Genre Research: ' To all the boys i've loved before'
Common camera angles-
Two shot is a very commonly used angle in this movie. Due to its focus on two main characters many scenes are a two shot of both characters whether kissing, fighting or just talking. Another commonly used angle was a closeup and medium close up. This was done to focus on the main character as a voice over was used to help us understand her emotions better.
Common Mis-en-scene-
setting: The setting in this movie was all pretty similar. The main ones were school (high school movie), Her house (where she talked about her feelings), and the field (where many big things happened to Laura). These were done to have viewers feel as if they were apart of her life. Decor: Throughout the entire movie there is a common set of decor through each setting. In the houses there are bright (blue, yellow, green) pillows and pictures around the house. In the school bathrooms there are blue stalls and tile floors. This helped keep the mood light throughout the movie. Lighting: The lighting through the movie always seemed to be tinted a certain way. The colors seemed to pop and even pop in the way that the character was kept concentrated. This plays into the genre of the movie, the fact that its tv-14 and a drama/romance, the colors are kept illuminated to provide a positive tone. Costumes/makeup: The makeup of each character seems to be done. For Lauras best friend, her personality is very outgoing and witty and has makeup with many colors and an outfit that sticks out. For the boys, like peter, they have very calm personalities and their outfits are plain and simple, like black and white. This helped characterize each person in the movie and their role.
Common sound-
The common sounds that we heard in this film, was voice over and type of music. For the voiceovers, it was for the main character Lara and was done to express her suppressed emotions that she could never say out loud. It gave viewers insight of what she was really feeling about the people around her. The other common sound was music. Throughout the whole film, the music being played was in the pop genre. It was light hearted music that kept the tone light yet still helped the audience focus on the plot of the story.
Common editing-
There were many jump cuts in the movie to show passage of time. When traveling from school to her home or running from her home to the diner she goes to, they were cut short. There were also many shot reverse shots. During conversations, like Lara and Peter at the diner, instead of an over the shoulder scene, we see the shot constantly being switched back and forward to show the conversation progressing.
Elements-
Some elements of this romance compared to the research in the genre romance are things like, the idea of a boy and a girl being together. In this movie the two main characters are the people in relationships. The other main aspect of a romance was the happy ending. In this movie Lara ended up being with the boy that she wanted and it justified the elements of romance.
Likes-
In the film, I really enjoyed the colors used throughout the movie. I feel as if there was a tint that almost made me feel as if I was in the actual movie, I could imagine myself in Laras situation as each scene was so detailed with props that were used to intentionally reach out to the audience.
Do NOT like-
Overall the film was done very smoothly. Not many things I would say that did not appeal to me but if I had to choose a category, I would say the editing could have made the film a bit more interesting. Since it is a teen film, the audience may have less of an attention span. There could always be that one cut, like an action match that would have the audience want to know what just happened.