Genre Conventions;

Drama is one of the most popular genres used in film and television as it is very broad and allows a lot of narratives to fit to its conventions as they are so common in relation to real life and the struggles/hardships of real life. There are two main areas of a dramatic narrative; the story and how the story unfolds. As the genre is so generic, a lot of sub genres are placed within it, some of the most popular being: Period Drama, Family Drama, Teenage Drama, Social Drama etc.

A Period Drama is usually based upon a different era to now e.g. 18/19^th century, and they are commonly British as a lot of actors are classically trained for theatre performances which period dramas are very similar too. As a spectator, I would expect a period drama to have the following conventions: Appropriate Mise-en-scene (no shots in a modern city as it would not be realistic to the sub-genre), appropriate costumes and props (again, it would not be realistic and believable if the characters were wearing modern clothing for a film set 200 years ago), I would also expect the beliefs and actions of the characters to be relevant to the era in which the film was set for authenticity.

The sub-genre I will be basing my film around is Social Drama. I believe an audience would expect my film to fit to a realistic Mise-en-scene relevant to the time the film is set (Present day), a narrative which is mainly focused on character development and a wide range of emotions throughout the narrative which represents some of the struggles in real life.

With my short film fitting into this genre, I am going to make sure my protagonist is easily relatable to my audience through the use of key stylistics: Cinematography, Mise-en-scene, sound and editing.  

I have chosen a dramatic-short by a “Navajo Joe Films” entitled “Memories” (dir. Harrison J. Bahe, 2010) to analyse to help me understand how to structure my short film.

As soon as the film begins, a sense of confusion and curiosity begins through the use of the non-diegetic sound and the use of close ups. By using the soft , eerie music in sync with the characters performance we are given the effect the character is going through some form of hard ship, however, through the using the technique of having a blurred background (Laptop the character is looking at) we are not shown what he is finding difficult. The cinematography also highlights the fact that the character is isolated; it establishes him to be sat in a dark room with only a laptop for light. The suspense begins to increase even more when the cinematography changes to show what is written on the laptop. We see that the character is struggling to write a letter, the struggle is again emphasised through the cinematography as it shows the characters hand in an extreme close up curling away from the keyboard. We are shown that the character is beginning to overcome his difficulty through the use of the sound. The soundtrack changes from the soft, eerie music to a slightly more upbeat piano, and as it changes the character begins to type.

The film shows a lot of flashbacks to reveal the narrative and it is shown through the use of editing alongside cinematography; a lot of gentle fades are used between scenes and the camera pans/tilts away from the character into blackness. In all of the flash backs, the non-diegetic music (Piano and Violin) continues to play but it also has a voice over of the character playing with it; the voice over is used to let the audience know what the character is typing on the screen without having to look at it. There is no diegetic noise in any of the scenes to indicate it is past tense. The use of this technique will help me greatly in making my short film as it will emphasise the difference between my theory of dreams and reality.

More of the plot is revealed through the characters voice over; he talks about his friendship with “Teran” and as he does, the flashback coincides with the story. The volume of the over playing music decreases when the character reveals the next part of the narrative, indicating to the audience that it is the next part. Shots of the character typing again reveal that the next part of the story is not going to be a happy one as he begins to struggle to write again. The editing then reveals scenes from Teran’s point of view of the present day in sync with the flash backs being described. The story is then revealed that the main character died to protect Teran. As the film comes to an end the voice over finishes and the cinematography shows the laptop screen again to reveal that the character did not actually type anything.

This short film demonstrates a lot of useful techniques that may help me with my dramatic short. It fits fully to the conventions of social drama as it builds the characters and narrative up throughout the entire film, it has a lot of emotion within it as shown by the characters performance and the use of non-diegetic sound.