Real Media Research- sam MIRPHYproductions

1. The film opens with the establishment of the production company FOCUS FEATURES and
then lists the credits. This is conventional of most movies.

2. The first thing we see in this opening sequence is a head shot of the leading male role. This
signifies that the dominant gender of this movie is the male. This is conventional of a romance
based movie.
This headshot also reveals a very ordinary male, living in everyday life which again is a conventional
aspect of romantic genres.
The male is seemingly scruffy and ordinary and doesn't come across the heroic romantic figure
which is unconventional of most romantic movies.

3. This long shot reveals a messy room of a man who we assume is of a working class background.
This suggests that lead will not be the conventional heroic business type that you will often see
in romantic genres. This could also be a foreshadowing of the story, and suggest to the
audience that this is not a conventional love story.

4. This long shot/ establishing shot reveals to the audience where he is and the voice over which is
occurring at this point tells the audience that he is on his way to work, which could be seen as a
conventional aspect of romance as every day life occurs within this genre. This shot indicates the
male to alone as he is surrounded by couples, and people holding flowers suggesting that it is
valentines day, this is then confirmed in the sullen voice over that the male is giving. This could be
seen as a conventional feature of romance movies as the roles always begin alone until they meet
the love interest.

5. This birds-eye view displays an action shot of the man running, this suggests an act of
desperation and chaos- a frequent occurrence in romantic drama.
Furthermore the height of this aerial shot could be a symbolic reference to the mans weakness
and deflated state. This is could be conventional and unconventional as dramas often involve an
emotional crisis however its rare that the opening of a romance would reveal such melancholy
feelings.

6. This long shot establishes the setting of the scene. It shows the man to be on a
gloomy looking beach setting. A beach is typically a fun, romantic getaway location,
therefore this could be a conventional setting howver the colours shown- mainly
blues- present a very contradictory feeling, as it doesn’t convey a warm loving and
romantic scene its more depressive and dull.

7. This close up of the mans notebook could be an illustration of how this man is a bit
of a recluse; young adults/ middle age men in romantic movies aren’t often shown
to be writing in a journal. And the picture in the journal seems to show an image of
a hermit man. This is an unconventional feature of romance movies as the leading
roles are often more of a sociable and assertive character.

8. This shot reveals a run down and depressive setting this is not often a
convention of romance movies- romances usually are set in picturesque
locations. A beach would be a conventional area for a romantic movie however
this is not the typical beach scene which would be used. It seems as though its
purposely going against all the conventions of a romance to convey an
alternative love story.

9. This long shot establishes the second character, the love interest.
However the fact the male is now in the foreground and the woman in the far background could further
evidence that the male is the dominant character of the movie.
Furthermore the girl at this point is not clear to be a female, all you can really make out is a silhouette
of a person and therefore this is another unconventional aspect of the movie, females in this genre are
more often portrayed as girly and frivolous by wearing pretty feminine dresses where as here they are
seen to be wearing more masculine clothing.

10. This longshot of the girl makes it clearer to the audience it’s a woman and therefore we
immediately know that she will be the love interest of the male. In addition the woman is wearing
very brightly coloured clothing in comparison to the male, and is the brightest colours we’ve seen
throughout the opening with the exception of the flowers earlier on and therefore this could be a
foreshadowing of her becoming his ‘love’.
This is conventional of romance that the male and female characters see each other but aren’t
really completely aware of each other until later when the relationship develops.