The trailers analyzed all depict romantic dramas that follow a classical narrative structure, where the main characters fall in love but face obstacles to their relationship. Common elements include a disruption of equilibrium through tragedy, family disapproval, or other antagonists. Voiceovers are often used to explain the story and reflect on the disruption. While the heroes attempt to repair the disruption, the trailers end before showing if equilibrium is restored, leaving audiences to watch the full film. The target audience for these romantic dramas appears to be mainstream, with a focus on female viewers.

1. Adrianna
Karpiel and
Mariana
Tugulea
ROMANTIC DRAMA
NARRATIVE RESEARCH

2. The trailer starts off with a person speaking over the images on the screen. We see an elderly woman and also a
wreck of a ship. At first it seems a little confusing, but as the trailer goes on we find out that this lady has
survived the Titanic catastrophe and that she is the main female character in this film; therefore, she is the
hero.
There is a flashback to when the ship was just leaving the town and a close up of a young female. It cuts
between the scenes of a young man, dressed up in working - c lass clothes and he and his friend win tickets to go
on the Titanic cruise. There’s an establish ing shot of the ship to let the audience know that this is where the
action is taking place. The young female who was shown at the beginning of a flashback has a fiancé; however,
she is not really in love with him . The fiancé then, becomes the villa i n.
The reason they’re together is because of how wealthy he is and her family are having financia l problems even
though they’re upper -class people. It jumps to a shot where the main female character called Rose, tries to
jump off the ship right at the front of it. The main male character, Jack, sees her and rescues her by persuading
her not to do it. Rose and Jack fall in love and the y have an affair, but this doe sn’t stay a se cre t for a long time
because the fiancé finds out and he goes after both of them, accusing Jack of robbery of a very expensive and
meaningfu l necklace to try and put him in the bad spotlight in front of Rose and her mother . Considerin g the
feelings between Jack and Rose, the accusation becomes the disruption of the equilib r iu m .
The ship then drives into an ice berg and the tragedy begins. We see the water getting inside the ship and
everyone is panicking , trying to escape as fast as they can. Upper class females are put into the emergency
boats first, then the working class women with their children. The ship starts sinking and there are still many
people on it. This is when the classical Hollywood narrative structure is emphasised, as this is an obstacle for
the hero, because at this point of time in the trailer, we can see Jack trying his hardest to remain with Rose.
We see the people fallin g out or jumping out of the ship themsel ves to avoid drowning and dying this way. The
sound is diegetic; dramatic, quite fast music is being played matching the action on the screen. Then it jumps
back into a scene of the ship under the water and the music becomes slow and orchestral, possibly representing
a loss and a tragedy. The e nd of the traile r subve rts the Todorov’s the ory on narrative , which sugge sts that at
the end of a film, there is a reinstate men t of the equilib r iu m .
TITANIC

3. The trailer starts off with slow, piano music and two young people on the boat. There’s a
man doing a voice over telling a story. We see the same two people and many scenes in
which they’re spending time together and we can see the love that’s between them. These
scenes are interrupted by shots of two elderly people, the man telling a story to the woman.
It jumps back to the young couple. At this point, the main male character has met the girls’
parents but they don’t approve their relationship because the guy is poor – this is the
obstacle of the classical Hollywood narrative structure.
The girl is eventually forced to move away. There’s a cut to the scenes of war and we see
people fighting to then realise that the main male character (Noah) is one of the soldiers .
This is a potential disruption of the equilibrium, as he is not with the loved one anymore.
The next scene shows the main female character with another guy, they are getting engaged
and this time we see the moments they have spent together.
Noah’s picture ends up being in the paper and Allie ( the female main character) comes to
see him. Despite the fact that she has a fiancé and she’s getting ready for her wedding, she
cheats on him with Noah. The feelings come rushing back and they get into a big argument
where the girl asks him why he didn’t write letters to her when she left the town. He
explains that he has written letters to her every day from the day she left, as it jumps to the
scene of Allie’s mum hiding the letters – at this point, we find that Allie’s mum is the
villain in this story, as she’s trying to keep Noah away from her daughter.
The voiceover comes back on introducing the actors as the characters and the trailer ends
with the elderly couple that we’ve seen before dancing and the voiceover saying “The
Notebook”.
THE NOTEBOOK

