Dear Fellow Passionate Media Followers,
It’s me again! I think I have finally chosen the genre I want my film opener to be. I want to use the genre drama. I did some research that made me solidify my choice..
I discovered that the typical conventions of a drama movie are as follows: they capture real life situations, they have characters that are real, the settings are real, and a story line that is real. Drama films are really rooted in the conflict portion of a film. They mainly focus on a character's journey. To keep the audience engaged these films usually have very intense social interactions. The purpose of a drama film is to capture a dramatic story line. This helps to move the audience emotionally. Most of the time, they capture the struggles, hardships, difficulty, and pain characters do through. These types of films usually follow the same plot line. The beginning of the film is usually very sad and the ending is usually happy. Generally, it portrays a journey that a character adds to its own development. During the film, there's a lot of intense social interaction filled with climaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached to the story.
Throughout my research, I found that drama films have certain characteristics. In order for drama films to get this type of look and feel they utilize certain production techniques. Most of the time, they portray real world events/situations. The production techniques that are utilized are as follows: set designers in drama films create authentic looking places including: offices, cities, nature settings, etc. Costumes usually will be representative of the time period or the plot taken place. Costumes are usually not complex but tend to reflect the real world. There is not really a universal type of lightning technique used in these types of films. The lighting in these films is all dependent on the mood of the scene, emotions that the director is trying to communicate to the audience, and time of day the scene is taking place. As well as, drama films like all other films utilize special effects, sound, music used to develop and shape understanding of atmosphere, characterisation, conflict, and theme. As well as, visual language techniques such as acting, gesture and use of props.
Furthermore, I thought it was very interesting to learn about how drama films are marketed. I learned that due to this genre being so broad and containing so many sub-genres that their is not one universal way that all drama films are marketed. I did find that a lot of the time drama films appeal directly to the female audience. These films usually try to appeal more to emotions and they use this emotional appeal to market the film. The way these films are marketed is no different from the way any other films are marketed. For example, drama films use marketing tools such as creating trailers, creating film posters, having directors and actors of a film be guests on talk shows, going on promotional tours, etc. An interesting thing that I found was that drama film trailers show more of the core plot of the film than anything else. For example, The Wolf on Wall Street movie trailer focused on the plot of the story more than anything else.
Here are two examples of drama films and why they are considered drama films :
The Wolf of Wall Street:
The Wolf of Wall Street embodies all the conventions of a typical drama film. The movie tells the true story of Jordan Belfort and how he started and eventually killed his brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont. The characters and setting in the film are all based on people and places that are and were real which is a main convention of a drama film. The film is mainly rooted in the conflict of Jordan Belfort's fraudulent business, addiction to drugs and alcohol, and troubles with his wife and the FBI. Just as most drama films do this film focus on the journey of the main character, Jordan Belfort, and his journey through the world of Wall Street. One major convention of a drama film that this film has a lot intense social interaction filled with climaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached to the film. For example, there was a scene in the movie depicting Jordan with friends and family on their private boat almost drowning in the middle of the ocean because of a very intense storm. Due to the fact that, Jordan told the captain to drive the boat through the storm due to not consciously being award of the captains questions because of the use of drugs. Another example of an intense social interaction in the film is when Jordan came home one night bareilly being able to get into the house because of being so coked up on drugs.
The Post
This film also truly embodies all the true characteristics of a drama film. The whole purpose of the film is to capture the dramatic story of Katherine Graham’s rise to fame. It stars Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham, the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of The Washington Post. The characters and setting in the film are all based on people and places that are and were real which is a main convention of a drama film. This film is truly rooted in the conflict between whether Katharine Graham and Ben Bradley should publish the Pentagon Papers. It also captures the journey that Katherine Graham goes on during her start at the Washington Post. The beginning of the film is very sad with the death of Katherine Graham's husband, the portrayal of Katherine’s depression as she takes over the Post and mourns the loss of her husband, but the ending is very happy with the successful release of the Pentagon Papers, and the winning of the Supreme Court case, and with Katherine Graham successfully taking the Washington Post public. Furthemore, the target audience was very easily understood from watching the film… females. The film is about a woman's struggle and success in the workplace. As shown, the movie the Post clearly embodies the specific characteristics of a drama film.
Other examples of drama films that I found are:
I hope this blog entry wasn’t too boring. I hoped it helped to enrich your mind about a particular film genre. My next blog entry will hopefully will not be as boring.
Sincerely,
Matthew Liebman
Filmmaker
November 11th, 2018
