship and it could be anything in romcoms; it could be another person, work or something else, and they then split up, but they realise they love each other and at the end they come together again after surpassing the obstacle; and re-equilibrium is established. The two protagonists are sometimes colleagues, friends or strangers to each other, and some event happens which makes them want to start a relationship, and the audience usually wants the two characters to get together as well, and this is why romcoms are so popular, because the audience make a connection with the characters; and want them to be happy but the obstacle usually makes them separate and spend time apart; and a convention is that during this time they realise they love each other. This usually leads to them searching for each other, and making a declaration of their love, and the film ends. Sometimes in romcoms the film doesn't end with them getting married and having children; sometimes it just shows their love and affection for each other with them meeting up again or just talking, and in some romcoms it ends with the protagonists separated; such as in 'The Break up'. The two main characters; a man and woman meet and end up dating and then living together and at first are very happy, but then they keep arguing and separate, and at the end of the film they meet again but just share a friendly chat; portraying that they're not back together and are still separated, this doesn't follow conventions of romcoms but many other romcoms do this, this is called an open-ending as it leads the story open so they can come back to it and make another film. The open-ending keeps the audience guessing and therefore makes the film much more interesting. Most romcoms have closed-endings as that is the conventions of romcoms; the two protagonists get back together and live happily ever after, and that is what the audience want to see they want to see the characters happy, but some have open-endings to keep the relationship between the two protagonists a mystery, and to keep it open for a possible sequel.

The main character in a romcom is usually a woman; and it is based on the relationships and love story of a woman, or in some cases were there is a multi strand narrative it focuses on several women, this is because romcoms are aimed at women, and as the main protagonist is a woman the audience can relate to her; and have a connection with her, whereas if a man was the main character it would be harder for the target audience to relate to him, and put thereselves in his shoes. The main characters in romcoms are usually around the ages of 25-35, because most romcoms are aimed at women from around the ages of 25-50, because they have more life experience than young teenage women, and therefore they can connect with the character; and they can understand what the character is going through. Also the target audience of the romcom is usually identifiable in the characteristics of the main character, such as the characters of Liv and Emma in 'Bride Wars', they are both career woman and their life is focused on their job, which is stereotypical of career woman, and when they get engaged the women focus on their wedding, and plan everything rigidly, and become totally obsessed with their wedding, and this is stereotypical of all brides. Most characters in romcoms have personality traits of their target audience to attract their audience to go and see the film, and therefore bring in revenue to the film. I have also found during my research that men in romcoms are also portrayed quite stereotypically, usually as bachelors and womanisers, such as Gerard Butler in 'The ugly truth', he is portrayed as a man who just cares about dating women, and this is seen in many romcoms and throughout the film they change and fall in love with the main protagonist. They are also portrayed as womanisers in the clothes they use, such as suits, and sleek hair, and a flash car and this also appeals to the audience of women as women want to be able to change the man they love, and because of this they can relate to what the character is going through.

Romcoms are usually aimed at women as they're based on love. They are usually aimed at career women from around the ages of 25-50, and because of this the main protagonists are usually women, around that age, and this is seen in many romcoms such as 'The Ugly Truth', were the main character is all of these things. Romcoms are also based on women because of the characters, as the main protagonists in romcoms are usually women, and therefore the audience can relate to them, and the main protagonists have usually gone through the same experiences that the audience have gone through, which in turn makes the film appeal to them. Sometimes romcoms are also aimed at men, but they're not the target audience. In maid of honour the first character we see is a male, and he is one of the main protagonists, and this shows that it is also aimed at men, but most romcoms are aimed at women, hence the name 'chick flicks'.

Narrative is the media term for storytelling, and therefore each genre has its own features and conventions. The typical narrative for romcoms is that there are usually two protagonists, and the film follows their life and their relationship, but in many romcoms now they have a multi strand narrative. A multi strand narrative is were there are several different narratives within the narrative, and this is seen in films such as 'Love actually', 'Valentine's day', and it is also in one of the trailers I decided to research for my trailer 'The Holiday'. The use of a multi strand narrative is that it adds to the verisimilitude of the film, as it is more realistic to have several different tales of love rather than just one, as there are many different types of relationships nowadays the audience can relate to the film more if there are several different stories of relationships and love. Also if there is a multi strand narrative the film could possibly reach out to a wider range of audience, because of the different stories of love people not in the target audience may be able to relate to it, and this would make the film much more popular and recognisable; but it would also bring in more money to the film.

A convention of most romcoms is the use of voice-overs. The voice-overs can sometimes be an independent voice-over; or it is the main protagonist who is a voice-over. The voice-over reinforces the narrative and helps the audience understand the narrative. Some romcoms use both an independent voice-over, and have the main character as the voice-over and this is most famous for the Bridget Jones trailers, as the trailer begins with an independent voice-over, and then she becomes the voice-over, this helps the audience relate to her; as we can put ourselves in her shoes, and understand what she is thinking and feeling. Also most romcom trailers feature music on their trailer. The music is usually a song based on love, and what can help reinforce and convey the narrative to the audience. I have found in my research of romcom trailers that the soundtrack is usually quite upbeat, and has kind of an indie soundtrack to it. Some of the songs I have found featured on trailers are 'Fidelity' by Regina Spektor, and 'I'd like to' by Corinne Bailey Rae. These songs are quite light-hearted and fun which I think is the main premises of romcoms to portray love as a nice and happy thing; even though some of the characters go through bad things throughout the film, they always have a nice ending.

Taglines are a prominent convention of romcoms; and I have found that in most of the romcom trailers I have researched they each have taglines. These are used to reinforce the voice-over; which again is a major convention of romcoms, and to help the audience understand the plot, but the main premises of the taglines is to attract the audience, as in romcoms the taglines are usually quite humorous and make you want to watch the rest of the trailer. Also the taglines are often worded so the audience can relate to what is going on, and also from the taglines you can see who the target audience are. In the trailer '27 dresses' the taglines read 'the dress is Perfect', 'the cake is Wonderful', and from these taglines you can quite clearly see the target audience is not men, and you can also see that the target audience is not young teenage girls; as they cannot relate to getting married or preparing a wedding, and therefore you can tell that the target audience is women from the ages of 25-40 who can relate to getting married.

The names of the stars featured in the film are on most trailers, and they're usually on romcom trailers as well, this is done purely to attract the audience because if they have big name stars it might attract people to go and watch the film, and it also might reach a wider range of audience due to the actors starring in the film. At the end of 'The Break up', it features all the big names who star in the film, this attracts the target audience and others to see the film. Also most romcom trailers feature the names of the producers and directors who created the film, again this is done to attract the audience because if they liked the directors or producers previous work it may encourage them to go and see the film.

Romcoms have many conventions that most romcom trailers follow, but sometimes romcom trailers break the conventions to create a more exciting and unique trailer.