Reflection Of Learning and Knowledge Skills

In doing this critical research assessment, I have used learning and knowledge skills that I have used in the past but I have also learned some new knowledge skills in terms of pre-production process in historical films mainly.

In terms of costume design, I have learned that the best places to look for historical clothing are through old photographs (or paintings if I decided to make a medieval film), archive footage, clothes from that era and also books about costume design and also about that era. I have also learned to try to make the costumes as accurate as possible including buttons and fabric, and, to only use zips and Velcro in period dramas for quick and easy access during scenes that would require taking costumes on and off.

For hair and make-up, I have learned that research into how make-up and hair was styled in the era being portrayed, using photographs, books and financial documents from that time which may have expenses for make-up and hair on it to help you to determine how the make-up and hair are supposed to look like to get an authentic feel.

For setting and location, I have learned that you don’t have to be in the country your film is set to make it look like the place, like with the White Queen being filmed in Bruges but based in medieval England. It’s about set styling and camera angles that will help to convey the time and place that which the film is placed because most locations will have materials which were not invented yet in your film and using various camera angles such as close-ups and mid-shots, it helps to cover it up.

In terms of accuracy with real life, I have learned to keep as close to the truth but that most people use fiction to create needed drama in their film and that so long as I don’t use too much fiction in the film, it won’t create unneeded controversy.

My blog has helped to enhance my pre-production skills in research into films that I will do in the future so that I am able to get the desired film through how the characters are dressed, how they act when it comes to morals, society and culture because that helps with my learning skills in directing to learn about the attitudes in certain eras in time, so that I can direct the actors on how to act and react to various lines and scenes. Also looking into locations has helped me to open my mind creatively to other locations when going onto recces in future.

Overall I have learned to use different platforms and research materials to find sufficient evidence to back up my research in videos, podcasts, websites, books, interviews, surveys and photographs. This will give me an accurate guideline to go by to secure the authenticity of the film and to be able to give an accurate account of events.

Critical Reflection/Evaluation Of Research Methodology

For my research methodology, I decided to keep all my information in the form of a blog as I felt I could bring more information to my research rather than in the form of an essay, where I would feel more constricted to a word count. I constructed my research into each section I wanted to study, which were costume design, hair and makeup, setting/location, culture, morals and society, and, accuracy with real events. I then broke them down into the three case studies I had chosen, which were Hitchcock (film 2012), Pan Am (TV Series 2011/12) and The White Queen (TV Series 2013). I chose these case studies because I was very familiar with all of them, and, I also wanted to research films and TV shows in eras which I am interested in how they were made and where they were made, and I felt that 1960’s America and the 15^th Century England were very familiar to me as I have studied them in the past and very much enjoyed learning about them eras.

For costume design and hair and makeup, I had learned from online interviews with each of the costume designers on my case study film and TV shows, that they had used archives, books and clothing from them eras to help create accurate replicas of clothing. In Pan Am, they paid very close attention to the uniforms to create an exact replica of a Pan Am uniform, which showed the accuracy and authenticity that went into the design. In Hitchcock, most of the clothing that would need to be historically accurate and authentic would be the costumes from Psycho, and Julie Weiss used archive footage, photos, clothing and books to make sure it was as authentic as possible but she had margin for error and freedom with the colour as most people know Psycho as black and white film. In The White Queen, it is shown that the costume designers did make the costumes as authentic and accurate as possible, but there was controversy with zips and certain designs that are not historically correct but have been justified for the timing in the show and also the sex appeal of the male characters as the costumes for the men are not correct as they are wearing long tunics and boots. So in terms of costume, it is historically correct barring devices which would make scenes where clothes would need to be taken off easier to film, colour of clothes and style of male clothes for sex appeal and attracting audiences for it.

For setting/location, I learned from pictures online that locations were used in different countries to give a feel of historical accuracy due to the development of the countries intended. So in The White Queen, places in and around Bruges were used to look like medieval England and Wales, which give the show an authentic feel of being in the 15^th Century. For Pan Am, all filming was done in New York, primarily in the Brooklyn Navy Yard which showed hardly any authenticity of the foreign countries shown in the series. In Hitchcock, most of the filming was in California, where some of the locations were not accurate and other houses, streets, restaurants and cinemas were used to be portrayed as somewhere else. In order to show the accuracy of location I used photographs to show my research into the location.

Some of the most important posts in my blog were the last three about the accuracy with real-life events, because it shows what parts of the film and TV shows are true and what are fiction to help bring drama and jeopardy to the scenario. In Hitchcock, most of the film is historically correct barring Alma and Alfred’s relationship being strained and also that Hitchcock did not scare Janet Leigh in the shower scene and had violent impulses. In The White Queen, there is disagreement over the Princes in the Tower so I have not been able to get a definitive answer on that, but the show did use one of the scenarios that could have happened, so I was able to get a good answer that The White Queen is very much historically correct. In Pan Am, the show is based on true stories about trips stewardesses had and also about Pan Am stewardesses being CIA operatives during the Cold War.

Overall, I feel as though my research methodology showed substantial evidence about whether or not Hitchcock, Pan Am and The White Queen are historically correct based on costume, setting, morals, hair and makeup and accuracy with real events.

Accuracy With Real Events: Pan Am (2011/12)

Pan Am (2011/12)

TV Fact-Checker on Pan Am: http://www.wired.com/2011/09/tv-fact-checker-pan-am/

For Pan Am's historical accuracy, I looked at this interview with Nancy Hult Ganis, a former Pan Am stewardess turned Hollywood producer, to see about the historical accuracy in the TV show.

According to Ganis, most of the stories are stories mixed together but all based on truth that did happen to Pan Am stewardesses but in terms of characters, they are all made up of a bunch of different stewardesses from back then. One of the main story lines in the show is that one of the stewardesses was in fact a CIA operative, which is true as Ganis explains, 'For example, the whole spy thing was very true, and most people don’t know about that. They don’t know about Pan Am’s secret missions and their kind of extension of the State Department. The airline had people in Pan Am who were actually connected to the CIA. It was so logical at that time. I think it probably started during World War II, or just before. There were places where the United States couldn’t get involved, but certainly Pan Am was flying there.'

What is not true is the number of stewardesses onboard 707 planes, there would usually be six stewardesses, but they cut it down to four people has having six would be too much for filming. Also, Ganis points out that in real life Pan Am stewardesses wouldn't work the same flights together all the time like they do on the show, they would 'out with a crew for 14 days and then never see each other again'. 

Accuracy With Real Events: The White Queen (2013)

The White Queen (2013)

BBC History: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/22840690
Emma Frost Interview: http://www.indiewire.com/article/television/emma-frost-interview-the-white-queen
Lady Eleanor Talbot: https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Lady_Eleanor_Talbot.html

For The White Queen, I looked on the BBC History website for the real story on Elizabeth Woodville, 'The White Queen'.

It is true that Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV had their first official meeting because Elizabeth appealed to the king for help after her late husband's lands were confiscated from her as she was considered an enemy to the Yorkists and their king. It has also been said that Edward IV was '"enamoured" of her and described "much wooing and many great promises."', according to Thomas More. Also what was true was that Elizabeth Woodville didnt want to be just another one of the king's conquests, so he proposed to her because of his passion for her.

It is also fact that their marriage was conducted in secret, and, Edward had in fact delayed the announcement of their marriage for about five months. It is also true that the nobility were not happy with the arrangement and thought that they were no match.

In the series we see Elizabeth give birth to Edward V in Westminster Abbey whilst Edward IV was forced into exile abroad, and while this may look as though it is fiction, it was in fact true as she was not able to stay at the palace as civil war had broken out again and the Lancastrians had regained the throne.

