My Genre: Drama!

After much consideration, I have decided to do a drama for my next film. I had to ask myself what genre do I feel most comfortable with and what would my crew enjoy creating the most. I quickly realized that we are most familiar with teen dramas that consist of comedy, especially since we are dramatic teenagers. In specific, we will be dealing with high school teenage dramas and will be researching  on many successful teen films. Although I already have much knowledge in that genre, I need to fully assess what a drama film should consist of. 

While researching, I found a quick video essay of the teen film, Riverdale, and what key components make the film is so successful. 

                                    Riverdale- How to make every Teen Drama - Alex Meyers

Key take aways from this video:

•  There are norms in majority (maybe all) American teen dramas
• Male characters often have a "copy paste" personality or character
• When female characters act on their own they tend to be very shallow
• Female characters usually act as a set to form a cohesive unit that represents teen girls ages 13-18

Representation 

Later on in the video, Alex explains how psychology is even involved in this idea of representation. It is called the "Sigmund Frued, school of thought". He explains how in most teen dramas that show 3 female characters, they often represent ego, super ego, and id of the average teenage girl. The norm in teen films is that the characters show the balance between what you want, what you know is right, and how to balance between the two. He expresses the biggest representation that teen dramas have: every girl has feelings of awkwardness and uncertainty of herself, trying to survive on that thin line between what she wants and what her parents and friends want for her. If I follow this formula, I can commit to the "Follow the Genre" technique and represent teen girls ages 13-18.  With this I understand the genre, I will apply the stereotypes and the norms of a teen drama; but I will attempt to make my creators feel as real as possible (not shallow).