Most importantly with a costume drama, they use very elaborate costumes and settings to portray the particular time period and to achieve this it can prove to be quite costly. For example the BBC's 2005 adaptation of 'Bleak House'is reported to have cost £8 million which in actual fact was seen as a worthwhile investment due to the popularity of the series.
Set Design
- The interiors are usually of a very lavish production design with built sets to ensure that modern day items particularly smaller and unnoticeable things such as plug sockets or wires are not present as this would take away the realism of the piece. Obviously we do not have the money or time to build a set and therefore cinematography will become extremely important aspect to make sure no modern day technologies can be seen in shot.
- Period dramas often shoot on location using the advantage of existing heritage sites. An example is the use of a small village Bampton which is used for filming within the popular TV show 'Downton Abbey' because the village has not been modified to suit modern day life and therefore looks very authentic.
Costume
- Costume is a very important issue with period dramas because it must be factually and historically correct and also it must match the fashion of the time period the film is set in. Therefore I must make sure to conduct detailed research into children's outfits of the war time and perhaps buy particular necessities to make the trailer look realistic.
- An example of a TV series which was complemented on it's use of costume is the ITV production of 'Mr Selfridge' set in 1908 London, the men wore beautifully tailored suits and the females dressed in fur, extravagant hats and big jewels. Not only this but to whole show revolves around womens fashion and how it changes throughout the years.
The picture here shows two characters meeting for lunch, a whole entirely different experience to what we envisage in the 21st century.
The Narrative
- Period dramas stereotypically contain a 'feminised' narrative about aspirational female characters, fighting for respect and individualism, commonly The Suffragettes but yet still hegemonic, conventional representation of gender including dominant masculinity and women being framed as objects of desire for the 'male gaze'.
- The Narrative also tends to be multi-stranded meaning that each character has a story of their own, these usually include themes of love, affairs, death and family life.
- The Narrative also appeals to an audience of nostalgia who perhaps lived through the set time period and find it comforting to be brought back or even simply a curious audience keen to find out how people used to live.
Common camera techniques
- Within costume drama's many high angles are used to connote aristocracy and dominance
- Through the use of high key lighting usually a saturated colour palette is achieved connoting wealth and status.
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