How is it drama?
Drama Conventions: Content
Drama productions can be put into many sub-categories that inherit many set-in-stone characteristics. One of the most famous of these is the romance drama. This consists of a major conflict between two lovers who usually battle to either be together or discover their love. These characters are an unlikely pair, making the dramatics of their relationship that much more entertaining. This usually takes place in a realistic environment that allows the audience to relate to the characters or want to be them. This can be seen in the movie “The Kissing Booth” which became a huge success on Netflix in 2018. The story is about a teenage girl, named Shelly, and her best friend, Lee, who started a kissing booth for their school fundraiser that, to everyone’s surprise, ended in Shelly kissing Lee’s older brother, Noah. This caused conflict between Shelly and Lee’s friendship and sparked an unexpected romance between Shelly and Noah. However, there are some dramas that consist of a single lead that battles their own issues. Films such as “Forrest Gump” show the struggles of a man who gets involved in multiple major events in history and the impact he had on the people of those events. The characters find themselves learning from the leading character and helping them solve the hardships they were dealing with.
Drama Conventions: Production Technique
On the technical aspect, drama usually weighs heavily on strong writing, proper lighting, and intense music. In most dramas, there is an argument scene or a climax that thoroughly grabs the audience’s attention. The writing in these arguments usually consists of a monologue from a frustrated character or a character that has a lot of built-up emotions that were created since the beginning of the film. This is done to let this character finally speak their mind/ stand up for themselves and allows them to express how they feel at their breaking point. The lighting in most drama pieces is usually a lot dimmer to symbolize tension or sadness. Additionally, intense music, usually made through an orchestra or the use of violin, creates a gloomy and tension-filled vibe to a scene. During the scene where Darth Vader confesses to Luke Skywalker that he is his father in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” there was dark scenery, in addition to Darth Vader’s dark costume, and intense orchestral music playing in the background. This music escalates at the moment that Luke comes to the realization that what Darth Vader is saying is true and adds more stress to the intensity of that statement and the scene.
Institutional Conventions: Marketing
The largest source of marketing for all films is the trailer to help publicity for their production. Most drama’s like to compose their trailers of all of the most climactic moments of the film to help the audience feel overwhelmed by the number of dramatic aspects that the movie will hold. In the 2021 film “Dear Evan Hansen,” the trailer consisted of the moments of the leading man, Evan, crying, singing intensely, hugging his mother, and more to illustrate the heart-wrenching core of the story. In addition to trailers, many romance dramas use a photo of the lovers in the midst of looking in love to persuade viewers to want to see more. The “Me Before You” movie poster shows the two lovers gazing into each other's eyes, except the woman is looking down towards the man, which is not a typical stance. Not only does it persuade the viewers to want to know more about their love connection, but also as to why the woman seems to hold more dominance over him.
Film Samples:
Other Drama Films:
