Drama (planning) 14

After researching and viewing examples of what drama is, lets review our initial story and see what changes need to be made.

As we discussed in my drama research post, a drama is a story that largely revolves around a character facing a central conflict and emotion. However, as I've discovered, there are many different approaches to conveying this conflict/emotion. Sequentially, it seems that we've shifted to a more light-hearted approach, let me explain.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Lets take Little Miss Sunshine for example, a drama film about an odd family that travels across the nation to support their daughter's pageant dreams. No matter how dysfunctional this family may be, the film maintains a humors and lighthearted tone while also opening up about the ups and downs of their reality. Our own plot follows a similar 'light-hearted', but dramatic, tone of realism by having someone chase their unrealistic dream. Nonetheless, our message is similar to the extract: 'it's the attempt that matters'

Implementing drama tropes

Once again, my thorough research gave light to what an audience expects from a drama film, character-centered story, emotional conflict, and realistic actions. Let review what elements are already displayed in our story and see which are lacking.

        1. Character-centered story: Most films require a "main character" but dramas must prioritize internal experience rather than external displays of chaos. 

Lady Bird (2017) compilation

As shown in the compilation of 'mother-daughter' conflicts from Lady Bird, one could see Christine's ambition to leave her hometown and gain identity. Her strained relationship with her mother shapes her personality and choices in the story, reinforcing the emotional character-centered story. This ultimately relates to our own dramatic plot of ones internal conflict of ambition and self-perception.

        2. Emotional conflict: In dramas, the main tension in the story is usually internal, but conveyed through tone like doubt, identity, fear, and desire.

La La Land (2016)

As a whole, la la land is about aspiring artists who fall in love while chasing their passions. This alone exemplifies emotional conflict but the specific extract above expresses the conflict of desire with fear. Yes she wants to succeed but she's confirming her doubts at the same time. All while this is going on, drama is thriving in this contradiction. This extract connects to our plot because our character is facing a similar contradiction of feelings. They desire success but underneath they fear failure (empty seats, mic glitches, interruptions)

        3. Realistic Actions: A good rule of thumb for a all dramas is to include actions and consequences that are believable. No matter the strange circumstances (dreams), the characters real-world behavior must feel plausible.

Whiplash (2014)

As shown in the extract above, Andrew aspires to be a great drummer or "one of the greats" as he would say. However, he faces constant criticism from his teacher ultimately leading him to push himself to far. His actions are realistic/believable because he ties his identity to achievement. As he get harsh criticism, his ambition and strive for greatness is heightened in realistic ways. When it comes down to our characters own actions, I would say they're nothing short of realistic. People all over the world strive for success and mentally rehearse big achievements (and tie their worth to them). In our film, it will be clear that their self-worth is tied to their success due to their attitude change once they wake up.

Narratives

Moving forward with narratives, a three part act that structures the state of a film. As I discussed in my research, these structures are equilibrium, disruption, and rising tension.

        1. Equilibrium: Typically a 'stable' starting point of a story. This state doesn't have to be happy, it should just be stable. An example of a film with a stable starting point is Lady Bird, a film we discussed above. The film establishes equilibrium by showing Christine living her normal high school life, nothing drastic has changed yet. The act of establishing equilibrium is somewhat related to our story due to our inclusion of the characters normal, basic life once they wake up (ordinary life with internal longing). This is considered to be a classic example of drama equilibrium.

        2. Disruption: As we discussed earlier, the inclusion of a disruption in dramas is most commonly internal rather than external chaos. Relating back to La La Land, when Mia receives the opportunity to audition, she is accepting disruption and forces herself to confront her former feeling of fear. In my group and I's film, the disruption is the dream itself because of the exposed insecurity (empty seats, foreign sounds, & other disruptions!!!)

        3. Rising Tension: The inclusion of tension typically goes hand in hand with disruption. For instance, in Whiplash, Andrew continues to practice harder despite his teachers consistent push. As this pressure builds, Andrews emotional strain increases. In my story, tension is built from many factors including foreign noises, stress, mic glitch, and intense music.

After conducting research, we accurately categorized our story into different drama aspects and understood what type of film we're creating! It's now finally time to write the genre statement.