How to Approach Dramatic Scenes: There's no use crying . . .
"I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.” -Frank Capra When I see people doing dramatic scenes for their portfolio, it almost always is a scene of people crying. But despite the characters' intense emotions, these scenes rarely resonate with me. Why is that? I think it comes from a common misunderstanding of what a dramatic scene is. Let’s take a look at what makes a scene truly dramatic and see if we can find a better way to approach dramatic scenes for a story portfolio. What defines drama as a genre? If you were to take a look at lists with the best drama movies, you might be surprised by some of the titles. Movies like The Shawshank Redemption , Schindler’s List , 12 Angry Men and It’s a Wonderful Life are expected. But in IMDB's top 10 drama movies , you'll also find The Dark Knight , Pulp Fiction , and The Fellowship of the Ring . But Batman punching up the joker or Samuel L Jackson eating your burger probably aren’t exactl
