Conventions of a School base DramaBy George Lawrence

• Mise en

scene

• Characters

• Sounds and

Music

Mise on scene0 The positions of characters is often important in a school base drama as this

establishes the various cliques within the school. For example within an establishing shot of a school entrances often will be various shots or one continuous pan shot of the character groups: Jocks, popular girls, nerds, the bullies, goth’s and then often there is just a small group of outsiders. As the viewer we would expect the students to provide the main character with looks of distaste or confusion, establishing the protagonist as a rookie and outsider.

0 There is a lot of hustle and bustle in order to portray the craziness and stereotypical school atmosphere.

0 For an opening sequence of a school based drama it is often set at the entrance to the school, corridors, lockers, lunch halls or simply the classrooms. They are all typical school environments as they help the viewer to instantly recognize the setting of the film.

0 Depending on the type of school the film is set in, we can expect different lighting used for each. For example, in ‘Dangerous Minds’ the lighting is generally dark and dull in order to portray the rough area the school is set in but then changes to lighter and more colourful shots in order to connote the many personalities and varieties of people that attend the school. In contrast, ‘The School of Rock’ is instantly shown to be light yet monotone as it has a good reputation with high standards and so is strict with great success.

Dangerous Minds – Opening scene

Mise on scene

School of Rock– School scene

Characters0 Rookie: The ‘rookie’ is often the protagonist of the film and this method is used within

many films including ‘Dangerous Minds’ and ‘School of Rock’ where in both cases it is the teacher who is the ‘rookie’ however, often the students are the new-comers in films such as ‘Twilight’ and ‘Mean Girls’. The main character often dresses differently to others in order to stand out, whether this be extra geeky or over-dressed.

0 Popular/ Bully: These are often the characters of the antagonist. Being popular is often an attribute many people aspire to have yet are always portrayed negatively with their popularity getting to their heads and often being arrogant which is portrayed through their perfect figures and expensive clothing. Bullies are never a good thing, however, due to their intimidating ways often get their way and constantly stand in the protagonists way of achieving their dreams. They are normally shown through their dark clothes and evil stares.

0 Teachers: Furthermore, school dramas often show the full spectrum of teachers: the dumb one, strict one, funny one and friendly one are all popular. They are used as it makes the usual and repetitive day to day routine more interesting and helps set up for interesting situations such as a crazy science experiment that goes wrong. These teachers are shown through the colours of their clothing or if there is a mad professor then you should expect to see them wearing flamboyant and unique clothing. The Harry Potter films use this technique frequently.

Sounds and Music0 Diegetic and foley sounds play a huge part in providing a film with the correct

atmosphere and environment. If a film was to have no sounds or music at all it would be very boring, however, sometimes the lack of sounds or music can also have a big effect.

0 For a school drama it is important for the film to capture the carnage and different groups of people that are included in the shot. These sounds may include: school bus screech/engine; whispering; shouting; chair screeches; school bells; intercoms; paper rustling and doors. All of these are typical school sounds or noises that people would instantly associate with a school.

0 Background music also plays a big role. This is harder to have a certain type of music to associate with a school and therefore it again depends on the type of film. Using ‘Dangerous Minds’ as an example again, it cleverly uses the song ‘Welcome to the jungle’ as a sound bridge during the opening titles which connotes the havoc of the dysfunctional school and matches certain lyrics to actions in certain shots. An example of this would be when the song mentions getting ‘high’ and the film cuts to a shot of a drug deal going on beneath a table.

The rookie arrives at the new school

Meets an antagonist

Finds a love interest and often a friend

Begins to fit in and get accepted

The antagonist reveals some bad

information

It affects the protagonist

The love interest leaves and they lose their friend

Stands up for themself

Gets everyone back on their side and the enemy

gets punished.

The love interest returns and it ands

happily

Plot

Finally, a similarity between a majority of school base dramas is the storyline. Here is a small diagram that shows a quick overview of the conventional school drama film plot: