The drama genre tends to focus primarily on forming a emotional connection to the audience through its characters. Said characters are often ordinary people who go through a somewhat intense journey due to some sort of inner conflict or motive. However, there are some cases in which main characters are out of the ordinary. At the end of their journey these characters have probably undergone major character development since they are meant to be profound and complex. The plot for these movies tend to be relatively simple, with a few exceptions, of course, since they are meant to focus on the story of the characters. They tend to center around the idea that something is either being lost or has to be obtained/achieved. Similarly, the setting in drama films aren't that important because they're not what makes the film. I've also learned that the drama genre is a very broad genre and contains many sub-genres. Here are some of the main ones:
Romance
Romance dramas focus on the elements of love and its complexities. The plot often builds itself around the idea that our two main characters cannot be together and how they either overcome that or are defeated by their obstacles. A good example of this would be Romeo and Juliet in which both characters are not allowed to see each other due to feuding families.
Dramedy
Also known as comedy dramas. This is the one I'm leaning towards but we shall see. Anyways, comedy dramas are exactly what they sound like: a balanced mix between comedy and drama. The overall plot and essence of the film remains dramatic but hints of comedy are consistently added throughout the entire film. This way, serious topics can be covered without draining your audience by providing moments of comedic relief. A good example of this would be Forrest Gump because although Forrest's life story is very intense he's unintentionally comedic and lovable which allows the movie to be more lighthearted.Tragedy
Tragedy dramas usually place emphasis on one character and their destructive tendencies, often towards themselves. It follows their ups and downs but mostly their downs and tends to end negatively. This character is normally placed in an extreme situation that causes their demise. A good example would be the story of a struggling drug addict (I was going to list the film Beautiful Boy because it follows a lot of these conventions but then I realized that the main character does end up recovering in the end, you get the point though.)
Political
Political dramas are centered around politics and usually strive to expose the corruption or inner workings of the political scene. Although they are rooted in truth they're not always completely accurate like a documentary and can be completely fictional. A good example of this would be The Perfect Dictatorship, which focuses on how a corrupt politician bribes a TV conglomerate into creating false news stories about him.
Historical
Historical dramas focus on specific historical events or time periods. Although they're based on true events, the event is more of a guideline than anything else given that they exaggerate and/or fictionalize certain elements of the story for entertainment purposes as well as to provide a certain narrative/ point of view. One example would be the film Hotel Rwanda which is based on the Rwandan genocide.
As far as target audience goes I've learned that drama is such a broad category that target audience varies depending on sub-genre. When I first started writing this blog I thought I might want to do a comedy drama but now that I've researched all my choices I think this is the final verdict. As far as comedy-genres go the target audience depends on the content and rating of the film but many tend to be rated PG-13 or 12A.
Sources: The Script Lab and Milne Library
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