What are the conventions of a school based drama?

By Ellie Addison

• Traditionally in school based dramas there is a “rookie” or the protagonist who is someone that is new to the school environment and at the beginning seems unpopular yet by the end of the film are seen as the hero.

• There is also an antagonist who is usually a popular and good-looking boy or girl who becomes the protagonist’s enemy and usually at the end of the film becomes the unpopular and disliked person.

• In many films such as “grease” and “high school musical” there is a popular good looking boy that all the girls try to impress. Usually he gets with the rookies at the end of the film.

The Main Characters

The Storyline

The narrative usually can relate to many school children which is their key audience. Normally the rookie is introduced as being

new to the school and at first seems unpopular. However soon the antagonist

befriends the rookie and tries to influence the rookie / protagonist to do bad things.

The rookie then rebels and the pair become enemies. The narrative ends with the rookie becoming popular and falling in

love. This happens in films such as “Mean Girls” and “High School Musical.”

What do we typically see in the openings of school based dramas?

After watching the openings to “Lean on me” and “Dangerous minds” , I made a list of typical things which the audience saw that related to the school theme. These

were: buses, corridors, classrooms, teachers, students, different cliques etc.

There were certain diegetic and non-diegetic sounds which again related to the theme of each film. For example,

“Dangerous minds” used the non-diegetic track Gangsta’s paradise which related to the violent, and urban edge of the school. Typical diegetic sounds was the ringing of the

school bell, shouting, lockers shutting etc. All of these sounds contributed to setting the scene for the audience.

Evaluation of my researchI feel my research and watching different

openings to school based films / dramas has helped me understand what makes this

genre of film so popular and relatable to its’ audience. When I begin to prepare my main task, I will make sure my opening contains

these conventions to make it more effective.