Practice as research in the making of historical film drama

This paper investigates the creative practice involved in the production of historical film and considers how this form of film creates its own value-system based around notions of authenticity. The paper uses practice-as-research to interrogate broader issues within film studies, including those of authorship and the locus of decision-making within a collaborative creative process. The narrow focus of the paper, centring on costume design and costume-making, allows me to examine in detail the frictions between a director's intentions and the craft processes within a film production's Art Department. The paper will be supported by excerpts from my recent short film, the sixteenth-century drama The Burning. Two of the eighteen costumes created for the film will be displayed to the conference, illuminating key issues, including how the agency of the performer intervenes in costume design, with corresponding impact on the elements of a film's mise-en-scene. The importance of historical research and the value attributed to it are a distinctive feature of this form of filmmaking. The paper examines how the notion of historical authenticity in period film drama can dictate creative choices, and how the difficulties of creating authentic props, costumes and décor can support or undermine the intentions of the filmmaker