Comedy/ Drama Genre

This is the start of my AS coursework for media. the brief for this coursework is to create a title sequence for our chosen genre. i am working with Michael Knight for this project.The genre we want to do for our film is a feel good drama, as these movies are light-hearted they are usually under the comedy genre as well. This is why I did my research and case studies including the comedy genre also. We have chosen to do this genre as we though it is very unique and though it would be an interesting one to do as you can explore the genres in many different ways, compared to the horror genre which has the basic codes and conventions of blood, dime lighting, etc.

Drama: an exciting, emotional, or unexpected event or circumstance

Conventions of the Drama genre

·       Focus on real life situations: Many drama films are focused on telling the story of real-life situations and things which happen in our everyday lives. They usually follow normal people, and their problems, highlighting what things affect our lives and the way in which we live.

·       The theme of character development: Often, the main character will go through a transition, or will change dramatically throughout the film, for example, in my imagined film ‘Naomi’s Choice’, the main character Naomi goes through a transition, and overtime, matures into a young woman raising her child in the best way that she can. This shows a dramatic change to the person she used to be before having Bethany in her life.

·       Emotionally affect the audience: Because of the truthfulness of many drama films, the spectator is often left feeling emotional at various points of the film, whether this is sadness or happiness, as seen in ‘Stand By Me’(Rob Reiner, 1986).

·       Particular themes explored: There are a variety of themes which are often explored in drama films, including: self-discovery

Codes of the drama genre

·       Characters must be easily accessible for the audience-this means that they are  easy to relate to.

·       A form of realisation towards the end of the film

·       The character has a clear relationship with people and to themselves.

·       Use of realistic storylines

·       Usually some form of a journey

·       realistic setting

·       Paradigmatic: Social issues involved, the need of having a job

Comedy: a play characterized by its humorous or satirical tone and its depiction of amusing people or incidents, in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity

Codes/ conventions of the comedy genre

·       Humour

·       Quotable dialogue

·       A goal to be reached or problem to be resolved

·       Happy endings

·       Modern settings

·       Stupid decisions

·       Questionable morals

·       Interesting types of characters

·       Highly stereotyped- characters

·       Humorous misfortune

·       Sidekick/Best friend (friendship)

·       Embarrassment

·       Over short period of time

·       Easy watching- simple not complex

·       Doesn’t make you think about deep and meaningful things