Crime Dramas

We now have somewhat of an idea of what we are going to do for our film opening. Were are expanding upon an idea I had for a conceptual art project I worked on a couple months ago. The theme is about police brutality and racial profiling. Although we have not developed a script yet, we had initially decided to go for the genre, Crime Drama. For this blog post, I will be conducting research on crime dramas.

Crime drama is a subgenre that has elements of both genres: crime and drama.

The Script Lab describes the drama film genre as, "a genre that relies on the emotional and relational development of realistic characters. While Drama film relies heavily on this kind of development, dramatic themes play a large role in the plot as well. Often, these dramatic themes are taken from intense, real life issues. Whether heroes or heroines are facing a conflict from the outside or a conflict within themselves, Drama film aims to tell an honest story of human struggles." 

The crime film genre is characterized by a large plot focal point on criminal acts or a criminal investigation and police officers. Sometimes it is encompassed by a lawsuit or court case that drives the plot.

I am hesitant to step too far into the crime genre because that's not what I want this story to be about. This is not some gangster/hood film where I highlight any stereotype of the black community and immediately associate it with crime and rebellion against the police. The purpose of this story is to drive empathy by telling of real-life struggles that concern black people in America that other people would otherwise be blind to. I want to get rid of the idea of victimization and demonization because of one-sided polarization by showing that there are real logical and human qualities and motives behind any side of an issue.

After the research I conducted, I realized that the essence and story of our film opening is better defined as a drama film, rather than crime. However, it does consist of aspects like court cases, police officers, and some form of crime that remotely make it a crime drama.

Some examples of that we can relate to are Detroit and the TV show, Atlanta.

CITATIONS:

Drama. (2011, March 15). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/952-drama/

Film Genres: Crime films. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmgenres/crimefilms

EntertainmentJessica McKinney | July 6, 2016 - 1:07 pm. (2016, July 06). Donald Glover Stars In Official 'Atlanta' Trailer. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.vibe.com/2016/07/donald-glover-atlanta-trailer/

A. (2017, November 24). Detroit | Kino. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.constantinfilm.at/kino/detroit.html