Drama Genre Conventions

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After exploring the codes and conventions of short films, I feel as if it is necessary to look into specific conventions of my chosen genre, drama. These are significant to my research in order to portray to my audience what genre my short film is as well as to ensure that I include this within my production and conform to the conventions.


  •  Typical dramas exhibit real-life situations. They portray realistic, believable and relatable characters. The characters should be believable enough that the audience can emphasis or sympathies with them.


  • Realistic settings and stories/narrative are also included within drama films. These conventions make it easier to produce a short film of the genre drama as they are common and easier to access.
Image result for drama film gif
  • Drama seeks to move the audience emotionally with a steady increase and build up of tension to keep the audience hooked.


  • The end commonly portrays a ‘hard hitting’ ending to leave a lasting effect on the audience.


  • The heart of drama is a form of conflict, representation of hardship, difficulties, struggles, emotional, mental or physical pain.


Portrays journeys of characters development. In the case of my short film, portraying the journey of character development is difficult due to the length of my production. Instead, by only using minimal characters, I hope to create a relatable and believable character to which the audience can enjoy from the beginning to the end.
Image result for titanic film ending
Not all films have conformed to these conventions, in fact many subvert certain aspects in order to give a twist or different view on the genre. Titanic is a common example of this. Drama endings tend to happy yet leave a lasting effect on the audience. Titanic left a lasting effect on their audience but creating a tragedy for their ending instead.

The genre of drama also has many sub-genres. Including:

  • Romantic drama
  • Prison drama
  • Period drama
  • Crime drama

I have decided against choosing a sub-genre as within my primary research little to no one wrote a sub-genre as their favourite, therefore I feel it is a safer choice to stick with one clear genre.

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