Genre Investigation: Urban Drama

Typical Conventions of an Urban Drama.

In every urban drama film there are always a collection of conventions that are shown through the films that fall under this genre.

General Conventions.
Urban dramas include, on a general note, situations that have a realistic outlook on life and society when the film was made. This may include issues such as gun and knife crime, gang violence, drug and alcohol abuse and relationships between characters.

The location in which the film is based in will be typically that of a run down, urban area, including London estates where most of the characters will live.

The main character in the film will typically be a young, male character (usually between the ages of fifteen to late twenties) who has a troubled background and a dysfunctional family. This character will also be put in situations which are displayed throughout the film like drugs, gang violence, relationships, crime and alcohol abuse.

Cinematography and Mise-en-scene.
Camera angles that are commonly used in urban dramas include tracking shots to follow a subject, a car or police chase or a chase on foot between two of the characters. There are also a lot of Point Of View (POV) shots and eye line shots used to immerse the audience and create tension.

Close up shots and medium shots are also typically used in urban dramas to convey the characters' emotions and evoke an emotional response from the audience.

The leading characters in urban dramas usually wear dark, outdoor clothing such as jeans, hoodies, trainers etc. and props such as guns and knives are typically used as weapons for the characters.

Sound and Editing.
Diegetic sounds in urban dramas are mainly colloquial dialect spoken by the characters to one another and non-diegetic sounds that are included music played in the background with genres such as rap and hip hop music genres.

Editing techniques in urban dramas use mainly transitions of fade used as memories or flashback either with or without character voice overs. Cross cutting and jump cuts are also used to vary the flow of the scene and editing sound in a scene is used to enhance the tension.