4. The trailer starts off with a diegetic sound; electronic guitar is being played as we
hear a man doing a voiceover giving us some background about the boy that’s shown
on the screen. He drives a car into big bins filled with water and then it jumps into a
scene where the same boy is talking to an older man about being expelled. There’s
another jump cut to a scene where a girl is shown this time and the music
automatically changes to very slow and calm representing that she is innocent which
is completely opposite to the boy who was represented by “rocky” music to show his
toughness.
The voiceover gives us a little background on the girl. She is new in school and people
make fun of her, which is often seen in films. The two main characters start talking
and get to know each other and then we see the moments they have spent together.
Landon’s (main male character) friends are moaning at him for spending more time
with the girl than his friends and he then becomes ignorant towards Jamie (main
female character).
He then realises that he’s made a mistake and tries to get her back but she’s not so
keen on it. His friends are again making fun of him because he’s trying to get a girl
that’s not exactly the most popular in school. Jamie is hurt and she doesn’t want
anything to do with Landon but eventually they fall in love. There’s a jump cut to them
spending time together and the trailer ends with them kissing and the title of the film
“A walk to remember”. There’s also a song from the film playing.
A WALK TO REMEMBER

5. The trailer starts with a female (Holly) talking to a man (Gerry), however we can’t see
them on the screen. Instead, there’s an establishing shot of a bridge and then it jumps
to the couple arguing but they don’t argue for long as we see Holly jumping into
Gerry’s arms and they start kissing.
Slow music comes on, alongside of a subtitle saying “his life ended” and there’s a
close up of Gerry. We can hear a voiceover, a man is talking over the action happening
on the screen and he talks about Gerry’s life. It mixes with female voice too, as if
they’re taking turns. The music becomes more cheerful when the subtitle “but a new
life” comes on, suggesting that things are looking up.
We realise that Gerry has passed away because there’s a delivery to Holly’s door and
we find out that he has left her letters to read and they will come through post at
different times of her life. Voiceover of the man comes back on and he explains what’s
happening. There are a lot of scenes of the moments from Holly’s life that she’s trying
to enjoy.
It jumps in between the scenes of when Gerry was alive and when they were together.
The voiceover then introduces the actors and what characters in the film they play. The
trailer ends with Holly’s friend talking to a guy by the bar, asking him general
questions such as “are you single?”, “are you gay?”, “do you have a job?” and when he
answers with a “no” to the last question, she walks away. The title of the film comes
on and there are titles at the end with a cheerful song playing.
PS I LOVE YOU

6.  All of these trailers contain a moment when two people fall in love, which is the typical
state of equilibrium. However, they face an obstacle that stops them from being together
(tragedy, death, family disapproval, illness). The obstacles found in a romantic drama
reinforce the Classical Hollywood narrative structure.
 In “Titanic”, the female main character is initially engaged when Jack is introduced in the
film. According to the Propp’s character types, Rose would be the princess and Jack would
be the hero, as later on in the film the two fall in love. Because of their love, Rose’s fiancé
becomes the villain as he’s against Jack(the hero).
 A similar aspect to “Titanic” is also found in “The Notebook”, as the hero is Noah, who is
trying his very best to maintain his relationship with Allie(the princess). In this trailer,
Allie’s mum is sort of a villain as she has antagonistic qualities due to the fact she is
placing obstacles in the path of true love.
 After watching the four trailers, Adrianna and I have found that although there are always
obstacles in romantic dramas, there is never a defined villain, but people who have
antagonistic features.
 There’s often a voiceover, either male or a female telling a story and explaining what’s
happening on the screen. Usually, the voiceover is the reflection of Todorov’s theory on
narrative which suggests that there is a recognition that there has been a disruption within
the plot.
 Also, in all trailers, usually the male characters are attempting to repair the disruption and
reinstate the equilibrium; however, the trailers never show the reinstatement or a new
equilibrium as they are designed to make the audience go and watch/purchase the film.
 The target audience of “Titanic”, “The Notebook”, “A walk to remember” and “PS I love you”
is romance lovers and the audience is definitely mass, mainly females. The demographic
audience of this film would be B to E (from teachers to students and casual workers ).
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THESE TRAILERS
&
AUDIENCE