Even though they married for love, Edward still had affairs whilst married to Elizabeth. Their marriage in the series was rife with rumours of their marriage not being legal and that was true as there were rumours of that Edward IV had a pre-contract of marriage with Lady Eleanor Talbot, which helped pave the way for Titulus Regius to be passed, allowing Richard III to become king.

For the Princes in the Tower, historians still disagree on what happened so there is not sure way of knowing if both boys were killed in the tower, or if Richard of York was swapped for another boy and sent away for protection like in The White Queen. 

Accuracy With Real Events : Hitchcock (2012)

Hitchcock (2012)

Fact Checking 'Hitchcock': The Man, The Movie and The Myth: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/24/167539437/fact-checking-hitchcock-the-man-the-movie-and-the-myth

I felt for my research I needed to see what parts of the film and television programmes I have researched are historically accurate and what isn't, so I am able to see why writers tend to exaggerate or bend history into moments of drama for the screen.

For Hitchcock, I looked at an interview with Patrick McGilligan, author of Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, to see the truth in the film and what was fabricated for more suspense and drama to the film.

In terms of the making of Psycho, it is confirmed that there was trouble getting Psycho made because Paramount, who he was under contract with, were 'horrified at the possibility of this lurid film being made'. It was also true that Alfred Hitchcock did pay for Psycho to be made out of his own pocket and forwent his usual salary which he would have gotten if he were to have made a film for Paramount. But what is not true is that he took out a mortgage on his house in Hollywood and had to watch his spending, because Hitchcock in fact had two houses and a lot of savings along with that so he was more than able to fund Psycho to be made.

Further on in the interview, it comes onto the strained relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville on-screen, but real-life this was not the case at all, in fact, McGilligan thought that 'it's one of the few happy marriages I know of in Hollywood that lasted for 50-plus years'. But, McGilligan also says that the part in the film where Alma comes to the studio when Alfred is ill is 'complete fiction', and that also the film exaggerates on Alma being the 'person who bails Hitchcock out of every crisis that he's supposedly undergoing'.

McGilligan finally denies any truth behind Hitchcock scaring Janet Leigh during the shower scene to get a more real performance because the film was linked to 'this idea that behind this guy who makes films about serial murderers is a guy who has violent impulses, which was not the case'.

Culture, Morals and Society: The White Queen (2012)

The White Queen (2013)

Horrox, Rosemary, Fifteenth-Century Attitudes: Perceptions of society in late medieval England, Cambridge, Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1994.

In terms of morals, culture and society, I decided to focus mainly on chapter 7, 'Women', in Fifteenth Century Attitudes because The White Queen is very much dominated by women and their roles during the Wars of the Roses. I also wanted to focus on marriage (Chapter 3, 'Aristocracy') as it is a key theme in The White Queen due to Edward IV's and Elizabeth Woodville's secret marriage.

In the book, P.J.P. Goldberg wrote, 'Custom, law and scripture tended to limit the opportunities open to women far more than was true of men. The dominant culture was indeed an essentially patriarchal culture. The political, demographic and economic vicissitudes of the time tended only to reinforce these patriarchal values as the century wore on'. This shows how women were not respected like the men were and also shows how The White Queen has portrayed the hatred for Margaret of Anjou as she ruled through her husband Henry VI, overstepping her territory and what was considered 'right' in the 15th Century. It also shows how women in society changed, especially in powerful positions such as Elizabeth Woodville, who had a lot more say in the way the kingdom was run, examples being the guardian of her first-born son, Edward V, was chosen by her to be her brother, Anthony, positions for her family in the nobility, and, arranged marriages for her sisters to honourable men in the nobility.

In terms of marriage, Kate Mertes wrote, 'Marriage and family were sources of emotional satisfaction, but they were also calculated battlegrounds for the winning of influence and the victorious accumulation of estates'. This helps us to understand why members of the nobility, such as Warwick the Kingmaker, were upset with the secret marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth because of how fragile the throne was at the time as Edward IV had a lot of enemies on the Lancastrian side of England, so his throne would have been stronger if he had married Bona of Savoy and secured foreign alliances, as oppose to marrying a widowed Lancastrian.

