Textual Analysis :Hopeless Romatic (short film)

Hopeless Romantic’ is a short film which uses the conventions of the romantic comedy genre.  It centres around a teenage boy’s infatuation with a girl and how he tries to change himself in order to become more appealing to her. 

As the titles roll, we hear a simple piano melody, this connotes romance and also has a sombre feel – this gives the audience insight into the upcoming events of the film.  We are then introduced to our protagonist: Greg.  We recognise him as our protagonist as he is the first character we are introduced to and he is the narrator throughout (voiceover).  Greg speaks with a American accent which informs the audience that the film is set in the USA.  When we are introduced to the character of Ryan, the music changes to heavy rock/metal, which connotes his dominant/intimidating persona and rebellious personality.  This is also reflected by the fact he is wearing black and Greg is shown looking up to him via a high angle shot.  We see Greg’s reaction to this through extreme close ups – this adds comedy to the film and clearly shows us the characters thoughts and emotions.  A camera shot is used featuring all 3 characters positioned in a triangle and Greg in the background – this connotes the classic ‘love triangle’ narrative and shows how Greg is looking in on Angela and Ryan’s relationship.  Later on in the film, intertextuality is featured as a reference to the classic movie ‘Rocky’ is shown when Greg is working on his physique for Angela, this also connotes how Greg is trying to imitate Ryan and looks up to him.  When Greg eventually musters up the courage to approach Angela, his emotional state is shown through a slow motion, POV shot.  This has dreamlike/fairytale connotations and shows Greg’s nerves, thus making us empathise with his character.  We then have a sudden narrative shift as Greg is hit by a speeding vehicle and the music abruptly stops.  Although this is a serious/morbid situation, we the audience are amused by it as we are constantly being talked though the narrative by Greg, who makes the situation embarrassing rather than a serious disaster.

The moral of the film is ‘don’t become somebody your not’, this is similar to our moral projected through our short film.  At the end of the film, Angela smiles affectionately at Greg, suggesting that there could be romance between the two after all, thus resolving the central romantic plot.