Downton Abbey analysis and wolf hall

Wolf hall

• Costumes (Eg, dresses to the ground, big puffy sleeves, head ware)
• Quill and scroll
• The chair
• Beefeater in the background
• Ink
• Ink draws
• Dark/natural lighting as there was no electricity. 
• Led windows
• Simple makeup/ no makeup
• Facial hair

What is the mood that is created? 

The mood seems quite serious and intense, I think that this is portrayed by the facial expressions that the actors are using, they seem intently concentrating on the scroll that is in front of them. The women also has her hand on the mans shoulder which can be seen as her comforting him, her body language seems quite caring as she is faced towards him. The lighting is quite dark and gloomy which can portray that something bad has happened or is going to happen. There seems to be only two main characters in the scene, this adds to the serious tone as it can be an intense situation between the two characters. 

Downton Abbey

32 seconds through to 1 minute 32

mise-en-scene; 

• Costumes: As these characters are servants to the house their clothes are all the same, with dark colours and unflattering shapeless dresses. They all have their hair up and out of their faces with no makeup on and are all relatively pale. This could be emphasising the fact that they work downstairs. 
• The servants costumes however, contrast with the head servant who is in a suit. The reason for this is that he is the servant who is allowed to go upstairs. The use of the suit shows power and a hierarchy within the downstairs environment.
• In the scene one of the characters is ironing a newspaper for his master. The other characters explain that this is because they don't want the master getting ink on his hands. This is again showing that the characters are of a lower class and are working for the upper class who own the country house and live upstairs. You can automatically see from this short clip that the servants do everything for the house and for the owners of the house. 
• There are bells in the background which are linked to different rooms in the house, the owners of the house ring these bells and they signal in the serving quarters to let them know that they need their assistance. 
• The lighting and scenery is quite dark with very dull colours which may reflect the living/working conditions of the servants. 
• The boss of the servants sits at the head of the table which shows authority and power, this man is also seen to be the one who has most contact with the residents of the house. 

2 minutes 9 to 4 minutes 32

mise-en-scene;

• This clip is of the owners of the house, their costumes are very smart, the men are in suits whilst the women are wearing colourful, fitted, floor length dresses. 
• The servant in the clip is standing whilst the other characters are sat around the table, this shows that the servant does not have a right to sit down with them all. Even though he is the head of the servants he still has a lower status when compared with the owners of the house.
• The furniture in the scene is very expensive looking with most of the ornaments made from crystal or glass. This differs from the servants downstairs who had quite plain furniture made from things such as wood or metal.
• The paintings in the background could show the money that the house owners have, these paintings would probably be originals.
• In the scene a telegram was presented to the master of the house, this brings forward the temporal context in which, telegrams are associated with sending out important news quickly, this was because they were a lot quicker to receive than letters. 
• The lady of the house can be seen being waited on by one of the servants, even though this servant is allowed in her bedroom there is still a distinct difference of class as she the servant does not talk and is ignored by the lady of the house, she is then dismissed by the lady and returns back downstairs.