Isn't It Romantic - Trailer

Analyse the conventions that define the films genre (10 marks).

Isn’t it Romantic a Netflix original film, presents itself accordingly to the conventions of a typical romantic comedy.

The opening scene of the movie trailer is introduced by the very well known song “Oh Pretty Women”, which instantly grips the target audience’s attention, which is women, making it the perfect song choice for the opening scene. The mise-en-scene, demonstrated by a long shot of the living room contrasts different shades of pinks and reds, which represents the genre well, as red connotes to love and romance, which plays a strong role in this films genre. Furthermore, the colour scheme develops a sense of happiness, suggesting that the film is be full of positivity. The sound track is then down played and cut into by the character playing the protagonists Mother, who dramatically shuts down love “as not a fairy tail”, portraying love as fake and unreal setting the next scene up perfectly, suggesting that the young girl is to be unlucky with love. This is further consolidated through the use of a dramatic single hit, increasing the drama.

The trailer then skips to 25 years later. The mise-en-scene immediately presents a large group of huddled people on their way to work, and in the centre is the main character Natalie. This represents Natalie as very insignificant as she travels to work, instantly connoting to the audience that Natalie is unimportant to anyone, highlighting her lack of love for somebody. Following this a voiceover communicates to the Protagonist that in order for her find love she needs to become “a little more open”, showing her friends desperation for Natalie to find love. A male character is then introduced into the trailer and gives away signals implying that he is attracted to Natalie, although following the typical conventions of this genre, Natalie is quickly proven wrong and gets in to a comical fight with the male character, building up the humur, which leads to her hitting her head on a metal post and passing out. The use of a sudden black-out amplifies the drama and the severity of the injury she has possibly accumulated.

The trailer then picks up on another song from the famous romantic comedy “White Chicks”, “A Thousand Miles”. This reinforces the films genre as a romantic comedy and hyperbolises the purpose of the film: the protagonist must find love. The trailer then quickly cuts to a serious of jump cuts between the locations, showing the typical gritty urban city of New York in fine light, with comical references to love, such as the heart shaped birds. With this, the trailers editing picks up its pace. The protagonist dialogue sounds rushed, conveying that the character is nervous but excited about what she is experiencing, which is accompanied by more fast jump cuts which shows off her new lifestyle and how it has changed to the audience. The main factors which distinguish change are the way the protagonist dresses, her new home and the way she is being treated by others. The change is positive but it is comical to watch how Natalie panics about her life calling it the “ultimate Universe” adding humur once again, reinforcing a key convention of this genre.

The mise-en-scene throughout becomes even more picturesque and vibrant, once again using plenty of shades of pink to depict this linking back to the opening scene. This suggests to the audience the Natalie the main character believes in love again like she used to when she was a young child. Adding to this the use of more upbeat music such as “I Wanna dance with somebody” is used which is followed by a series of fast pace jump cuts showing people dancing and singing, conveying that love is most definitely in the air.