The
drama genre has and continues to be the most dominant area in which films in
modern day are made. Directors Today such as Damien Chazelle, Quentin
Tarantino, and Steven Spielberg have all made and continue to create films in
this genre.
The
main reason this genre is so popular today is due to the young to middle age
group that it is marketing for. These pieces cover a range of ages (13-15 years
old) and it provides something for teenagers all the way to middle age. A
strong example of a modern drama film that grossed over $446 million is La La Land,
created by Chazelle, which appealed to this group of people.
The
aspects that tie into these productions is what some people do not always catch
onto. When it comes to the typical content that is present in these films it
tends to have a single male or female lead or two main leads of either gender
in a realistic environment. The stories that consist of the two main leads tend
to base the course of events that each character undergoes on the opposing
character. This is seen in Twilight with the two main
characters, Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart).
The love that exists between them and the idea of trying to have a relationship
with each other is what drives almost all their actions in the film. When it
comes to stories with a single lead, a similar concept where they are fighting
against themselves. This can range from this character being upset with what
they have done in their past, with what is currently going on in the world, or
with how they can change what is going on around them.
The
drama genre’s narrative ranges from romance to modern day social injustice. The
constant in these films regardless of the narrative is
the realistic scenarios that are created. Whether the world or
characters are fictional, the story and characters take what is going on around
them as a realistic scenario and that dictates how they act. Even if a
character pulls out a light saber, they do not gawk at the fantasy but rather
take it as a threat. This is scene directly in any Star Wars
fight scene.
Productions
that exist within drama also tend to lean towards certain techniques. All these
techniques stem from the use of dialogue as the core of every film. Tying into
this as well, the score and soundtrack that go along with the film are meant to
tie into the meaning, purpose, and implications of what the characters are
saying and what they lead to later in the film. The driving points in many
drama films are not fast paced and let the dialogue dictate what is going to
happen and the intensity or lack of it in the film. To tie into this, the art
direction tends to have a darker or lighter tone than usual according to the
story and what is happening within the film. In this picture from Fifty Shades Darker, the scene is
dark and promiscuous which is alluding to the characters and what they do to
each other in the film.
All
these technique and aspects of drama would be useless if it weren’t for how these
films are marketed. The marketing campaign almost always consists
of television adverts and trailers. With popular films based off novels, this
is always mentioned, as seen in the Hunger Games.
These adverts and trailers attempt to give a brief overview of the characters
and the conflicts. When it comes to the posters for these films, they tend to
consist of close images of the main character or characters as seen in Moonlight.
The other techniques is then all of the characters around each other and items from
the film that represent something. There is typically distance between them which
is used to convey their relationship towards each other in the film.
A Beautiful Mind is a film that follows the life
of John Nash (Russell Crowe) who is a brilliant mathematician as he is
trying to make a breakthrough. In his life, he comes to the realization that he has
a mental illness and that it complicates everything he has ever believed. It plays with his mind and doesn't all how to know what is real or fabricated. This film uses the
dialogue as its basis and catapults Nash through a series of
events. As things seem to get darker and have a more depressing tone for his
life, so does the aesthetic of the film. Nash is placed in isolation from the rest of the
world and leads to him wearing colors that symbolize loneliness. The events that he undergoes are viewed as realistic from every
character in the film and presents what he is going through as a real
challenge. In the poster for the film, it shows a close image of Crowe's face and is portraying the close and deep story that this film tells about his life.
