From researching a selection of different romantic comedy openings, such as ‘The Holiday’ in the bottom left and ‘Knocked Up’ in the bottom right, it seems as though titling and fonts in the openings are much more of an afterthought that in other genres. For example, in both of these clips the titling is small and pushed to the bottom of the screen, which allows the viewer to notice them, but does not make these titles the focus of what the viewer is watching. It seems the makers of these movies would prefer the audience to focus on the what is going on behind the titling, rather than the titling itself. Despite this, enough care has been given to make sure the titles are matching the themes of their respective film. For example in ‘The Holiday’ the font chosen is clearly more formal and adult, responding to the more mature views being presented on love, etc. through the voice over. It also seemingly fits rather well with the original footage of a period drama romance, which serves to emphasise the shock at realising this was a film within a film, but also highlights how, despite most movie romances being somewhat unrealistic, the characters within this movie are likely looking for something exactly like we see at the start, and the crossover of titling between the two creates a bond between the dreams of the characters and what they see in movies such as this. Similarly in ‘Knocked Up’, while the titling is still unobtrusive, the font presents a much more casual and light-hearted tone to the film in comparison with something like ‘The Holiday’. This is much less formal, and given the contents of the clips behind the titles, it comes across as a romantic comedy that focuses a little more on the ‘comedy’ element, and perhaps would be more accepted by men as well as the usual target audience of women.

Characterisation in rom-coms is all important to the success of the film. If the viewer does not find the characters in question interesting or compelling in any way, how can they be expected to care about their lives and loves, and how can they be expected to sympathise, empathise and laugh with these characters. The opening to a rom com has the difficult job of immediately making the characters presented feel interesting, otherwise why should the audience bother continuing to watch. In ‘Knocked up’ on the right, the characters presented are perhaps not exactly conventional for the rom com genre. They feel immature, but at the same time they make us laugh, and therefore compel us to continue watching so as to see what happens next. In addition, the unconventional nature of the characters involved make the viewer wonder how any of these men could be the love interest in this movie, and the intrigue allows them to continue watching without fear of generic or altogether boring characters. Putting these characters in the opening also highlights what is most interesting about this film, is that this seems to be a rom com that more men can enjoy, while others seem to stick to conventions that might turn a lot of men away from these films. In ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’ on the left, the same intrigue and humour is brought out by the characters in order to make them appealing and watchable but also provide the audience with enough curiosity as to who will potentially get together with who for them to be compelled to go all the way with these characters and find out. Similarly to ‘Knocked up’ these characters are not entirely conventional, with clearly a younger audience in mind, and instead presents characters who young people can relate to, i.e. the new kid, or the outcast girl. Other slightly more minor characters are also shown here to provide comic relief, for instance the school mistress, seemingly so as to persuade people put of by some of the more lovey-dovey elements of this genre that there is still something in this movie for them.

Sound in rom-coms, especially through the use of music and voice-over, is very important to the characterisation and overall tone of the movie in question. Because rom-coms have two different genres making up their mish-mash of themes, a movie of this genre can either choose to focus more on the comedy elements, or more on the romance side of things. The music and/or voiceover in the opening to a film, as well as any dialogue that is included can tell an audience exactly what kind of tone the movie will have and, especially when it comes to rom-coms, lets the audience know almost straight away what the movie is going for tonally, and what target audience it is looking for. For example, the voice-over used in ‘Love Actually’ on the bottom left, as well as the music behind it, tells us exactly what side of rom-com it will be focusing on. It seems very much focused on the ideas and themes behind love, and what it means to different kind of people. From this opening, I can tell that, while it is almost certain to have comedy elements to the story, if I want a more comedic take on the rom-com format, i.e. ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’, perhaps this is not the film for me. It seems as though I am going to get quite a lot of sentimentality from this story and a much larger focus on the romantic entanglements. This is the power of a good opening, it has told me exactly what to expect. Similarly, with the voice-over in ‘The Holiday’ in the bottom right, the themes of love and romance are at the fore, and while there does seem to be slightly more comedy in the dialogue, it does still focus on the characters’ romantic entanglements, showing yet again a higher focus on the romantic, rather than the comedy. However, in this clip, there does seem to be a greater focus on using the voice-over as a method of characterisation, whereas the voice-over in ‘Love Actually’ seems to focus on a far more direct view on what love is and should be, as if the writer is breaking the fourth wall to relay his opinions on the themes about to be examined.

As characterisation is such a major element to romantic comedies, the mise-en-scene in the openings can give a very clear view of the kind of characters and plot elements we might get a glimpse of later in the movie. If a director doesn’t want to have any dialogue in an opening scene, but still wants to get across the types of people the audience will be faced with in the film, using mise-en-scene is a very effective way of putting those things across without speech. For example, in the opening to ‘Legally Blonde’ in the bottom right, despite there being no dialogue, the mise-en-scene used such as the location of what seems to be some sort of campus, as well as the vast selection of hair and make up props shown, gives us an idea of what this character (who we don’t see) is like, and the kind of environment she is in. the mise-en-scene also highlights the target audience for this movie, which seems to be a slightly younger crowd, given the location, and it also seems to be focusing on the female audience, given the very stereotypical pink colour scheme and focus on hair and make up, which perhaps a male audience would not relate to in the same way. Similarly, in ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’ on the left, the location of the high school seemingly suggests this film is targeted more at the younger audience. However, this opening also effectively uses mise-en- scene elements such as wardrobe to show the sheer diversity of the students that attend the school, from the ‘cowboys’ to the Bob Marley enthusiasts, giving a vast range of characters within that environment and highlights the kind of people the main players might be meeting later on. From the off we are supposed to dislike the popular kids in favour of the protagonist, and the main female lead is clearly being portrayed as something of an outcast, which we can see from her dark clothing which significantly contrasts her from the other girls in the clips.