Task 2: Research into existing products. Notting Hill.

Analyse how the film’s opening establishes genre conventions and reaches target audiences through technical codes, narrative and characterisation.

Notting Hill

Notting hill is a British romantic comedy which was released on 21^st may 1999. It was directed by Roger Mitchell and put into production by Duncan Kenworthy. It was put into production with a budget of $43 million & became the highest grossing British film released in 1999 with a grossing of $363,889,700.

Notting Hill is about a Man named Will Thacker who runs & owns an independent travel book shop in Portobello road. He is a divorced man who shares his small flat with his clumsy housemate ‘Spike’.
A Famous actress under the name Anna Scott enters his shop and he seems to fall in love with her. Will Thacker decides to offer her stupid advice about books which are terrible and tries to gain her attention.

I will be analysing how the film fits into the genre of a British Romantic Comedy through its M.E.S, Camera angles, Sound & Editing.

The film opens up to a girl named Anna Scott having pictures and meeting fans. These shots show her fame and importance in the story and that she is considered very beautiful and well known. The Font of the titles is very unique and drawn in a Font mostly found on Valentine cards, and a love letter which makes it appear to be a romantic film. The next scene shows an establishing shot of a road, which an over narrative of a man explaining the small but compact street. He explains he is divorced and runs an independent book shop which specialises in travel books. He lives in a small house with a blue door, which he says him and his wife painted before she left him for another man. He obviously seems to be living a life which is going nowhere and also looks very lonely without his wife being by his side.  His general direction in life has hit a dead end and You begin to understand he is fairly clumsy and not very confident.  The story of his divorce gives an atmosphere of romance because he was once in love, and The audience begins to see how the Romantic genre fits in.

As he works in his travel book store you understand that the Book store is gaining no profits and is losing money fairly rapidly. A close up shot of his face shows his is full of doubt whilst a blurred figure of a small thin woman enters the shop.  The camera angle changes to another view on his face as his features relax as he looks at the woman. Calm music slowly fades in which gives an atmosphere of love and you seem to see how he likes this woman which fits into the romantic genre.

He begins to speak to her, bombarding her with stupid advice on the travel books and you find out it is Anna Scott. The famous woman who was shown in the previous opening clips.  At first it seems she is disinterested and wants to be left alone however Will Thacker helplessly tries to keep her attention. It is a scene with comedic and love atmosphere which links to its genre of being a British Romantic Comedy. You see how it is British with the character of the man. Will Thacker is clumsy and not very confident in getting woman attention. However if it was an American Romantic Comedy the character would be Bolder and more confident in comparison to Will Thacker. The Style of life his is living in with his flatmate creates a comedic effect as his Flatmate is Clumsy & Fairly unintelligent at several aspects of life, especially the romantic aspect as he asks Will Thacker for advice on love.

In conclusion I think the Title font in the beginning of the film is very effective in defining the romantic nature of the film. The bright pink colours which are generically associated with love and valentines show how the film could be a romantic. In addition the font of the film is very similar to the font seen in Wedding events, Valentines cards and formal letters. The font is an easy point for the Audience to analyse to see how the film is a romantic film.