I've just been discussing the latest BBC1 adaptation of Wilkie Collins's novel 'The Woman In White.' Unfortunately such adaptations are open to much cliche. It's a pity that such television drama should have so many over-worked elements. It's almost as if the commissioning people decide that, should such an adaptation be produced, they have to have certain 'stock' elements. 'Big' costumes, wigs, hair, sets and locations. Which equates to 'expensive' and therefore 'big budget' which a money-strapped BBC doesn't have, so they have to get co-production finance and therefore go cap-in-hand to an American television company to get money to make these 'lavish' productions. Americans (apparently) love anything 'English' or 'British,' (obsessed by such shows as 'Downton Abbey,' or about our Royal Family, aristocracy or our history (or so the story goes. Is this true? How accurate that is, I'm not sure.) So, an adaptation which uses our landscape is going to get huge audiences and then those Americans are going to want to visit our shores to see the real locations for themselves.
There are cliche elements you almost expect to see in a costume drama on television (or film, if it comes to that.) A long carriage drive through the countryside, a carriage drawn by horses. Usually it's the poor, central character, going to start work at a large country estate. Possibly going to work as an artist, a writer, painter etc etc. (usually lower-class, hard-up.) As they are seen being taken to their destination, we get glimpses of this large, usually classically-designed mansion in the distance. Sometimes with mist rising, or fog. Weather used to denote state of the central character's mind, fog or rain to suggest depression, sun to denote happiness etc etc. Gathering clouds to denote something awful is about to happen, scudding clouds, thunder and lightening, war is about to be declared, revolution or some such momentous historical incident is about to begin. The main character not of the same class as those who own or run the classically designed mansion. Looked down on by the servants at the mansion.
Any scene in a churchyard or cemetery has to be set at night. There's bound to be lots of fog or mist (if it's early morning). It will be conveniently moon-lit. It would be no use being a night without a moon, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anything. Drifting clouds, usually, obscuring the moon at times.
In Victorian dramas, London is almost always depicted as shrouded in fog. You'll get a hansom cab or two drifting past somewhere or other, or the central character is seen riding in one. Gaslight, candles. And how is it that you can see people so clearly when there's so little light in a room at night?
Films made by the Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory, producers of films such as 'Remains of The Day' and 'A Room With A View' and 'Howard's End,' which have high production values and are period-set, are often disparagingly called 'Heritage' productions. They don't manage to have cliches in them, and are generally thought of as high quality, not falling into the category of 'blockbuster' as they appeal to a niche market. They generally have a polish and sheen that avoid all the usual cliches. Just well-made cinema classics, with an eye for detail not seen in many other period films. Their film version was far better than the recent BBC version of 'Howard's End.'
There are cliche elements you almost expect to see in a costume drama on television (or film, if it comes to that.) A long carriage drive through the countryside, a carriage drawn by horses. Usually it's the poor, central character, going to start work at a large country estate. Possibly going to work as an artist, a writer, painter etc etc. (usually lower-class, hard-up.) As they are seen being taken to their destination, we get glimpses of this large, usually classically-designed mansion in the distance. Sometimes with mist rising, or fog. Weather used to denote state of the central character's mind, fog or rain to suggest depression, sun to denote happiness etc etc. Gathering clouds to denote something awful is about to happen, scudding clouds, thunder and lightening, war is about to be declared, revolution or some such momentous historical incident is about to begin. The main character not of the same class as those who own or run the classically designed mansion. Looked down on by the servants at the mansion.
Any scene in a churchyard or cemetery has to be set at night. There's bound to be lots of fog or mist (if it's early morning). It will be conveniently moon-lit. It would be no use being a night without a moon, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anything. Drifting clouds, usually, obscuring the moon at times.
In Victorian dramas, London is almost always depicted as shrouded in fog. You'll get a hansom cab or two drifting past somewhere or other, or the central character is seen riding in one. Gaslight, candles. And how is it that you can see people so clearly when there's so little light in a room at night?
Films made by the Ishmail Merchant and James Ivory, producers of films such as 'Remains of The Day' and 'A Room With A View' and 'Howard's End,' which have high production values and are period-set, are often disparagingly called 'Heritage' productions. They don't manage to have cliches in them, and are generally thought of as high quality, not falling into the category of 'blockbuster' as they appeal to a niche market. They generally have a polish and sheen that avoid all the usual cliches. Just well-made cinema classics, with an eye for detail not seen in many other period films. Their film version was far better than the recent BBC version of 'Howard's End.'
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