Genre Research- Drama

What is a Drama?
Within the genre the main focus is to help the audience think about real life situations such as bullying, addiction, depression, class divisions and violence in a emotional way. The genre develops within the characters by showing their feelings. To do this it is usually shown through body language, flashbacks within the film etc. The main focus of a drama film is to build up the characters so the audience can engage with them more.

History of Drama 
1940
This was the early years of the genre. The main type of drama was the melodrama. As the technology limited there was mainly silent staged films.
1950
This is when the actors in films were really becoming recognised. One of the most famous actresses to this day came out of the 50's and this was Marilyn Monroe.  The films were still shot in black and white and never had much storyline.
1960
This era was when the politically driven war films were coming to surface but also sports.
1970
During the 70's many modern directors made their first films such as Francis Ford Coppola and the Godfather.
1980
This was the era where typical themes of emotions really came to the drama genre and also when Steven Spielberg directed E.T.
1990
Crime dramas were a hit in the 90's such as Fight Club and The Shawshank Redemption.
2000- current 
Technology is at a high and films are getting bigger and better and an increase in drama is becoming highly demanded.




Typical Conventions

• Develops character profiles and helps the audience build a relationship with each character
• Shows real life situations 
• Exaggerated performance
• Social Interaction 
• Dramatic Sounds          

There are also many sub genres to a drama this includes: Crime, Historical, Comedy, Melodrama, Romantic, Period. This shows how versitile how a drama genre is.

Common Characters
The Protagonist 
This is usually the main character of the film. The audience feels sympathy towards the character as they always triumph over the villan. The character is most often put into difficult situations so that their characteristics of bravery and determintation can be exposed to the audience. The protagonist character is commonly played by a male but the use of females have been increased during the past few years due to the stereotype not being as strong. For example, in Doctor Who the main character is the male doctor and has to find out what is going on in the universe which adds to the mystery of the character.

The Antagonist 

This is when the character goes to extreme lengths to get what they want this includes, breaking the law, hurting somebody and potentionally killing somebody. The audience gets the feeling as though that they only look after themselves and they also do not feel empathy for this certain character. There is most often a feud between the protagonist and the antagonist. An example of an antagonist is Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter.

Links Used:
http://www.imdb.com/genre/drama

http://rileywongfilmstudies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/genre-conventions.html