Conventions of drama

• Drama films are often built up on a characters journey and development through a period of time. It often focuses on a emotional ordeal or real life situation and follows the character through it. 
• Most dramas conventionally consist of a protagonist, who is usually the person going through an emotional journey and is easily relatable to the target audience. An antagonist, a helper, and a best friend.
• As a genre, drama films are typically narrative driven in a realistic setting, so that the audience are drawn in and are able to sympathise with the characters as they are moved by their journey.
• Drama film generally follow Todorov's narrative theory - with an equilibrium, disruption and a realisation or resolve. This genre rarely abruptly ends  on a cliffhanger as the audience prefer to feel satisfied that there has been a resolve in the plot.
• the mise en scene generally consists dull lighting (for a serious and emotional effect) - although natural lighting is often used to create a life like situation, close ups of characters (to show their emotions and facial expressions) and low angle and high angle shots (to portray strengths and weaknesses between the characters.
• The genre occasionally have topics where they try to defy the stereotypes that are associated with them; which helps to diminish  common misconceptions about the subject.