Today I watched: Love Actually

I need to watch some films similar in genre to my own to familiarise my self with the conventions. I don't particularly enjoy romantic comedies, I find them very repetitive, silly and just uninteresting. So generally as a rule I avoid them. This is why I have decided to do a parody of one for my project. It will also pose a challenge for me and broaden my knowledge of cinema I wouldn't usually know about.

The first film I have decided to watch is Love Actually (2003, Curtis)

The film opens at an airport arrivals gate, Hugh Grant is talking through a voice over telling of his characters views about  love. We see lots of couples and family members embracing each other as they meet again after a flight. Strangely there is a mention of 9/11. Fair enough it is relevant, he is saying how none of the messages sent (as far as he knows) from people within the towers were of hate, just love. But still, I think that's a bit heavy for what is meant to be the start of a comedic movie. But, in the name of media studies, I kept watching anyway. 

The first character we see who holds a place in the plot is played by Bill Nighy, he is recording a christmas song and 'dad dancing' as he does so. Straight after it cuts to christmassy shots: ice skating, a decorated high street etc. Following this the audience is introduced to Colin Firths character leaving his partner in bed to go to a wedding. The next scene is of Liam Neesons character.... A pattern is forming. Short, brief introductions to each character of the 'ten very different' stories featured in the film. This proves a real problem for me. I understand, as Hugh Grant told me at the start, that the idea is love is all around. But it just cheapens each story, it's like it's not really worth focussing on. This is in contrast to my film, I am focusing on just one story. This will allow me to develop the character in more depth and create a quality story. To be fair, this film, although having many similarities, is completely different to my idea and the way I want to do it. 

This film in all was not far off what I expected. There was:

• A wedding
• A last minute airport run 
• A twist
• A nervous, socially awkward englishman
• An affair
• Another affair
• Matchmaking
• Forbidden(ish) love
• Misunderstanding
• Unreasonable acts of romance (learning a language, knocking on every door in the longest street in the world)

A parody of this could well be featured in One Fine Coffee Break

Unfortunately all these things are frequently featured in romcoms but I can't use all of them. The premise of my idea is the perfect relationship. But I can still draw inspiration from the positive things listed above. I am particularly thinking of misunderstandings they are always funny. Also over the top romantic acts, they are cute and should be easy enough to make funny.

In relation to the narrative: there were ten loves stories. These were interlinked through character relationships and meetings/locations. As I said earlier I think this was too much and I didn't really like it. This allowed none of the characters to really stand out or make an impact on the audience. This means (for me anyway) I came away from this film with no lasting impression. Each narrative strand was chopped up and interlaced with strands from other narratives.

The target audience was probably very well catered for, it's obvious I am not a member of this target audience. The sheer abundance of characters means that there is almost definitely someone the audience can relate to, root for and sympathise with. This again is a contrasting point to my film. There is one main character who I need to make appeal to everyone. I need to think about how I will achieve this.

I found watching Love Actually really useful. I plan to continue my research by watching more films similar to this and blogging about what I think of them and how they may influence my short film.