2. What is a Drama?
Dramatic film often features real life situations,
with realistic characters, settings and stories-
immersing the audience in the diegesis of the
narrative world. Most often they are
character driven, and can often form hybrids
with other genres such as romance, comedy
or indie.
CommonThemes:
Mental Illness
Youth Rebellion
War
Civil Rights
Loss
Plot:
•A Relatable protagonist
•Dramatisation of emotions
•Emotional journey
•A twist or unexpected
development
3. Codes in a Drama
A form of
realisation towards
the end of the film
Use of realistic settings
(HighVerisimilitude)
Depictions of
hardships,
difficulties,
struggles,
emotional/mental
torment
Exploring relationships
between characters
A resolution will
conventionally be
‘happy’ or bring some
kind of closure to the
situation
A rise of
character-driven
tension will give
way to a climax
near the end of
the film
4. Camera
Lighting is often duller or low lit to show a gritty
and bleak nature
This Long shot from ‘Fight Club’ sees two
characters silhouetted against a city-scape, as a
building opposite explodes .The low lighting
reflects a sombre tone of the scene, but also
creates an almost ironically romantic tenor.
Similarly, this close up from ‘The Social
Network’ uses muted colours to create show
the defeated protagonist. It is likely that three
point lighting was used to create the shadow
effect, with the fill light being not as dominant
in order to let the Key Light create shadows
over the protagonists' face,
These shots from the two
films ‘The Walk’ and
‘Suffragette’ reflect the
dramatic convention of using
close-ups to position the
audience with characters
forming an emotional
sympathy between the viewer
and the character, that will
eventually help build tension.
5. Mise-En-Scene
In a dramatic film Mise-En-Scene is frequently used to increase theVerisimilitude of the sequence- this
can be done through costumes, scenery, make-up and props and will help the audience relate to
and understand the diegesis.
Due to their strive for realism, Drama films can have a range of budgets, from large Hollywood films
such as the $22 million spent on ‘12Years a Slave’ to much smaller ones such as the $2 Million
spent on ‘Boyhood’.
Sound
To preserve realism Diegetic, ambient sound is used most commonly in dramas.This is
often accompanied by periods of non-diegetic sound (possibly contrapuntal depending
on stylistic choices) in order to establish a tone for the scene.
6. Editing
It is likely that the editing within a drama will be largely invisible, the use of continuity editing
furthering the sense of realism.
Transitions are less common, unless they are specifically input in order to create a more carefully
constructed stylistic tone.
An example of less ‘realistic’ editing is found in ‘FightClub’, where montages and flashbacks are used in
order to reveal the final twist; the rhythm is face paced and erratic, reflecting the narrator’s state
of mind.This could be interpreted as conventional of a drama as it gives the audience the chance
to position themselves with the protagonist and understand the plot from their point of view.
7. Film Theory
Propp’s CharacterTheory can commonly be applied to dramas, with there being a protagonist as a
‘Hero’, who is frequently at binary opposites (Levi-Strauss) with a ‘Villian’- creating a Good vs. Evil
narrateme. Naturally this cannot apply to all drama films, however, the ‘Villain’ can sometimes be
interpreted as a situation or an evil force which the protagonist is up against.
Other characters that are frequently featured are:
The blocker: causes the Hero trouble
The (Magical) Helper: who Helps the Hero complete his quest
The Dispatcher: sends the Hero off on a quest.
The Donor: gives the Hero a magical or helpful object.
Todorov’sTheory of Equilibrium can also be applied to the dramatic:
The narrative begins during a place of equilibrium, where the world is as normal.There is then a
moment of disequilibrium prompted by some action or disruption in a character’s life.This
disequilibrium is then acknowledged by the characters, who spend the rest of the narrative trying
to restore their microcosm back to a state of equilibrium.
