Codes and conventions of period dramas

A period drama, otherwise known as a ‘Historical Period Drama’, is a film which is reminiscent of a certain period in history. However, period drama’s are not timescale specific, they can range from anytime in history right up to events that happened earlier this year, an example of a contemporary historical event period drama is ‘Ashes to ashes’. Normally, they are set on historical figures or significant points in history.
They are a crossover of genres and hence are very open to sub-genres and themes such as dramas, romances, adventures and sometimes comedies.  Some historical dramas are docudramas, which attempt an accurate portrayal of a historical event or biography, using as much truth as possible. E.g. ‘Apollo 13’ (1998) and others may be based solely upon fiction, E.g. ‘Braveheart’ (1995). We are gearing more towards a historical docudrama at this point due to the fact that the Islandmagee Witch trial which is a true event that happened between 1711-1710.
Period dramas are substantially literary adaptations, for example ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Jane

Eyre’, however some are not and are based solely on historical figures in history, for example ‘The Duchess’, which was made to challenge the stereotypical treatment of females in the late 1700s.
This genre relies heavily upon Mise en scene, such as truthful costume, props and set design. Any flaws in research with Mise en scene give way to weaknesses within the actual period drama. Another extremely important aspect of period dramas are their filming locations. For example, if the event being filmed happened in a specific location or house, it is always better to try and recourse this exact point as then the film will be even more believable. A general example includes a period drama set in the victorian era, which should be filmed in an authentic Victorian house with typical victorian costume i.e. large dresses and pale makeup with rouge.
In connection to this, the budgets are usually very high for period dramas in order to make them visually effective and historically truthful. We can see grand set design and lavish props along with agrandiose dresses. Seeings as our movie is leaning more towards 'independent' however due to our available equipment and budget, we will have to have very basic costume and a minimal and rural irish location in order to make the film more effective and not tacky. We were quite selective in what we chose to film, as we knew we needed to think about all of the other components making up the film. For example,  the budget for 'The Duchess' was £13.5 million.

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The plot lines usually focus upon forbidden beliefs, love and family issues and normally contain a young hero or heroine as the protagonist who is working against the antagonist. However the plot lines are also usually very complex and we can see that single character development and emotions are intwined with a well thought out plot, as well as character interaction and reactions towards each other. An example of this is in 'The Other Boleyn Girl'(2008), which contains a convoluted plot line relating to the theme of love.
Another feature that period dramas include are challenging typical stereotypes. An example of this is'The Scarlett Letter'(1995) which was adapted from a romantic novel written in 1850. Hester is a young, humble woman who is tried for adultery, humiliated and made to wear a scarlett letter 'A'. There are themes of mistreatment towards women in the 1600's along with stereotypical small town hysteria in Salem, Boston. I think the reason why the film was made in the first place was to represent how unfair the treatment towards Hester was. This is why plot lines surrounding which trials make for good period dramas too, which is ideally what I shall be looking more closely into.