British Drama Genre Conventions

British films tend to often fall under the genre of drama, however they have additional conventions to a typical drama film. For instance British films will, as a rule, have lower budget than its Hollywood counter parts and so although it may have the same core conventions as american drama films they cannot afford the same visual spectical of them and so take a more realistic and grittier approach to it. A prime example of this would be Titanic. It shares the same conventions as British drama films but is an overall much flashier film using CGI and special effects on a much grander scale shown by its increased budget to $200 million compared to Bronson's £230,000. The reason why Titanic had a larger budget is because of scenes such as the sinking scene that required huge amounts of funding to recreate realisticly, which is a convention of the drama genre.

Drama as a whole tends to follow these conventions:

• They are real life situations that can either be related to or are based of a true experience.
• Portray a journey of character development.
• Intense social reaction.
• A dramatic storyline used to drive the audience to various emotions.
• The biggest scene of drama is found in conflict between characters which can include inner or outer struggles depicting hardship and pain.
• Audience can relate to the characters.
• Uses climaxes and anti-climaxes within the structure in order to more emotion within the audience.
• A form of realisation at the end.

British dramas have these same conventions but add something that makes them have a more unique identity. Many British Drama films share these conventions:

• Violence is used in many British films as a way of expressing the brutality of life, especially in films denoting crime or in settings of a lower socio-economic background.
• Alcohol is a drug that comes hand in hand with the violence and so can be expected in films portraying hooliganism and teenage life.
• Britain can often be a dimly lit, glum environment and is reflected in the way British Dramas use their lighting in low key to portray this and to also create a grittier atmosphere, which has become a staple of British films and what makes them identifiable. 
• Sexism is used in British films as a way of empowering the male characters whilst making the females seem more vulnerable, adding to the emotion that the audience will feel in a typical drama film.
• Finally, a British Drama film will use British actors and actresses, not just out of convenience but also because the A list actors of Hollywood are to expensive for the typically low budgets of British films which means that they have to resort to lesser known actors from Britain.

Successful British Dramas that include these conventions are Kidulthood and Adulthood, Greenstreet Hooligans and Football Factory.