Hey everyone!
So, I’ve been doing some research for my upcoming project and I think I have chosen the genre for my final project. Which is “Period Piece Drama.” But before getting in to details on what a “Historical Drama” is, I am going to explain you what is the genre Drama in films is. Drama films are storylines developed to move the audience emotionally. Most of these films create a conflict or develop realistic characters for the audience to relate to. For instance, “The Help,” “The Post,” or “The King’s Speech” the protagonists and the set up of the movie are design for the audience to feel engage on what is happening in the film. All of these is not only created through storyline and character development, but also through production techniques. Costume design, location, characters, sound, lighting, color, props, editing, and camerawork.
So, I’ve been doing some research for my upcoming project and I think I have chosen the genre for my final project. Which is “Period Piece Drama.” But before getting in to details on what a “Historical Drama” is, I am going to explain you what is the genre Drama in films is. Drama films are storylines developed to move the audience emotionally. Most of these films create a conflict or develop realistic characters for the audience to relate to. For instance, “The Help,” “The Post,” or “The King’s Speech” the protagonists and the set up of the movie are design for the audience to feel engage on what is happening in the film. All of these is not only created through storyline and character development, but also through production techniques. Costume design, location, characters, sound, lighting, color, props, editing, and camerawork.
- Costume Design: It reflects the characters personalities.
- Location: The location of a movie or a scene reflects the emotion.
- Sound: Use of non-diegetic sounds and diegetic dialogue.
- Props: It helps contribute the development of the characters and the scene.
- Lighting and color: Mostly these movies use neutral tones of colors and light.
- Camerawork: Use of handheld camera movement, close ups, and medium shots. This is use to transmit an emotion to the audience.
- Editing: Shot reverse shot, point of view shots, eyeline match shot.
Over the years the popularity of Drama films have increased due to their stories and production, but also the way companies have decided to market it. For instance, trailers for the film show the major plot, but do not reveal any spoilers, and famous actors of Hollywood shown in these movies help increase its anticipations.
Period Piece Drama, in which is a sub-genre for Drama, is a drama film that focuses on a specific time era. This includes the characters costumes, the setting, and the props.
Example #1:
“The Help.” This movie was release in 2011. But by watching it and eating attention to the details, it makes the audience fill as if they were in the 1960’s. This is because of the well selection of costume design, the props, and the set design. Another reason of why this movie created this sensation, it is because of the social topics that the characters were facing. At this time, African Americans from the South were struggling with the issues of discrimination and racism. The director for this movie made an incredible job on how portray this issues of the time.
Example#2:
“The King’s Speech.” Release in 2010, this movie also created an environment of making the audience feel as if they were in the late 1930’s. As stated before, the film used costume design and set design to create this effect. Also, this movie is based on historical events, in which it makes the audience relate because they have in mind that this issues happened to a real person.Other examples for Period Piece Drama are: “The Post,” “Little Women,” “Les Miserables,” “Lincoln,” “Anna Karenina,” “The Color Purple,” and “Empire of the Sun.”
Sources:
- https://www.slideshare.net/libbyannjones/research-into-drama-film-genre
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1504320/
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1504320/
