GENRE RESEARCH

For our short film we have used Drama as the genre as we thought it was most appropriate for what we wanted to create. To further my knowledge and help create a good example of a dramatic short film I looked into some of the codes and conventions of the genre.

Drama films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature. It usually shows us human beings at their best, worst and everything in-between.
This genre can be paired with other genres such as comedy, tragedy, action etc. It is based on real life situations and based on real people.

Sub-Genres of Drama:
Crime Drama- generally follows a character involved in criminal activity or law enforcement and the justice/legal system.
Historical Drama- films that focus on dramatic events in history.
Comedy Drama- uses an equal balance of humour and serious content.
Melodrama- uses plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. These films often put the character in danger to appeal to the emotions of the audience.
Romantic Dram- dwells on the element of romantic love.

Our short film doesn't really fit into any of the sub-genres due to this we will ensure that we use conventions from the broader genre of Drama to make it obvious to the audience what film they're watching.

Common Conventions of Drama:

• Exhibits real life situations with realistic characters, settings and stories
• Portrays journeys of character development
• Intense social interaction
• Purpose of a dramatic story line is to move the audience emotionally
• Heart of drama is the conflict
• Conflicts include inner/outer realistic struggles (struggle, difficulty, pain)
• Audience can relate to the characters
• Structured with climaxes and anti climaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached and the tension on-going
• A form of realisation at the end