This document provides an overview of the history and development of motion pictures and the drama genre. It discusses how motion pictures began as a novelty in the late 1880s and developed into a mass media form of entertainment. Early films were silent until technology advanced. The basics of drama involve realistic characters dealing with emotional themes and stories of conflict. The drama genre expanded in the 1950s with more naturalistic techniques and realism dominating screens by the late 1970s. War dramas and mob dramas became popular subgenres in later decades.
2. General Overview
• Motion pictures first began as a novelty idea at
carnivals in the late 1880s. It soon became and
was developed as a highly used method of
communication and entertainment. It was also a
form of mass media in the 20th century, into the
21st century.
• A lot of the very first films were silent until
technology could be developed.
• Movie theatres as a way of presenting movies
were seen as a simple way to provide
entertainment and information to the mass
public.
3. The Beginnings
• One of the first ways that film was taken was
through the use of the pinhole camera, followed
by the idea of the advanced camera obscura.
This was a method that meant you could project
a moving image onto a screen but there was no
immediate way to record it and save it for
another time.
• In the 1830s, these moving images were
produced on revolving drums and disks from the
independent invention by Simon von Stampfer.
4. The Basics of Drama
• This genre has been seen for a long time as
depending mainly on the in-depth development
of realistic characters dealing with relatable and
usually emotional themes.
• Drama is in sense, the broadest genres and has a
wide variety of sub – genre including, romantic
dramas, period dramas and crime dramas etc.
• General storylines include corruption and putting
the characters in conflict with their own issues,
particularly in modern types of situation and
societies.
5. Drama Plots
• Ever since the beginning of the drama genre
there has usually been a character in conflict at a
crucial moment.
• A lot of drama movies tend to revolve around a
form of family ideology or some form of
relationship which is the general idea that you get
from a lot of the drama films that are out there.
• A lot of the time dramas usually have tragic or at
least painful resolution and concern the survival
of a form of tragedy. An example of this would
be the death of a family member.
6. The 1950s
• After the era of silent movies was coming to an
end, the arrival of stage actors such as Marlon
Brando, developed more naturalistic techniques
and approaches to film which eventually evolved
into a more realistic version of the drama film. A
streetcar Named Desire is considered an
extremely pivotal film in the development of the
drama genre.
• By the late 1970s, the need and want by the
audience for realism dominated the screens in
ground-breaking movies such as Martin
Scorcese’s Mean Streets.
7. 1980s – 1990s
• At the beginning of the 1980s, the drama idea put
a lot of emphasis on a lot of emotional themes.
War dramas also started to become a big part of
the drama genre, such as the film Platoon (1986)
which showed the horrors of Vietnam which was
an important period in informing members of the
public of the horrors.
• During the 1990s, the introduction of Goodfellas
(1990), took a hard look at the mob drama that
was beginning to be introduced.
8. 2000s
• Biopics started to become a very important area in the
drama genre presenting film such as Ali (2001), Frida
(2002), Walk the Line (2005) and Gladiator (2000).
• The Gulf War and similar scenarios from the 1990s,
were a huge inspiration for the dramatic films that
were being made.
• Other films such as Black Hawk Down (2001) and
Jarhead (2005).
• There was a major drop in the influence of romantic
dramas, however they did have a lot of time in the
limelight with films such as Brokeback Mountain (2005)
and Slumdog Millionaire (2008), winning several
awards for their performances.
