Film Analysis
Below you can find 10 cinematic techniques that director, Cary Fukunaga used throughout the 2011 version of the movie Jane Eyre.
If you did not notice the movie trailer on the home page, click here to watch it!
If you did not notice the movie trailer on the home page, click here to watch it!
Color Choices/Costuming
There is a very small spectrum of colors in this film. The predominant theme is dark shades of colors. Jane wears mostly black, gray, brown, or a deep green color. Her dresses occasionally have white accents on them. The one exception to her drab wardrobe is her white wedding gown. Adele mainly wears dark colors like deep red or black. Mrs. Fairfax wears gray and usually has a stripe pattern to her outfits. Rochester has the most variation in his wardrobe with outfits consisting of white, black, gray, or brown. He usually wears a light green hat while he rides his horse. The simple wardrobe and color choices are used to fit the time period. In the 1800s, there were few vibrant colors. The simple colored costuming also allows the viewer to really focus on the plot and not be distracted by the costumes.
Digetic Sounds
The film is predominantly a flashback of Jane's life. St. John or one of his two sisters will ask Jane a question and she will hear a person's voice in her head and flashback to that point in her life. For example, she could recall John Reed calling for her and had a flashback to when she was hiding from him because he was going to hurt her for using 'his book'. She also recalls when her old teachers at Lowood would call her and flashes back to when she first got to Lowood and how she was treated by the teachers there. When St. John asks Jane to be his missionary wife, Jane can hear the sound of Mr. Rochester calling out her name in the wind. This is digetic because the audience can hear all of these voices and so can Jane. These voices show Jane's emotional attachment to other characters and how their treatment of her greatly impacted and influenced her life and behaviors.
Low Key Lighting
The movie is set in the mid 1800s and there is no electricity at this point in time. For this reason, the predominant source of light is candle light. Candles can only give off so much light and most of the movie is filmed in the dark or with many shadows around. When Jane first arrives at Thornfield, it is night time. When Mrs. Fairfax brings Jane to her room, there are only two candles lighting up the halls and it is very difficult for the viewer to see anything except for the empty walls. Numerous times, all you could see in a shot was the illumination of a character's face, such as Jane's face or Rochester's face. The purpose of this is to really allow the viewer to focus on the person being filmed and little else. It creates suspense and forces the reader to fill in some of the blanks.
Sound Editing
Towards the beginning of the film, Jane stumbles upon St. John's door and is deathly ill. He finds her and brings her inside to care for her. As he is holding her, she is on the verge of unconsciousness. As she is fighting to stay awake, she can hardly understand the voices of St. John and his two sisters. They sound extremely muffled and almost slurred. As she gains health and consciousness, their voices become more clear. By using this technique, the viewer can really get a feel of the condition that Jane was in, and because of this, develop a stronger connection with Jane as a character.
Spot Lighting
Jane's punishment for breaking her writing tablet is to stand on top of a chair that acts as a pedestal for one day without food or water. As Mr. Brocklehurst warns all of the girls not to trust or befriend Jane, the camera focuses on Jane. There is a light shining on just Jane that is coming in from the window. The light shines so brightly on her at one point that the view of Jane's face is actually obstructed because all that you can see is white, bright light. The light acts as a spot light on Jane and the significance of the light solely on Jane illuminates her vitality and life. She is being confined by Lowood and all of those around her that are preventing her from being the free spirit that she is.
Long Shot |
Jane receives a letter informing her that her cousin, John Reed, is dead and her aunt, Mrs. Reed, is suffering from a severe stroke and wishes to see her. Jane needs to find Rochester to ask for money for her trip, and she finds him and Blanche Ingram flirting under a flowered alcove. The director uses a long shot in this scene to show the entire bodies of Rochester and Blanche. The purpose of this shot is to show the viewer how loving Rochester and Blanche Ingram act, and to convince the viewer that Rochester and Blanche Ingram will be together. To the left is a shot from a few seconds after the scene described above. We can still see the entire bodies of all three characters, and you can see the alcove surrounded by flowers that Rochester and Blanche Ingram were standing in.
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Back Shot
This shot happened only twice in the film. The first time was in the beginning of the movie, but it is intended to be at the end. The scene on the bottom left is when Jane enters the room on the day that Rochester returns from his trip with all of his friends. These two shots from behind Jane in a doorway are the beginning and the end of her love with Rochester. She enters the preparation room and during this time that Rochester is around, Rochester and Jane fall madly in love. Notice how Jane is entering a bright room for the scene on the left. This is because happy things are in store for her for a little while after she enters this room. The scene on the right is when Jane flees from Thornfield Hall into the dark forest. The darkness portrays Jane's depression for having to leave her love, but she knows that she must. She leaves for the sake of her own self respect, and this scene is the end of her love with Rochester. This type of shot also portrays the complexity that Jane feels about the situation that she is in.
There are very few cross cuts in the film, but they occur when Jane recollects herself after a flashback. It is always an abrupt recollection. One example is when Jane was thinking back upon her relationship with Rochester and how much she loved him. The scene cut from a time with Rochester to St. John standing in Jane's school room asking her how she was. The purpose of these cuts is to create suspense through cutting a scene off or not giving you all of the information. It also creates a sense of abruptness that is comparable to the commotion and abrupt changes that occur in Jane's life.
Close Up
Most of this movie is shot with close up or above the waist shots. It is especially beneficial to use this shot when you want to see emotion. Most of the time, whenever Jane and Rochester talk, it is filmed as close up shots for each of the two characters. When Rochester and Jane break up, the camera zooms in on both of their faces and focuses on just them in order to portray the hurt that they both feel.
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Low Angle
When Jane breaks up with Rochester, Rochester is below Jane. Jane stands and Rochester kneels and this shows the power separation between the two of them. The camera shoots so that Rochester looks small while Jane appears to be extremely tall and big. By Jane appearing larger than Rochester, she appears to be more powerful than he is. This is also true because she is the one that is ending the relationship with him because of his wrong doings.
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