Filming period drama and the potential slip-ups

Potential areas for slip-ups

Indoors

1. Light switches and fittings.
   
2. Doors and door furniture, fireplaces, window of the same type and period as
   those seen on the outside of the house!
   
3. Paintings, wallpaper, furniture, decor etc including cushions and upholstery.
   
4. Electricity meters, central heating pipes and radiators, water taps etc.

Outdoors

1. Aeroplanes. Watch those vapour trails!
2. Pylons, telegraph poles, Street lights and any other electrical protuberances in the scene.
3. Road signs and markings, manhole covers, kerbs (Wot? No double yellow lines?) and even drain grids.
4. Television aerials, dishes, modern chimneys and telephone lines. Modern windows, doorways and gates.
5. In the gardens even the types of flower could be wrong.
6. Film equipment, cables, bags - even the cameraman’s bike!

Two people standing by a stage coach. Have you covered up any yellow lines? Is there a road sign visible? Does the house behind have a television aerial showing? Is a wrist watch showing?

When filming a period piece, extra care must be taken before shooting a scene. This may sound obvious, but many a slip is seen, not only in amateur films, but also in professional productions.

The director must be able to rely on a capable art director and a knowledgeable props chaser to research and collect scenery, objects etc of the correct period.

Outdoor metal piping or railings with concrete posts I have disguised with painted cardboard to look like old wood.

Modern paths or tarmac areas can be covered with straw and/or earth. Wrought iron made of wood, smoothed and painted matt black and polished with black boot polish looks very real and effective. I have used this method to make kitchen fire fittings, complicated spits etc.

In My Experience I have disguised windows where the multiple panes had been replaced by large single panes. The answer was to prepare strips of card the same width as the window bars, painted as shadowed moulding on one side and stuck into place with double-sided sticky tape on the back.