Drama Conventions

DRAMA CONVENTIONS

As we have decided on using drama as the main genre for our opening title sequence, I did secondary research into the conventions of an action movie. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about the drama genre:

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena. Drama is the most broad of movies genres and includes subgenres as romantic drama, sport films, period drama, courtroom drama and crime.

At the center of a drama is usually a character or characters who are in conflict at a crucial moment in their lives. They often revolve around families; movies like Ordinary People dig under the skin of everyday life to ask big questions and touch on the deepest emotions of normal people. Dramas often, but not always, have tragic or at least painful resolutions and concern the survival of some tragic crisis, like the death of a family member (Terms of Endearment), or a divorce (Kramer vs. Kramer). Some of the greatest screen performances come from dramas, as there is ample opportunity for actors to stretch into a role that most other genres cannot afford.

Drama films have been nominated frequently for the Academy Award (particularly Best Picture) - more than any other film genre. - Wikipedia

This outlines the conventions of a drama film we consciously or even subconsciously expect to see as an audience. By using one or more of these conventions it shouldn’t be too hard to place our film in the drama genre.