Setting/Location: Pan Am (2011/12)

Pan Am (2011/12)

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_(TV_series)#Production

For the locations in Pan Am, all filming took place at Brooklyn Navy Yard and other places around New York City. This does not make the locations accurate as the use these places for different countries they go like Germany and Burma. In the pilot episode, it was partly filmed at the Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage on Long Island.

 

Setting/Location: The White Queen (2013)

The White Queen (2013)

Youtube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnIPhCW0HT8

Radio Times: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-06-11/where-is-the-white-queen-filmed

For the location of The White Queen, I found this clip of a behind the scenes look at filming in and around Bruges as it looks similar to what London would have looked like during that era. The locations are:

Gravensteen Castle in Gent was used for Pembroke Castle in West Wales.


St. Martin's Cathedral in Ypres was used for Westminster Abbey.


The Belfry in Bruges was used as Westminster Palace Court.


Knokke Beach in Knokke was used as the Welsh coastline.


Stadhuis in Bruges was used as the hall in Westminster.


Nuit Blanche in Bruges was used as France (EXT) and Grafton Manor (INT).


Blinde Ezelstraat in Bruges was used for street scenes.


Ryckevelde Woods in Bruges was used for the Battle of Bosworth

Setting/Location: Hitchcock (2012)

Hitchcock (2012)

Locations: http://www.seeing-stars.com/locations/Hitchcock.shtml

In terms of location, Hitchcock didn't use the original locations where scenes took place but used places that were authentic to the era. The list is:

The opening scene at the United Artists theatre in Chicago, Illinois was really shot at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.
 

The Orpheum Theatre was also used as the interior location for the DeMille Theatre in New York City for the scene of Psycho's opening night. The exterior was filmed at L.A.'s Palace Theatre.
 

Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville's home was shot at a house in Alpine Drive, Beverly Hills.
 

HOWEVER... The drive up to the house in the scene where Janet Leigh takes Hitchcock home was shot Stone Canyon Road in Bel Air.


The shop where Alma buys her swimming costume is a real shop called Faye's Intimate Apparel in Montrose, California.
 

Paramount Pictures was the only location which was the real place on Bronson Avenue in Hollywood.
 

Even though Paramount distributed Psycho, the film was shot at Universal Studios Hollywood on Stage 24.


The scenes at the beach were shot at Sycamore Canyon Beach.


And finally, all the restaurant scenes in the film are shot in the same restaurant, Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard.
 

Hair and Makeup: Pan Am (2011/12)

Pan Am (2011/12)

Style.com interview: http://www.style.com/beauty/beautycounter/2011/10/pan-am-goes-the-distance/

For the hair and makeup on Pan Am, I looked at the interview style.com did with the hair and makeup department heads (Chris Clark and Patricia Regan) who say that when it comes to finding inspiration for the characters, they reflect on the 1960's 'though the eyes of excited twentysomething explorers—our young jet-set crew taking in the fashions and customs of their destinations'. Clark explains that he likes the difference between when the characters are in the air and when they are down route as they are 'able to create an interesting juxtaposition between work and play'.

In terms of research, Clark and Regan looked at the history around 1963 such as the fashion, people, culture and most importantly, the history is Pan Am. They were lucky enough to have one of the producers to be a former Pan Am stewardess, which helps with the accuracy and authenticity as she has first hand insight into the world of Pan Am.

Pictures of hair and make up in Pan Am:

  

Hair and Makeup: The White Queen (2013)

The White Queen (2013)

BBC Media Centre: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/whitequeen/

The hair and make up for The White Queen, according to the BBC Media Centre's media pack on The White Queen, was '‘dulled’ down to make their faces look almost tired on camera - rather than what is usually applied to ‘brighten’ faces for TV.'. This was to make the characters look older as the series progressed.

