Drama is a genre in film that heavily depends on the development of relationships and emotion throughout the movie. Dramas often revolve around a dramatic theme that play an important role in the entirety of the plot. These dramatic themes often are derived from relevant real-world issues. This realize on the creation of realistic characters which face conflict within themselves or from an external source. Drama has a vast range of sub genres including: Romance, Dramedy (comedy), Period, and many more. For the genre drama, the target audience is often females because they can more easily attach to the emotions and the characters within films. For men, drama become the target audience when the story line is clearly for men. The age range targeted for each drama film truly varies on the sub genre.
In a the drama genre, there are specific points with in the content that make a film be classified as a drama. To begin with, drama films seriously represent real life stories and issues, the plot stays far away from fantasy. With in the film, emotion and situations are heightened or dramatized. These types of films are specifically structured to make sure that the audience continues to stay captivated throughout the entire film. Dramas plots are built to have climaxes and anticlimaxes to have a variation in the emotion and tension of the film. This leads to the viewer to have an emotional connection with the action with in the film and characters, leading them to sympathies with characters. The protagonist in a drama must be easy for the audience to relate to,especially for the movie’s target audience.This character often is going through an “emotional journey" and has a hard decision to make. At the end of most drama genre films, there is a tremendous realization.
Within the drama gene, there are some common production techniques used throughout the films. For instance, since drama genre movies are created to be as close to real life as possible the director will use realism. Due to realism it is common to see location shooting, and long takes. Using realism in the film also leads to the use of minimal editing to make it look as natural as possible and the use of many environmental sounds. In the drama genre, it is often seen that the director uses well know locations for the settings because it allows the audience to relate to the film more.In the he drama genre it is common to come across the use of close up shots, these are used to clearly be able to see the emotion that the characters are feeling in the film. While there are common production techniques for the drama genre as a whole, it heavily varies on the sub genre. For instance, in romantic dramas, it is common for a seen to be lit up with natural looking lights, this is to make sure that the set is representative of what it would look like in real life. Moreover, in romance dramas one often sees the colors red and pink with in the characters costumes to symbolize love. Period dramas make certain to use costumes in which the fabric, colors, and style matches the standards of that specific time period. This also applies to the props used during period dramas.
When marketing for drama genre films, it is popular to advertise through the use of trailers. Within these trailers, the the core plot of the film is shown, without spoiling the movie. Another common marketing strategy is the use of talk shows, this is when leading actors from the film are interviewed by the host and they self promote the movie on air. Promotional tours and film posters are also common marketing techniques for a drama genre film. If the movie is based or adapted from a book, the movie can be promoted through the phrase “ Now a Major Motion Picture” on the book cover. Having high status actors and actresses in the drama film, is a great marketing device. These” Big Star” actors names alone will attract viewers because of their large fan base. These popular actors often have a huge social media presence. These actors can post about the movie and promote it throughout their social medias in the months leading up to the film premiere. Lastly, it is common for the drama genre films to be critiqued before the film is released as a marketing strategy.
My first example of a film in the drama genre is Titanic (1997), which was directed by James Cameron. To begin with, in the drama genre. It is important that the characters are easy to relate to the audience. This film revolves around two characters, Jack and Rose. Jack represents the lower class, as he is poor and is only on the ship because he won the tickets. Rose on the other hand stands for everything that is luxury, she comes from a wealthy family. This film gives sides of the spectrum which allows the viewers more options on who they will make a connection with ad relate to. Throughout the film it is made clear that their love is forbidden since they come from two separate worlds.” Due to this, the plot showed many ups and downs throughout their romance. For instance at one point they were happy at the iconic front end of the ship bracing each other, and then later on Rose’s family is pushing her to be interested in another wealthy man. In the drama genre it is vital to have “ peaks and troth” with in the plot. This film uses lots of realism throughout the entirety of the production, which is vital in the drama genre because it is important to make the viewer relate to the movie as much as possible. Since it was based on a historical event, the director had the challenge of creating a set that looks and gave the feeling of the the real titanic ship was like. The director had to use realistic props that you would find on a ship and realistic cruise ship set design. The drama genre is known for having realistic story lines, as this movie is based of of a real historical event, this movie qualifies as a drama.
My second example of a film in the drama genre is Cyberbully (2011) directed by Charles Biname. For starters, in a drama genre film it is vital that the main character is easy to relate to the target audience. This was executed through the main character Taylor. At the begging of the film they show her going through everyday teenage issues such as dealing with a nosy little brother, struggling with feeling abandoned by a parent, being excited and nervous to talk to a guy, creating a social media account and worrying about a dance. Establishing that lead character goes through these everyday issues makes her easier for the audience to relate to her. The drama genre is know for the use of their realistic story lines The plot of this this film showed the story of a girl that got cyber bullied so badly that it almost lead to her suicide.This story line is very realistic because many teenagers go through this on the daily, cyber bullying happens in real life. With in dramas it is common for there to be a realization at the end of the film. After Taylor's close call, she finds out that her “ best friend “ was the root of the bullying all along. Also, throughout her painful experience she saw who was really there for her and she realized who her real friends were.
More Examples of the Drama Genre:
(Click on pictures for the trailer!)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
- The Help (2011)
- 12 Years a Slave (2013)
- The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
- A Star is Born (2018)
- First Man (2018)
Sources:
Marrero, S. (2014, April 08). Film Marketing: Drama. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/9wa20igfsyqc/film-marketing-drama/
Derham, A. (1970, January 01). Target Audience. Retrieved from http://bca2media2013group3.blogspot.com/2012/09/target-audience.html
Cooper, M. (2012, December 04). Codes and conventions of drama. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/coopermatt62/codes-and-conventions-of-drama
