Codes And Conventions of Crime Drama

Research of crime drama genre

The narrative of most crime drama films are where a problem in the beginning is introduced therefore characters in the film take actions towards the problem the most common stories or acts are alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime gang, bank robberies, murderer or law breaks, personal power struggles or conflict with law or a rival gang. Gangster/crime films are usually set in large, crowded cities, to show to audience a view of the secret world of the criminal such as: dark nightclubs, streets and etc. In the crime films crime will be done because of status or wealth or rivals.

The characters in crime drama are most of the time involved in something and they get carried away with it. The settings of the crime dramas mostly are in the big cities where a lot is going on and where it shows us the audience the bad things that are going on in the city. The opening sequence for e.g. in Goodfellas the film starts showing the characters and the voice-over the main character talking about his life and introducing the other characters you can tell that a gangster film because the costumes and the props used and also violence comes father beating his son which is crime drama issue relationship between characters. The cinematography is very important key as the key codes and conventions there was a scene in Goodfellas where the director used red lighting when the violence scene was in action which tells us straight away that there is going to be more violence or the red font just before the film starts. One of the best directors that produce these genre films are Martin Scorsese.