There are many ways we see the difference in class between the character's in this extract of Downton Abey.
When the show opens we see the maids in the maids quarters, right from the off set we can see that the maids are of the lower class. There are many things that point this out to us, one of them being that the lighting is very grey and dull, everything looks washed out and miserable reflecting upon the tedious life's of the maids. As well as this the shots themselves contain lots of camera movement this helps to show the audience how busy everything is, making it feel like the audience is rushing around with the workers. coinciding with the moving shots is frequent cuts, lots of cuts between different shots also gives the feel that everybody is rushing around and in a very busy and stressful work environment. To back this up the use of lots of background noise makes the scene sound even busier, the audience can hear everything that is going on around the characters as they talk and speaking of the dialogue everything the lower class workers say is rushed and said in an accent that compared to the rest of the accents is clearly more common. The Mise En Scene in the areas on screen surrounding the maids and the maids quarters was very different to the rest of the house, for example the maids quarters weren't as furnished as the rest of the house, they had very basic décor and everything was grey and dull. It looked dirty and sad and was clearly, in terms of status, below the rest of the house. The difference between the colour and lighting from the main house to the maids quarters is our biggest indicator in the gulf in class, the main house is elegant and looks incredibly detailed with expensive furnishings and has large open spaces with bright and orange lighting painting the picture of a welcoming home where as the maids quarters are small, cramped and had grey lighting and was in general very dark with people rushing around everywhere.
As well as all of these visual and audible clues we can also get information about the characters class based upon the narrative. For example there is a line of dialogue between two maids about the use of electricity. One of the maids tells the other that they are 'daredent' use the electricity as they are sceptical of it. This shows us that the maid is that poor that she has never used electricity giving us an insight into her social class and her life before she became a maid, this sets how different the life's of those who live in the house and those who work in the house are. The codes and conventions of the genre can also tell us a lot about the characters before we even hear them speak, for example the character's costumes are those that you would expect to find in a period drama with lots of Victorian styled dress with the lower class maids and servants wearing blacks and greys and the upper class residents wearing suits and elegant dress's.
At the start of the extract there is a tracking shot from the maids quarters up to the main house, as the maid walks from the quarters to the house we see the lighting change from grey to orange, we see the décor change from basic to detailed and elegant, we no longer see small cramped rooms and see larger open spaces with huge windows and lots of light. This is our first clue on how different the life's of the maids are to the life's of the residents. As well as this the pace of the show slows down dramatically when were with the upper class character's, when we are with the lower class character's there is a lot more cuts and everything feels much busier.
There is a huge difference between the style of the scenes in the maids quarters and the style of the scenes in the main house, in the main house the shots are more static with fewer cuts and more drawn out scenes this helps build tension and drama among the character's. As well as this the colour is completely different in the main house, the colours are vibrant and have a warming orange glow about them. The way the upper class characters speak and deliver lines tell us just how important they are. They enunciate every word and speak with a powerful town of voice, they talk down to the maids and servants and this shows us that they are a class above them. As well as this there seems to be a hierarchy structure within the house, the lord sits at the top as he has the greatest status, the other residents of the house and the lady's come next, after that it is the people whom are in charger of the servants and the butlers and personal assistants, then at the bottom of the food chain there are the maids and servants. This status system is evident as the characters lower down the hierarchy system are spoken down to by those above them and it soon becomes apparent who those who sit at the top are.
Scenes in the main house often feature wider angles, so that we can see the extent of the huge house, this gives the scene an awe of importance as we can see how elegant everything is. The elegance of the house then reflects upon the residents of the house, telling us they are important upper class people. When the lord is shown on screen for the first time some very gracious piano music is played as he walks down the stairs, this indicates his importance to the audience before we even hear him speak.
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