Dramatic conventions are the specific actions and techniques the actor, writer or director has employed to create a desired dramatic effect or style.
A dramatic convention is a set of rules which both the audience and actors are familiar with and which act as a useful way of quickly signifying the nature of the action or of a character.
Realism was a general movement that began in 19th-century theatre, around the 1870s, and remained present through much of the 20th century. 19th-century realism is closely connected to the development of modern drama, which "is usually said to have begun in the early 1870s" with the "middle-period" work of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen's realistic drama in prose has been "enormously influential."
It developed a set of dramatic and theatrical conventions with the aim of bringing a greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances. These conventions occur in the text, (set, costume, sound, and lighting) design, performance style, and narrative structure. They include recreating on stage a facsimile of real life except missing a fourth wall (on proscenium arch stages). Characters speak in naturalistic, authentic dialogue without verse or poetic stylings, and acting is meant to emulate human behaviour in real life. Narratives typically are psychologically driven, and include day-to-day, ordinary scenarios. Narrative action moves forward in time, and supernatural presences (gods, ghosts, fantastic phenomena) do not occur. Sound and music are diegetic only. Part of a broader artistic movement, it includes Naturalism and Socialist realism.
In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, social group, or product. As a variant of a branding slogan, taglines can be used in marketing materials and advertising.
The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable dramatic phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of an audio/visual product, or to reinforce and strengthen the audience's memory of a literary product. Some taglines are successful enough to warrant inclusion in popular culture.
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates the actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes that the actors behave as if they cannot. From the 16th century onward, the rise of illusionism in staging practicesâculminating in the realism and naturalism of the theatre of the 19thâcenturyâled to the development of the fourth wall concept.
The metaphor relates to the mise-en-scène behind a proscenium arch. When a scene is set indoors and three of the room's walls are depicted onstageâforming what is known as a box setâthe "fourth" wall lies along the line (technically called the proscenium) dividing the stage from the auditorium, effectively where the audience sits. However, the fourth wall is a theatrical convention, not a feature of set design. Actors ignore the audience, focus entirely on the fictional world of the play, and maintain immersion in a state that theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski called "public solitude" âthe ability to behave privately while being observed, or to be "alone in public." This convention applies regardless of the physical set, theatre building, or actors' proximity to the audience. In practice, actors often respond subtly to audience reactions, adjusting timingâparticularly for comedic momentsâto ensure lines are heard clearly despite laughter.