This helped with the authenticity of the time span of the series because the 10 episode series is over the course of 20 years.

In terms of hair, Rebecca Ferguson (Elizabeth Woodville) had the longest hair wig because at that time women did not cut their hair so to make the hair look authentic, the BBC had to sought out a real hair wig.

Pictures of The White Queen hair and makeup:

 

Hair and Makeup: Hitchcock (2012)

Hitchcock (2012)

Fear Net Behind The Scenes: http://www.fearnet.com/news/interview/exclusive-behind-makeup-hitchcock


For the hair and make up on Hitchcock, I looked at this online interview with the FX make up artists Howard Berger and Peter Montagna, and hair stylist Martin Samuel, who constructed the face mask Anthony Hopkins wore to transform himself into Alfred Hitchcock.

Berger says in response to how they went about transforming Anthony Hopkins into Alfred Hitchcock, that they collected a lot of photos of Hitchcock to work off and also a Hitchcock mask that was made in the 1960's to work from as well. There was some trial and error with testing the mask on Hopkins until coming up with a look that was 'more of a portrait makeup than trying to make him look exactly like Hitchcock'. This takes away the accuracy of Hopkins appearance as Hitchcock but adds to the overall effect of the film.

Some pictures of Anthony Hopkins being transformed into Hitchcock:

  

Costume Design: Pan Am (2011/12)

Pan Am (2011/12)

Telegraph Interview: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8893968/Creating-Pan-Ams-costumes.html

For the TV Series Pan Am, I looked at the interview with costume designer for the show, Ane Crabtree, to see the authenticity of the infamous airline's uniform. Crabtree said it takes one month to make a Pan Am uniform from scratch and that, 'We had one original Pan Am uniform from the Sixties and it was measured to within an inch of its life. We rebuilt it for the show. Now we have 16 uniforms, and we are building more slowly'. This shows that the even if the uniforms are not the original uniforms from Pan Am, they took extra care and measure to it to make sure it was authentic. Apparently it takes twenty craftsmen to make the uniform, the hats were made by a milliner in Los Angeles and the Pan Am pins are hand moulded. Crabtree stated that they were 'making them as they would have been made in 1963'.

To style the different characters, Crabtree used 1960's icons to inspire the style. For Christina Ricci's character, she used Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood as inspiration, James Dean and Steve McQueen for the male characters.

Here are some pictures of the costumes on Pan Am:

         

Costume Design: The White Queen (2013)

The White Queen (2013 TV Series)

Telegraph Interview: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG10146930/The-White-Queen-Zips-Of-course-we-didnt-use-them.html

Daily Mail Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2346670/This-White-Queen-travesty-Your-Majesty-Why-howlers-like-concrete-steps-metal-railings-rubber-boots-turning-TVs-new-period-drama-laughing-stock.html

For the costume design for The White Queen, there was a lot more controversy on the accuracy and authenticity as shown in the Daily Mail article where zips were shown on the costumes, which weren't invented until the 19th Century, corduroy for some of the male characters clothing (e.g. jacket worn by Robert Pugh who played Baron Rivers) was not around until the 18th Century, and, the rubber soles on the shoes worn by actors such as Max Irons, who played King Edward IV. There was a lot of controversy because the production cost £10 million, but the Daily Mail wrote, 'A BBC spokeswoman said the series aimed to ‘reimagine history’ and was not a ‘slavishly accurate historical account of medieval England’.

In response to the costume controversy, the costume designer for The White Queen, Nic Ede, said about the zips that 'there aren't any' 'Of course we wouldn't use zips. There are hooks and eyes, which are historically correct. But there's a lot of sex in the first episode and if the cameras had honed in on the hooks and eyes it would have taken poor Edward 10 minutes to get Elizabeth Woodville's clothes off.' This means that the Ede has tried to keep the authenticity of the clothing to how it was in the time of the Wars of the Roses, but only used zips for the sex scenes so that the undressing part of the scene could be done fast. 

