Conventions Of A Drama Film

The main conventions of a drama film is that the storyline is usually a serious, plot-driven presentation, showing realistic characters, settings, life situations, and involve intense character involvement and interaction. Drama films usually do not focus on special-effects, comedy or action but focus on telling a realistic, relatable and emotional storyline. The beginning of most of drama films start by revealing the ending of the story. This allows the audience to identify with the characters and the emotions that they are feeling.

An example of a drama film is "The Bucket List". The beginning of this film starts with a helicopter shot of a mountain range. This shot establishes the setting and also the harsh terrain shows how the characters journey has not been and will not be an easy one. A voice over is then introduced and it is a man telling the audience the story of a character. The next sequence of shots we see are of a man walking up the mountain the audience then assume that it was him providing the voice over. Also the helicopter shots are then put into perspective as it appears as if it was a point of view shot from the character that has died looking down on the man climbing the mountain.

This combination of shots and voice over fits with the conventions of a drama film because the story line is dramatic and is emotional as already we can see that the two characters had a friendship and one of them has died leading the surviving one on a long and difficult journey which is connoted by the mountains. It is also a realistic storyline as everyone in life suffers the pain of losing a close friend or relative and they also have to go on the challenging journey to get through the pain.