This is Drama

What is drama? Drama in the context of film is the type of genre that is very diverse. This usually includes lots of conflict, emotional depth, and viewing of specific characters.

There is usually no specific time where an audience is most present in this genre, yet a lot of the audience are women in their teenage years to woman in their late 20's.

Content:

A lot of the time, films that are under the drama genre include a backstory or plotline to help us grasp the situation in hand. This is usually introduced in the very beginning of a film so we can understand where the story might start and end. We can also predict what might happen from what was already given to us. Plots are pretty common too as it contains a buildup to the climax and a resolution that the characters have been trying to reach. This is done by including a lot of emotional plot twists.

Ex: The movie 12 Angry Men gives the backstory of a boy that is accused of murdering his father and who is being put on death row. His whole fate relies on the decision of the 12 jurors who will decide if he is innocent or guilty.

Another big characteristic of drama is the use of characters. They are usually introduced in the beginning of a film and follow a regime of development. They undergo through changes as they navigate certain decisions throughout the film. Specifically, when a character learns a lesson, they change for the better, like if a mean person learns what they're doing isn't right and changes to be a nicer person. The main character might have the biggest character development if the plot mainly revolves around them.

Ex: The movie Mean Girls is a great representation of this by introducing all characters at the beginning and giving them much development throughout the movie, Such as Regina who becomes a better person in the end.

Another thing it might display would be emotion. Often, there are many emotions displayed in a film but one emotion being displayed exists but is, however, not as common. Some popular emotions include melancholy, depression, romance, happiness, and disappointment. This helps us become engaged and also empathize with certain characters and scenes within a film.

Ex: The Notebook has a wide variation of emotions from happiness and romance to sadness to bittersweet happiness.

Production Techniques:

To create dramatic effects, productions often focus on the expressions of characters that are included in the plot. Most of the emotion that is created in these films are based off of facial expressions and body language displayed. In relation to that, music is played to give us more of an idea of what a character might feel in a certain moment. This helps us relate to characters and empathize with them while also understanding situations in which they are in. This genre also utilizes a lot of two-shots where two characters are shown interacting in a screen. This helps go more in depth of certain characters' relationships.

Ex: In Requiem for a Dream, there many close-ups of facial expressions and body language such as this scene which includes both. It also shows both characters in frame which is important because of the way they are interacting with one another.

Samples:

In the movie Beautiful Boy, it introduces a character who seems to be a good kid, Nic, who does many activities. But one day, he doesn't come home. When he finally returns after two days, his family realizes he has been using drugs. To help himself, he agrees to go to a rehab center in which his family recommended him to do. Although Nic returns home, better and happy, he falls back under the influence of drugs. So, he starts the use of crystal meth which makes him worse. In the end, it is suggested that Nic finally is on the road to getting better. The film uses many shots where two people are shown so that it highlights the importance of relationships and how much they contribute to the plot. This is a perfect duality with the symbolism that is used since Nic also has an important relationship with drugs which impacts the plot the most. The close ups that are used to show facial expressions and certain body movements and language very much help the story evolve to become very emotional. The representation of coming home helps suggest that though something is familiar, it may still be hard to deal with. Again, this represents his relationship with drugs. The movie poster shows Nic and his dad, David, sitting side by side in lawn chairs. David has his hand on Nic's back and his chair is slightly more turned towards Nic than Nic's is towards David's. Nic's head is also turned the opposite way while his dad's is faced towards him. This shows that David is doing his best to support his son, even if Nic has a hard time accepting his support.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about a young teenager named Charlie who just starts his freshman year of high school and who is depressed. He is alone at first and in search of friends and is shown writing letters, anonymously, to someone he knows. Then, he meets two seniors who becomes friends with. He then falls in love with the girl senior but he's too scared to do anything about it. He starts to become involved in their friend group, but one day he makes a grave mistake, and all his friends stop talking to him. Once they forgive him, he establishes a new type of relationship with Sam, his senior friend who's a girl right before she, and all of his friends leave for college. When they leave, he falls back into his depression as he remembers the death of his aunt and blames it on himself. He tries to commit but he's shown alive at the hospital, and his parents are told of the horrifying truth behind his aunt. However, the movie ends with a happy ending of him with his friends driving through a tunnel. When Charlie is shown writing letters, it further signifies how alone he is. After he makes his mistake, his friends leave him and he's back to being completely alone which shows just how much hos friends mean to him. Also, in the first tunnel scene, Sam is on top of the car with her arms outs signifying that she feels free and when the last scene and the last tunnel scene are shown with Charlie in the same position, we can infer that he now feels free from his past and his own reality. The poster also shows color in the background that is very bright and noticeable while their clothes are black and white. This helps them stand out and show that there will be youth like representation within the film with the green background color.