This document provides an overview and analysis of the drama and thriller film genres. It discusses the key characteristics of drama films, including their focus on realistic characters dealing with emotional struggles. Examples of notable drama films like The Godfather and Gone Girl are provided. The history and evolution of the thriller genre is also examined, highlighting influential directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino. Examples of prominent thriller films like The Silence of the Lambs and Pulp Fiction are given. Major film companies and award shows associated with both genres are identified.

1. Genre Analysis
In this document, I have created research intothe film genre(s) that I would like to do/use
for my film.
Drama:
Drama describes a genre of narrative fiction intended to be more serious than humorous in
tone, focusing on in-depth development of realistic characters who must deal with realistic
emotional struggles. While drama filmrelies heavily on this kind of development, dramatic
themes play a large role in the lot as well. Often, these dramatic themes are taken from
intense, real life issues. Drama filmaims to tell an honest story of human struggles. At the
centre of a drama is usually a character or characters who are in conflict at a crucial
moment in their lives. Drama is one of the broadest movie genres and includes subgenres
such as romantic drama, war films, sport films, period drama and crime.
History:
The first film dramas were passion plays, scenes from the martyrdom of Christ or other
historical figures. The Edison Company’s Kinetoscope production “The Execution of Mary
Queen of Scots,” an early exercise in continuity in which Mary was seemingly beheaded
before filmgoers’ eyes, left audiences gasping and begging for more.
The first epic drama was D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation”, a 1915 silent film that
introduced narrative techniques like close-ups and jump-cuts, an integral part of movie
story-telling today.
Main companies/ directors/ Actors:
Companies:
Ecosse Films: is a multi-award-winning production company, specialising in high-quality
drama for film and television, producing 14 films and over 300 hours of network television.
Directors:
Martin Scorsese: was born on November 17, 1942, in New York City, to
Italian-American parents Catherine (Cappa) and Charles Scorsese. He
was raised in the neighbourhood of Little Italy, which later provided the
inspiration for several of his films. Scorsese earned a B.S. degree in film
communications in 1964, followed by an M.A. in the same field in 1966
at New York University's School of Film. During this time, he made
numerous prize-winning short films including The Big Shave (1968), and
directed his first feature film, who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967).

2. Steven Spielberg: Undoubtedly one of the most influential film
personalities in the history of film, Steven Spielberg is perhaps Hollywood's
best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world.
Spielberg has countless big-grossing, critically acclaimed credits to his
name, as producer, director and writer. Spielberg's first major directorial
effort was The Sugarland Express (1974), with Goldie Hawn, a film that
marked him as a rising star. It was his next effort, however, that made him
an international superstar among directors: Jaws (1975).
Actors:
Tom Hanks: Is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his
roles in Splash (1984), Forrest Gump (1994), Saving Private Ryan (1998),
Cast Away (2000) and many others. Hanks has been nominated for
numerous awards during his career. He won a Golden Globe Award and
an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia, as well as a
Golden Globe, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and
a People's Choice Award for Best Actor for his role in Forrest Gump. In
2004, he received the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in
Film from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). As of 2014, Hanks' films
have grossed more than $4.2 billion at U.S. and Canadian box offices and more than $8.4
billion worldwide,[6]making him one of the highest-grossing actors in film history.
Examples of drama films:
The Godfather: The aging patriarch of an organized crime circle must secure the
future of his family’s empire by leaving it in the hands of his reluctant son.
Gone Girl: With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense
media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he
may not be innocent.
Fight Club: An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses
paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that
evolves into something much, much more...

