Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance

1. Drama The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" Bassey Udohaya Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance The two masks associated with drama represent the traditional generic division between comedy and tragedy

2. Drama Research • I have watched and researched a variety of Drama films. Each individual film have different ways in creating a sense of action and generate interest in me (the viewer). The films I will be writing about are.. • Forrest Gump (1994, Robert Zemeckis) • Titanic (1997, James Cameron) • and will talk about Drama films as a whole. Drama – A genre of fiction that has been used as a form of entertainment for thousands of years. This constant use of Genre makes it difficult to be innovative within the story structure.

3. Forrest Gump Forrest Gump is a Romance/Drama starring Tom Hanks. Forrest Gump is a simple man with little brain activity but good intentions. He struggles through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His 'mama' teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. The film uses a variety of typical Drama techniques, boy meets girl, loses girl, then the film follows his struggle/path to get her back. Very interesting twists and the soundtrack were key elements to me and I felt like they kept the audience watching.

4. Titanic Titanic is a History/Drama/Romance starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. on a ship called Titanic when young Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé, Caledon “Cal” Hockley. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets to the ship in a game. And she explains the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning. Titanic uses a variety of in depth long shots and close ups to show the size of the ship itself, this however is pretty much unique to this film. Like Forrest Gump this film features a boy meets girl structure. However in my opinion the film follows a Romeo and Juliet narrative as it is themed along the social and economic divide between the Upper-class and Third-class.

5. Conventions of a Drama • Narration (a narrator to explain/accompany the action) • Flashbacks (as most dramas are character based, flashbacks allow us to find out more about a character) • Spoken thought (like flashbacks spoken thought allows us to see the true hidden characters behind the characters themselves) LOST is a Adventure/Mystery/Drama. That heavily uses Flashbacks to explain the back-story of the many characters featured Fresh Prince of Bel Air is a Family/Comedy/Drama. That uses Spoken thought however it is mainly used to convey the jokes or gags. Scrubs is a Comedy/Drama. That uses Narration to convey the jokes and to set up the story.

6. Drama Development Timeline Pinnochio (1940) is viewed as one of the best dramatical animations of 1940. The film proved that animations could also qualify for the genre of Drama and has become a key point in Disney’s history. Psycho (1960) allowed the Drama genre to appeal to Horror audiences whereas before this film the horror genre consisted of a deranged killer or psychopath, until this film the genre never really explored dramatic characters . E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) This film showed that children could be the forefront of mainstream drama films which is something Hollywood had never really considered. Especially a child interact with an alien. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) This films feature Will Smith playing a character and that characters trials and tribulations are represented in the film. It is based on a true story The Kid (1921) Was an extremely early drama film staring Charlie Chaplin, who is once again typecast as his little tramp character. The film was remade as Big Daddy in 1999 Tale of Two Cities (1911) one of the earliest examples of Drama . It was entirely silent so it relied on the acting of characters and story for the element of drama. One of the most popular Drama films of it’s time City Lights (1931) was Charlie Chaplin's next big drama film. Like Tale of Two Cities it is entirely silent and relies on Charlie Chaplin to carry the entire film. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) This film is often viewed as a representative for films of it’s time. It expressed the inner torments and seldom of a solitary female character More than 20 years after A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) The Godfather (1972) features now legendary actor Marlon Brando make a return to the Drama genre, the film received rave reviews for the dramatic “one man against the world” appeal Ghost (1990) this film in my opinion is the result of market research done by perhaps Paramount Pictures as this drama film stars Patrick Swayze from the popular at the time Dirty Dancing film, (they were aiming for a similar market.)

7. Evaluation of Drama Development Drama’s are traditionally character based. Usually focusing on one character (City Lights, Pinnochio, A Streetcar Named Desire, Godfather and The Pursuit of Happyness) however this is not always the case, (Particularly E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, where although E.T. Himself is a key character, the film mainly focuses on the other kids involved and they create most of the drama and action.) In our trailer we will follow the traditional convention of basing it on a solitary character, in that sense our film is comparable to The Pursuit of Happyness in that our main character will be focussed on and it’s in a realistic situation. Big dramatic events are a general convention of movies, however in Drama I’ve found you need to boost the character impact over the event, (for example in A Streetcar Named Desire, the character Blanche DuBois rape scene would be dramatic and impactful in any film but the Drama genre means that the audience will build a connection with the characters and in a sense we will feel whatever the characters do.) Our trailer to our film will allude to minor events that will happen in the film, which is perhaps going against the general convention of film however what will happen will capture the audience in that we’ll create and demonstrate a character that the audience can get emotionally involved with. (For example in Psycho and A Streetcar Named Desire, we get to see an inner view into the characters psyche, especially in A Streetcar Named Desire, this allows us to see that not everyone is perfect.) Popular Drama actors also allow people to develop interest (because the audience can expect the same kind of character from the last film.) this leads to many actors being typecast into drama roles (an example of this is Will Smith who after The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) went on to star in many drama roles as opposed to his usual comedy roles) Films have always relied on popular character actors to generate interest in the film. It would be weird to see characters that aren’t usually cast for a certain genre appear in a film. A key example of this for me is Vin Diesel who is generally an action film actor (The Fast and The Furious, xXx, and The Chronicles of Riddick) however if he was to appear in a children film it wouldn’t go well (which he did The Pacifier, which was very poorly received by critics and is viewed as one of the worst films in his career.) typecasting actors to me seems like common sense, we see what an actors range is in a film and you hire them accordingly it’s always been like this, perhaps with the exception of Charlie Chaplin.