1. Codes and Conventions of
Drama/Teen Drama:
•Mise-En-Scene
•Typical Props
•Typical Characters
•Typical Settings
•Typical Costumes
•Film Examples
•Typical Actors/Actresses
•Promotional Package Conventions
•Institutional Details-Budget, Films Etc
2. Mise-En-Scene
• Dull Lighting (Portrays gritty and bleak nature)
• Close ups of characters
• Low Angle and High angle shots- to portray strength and
weakness amongst characters.
• Clear shots and angles show different groups within the
cast (Teen Drama)
These bullet points above show what the mise-en-scene is
typically during Drama/Teen Drama films. For example in
Kidulthood (a good example for the type of film we are
researching) the weaker girl is shown by a high angle looking
down on her and the bully is shown with a low angle to portray
the strength and power of the bully. Also the lighting in
Drama/Teen Drama’s are important as it show’s the gritty side of
Drama/Teen Drama which is vital to our project.
3. Typical Props
• Alcohol
• Drugs
• Guns
• Knifes
• Mobile Phones
These props i have mentioned are typical to the type of gritty
drama/Teen Drama we are aiming for as in many films such as
Elephant and Kidulthood, these props can be seen clearly in the film.
We will take these props in consideration and will use some of these
props in our project.
4. Typical Characters
• Focus on the one character, whether it be Male or Female- e.g:
Trevor (Kidulthood)
Sam (Adulthood)
Lester (American Beauty)
• Love Interest- e.g:
Alisa (Kidulthood)
Angela (American Beauty)
Lexi (Adulthood)
• Villain- e.g.:
Sam (Kidulthood)
Jay/Sam (Adulthood)
Frank ( American Beauty)
This characters are crucial to a Drama/Teen Drama as they help to create the
tension and atmosphere of the film due to the circumstances they are facing.
As well as the characters above, another typical character seen in
Drama/Teen Dramas is the friend that the main character confides in. For our
project we will try to incorporate these characters into the trailer as well as
adding other characters.
5. Typical Settings
• Teen Drama:
• Close knit locations
• E.G. Council Estates,
• Flats,
• Ghetto’s,
• School
• Streets of neighborhood.
• Gritty Drama:
• Run Down Houses,
• Flats,
• Estates
• Workplace
For the type of Drama/Teen Drama that our
group are going to portray, these
locations/settings are the type that is vital to our
drama as we are going for a gritty look.
6. Typical Costumes
• Gritty Drama’s: Worn out, torn, dirty hand me down
clothing.
• Period Drama: Old fashioned clothing e.g. Dress’s, suits,
Military uniform’s, depending on ear e.g. Atonement is in
the 1930’s during the second world war.
• Teen Drama: Hoodies, Tracksuits, Caps, bandana’s,
Chains, trainers, t-shirts. School Uniform’s
7. Film Examples
• Adulthood
• Kidulthood
• Elephant
• Paranoid Park
• American Beauty
• Requiem for a Dream
• Quadrophenia
These films are the type of Drama/Teen
Drama that we are trying hoping to create as
each of them focus’s in particular on one
character and how different circumstances
affect them and how they deal with the gritty,
bleak side of life. We will try to incorporate
the style of these films into our project.
8. Typical Actors/Actresses
(1) (2)
• Noel Clarke (1)
• Kevin Spacey (2)
• Gabe Nevins (3)
• Tom Hanks (4)
• Alex Frost (5) (3) (4)
• Sean Penn (6)
• Ellen Burstyn (7)
• Kate Winslet (8)
• Red Madrell (9) (5) (6)
These Actors/Actresses are all known for being in
Drama/Teen Drama films. While some are much
more recognisable such as Tom Hanks, Sean Penn,
Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey, there are also quite
unknown Actors/Actresses such as Gabe Nevins, (9) (7) (8)
Noel Clarke, Red Madrell, Alex Frost and Ellen
Burstyn. In many of these Actors/Actresses films,
they are narrating the film and the film focus’s on
them are how they react to gritty and bleak
circumstances.
9. Promotional Package Conventions
• The common codes and conventions of a Drama trailer are:
Realistic Props, Characters and Settings
Dramatic music in the background (Emotional Scenes)
Many emotional scenes (Anger, grief, love)
Often a Drama/Teen Drama Trailer is narrated.
Plotline of trailer often follows a equilibrium at the start which is then disrupted near the start
of the trailer resulting in the character having to resolve the situation which often fatal
consequences- this helps to draw the audience in by getting the audience to be intrigued by
the character’s problems.
Good Example of this: Crash(2004)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqZKaH0bvyE
• The common codes and conventions for a Drama/Teen Drama Poster are:
Main Focus on One Character (Paranoid Park/Elephant)
Or group of Characters
Setting of the film can be shown (Adulthood)
Try’s to attract audience to emotional side of the film- E.G: Paranoid Park- Character looks
distressed.
Romance could be shown on Poster E.G- Elephant-Attracts the audience
In the case of Teen Drama-links to teen culture such as Hoodies and drug abuse
(Adulthood)
10. Institutional Details-Budgets Etc
• Revolver Entertainment:
Adulthood-Budget of £600,000/£700,000
Kidulthood-Budget of £600,000
• IFC Films:
Paranoid Park-Budget of £3 Million
Fish Tank-Budget of £3 Million
• FineLine Features:
My Own Private Idaho-Budget of £2.5 Million
Crash(1994 Film)-Budget of £10 Million
These Three institutions all produce and make low budget
gritty films. These films i have mentioned above are the type
of film we are looking to portray as we want to show off the
gritty side and dark side of a teenager’s life and these films
do. Also because they are so low budget, we could use one of
these companies as our producer for our trailer.
