SUFFRAGETTE RESEARCH

2. A drama that tracks the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced
underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State. These women
were not primarily from the genteel educated classes, they were working women who had seen peaceful
protest achieve nothing. Radicalized and turning to violence as the only route to change, they were willing to
lose everything in their fight for equality - their jobs, their homes, their children and their lives. Maud was one
such foot soldier. The story of her fight for dignity is as gripping and visceral as any thriller, it is also heart-
breaking and inspirational.
INFO ABOUT THE FILM….
Production Companies- BFI, Canal+,
Cine+, Film4 Productions, Ingenious Media,
Pathe, Rugby Films.
Distributed by- Focus Features.
Release dates- 12 OCT 15’ (UK)
Running time- 106 mins
Budget- $14 million
Box office- $12.8 million

3. Poster Analysis…
- The COMPOSITION shows the main character in a very strong and
dominant position. She is shown as an independent woman. You can see
from each of the women’s costumes that they are from different classes
and the way that they are standing shows that they are uniting together.
Also their costumes indicate to the viewer that it is a period drama. The
colour scheme is purple white and green which are the colours of the
suffragette flag. The purple colour of the font is stereotypical and very
feminine. The main character is in the front so she is leading and the
other two are significant to a small extent compared to the main
character. The design of the poster is very old-fashioned.
- The GENERIC ELEMENTS suggest that it is a period drama and a
biographical film and possibly political. There is a lack of diversity since it
is set in London a hundred years ago.
- The TEASER ELEMENTS is the tagline, ‘Mothers, Daughters, Rebels.’
it looks a lot like a propaganda poster. It all suggests that women are
trying to get equality and want to fight for everyone together.
The main STARS/DIRECTORS are Sarah Gavron, Meryl Streep, Carrey
Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter.
- The UNIQUE SELLING POINT is that all the events are fictionalized but
are all representational of real life events. There haven’t been any films
based on women's rights on such a scale as this one.
- The TARGET AUDIENCE is women, historians, demonstrators and
activists. Men could be isolated from wanting to watch it because there
are no strong male characters.

4. The SUFFRAGETTE website immediately shows you
the trailer as soon as you click on the link. Then
shows another link that takes you straight to the page
where you can purchase the tickets along with a map
to show you where it will be showing and how you
would get there. This shows it is a film that is very
eager to be recognized therefore makes the ticket
process very easily accessible and in a way its form
and structure shows how sure it is of itself and
therefore, persuades you to watch the film.
The Official Website…
There are poster-synergistic links in the
website. The website also shows the
institutional information as well as the
press endorsement. The image shows
the poster, the map and they both use
the same colour schemes. the second
page shows a moving image from the
film which suggests the time period and
this also shows an element of
interactivity. The characterization
shows three characters who are very
proud and strong and who have a fight
on their hands. The fact that the film
was released on Monday the 12th
October is very unusual because films
are usually released on Friday so they
can total up the opening weekend
figures and determine whether or not
the film was successful or not.

5. A teaser trailer is released to keep the waiting fans
exciting, showing showing them some special moments
from the trailer. An official trailer is closer to the release
date. It heightens the excitement and increases the
publicity of the film so it gets more popular and makes
more people want to watch it.
The Official Trailer and the Teaser
trailer..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=056FI2Pq9RY
The CINEMATOGRAPHY of the trailer shows low key lighting
as well as low saturation showing that the film is a very sad.
This is also to show that the film is from the late 19th century
and early 20th century. The GENERIC ELEMENTS are the
characters like Emmeline Pankhurst, Maud Watts, Edith New. It
is based around the members of the women’s social and
political union of Great Britain. The TEASER ELEMENTS
include the fact that it is very intense, dramatic and empowering
elements of the film. The STARS include Carey Mulligan who is
known for the Great Gatsby, and Drive. Meryl Streep who is
known for the Iron Lady and Devil Wears Prada. Helena
Bonham Carter who is known for Fight club and Cinderella. The
UNIQUE SELLING POINT is that it is about women’s rights
during the 1890s, there is a very moving story line judging by
the trailer and it expresses working class women’s lives during
that time period and it shows the urgency that reminds us of the
struggle of women’s rights. The TARGET AUDIENCE would be
women and the elderly,

6. The Print-articles…

7. Interviews-London Film
Festival..
Streep said: “The great achievement
of the film is that it’s not about
women of a certain class; it’s about a
working girl, a young laundress, who
looks like us, and the circumstances
of her life were out of her hands,
completely.”
Streep also responded to questions
over her refusal to describe herself
as a feminist in a recent interview.
”There is a phrase in the film –
‘Deeds not words’ – and that is
where I stand on that. I let the
actions of my life stand for what I
am, as a human being. Contend with
that, not the words.”
I found these quotes by Meryl Streep very inspiring and really appreciated
them and really consider her to be an incredible person as well as actress.

8. Interviews-movie premiere cast
interviews..
Fashionmingle.net interviewed Dr.Helen Pankhurst who is the
great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst who had some
interesting input how they got a hold of some of the actual
clothes of suffragettes.
Carrey Mulligan spoke about how the costumes really helped her
power to communicate the role successfully. In particular she said
that shoes really help her to do that. The designer apparently wanted
to work with original costumes and the history behind the pieces
helped her to deliver.
Abi Morgan mentioned the idea that the colour
scheme amongst the costumes were to be a ‘bruise
palette of colour’ these colours were to range from
purple, blue, yellow and pink. I found this idea to be
very interesting and original.

9. Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan on The
Graham Nortan Show.
Carey Mulligan in the Official
movie interview.
A range of interviews on
Suffragette featured on the
Guardian.
More interviews..

10. Facebook…
Suffragette has its very own accounts on Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook, it has
33,668 people liking the page. This shows how wide the fan base is and how much
publicity it has received and is still receiving. On their Facebook page they feature
amazing posters to persuade people to already think about purchasing merchandise.
Also, there are announcements where they are showing Suffragette in independent
locations like the Museum of London. Here, many people can like and share to
enhance anticipation and excitement and also by sharing there are bale to increase
the fan base.

11. Twitter…
On twitter, the Suffragette twitter
account has 6,931 followers and
uses the hashtag, ‘inspiringwomen’
to generate more publicity. On their
twitter account, people are able to
communicate with their fellow fans
on a deeper level as they can have
conversations, share opinions and
check up on important things that
are happening.

13. PRE-PRODUCTION
Planning and research-
There was a lot of research done. There had been no other filmmaker had decided to take on a film based on the
suffragettes and she had to ensure the it would be perfect and true to the history. There was 6 years of research before
starting production. This shows to commitment and dedication f Abi Morgan and director Sarah Gavron.
Screen writing-
The screenwriter, ‘Abi Morgan’ was initially hesitant to write about the women’s rights campaign. This was mainly
because it was exhausting to ensure the historical accuracy of all the figures. She said that it was ‘a blessing and a
curse’. Abi Morgan says that there were at least 30 re-drafts and many were or specific scenes. Also she initially based
the story on the perspective of Alice but there decided to base it on the character of Maud so it could how the extent of
the struggles that women actually went through.
Casting-
Carey Mulligan - was cast to play the lead role of Maud Watts on 24 February 2013
Helena Bonham Carter - joined the cast on 20 December 2013
Meryl Streep - was cast as British Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst on 19 February 2014
Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson - joined the cast on 20 February 2014
Faye Ward - independent TV/film producer, Suffragette was her project on 27 August 2014
There were also many external actors to really communicate the vastness of the campaign and how many people were
truly effected. also, to create the verisimilitude.
Costumes and props-
Some of the costumes were original pieces to create realism. Also, some had to loo real to create the authentic look
and make it seem like they actually belonged to the 20th century. Costumes included trench coats and long dresses nd
these need to be altered specifically for the actors.

14. PRODUCTION
Each of the scenes had to cut and altered together.

15. POST-PRODUCTION