Equilibrium -> Disruption -> Complication -> Climax -> Resolution
Romantic comedies are easy viewing, comedic stories focused around the theme of 'romance' and 'love' and is a sub genre of both: Romance and Comedy.
Romantic Comedies usually consist of a man and a women who when they first meet, are convinced they really don't like and ever will like each other in both, a romantic and friendship manor. It can be because of a social pressure or one already has a partner; is already in love. An example i can straight away think from the top of my head is the film 'Confessions Of A Shopaholic' when character Rebbecca Bloomwood is convinced she wont ever like male character, Luke Brandon as she thinks he's boring for being the editor of a financial magazine.
There is then usually a disruption within this film, usually introducing the antagonist within the film, in a couple of romantic comedy films which feature this, they are usually inferior, dominant women due to they are commercially better looking, and seem perfect. For example in the Romantic Comedy film 'Confessions of a shopaholic' Alicia Billington is introduced at a high fashion job interview where she creates her dominance and status through her height and her harsh face and haircut. Automatically the main character is inferior of this character and the audience automatically know this 'perfect' character is the disruption. In another example of a romantic comedy 'Enchanted' the disruption is a harsh spoken business woman who is in the way of Giselle and Robert coming together with love, as this harsh character was already in a relationship with Robert.
The complication usually within a romantic comedy genre is a further reason why the two main characters cannot be together. For example in the romantic comedy '27 dresses' the complication arises when the male main character becomes engaged to the antagonistic 'perfect' character. Or perhaps when the male character, who she is convinced she would never have a romantic fling with writes a story about her which makes her hate him. It's usually the saddest part within a romantic comedy where the audience really feel for the main character as they've usually lost many things, including friends, a possible lover and this is usually edited into a montage sequence, when a sad, slow, depressing song is edited over all possible diagetic sound.
The climax is the part of the film where all the suspension ends and expectations are met. A common example in romantic comedies would be the 'running through airport' scene where the main character runs to declare the love for the other main character before the plane leaves. Other times the male main character has to really think where the character will be and make a grand effort in finding them and solving their problems. An example of this is in 'Confessions of a shopoholic' where Rebecca Bloomwood had a big argument with her best friend, resulting in her friend un-inviting her to her wedding thus resulting in Rebecca having to make the grand effort in making amends with her best friend. This is the tense, exciting bit for the audience, who know full well everything will have a happily ever after however it's pleasent to view this for voyeristic pleasure, viewing someone making amends without them knowing. It's a very personal moment, as usually the characters true colours come through and show a vulnerable side which for the audience, is personal for them to see this.
The resolution is when everything comes to an end, and they live happily ever after. All the problems have been resolved with both friendship, work and love. This enables the audience to leave the cinema with closure and an element of awe as knowing the character you've grown so close to, has her life all sorted out and happy. For the couple to finally come together is usually ended with the highly anticipated kiss combined with happy, pleasant and feel good music. An example of this i can this of is in the romantic comedy 'Enchanted' Giselle and Robert end with a kiss as a song sings 'happy ever after.' Before the credits at the end, there's sometimes a voice over narration of the main character telling the audience about their 'happy ever after' life in a course of time for e.g. '6 months later' and it will go into detail about all what the main characters are doing, which is usually combined with the same music the resolution was playing. This sees the characters still in ecstasy with each other, and how much they love each other and they're happy all of the time. This again creates closure, as if a film does just end with a kiss the audience can still be weary about the 'what happens next' however, with this they can look into their lives within a transitional sequence, within a matter of seconds. It seems more pleasing to the audience for the film to do this.
The most important characteristic within the Romantic Comedy genre is the 'Meet Cute.' This is when the two characters which the audience know will end the film having a romantic link, but the suspense is on when they will express their feelings with one another. This moment when they meet is usually in a comedic manor, an example of this is in the film 'Enchanted' when Giselle is a lost princess from a fairytale world, is sleeping on a big billboard in the middle of New York city because it looks like a big fairytale castle however, but it's in fact an advertisement billboard. Robert drives along and sees her sleeping rough on this billboard and attempts to help her however she's convinced this is a real castle. Another example is in '27 dresses' where the main female character is brutally criticising a writers work to this 'random' man, however this man after a few brutal comments reveals that in fact he is the writer himself. The 'meet cute' tends to include a comedic element which can result in the audience cringing for the main character embarrassing them self. The meet cute also establishes how completely different these characters are, weather it be a stern male character who doesn't believe in all these fairy tales, he comes across a real life fairytale princess. It's exactly the same in the film '27 Dresses' the characters introduce how different they are, by the female character completely slaughtering his personal work in front of him, so they obvious have very different opinions and are both very strong minded.
The cinematography during the 'meet cute' can create clues to the audience that in fact this couple will actually end up, with the camera becoming closer to the characters face as they dwell on a conversation which is an example of a film syntax. For example the camera will start with a long shot as it captures the characters possibly walking into each other, then as the characters notice each other the camera will them capture them together using a medium close up, and eventually when the characters become in a slight conversation a close up will be used, to identify to the audience the characters are getting closer to each other by the second.
The mise-en-scene can also help establish the meet cute with the use of costume and character performance, this can establish the idea of how the characters are the complete opposite. For example in the film 'Confessions of a shopaholic' the main male and female characters are seen walking opposite ways down the street, the main female character, Rebbecca is walking past all of the shops which are bright and colourful and he's seen walking from the gray buildings. This automatically establishes what kind of characters they are, he's also wearing a grey boring suit, whilst she wears a bright colourful high fashion outfit. However the only way they connect is the idea of them both being in a rush whilst not looking where they are going, thus the 'meet cute' is when they bump into each other.
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