Romance films normally follow a conventional ‘boy meets girl’ which involves a male character meeting a female character and falling in love. It can often have a twist where the love between them is disagreed or tested by another character or event in the film. Causing them to split for a time period in the film, until they potentially re - unite. Often romance films involve a lot of emotion, love, passion and feelings which tend to appeal to more of a female audience. There are many codes and conventions associated with romance films and they can often be seen through props, colours/ lighting, clothing, characters and setting.
Settings: There are a variety of places where the characters can meet by accident. They are commonly set in big cities, for example New york. A city background helps the audience to relate to the film and begin to link it with their personal lives as well as gaining the recognition of the area. They could also be set along beaches, within a school, in restaurants or homes. This is because, these places can be good for when showing affection privately.
Characters: The romance genre tends to follow a similar pattern of having two main protagonists, the majority of the time this being one female character and one male character that fall in love, this being the narrative of the story. For example in the film a ‘ A cinderella story’ the female character is ‘Samantha Montgomery’ played by ‘Hilary Duff’ and the male character is ‘Austin Ames’ played by ‘Chad Michael Murray’. These two characters are anonymously messaging each other without realising, due to their different status within school and Samantha's evil stepmother they face problems along the way realising their true love for each other. The antagonists in the film are the stepmother and her daughters, who play a role to try and break up the love interests between Samantha and Austin. Other characters may include a large stereotypical friendship group such as ‘cheerleaders’ or ‘geeks’. Lighting: Soft lighting effects or natural lighting are regularly used within certain shots this is to achieve the feeling of it being in touch with reality, making the story as believable as possible.
Mise-en-scene: Typical clothing for male characters frequently involves them being dressed smartly for example wearing suits to show of their professionalism. However a casual dress sense can also be showed through the use of a pair of jeans and plain t - shirt, this will show to the audience that the character will also have a down to earth and relaxed side. However the female character would often be wearing a tight fitted dress to show off her figure for example during a dinner date or office hours. However a casual outfit may include a pair of leggings covered with a baggy jumper.
Some conventional props used with romance films could be flowers, this is because flowers symbolise beauty but also connote affection and love. This is often shown through the male character giving them to the female character as a gift. This has been used for a number of years and is a way of emphasising romantic feelings between characters. Other props may include candles, these are used to set a intimate and loving atmosphere for example these could be placed at the table during a dinner date. 
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