Key Features of Drama's (Improved)

Soaps:

Never ending story lines 

(Emmerdale)

Cliffhangers are left at the end of episodes which continue over several episodes. It keeps the audience gripped to their seats and retained into finding out what happens next. Usually when one story line finishes another one begins. 

 

Multiple Plots and Characters 

Story lines are usually interwoven. Scenes move continuously between different characters and plots. For example, in Eastenders the scenes cut from characters in different scenarios and occasionally cross over. 
 
Moral nature of story lines 

The story lines connect and relate to the audience about day to day social issues like teenage pregnancy, drugs and homosexuality.   

 

Social and domestic settings 

(Eastenders)

e.g. shops, pubs, homes, street, hospital and car journey. Soaps are shot in day to day places.

Simplified characters 

for easy recognition and sometimes to the point of their being stereotypes. Simple characters allow the audience to easily follow their time line and possibly feel empathy for them.  

 

Fantasy Drama: 


Special Effects

(Merlin)

CGI is a common feature in Fantasy drama. One example is Merlin with the Dragons and magic being presented with CGI and special effects. This is also common with Science fiction as well, because they use it to produce mythical creatures and not real beings. 

 



Characters

Usually in a Fantasy drama the series are focused around one or two characters, who stereo-typically have some sort of special ability.

*Research

Merlin for example is based on legends (Knights of Camelot, King Arthur, sword in the stone etc). A fair amount of research is undergone to get the characters and plot line close to the legend. Lengends can also be used as a stepping stone for plot lines in the series. In Merlin they changed certain aspects of the lengend to please the audience and make it more interesting. This also happened with Robin Hood (BBC), but by series 3 it just got ridiculous.  


 

Youth/Issue Based Drama:

Locations

Most dramas aimed at young people are based around schools or youth events like festivals, clubs, parties etc. One example of a youth drama is Waterloo Road. Issue based dramas would be focused around the characters home, work and leisure time.

Characters & Issues




(Waterloo Road)

Characters tend to have personal issues and scenarios which can then be related to the targeted audiences, so teenage pregnancy, drugs, drink and abuse. If it is based around school the range of characters would be varied and they would represent real people by the way they act and stereotype. For example, the class clown, trouble maker, the goody-two shoes.

*Audience 

Youth dramas does suggest who it is aimed at from its genre. Young people - Twelve Year Olds, Teenagers, University Students. 
Where as issue based dramas would extend more to adults, but still focus on the young adults because of risks and certain personal, educational and environmental. It doesn't focus on the political side.

  

Crime/Medical Drama:



Locations



(The Bill)



Crime and medical dramas both have similar conventions. They are based to where there profession is either a hospital (Casualty) or a police station (The Bill). They focus around the base and is present in nearly every episode.

 

Storyline
 

 In these dramas they follow usually a policeman/doctor or the patient/civilian in need of help. Each episode or a set of episodes focuses around one main plot with loads of sub plots going on in the background. In most story lines there is a conflict between personal and professional life. Also ethical dilemmas and romantic relationships are also other key features to some plot lines.

*Technical/Professional Realism

In these types of dramas techinical jargon are used and lingo related to their occupation. This makes them more realistic. Research is put to use in medical and crime drama to set the right tone and get the correct information across. One example is the diseases common or rare in hositpals and then they will explain the symptons and try to medicate and solve the issue. Medical dramas are also very good at creating awareness of illnesses, such as Cancer which is a tender subject to the population. This is the same as Crime dramas to make awareness of illegal activites, what is right and wrong.

 

(Some features overlap in most dramas)

(*) Improvements