Genre research #3

 Hello! I decided that I wanted to do some research into the genre of drama. I was thinking of my film opening and realized i might enjoy doing a drama film. 

I was thinking of researching psychological dramas or melodramas since if I decide to do genre I would like for the film to be centered around the mental state of the main character. In psychodramas, although they can be targeted towards anybody, they usually appeal towards those recovering from addiction or those with past or current mental health conditions. An example I used in my first research blog was Perks of Being a Wallflower, I bring this up because this film also falls under the psychodrama category as it delves into topics considering mental health, such as, PTSD.

Of course some conventions you will find in this genre will be a main character that is suffering with something that hurts their mental wellbeing. Beautiful Boy, for example, is a film centered around a father of a son who is addicted to extremely harmful drugs. The film does a good job showing the harm addiction to drugs can do to those who surround the person who is addicted. This is another convention that these films typically have; that is, showing the harm that mental illnesses can do to the person who has it but in addition those who surround them.

Some common conventions considering techniques in psychodrama contain lots of close-ups and lots of different camera angles, this is done to invite the viewer to the mindspace of the main character and get a feel for what they are thinking. Furthermore disjointed editing and surreal imagery alongside props like a mirror to symbolize fragmented states of mind and distorted perceptions of self.

Films like these use a couple institutions to create a narrative image that leads into the mind of the character. For psychodrama films the camera is the window into the mind of the main character, therefore inner conflicts are visualized in these films. One way this is done is through the symbolism of objects, for example, the mirrors I mentioned earlier symbolize the distortion of self-image. Meanwhile other everyday objects can have other meanings such as a knife or a key.