Genre - Teen Drama

Films that are of the genre ‘drama’ usually tackle very serious issues which portray realistic characters, settings and situations; this is verisimilitude which is the appearance or semblance of truth. More often than not dramas do not focus on special-effects, comedy, or action. The drama genre tends to deal with ‘of the time’ issues for example racism, drugs, religion, politics and illness etc. Through time the conventions of drama have altered in many different ways. These conventions are the setting, plot and characters. The main factor which has been a dominant force during the changes of conventions has been the society. The society present during the time in which a play was written had a direct influence on the plot and characters. This is because drama is defined as a representation of life. There are elements of drama in many films and drama has a lot of sub-genres such as romantic drama, period drama and crime drama. Voyeurism is also an aspect of drama as audiences like to engage in other people’s life to gain pleasure. Urban dramas, which was a new type of drama after the 1980’s, deals with reality but is defined by the use of drugs, guns and violence.
There are two main parts to the narrative structure of drama. Which are the story where we see what happens and to whom it happens to and then the discourse -how the story unfolds. They go by a cause and effect sequence where we see development of the characters which is ultimately what creates the drama. There is a lot of character depth opposed to other films because conventionally drama’s also present issues in such ways that will emotionally move or touch the audience and will also give them an opportunity to empathise with characters. They will do this by using non-diegetic sound tracks to fit the certain scene. They will also do this by the use of cinematography and mise-en-scene. For example the use of over the shoulder shots and shot reverse shot to show conversation between characters and character perspective shots to make the audience feel more involved in the scene and in order for it to look more realistic. The uses of close-ups are a must in the drama genre so the audience can see the characters facial expressions and to make them look more exaggerated.
The codes and conventions of the teen film genre vary depending on the cultural context of the film. Teen drama is very dynamic as it reflects society and society is constantly changing. Mainly, however, they can include proms, alcohol, illegal substances, and college, losing one's virginity, relationships, social groups and cliques.
Heightened emotion is a man feature of teen-drama so the audience can relate to the teenage angst of the characters and is illustrated with close-ups and character development.  The major focus is obviously on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television as the ‘teenager’ was and up and coming rage due to rock ‘n’ roll. It came into prominence in the early 1990s, especially with the popularity of the series Beverly Hills, 90210. After the show became a success, television writers and producers realized the potential for this new genre to reach out to a previously ignored demographic. In the past, most series with a focus on teenagers had been sitcoms, while adolescents in drama series were usually part of a larger ensemble that included adults and children. This was because issues that teenagers was facing where not spoken about, like drugs, sex and teen pregnancy, however now to try and overcome these issues they are portrayed in a media text to hopefully overcome them. 

An example of a teen-drama storyline is in East Enders when the character of Stacey finds out she is pregnant, she acts as if everything is okay but behind the scenes it is not – like in my storyline (Blog post – Influences).
Skins is thee TV show for Teen drama aimed at teens. It shows the life of around 10 ten teenagers as they go through life. Skins is also social realist which is a feature of British Teen-Dramas (also known as kitchen sink drama) as they intend to be as realistic and as close to reality as possible in order to convey the issues in which feature in them. Its controversial storylines have explored issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness (such as eating disorders), adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death.