For female dressing, Elizabeth Woodville's gown she wears when she is made Queen of England is authentic with 10m of brocade which weighed heavy (so heavy that Rebecca Ferguson (Elizabeth Woodville) had to see medical attention, so Ede made a lighter version of the dress), but stayed away from head pieces such as wimples and henins because 'Directors hate any kind of head pieces because they obscure the face and block light'.

For male dressing, the actors were dressed in long tunics, padded trousers and long boots as oppose to the more accurate short tunics, big breeches and curl-toe shoes because the accurate and authentic portrayal 'wouldn't have provided the same Mr Darcy moment'.

Here are some photos of the costumes used in the drama and some of the inaccuracies with the design:

    

Costume Design: Hitchcock (2012)

In my first steps of researching historical accuracy and authenticity in film and television, I will be looking at the costume designs of one film and two television shows to see how costumes designers went about trying to make the time period authentic by costumes.

Hitchcock (2012)

Grazia Daily Interview: http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/conversation/entertainment/hitchcock-costume-designer-julie-weiss-talks-dressing-helen-mirren--scarlett-johannson-and-jessica-b

The Wall Street Journal Interview: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324705104578147281252134850

I looked at the online Grazia Daily interview with costume designer Julia Weiss, who was talking about dressing the actresses on the Hitchcock biopic (Scarlett Johannson, Helen Mirren, Jessica Biel, etc.), and also her interview with The Wall Street Journal, and in her interviews she talked about how she created the costumes for the cast of Hitchcock and her inspirations behind the designs.

When asked about how she conducted her research for the costumes she said that the research came from everywhere (books, archives, photos), but she also points out 'We must remember this is a black and white movie, and our memories are in black and white and somehow we colour correct our own memories'. This shows that even though some of the colouring may not be authentic, she has tried to keep it as authentic as possible with how people think they remember the colouring to be based on the shades of grey. She also talks about how she was able to see the original dress Janet Leigh wore in Psycho (1960) and that she knew it was blue from Janet's book, but in Hitchcock the dress which she wears is in fact white so it shows the lack of authenticity but is able to be overlooked as the original Psycho was in black and white.

Even though she did lack in some accuracy, it is explained in WSJ's interview with the costume designer that she had to alter certain truths in favour of the overall effect of the film. They explain that, 'Ms. Leigh was said to have worn a blue dress in the film, but the costume designer says she didn't replicate the costumes that closely. She dressed Mr. Hitchcock in his roomy black suits in each scene because that is the way he is remembered—though the director probably wore other clothes at home.'

She also talks about sourcing the costumes and creating each person's look and she said that she did not use anything from the original Psycho, as 'you are dealing with a memory and that was quite a few years ago'. This shows that it doesn't really show a great deal of authenticity as she is regarding it as a memory but tried to go for as much accuracy as possible as Julia Weiss 'studied the film as well as the lives of the characters, digging through news archives and even interviewing people who knew them', and went shopping at vintage stores and archives such as Western Costume Co., Palace Costume and Prop Co. and other places.

When talking about the looks she states, 'As a costume designer, I have no desire to work alone. I want to be part of something so in order for those costumes to work they have to belong to the actor and the character.'. This helps to give the authentic feel to the costumes as it makes the characters look as though they are wearing a piece of clothing they would normally wear as oppose to a costume.

In terms of colour, Weiss doesn't use accuracy but more how it would portray on screen, in terms that hot colours can 'connote control' and softer colours 'less likely to overwhelm a scene in which an actor needs to emote subtly'. This is shown in Hitchcock with Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) wearing red on the day she goes to the set and takes charge, and also the red swimming suit which also emotes control and freedom. 

These are some photos to show how accurate and authentic the costume design was in Hitchcock: