Teen Drama Genre: How Ours Compares

Information on teen dramas, taken from Wikipedia:

"A teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s. Previously, most series with a focus on teens had been sitcoms while teens in drama series were usually part of a larger ensemble that included adults and children.
Teen dramas, more often than not, have soap opera elements. The young characters must deal with the dramatic ups and downs of their friendships and romances while facing an array of "realistic" teen issues. There have also been many successful teen-based series with major themes of science fiction, fantasy, and action/adventure. Most shows have a substantial amount of comic relief.
The most popular teen dramas are set in affluent locales (e.g. Beverly Hills, 90210, The O.C., Gossip Girl), or in fictional small town settings (e.g. One Tree Hill, Dawson's Creek). Most teen dramas have a cast of attractive characters who live privileged, upper-middle class lives. Shows that depict teen life in a more realistic manner tend not to do nearly as well, although there are exceptions, notable ones being the critically acclaimed, My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks, as well as the British teen drama Skins. The Canadian-produced Degrassi series (Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High and Degrassi: The Next Generation), have also been successful in Canada and the United States.
Some teen dramas can be sub-categorized into genres such as Science Fiction or Comedy. Sci-Fi series such as Smallville, Roswell, and Kyle XY show teenagers who are aliens trying to fit into normal high school life."

Our storyline fits well into the teen drama genre as it has a typical soap opera element to it as the main girl in our story, Fiona, is having to deal with her own teenage problem that is not fitting in at college. Her life is then dramatised by the event in which she is invited to a popular girl's party, so giving her the hope that things are looking up, but then things hit rock bottom again as while she's there she's betrayed as she's drugged and raped and it is implied that it was planned by her so called 'friend', giving us a storyline that is realistic and relatable, but involves an event that would be very unlikely to happen, however still does happen in reality, and so our storyline sends out a serious message and warning within it.

Our storyline revolves around everyday characters that most people would be able to relate to or at least know of: a bit of an outcast, a popular, desirable person and the rest of her friends. The story is also set in an average, working class setting where the characters involved just attend a local college, again meaning that viewers would most likely be able to relate to the characters, which is important when trying to get an audience to connect with the film and the characters within it. Due to the relatable characters and their lifestyles, our storyline is similar to one that may be found in a 'Skins' episode, a Teen TV Drama that was very popular among 14 - 19 year olds, which is also our target audience.


The image to the left shows the characters from the popular Teen Comedy/Drama television series, 'Skins'. The picture alone shows that all the characters are very different as they're all different sexes and races and all clearly have very different styles. This helps to represent and recreate a believable set of modern day teenagers as it creates a sense of groups and stereotypes and the sense of hierarchy that seems to occur within these different groups, and so gives the viewers something to watch that they can believe and relate to.
Our short film has this sense of stereotypes and hierarchy within it as it is made perfectly clear that our main character, Fiona, is different to the group of people she goes to the party with and so is 'below' them, creating an initial struggle that our audience can become involved with and perhaps relate to and connect with.


The poster to the right shows the American Teen Drama television series '90210'. From this poster we can see that all of the characters look slightly upper class due to their body language, confident facial expressions and expensive looking clothing. Although there's a mixture of sexes and races among the characters, they all look as though they may all fit the same stereotype or maybe even be within the same group, so giving only a look into one area of teenage life rather than it as a whole, showing that although two television series can be classed as 'teen dramas', they can both represent two completely different kinds of reality, and my examples of 'Skins' and '90210' show this contrast brilliantly.
Our short film will deviate completely from '90210' and lean more towards a 'Skins' kind of feel as we want to portray a more working class, gritty reality, rather than the glamorous lifestyles in which the characters of '90210' seem to lead. However, this great contrast in lifestyle could be mainly due to where the dramas are set as 'Skins' is British and '90210' is American, but because we're creating a British short film our main inspiration will still lay within the harsh, gritty reality that 'Skins' portrays.