Conventions and Trends of the Drama Genre

Drama is a very broad genre with a great deal of sub-genres within it. Despite this, there are still certain conventions that are a running trend throughout a great deal of films that come under the Drama genre.

• The characters in the films tend to be more serious and believable, as opposed to large characters that are blown out of proportion for comical or other reasons.
• The protagonist is often after a object, person, or state of mind. There is generally always some kind of aim of the characters or problem they have to face.
• The music used is often sombre in tone, and classical as opposed to more popular pop songs. If songs with words are used, they tend to describe how one of the characters is feeling at that particular point in time. The music is key in drama films, it sets the tone for the scene and gives it a depth that the audience can connect with on another level.
• Many Drama films start at the ending of the film, showing us how the character is at the end of the story. The film then goes back to show the previous events that landed the character in their current situation.
• When films begin at the endings, they often show a character as being defeated and sad, then we go back to see what caused this.

I have found a good website which states the general conventions of a vast number of film genres, for Drama, it said: 'Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction.'
Reference: http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Whilst looking up common conventions and trends of the Drama genre I also stumbled across another website with a good definition: "Conflict is the essence of drama, and the purpose of a dramatic storyline is to move or touch the audience in some emotional way. There is usually a struggle going on that is wrought with hardships, difficulty and pain… Dramas are generally serious stories depicting life situations in a realistic way with characters behaving at their worst and at their best.” Reference: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/3080/Film-Genres.html