The Drama Genre

Drama.

       The genre of drama has consistently dominated the film industry in the past and in the present. This genre has consistently produced some of the most critically acclaimed movies, such as: The Godfather, The Dark Night, and Pulp Fiction. Drama films often depict real life issues to aid the emotional and relational development of characters. This helps capture the audience by creating a sense of empathy. Though the more popular films in drama focus on realism, the genre still houses formalistic pieces, for instance: The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom. The genre is extremely broad and houses a variety of sub-genres, for example: biography, courtroom, dramedy, historical, melodrama, period piece, political, romance, and tragedy.

       Due to the genre's emotional appeal, light and dark toned lighting is often utilized to help convey the movie's tone. Low key lighting and cool color are often used in productions within this genre. Low key lighting creates a contrast between lit and unlit parts of the shot and helps the audience focus on one object, such as a person. This helps determine the mood of the scene, which could be mysterious, gloomy, scared, etcetera. Cool colors are often used to enhance the emotional appeal of the audience and set the mood. Sound is utilized to add an emotional impact to the film. Scores show the audience how to feel, whether it's upset, happy, or scared. Stings are often used in the drama genre to enhance the drama of the situation in a scene. 

       The vast majority of productions within this genre are marketed towards a more mature audience, due to their explicit content. Dramatic films are most commonly marketed to the masses through trailers. Trailers usually consist of intense scenes from the film that sum up its plot and make those watching interested. They are usually shown on television and social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Another way in which they are marketed is by ads that consist of close up shots of the main protagonist or as a collection of shots with the main characters put together along with the title of the film and when it will be in theaters.

       Fight club (1999) is an excellent example of a drama. It's plot follows the mundane life of a man who is struggling with insomnia. He found an unlikely cure for his insomnia after he began attending emotional support groups that were for people with various illnesses; however, he didn't suffer from what his group members did. After doing this for a while, he is interrupted by a woman named Marla. With her presence at his meetings, he becomes an insomniac one again and begins to despise her. In an effort of compromise, they agree to attend meetings on different days so they don't cross paths. In turn, they exchange numbers. Following the man's seemingly boring lifestyle, he meets another man named Tyler Durden on an airplane. When they reach their destination, the man realizes he has swapped briefcases with Durden. As he arrives home, he discovers that his condo blew up, and he had no where to stay. Acting on impulse, the man decides to use a payphone to call Tyler, but he has no idea why he did. After the pair share a few drinks at a bar, Tyler challenges the man to a fist fight in the parking lot. To his confusion, the man agrees. After the fight, they head back to Tyler's place. As the plot continues, the men continue to fight at the bar, and eventually amass a following which they refer to as "Fight Club", where members are bound by rules and the drive to fight one other. The man uses this club as a way to help him sleep, and realizes he doesn't agree with the bounds of society that he is kept under. He begins to become more daring by challenging his old ways and his approach to life.

       Dead Poets Society (1989) follows the story of a group of friends that attend an all boys boarding school called Welton Academy. The newest boy, Todd Anderson, joins the friend group when he becomes roommates with Neil Perry. Anderson is held under pressure by his parents to achieve well at this school because his older brother was his class valedictorian. Perry is also closely monitored by his strict father that insists he become a doctor. However, it is evident that Perry would like nothing more than to become an actor. The school has quite strict teachers and the boys are required to keep up with a rigorous academic agenda. However, the school's new english teacher, Mr. Keating (Robin Williams) approaches the boys with an abstract method of teaching. Keating encourages them to become free thinkers by instructing them to rip out the first page of their textbooks, because it doesn't believe in what is said. The boys began to enjoy his class, eventually discovering that Keating himself went to Welton. They look him up in a yearbook and find that he created something called "The Dead Poet's Society." Curious, the group asks Keating what it was, and in response he says that him and his friends back in school met up at the old indian cave and read poetry. Upon hearing this, the boys snuck out past curfew that night and recreated the club. They read poetry, ate snacks, and laughed all night. The next morning in english class, as Keating was demonstrating his point using an experimental technique, one of the deans for the school noticed and negatively remarked his method. As the school is built on tradition, administration was not very pleased with Keatings teachings. As the plot progresses, the boys learn to become free thinkers and demonstrate how they really feel about the school and their future.


Some films for your drama watch list:


Roma

Moonlight

12 Years a Slave

The Revenant

Raging Bull