Breaking Ground! Drama Genre Research

Drama Films

Typical target audience of the genre

Drama is a very broad genre that encompasses many subgenres and genre hybrids which all have a very specific target market. Because of their content, most dramas are rated R, with PG-13 exceptions for family entertainment. In general, dramas are targeted at adults of both genders ages 25-50. While no gender is specifically targeted under the giant “Drama” umbrella, 89% of females list drama as one of their preferences for genre, while only 80% of males do.

Genre conventions – both within content and production techniques

Content:

• Slow moving plot
• Portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature.
• Characters mostly experience some sort of tragedy/event which established the conflict
• Dramatic themes often include current issues, societal ills, and problems, concerns or injustices, such as racial prejudice, religious intolerance (such as anti-Semitism), drug addiction, poverty, political unrest, the corruption of power, alcoholism, class divisions, sexual inequality, mental illness, corrupt societal institutions, violence toward women or other explosive issues of the times.
• Modern films often depict an unjust society/conflict of self which the protagonist works against. 
• Editing matches the mood of the scene rather than a consistent pace
• Charged with on-screen symbolism created through the use of props
• Depend heavily on in-depth character development (Characters always grow in some way because of their actions or reactions to their environment)
• Soundtrack tempo usually begins slow and low and builds up ever so slightly to a louder or more intense (not always faster) pace by the end by the end.
• Little to no comedic relief
• The type of lighting used throughout the piece highly varies depending on the tone of the media text.
• Dark color palette which intensifies the depth of the character's situation
• Close-ups and extreme close-ups of protagonists are usual (help build/enhance the emotional connection to the audience)
• Settings are usually urban and mundane
• Intended to provoke deeper thought/ independent pondering within members of the audience

Production:

• Average or even low filming budget, depending on the studio. In general, it’s not higher than action/superhero movies.
• EXTREMELY rare to create a sequel(s) (No sequels)
• Sets are not elaborate, as Mise-en-scène elements are mostly meant to represent normal mundane situations, implying that the events in the film did or could occur in real life.
• Casting a well-known actor or actress in an independent film has no significant effect on the film’s performance. According to the American Film Market, there is no strong correlation between star power and box office performance. In small budget drama films, star power can be a driving force for achiving a sucessful box office return; however, out of the drama films analized, films that grossed over $100 million worldwide (Crash, Lost in Translation, and Billy Elliot) had high, medium, and low star power respectively. 

Institutional conventions – narrative image, marketing, etc.

Narrative Image: Drama films are meant to spark deeper thought in the audience by presenting life through an unconventional, sometimes unorthodox perspective. As in most, drama film trailers are composed of quick snapshots of the entire movie, they present or

strive to allude to the protagonist’s conflict; for example, in the trailer from the 2018 movie “Can you ever forgive me?” it was evident that the film would explore Lee Israel’s conflict of self as she lost her identity while forging letters for a living. Drama trailers don’t usually display fast-paced editing, as it doesn't generally fit the tone of most films. Because the audience for drama films are usually adults, the narrative doesn't incorporate “entertaining” bursts of action or suspense; instead, it focuses on building the story so that it develops the characters right in front of the audience's eyes.

Marketing:

Studios advertise dramas by paying to air the film’s trailer on networks such as NBC, ABC, FOX, and CBS which are the most viewed broadcast and cable networks among adults aged 18 to 49 in the United States acroding to Statista. This promotion is able to reach the prime target audience directly, the constant appearance if the trailer in daily programming serves as a reminder for audiences that they should watch the film. Word-of-mouth promotion is also a big component of marketing a drama film, because of the busy and clouded life of adults, a recommendation from a friend or college is highly valuable. For frequent moviegoers, movie theaters filter the previews they show before each movie, normally categorizing them and showing the trailers to their target markets, this helps to market the film among the genre's lovers as they are more inclined to make plans to watch the upcoming drama films.

Thought the years, many great drama films or hybrid have taken home the Oscar. For the past ten years, all the films (mostly BIG drama films or hybrids) that have won Best Picture have premiered in at one of the BIG 5 film festivals (Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Telluride, and TIFF), it isn’t only after they’ve premiered and are considered for/ have won an Academy Award that they are marketed to the public, a rerelease facilitated by award season. Data shows that the festival which nominates the most drama films for the festival’s main award is Cannes. 

Drama films at the box office:
According to the American Film Market, since the early 2000s, drama movies are most successful (in terms of budget:return) when they are R rated, original screenplays, that are contemporary fiction. These characteristics being part of successful box office returns make perfect sense because they seem to be the most appealing to the target market.