3. The purpose of a drama filmis to entertain, provoke thought and emotion, and present a
visual and aural experience for the audience. The structure of dramatic conflict includes:
 Exposition creates the tone, introduces the setting and some of the characters and
gives background.
 Rising Action or Complication sets the action in motion, continues through stages of
conflict to the climax.
 Falling action stresses the activity of the forces opposing the hero as the action
moves to the denouement or resolution
Awards:
Golden Globe Award: The Golden Globe Award has a category which is Best Motion Picture-
Drama. When the awards were introduced, there was a single category for Best Picture.
Starting with the 9th Golden Globe Awards, the Golden Globes split the Acting and Best
Picture awards into Drama and Musical-or-Comedy categories. Since 1951, the only time the
awards were reunified was in 1953. Films that have won this is the past are films like Forrest
Gump (1994), Avatar (2009), Argo (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013).
Box office:

4. Thriller:
Thriller is a broad genre usually having numerous subgenres. Thrillers heavily stimulate the
viewer’s moods, giving them heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise,
anticipation and anxiety. Thrillers generally keep the audience on the “edge of their seats”
as the plot builds towards a climax. The cover-up of important information from the viewer,
fight and/or chase scenes are common elements. A thriller is usually a villain-driven plot,
whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist (is a narrative's central or
primary personal figure, who comes into conflict with an opposing major character or force
called the antagonist) must overcome.
History:
Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller was his third silent film The Lodger (1926), a suspenseful Jack
the Ripper story. His next thriller was Blackmail (1929), his and Britain's first sound film. His
notable thrillers in the 1930s include, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and The 39 Steps.
One of the earliest spy films was Fritz Lang's Spies (1928), the director's first independent
production, with an anarchist international conspirator and criminal spy character named
Haghi (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) who was pursued by good-guy Agent No. 326 (Willy Fritsch) –
this film inspired the James Bond films in the future. The German film M (1931) directed
by Fritz Lang, starred Peter Lorre (in his first film role) as a criminal deviant who preys on
children.
Main companies/ directors/ actors:
Directors:
Alfred Hitchcock: Sir Alfred Hitchcock (13 August 1899- 29 April 1980)
was an English filmdirector and producer. He pioneered many techniques
in the suspense and psychological thriller genres/ after a successful career
in British cinema in both silent and early talkies, billed as England’s best
director, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939.
Quentin Tarantino: Born March 27, 1963 is an American film director,
screenwriter, producer and actor. His films have been characterised by
nonlinear storylines, satirical subject matter and violence that often results
in the exhibition of neo-noir characteristics. He has been called a “Director
DJ” as he combines old pictures and sounds to make new ones.

5. Actors:
Anthony Hopkins: Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE is a welsh actor of
film, stage, television and a composer. He is considered to be one of
the greatest living actors. Hopkins is perhaps best known for his
portrayal of @Hannibal Lecter’ in “The Silence of the Lambs”. As well as
his Academy Award, he has won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys and
Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award. Hopkins was knighted in 1993 for
services of his arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
in 2003, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy Of Film and
Television Arts in 2008.
Companies:
New Line Film Productions Inc.: An American film production company founded by Robert
Shaye in 1967, which then later became an independent film studio, Subsidiary of Warner
Bros. Thriller films they have produced: Alone in the dark (1982), Order of death (1983), A
nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Seven (1995).
Examples of thriller films:
The Silence of the Lambs: An FBI agent develops a relationship with the
notorious serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lector, in order to gain Lector’s
assistance in the hunt for another serial killer.
Pulp Fiction: The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a
pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
Shutter Island: A U.S Marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderess
who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.
Generally, thrillers show justice and injustice fighting against each other. The story of a
typical thriller film will usually be shown from the protagonist’s point of view following
event that the heroes must overcome. There are usually a lot of action scenes, which keeps

6. the audience guessing what will happen next and how the characters will interact with each
other.
Awards:
The Empire Award: The Empire Awards, is an annual British awards ceremony honouring
cinematic achievements in the local and global filmindustry. Winners are awarded the
Empire Award statuette. The awards, first presented in 1996, are presented by the
British film magazine Empire with the winners voted by the readers of the magazine.
They have an award category which is ‘Best Thriller’, this award has been running from 2006
to present. Previous films that have won this award are The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
(2014), The Imitation Game (2015), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).
Box office: