Making the past come to life
One of the things Frontier of Dreams sets out to do is to get into the lives of the people who tell our stories and experience the times as they experienced them - to see what they saw and feel what they felt, to "break bread with the dead". There are many ways the producers have chosen to do this.
Graphics:
We have returned to original sites when possible, but
often they have changed beyond the past's recognition or no longer
exist. That is when the latest generation of computer
graphics takes over, recreating ancient landscapes and extinct
species like the giant moas.
Dramatisation:
Just as in a feature film, dramatisation allows us to
shift our sense of time and place, to be there when the story is
taking place. By dramatising key moments from our story, we
can experience the chill winds of the Long Depression and
follow New Zealand soldiers to war in grim battlefields across the
world.
Period music:
Getting a sense of the mood of the times is as much about
the sounds of the period as the sights. Frontier of Dreams
makes extensive use of music that would have been familiar to the
people of the past, from ancient Maori waiata to 19th Century sea
shanties to the jazz of the 1920s, and music from some of the 20th
Century's great recording stars.
Original music:
The history series also has a music score written
especially for it. The themes of the original score are used
to underline the many moods and emotions that the programme will
evoke as it tells its stories.
Personal experience:
People and their personal experiences of the ever
changing times in our country's history are integral to Frontier of
Dreams. Theirs are the voices that help take us there, to
that place, that moment. They talk to us from their diaries
and letters and journals - real voices from real people about real
events.
