The document discusses conventions of British independently made drama films and how the group's production will follow these conventions. It will focus on the life of a working class individual living in a rural Midlands community to highlight isolation and represent social issues like depression, alcoholism, and fatherless children. This challenges stereotypes while producing emotional responses in the educated, niche audience for whom social realism films are targeted.

2. As a group, we decided that the most appropriate genre for our production would be a
psychologically-based drama film. We believed that this genre was most fitting as we
are all familiar with independently made British drama films and all agree that some of
the most interesting and memorable films in recent years have been British made
drama films, such as ‘This is England’, ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels’.
Also, the fact that many drama films are based on people our age of 16-17 and living in
an urbanised area means we will be able to relate to the narrative and could put our
own interpretations into our production. It also means our production will be
considerably more practical to film, compared to if we were to do an action film.
Furthermore, casting will be made easier if our narrative is based around someone our
age.
Why Drama?

3. In terms of ideologies, a convention of a British independently made drama film is to to
contradict stereotypical and traditional ideologies that would be promoted in a mass market,
conglomerate produced film, due to the niche target audience they are made to attract.
Some of the most commonly used ideologies that drama films contradict are the stereotype
that people from a poor background are ill-mannered and have no positive contribution to
society, and that people who grow up on a council estate are common and disrespectful.
Drama films tend to be very conventional regarding the mise-en-scene of the film. These
conventions include low-key-lighting, to reinforce the pessimistic and dark nature of the
narrative. Other conventions concerning the mise-en-scene include
• Urban setting
• Council estates
• Dull/grey weather
• Public transport
• Violence
• Drug use
Conventions of a Drama Film

4. Drugs and violence are also commonly used in drama films. They are often used to
emphasize the desperation of the character.
Shot types such as close ups are also commonly used in drama movies.They are used to
highlight the importance the character has over the narrative and the fact that the narrative
is based around the character.
Camera movement such as tracking is also used to suggest the journey the character is
experiencing.
Drama films also usually have a non-diegetic soundtrack throughout the film. This is used to
highlight the narrative in which the character is going through.
Conventions of a Drama Film

5. As drama can cover a large range of different types of narratives, writers and
directors often see it important to integrate the genre of drama with a
different genre, as they may feel simply having drama as a genre is too
vague.
Some of the most famous examples of drama hybrids are:
• Four Lions – Drama and Comedy
• Starred Up – Drama and Crime
• Kidulthood – Drama and Social Realism
• Billy Elliot – Drama and Musical
Hybrids of Drama

6. As a result of post-modern influences, it has become conventional for a drama
movie to not have a new equilibrium at the end. This is demonstrated in many
recently made British drama films, such as This Is England and Kidulthood, as it
attracts the niche and sophisticated target audience. It also highlights the sense of
realism in the genre.
In terms of characters, the main protagonist is usually disturbed and going through
or trying to come out of some kind of mental trauma they have experienced.
Furthermore, the character types are usually not as obvious in an independently
made drama movie, as the active audience are made to contemplate and consider
the character types.
Interestingly, even though the main theme of This Is England is the malicious
nature of violence, Sean Meadows avoids a brutal display of violence throughout
the film.This highlights the fact that drama films are targeted for a sophisticated
audience, as they appreciate violence is not needed for it to be a dominant theme.

7. Highlighting the fact that British films,
in particular, specialize in this genre.
We followed
the convention
of making the
subject of our
production the
life of working
class lives.
We challenged this
convention of genre
as we set our
production in rural
Midlands courtsides
to increase the
isolation of the
protagonist.
This highlights the lack of restrictions put into
social realism films, due to their targeting of
niche audiences, rather than mass media groups.

8. We represented the social issues of depression, alcoholism and fatherless children. Our active
audience maysee this as a result of the protagonists disturbed childhood, as a result of the
scene when he is throwing photographs into the fire.
The 1980’s is when social
realism films began to
thrive in Britain, due to the
controversy caused as a
result of MargretThatcher's
rain as Prime Minister, such
as unemployment,
particularly in Midland and
Northern areas of Britain,
due to the dependency on
manual labour in those
areas.
This is due to the lack
of constraints put in
place by large,
conglomerate and
oligopoly companies
in order to attract a
mass market.
Applying the auteur
theory, which we also
applied in our production

9. This is precisely
what we are
doing, due to the
stereotypes of
industrial labour
and working class
citizens in these
areas.
This emphasizes how
social realism films
challenge
representations of
class and regional
identity , as the
characters are shown
as “fully rounded” to
the eye of a
sophisticated and
active audience
member. In our
production, this is
triggered by the fact
that we direct the film
to produce emotional
pleasures, thus
allowing the audience
member to see the
character as a real
person, not simply a
manual worker.This
also allows them to
judge without
prejudice.
We highlight
problems such
as alcoholism,
depression and
fatherless
children.
The autuer theory
could be applied
here, as many
directors base their
films on personal
experiences,
expressing them in a
unique and personal
way.
This fits our protagonists representation, although he was
underclass, reinforcing the emotional pleasures the audience
will feel due to his unemployment. Also, the seeking of escape
would have been the new equilibrium to the production.

10. ‘Social protests’ are
one of the reasons as
to why they are
targeted towards a
niche market, as a
mass market are not
going to be appealed
by a film that
challenges the
hegemonic system.
Furthermore, this is
why many of our
niche target
audience are
politically active, as
they are well
informed of what is
happening regarding
politics.
This is because they
would have been less
educated, as social
realism films are
targeted towards well
educated, sophisticated
and active audiences,
due to the challenging of
stereotypes they portray,
as well as their
sometimes challenging
narrative.
Highlighting the
fact that they are
aimed towards
educated
audiences, able
to understand
the narrative and
challenging of
hegemonic
ideologies,
amongst other
aspects of social
media films.