Cinematography - Pride and Prejudice

This is the opening scene to Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. The first shot of the whole film is an establishing shot, introducing us to the setting, which we see is the countryside. This shot continues for about 45 seconds while the first credits are shown.

The next shot is a medium shot of the film's protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet and she is walking towards the camera reading a book; the camera moves backwards as she walks forwards and zooms out slightly to show us her surroundings and we immediately have an initial idea as to her character/personality. This is reinforced by the next shot which is an over-the-shoulder shot in which we see the book in more detail - as she closes the book, she appears to stroke it which could be an indicator of her passion for reading so we are able to infer that her character is one of creativity and imagination. 

The next shot is another establishing shot which introduces us to the Bennet residence which appears to be a farm, possibly indicating the family's wealth and social class. 

The next shot is a medium-long tracking shot of Elizabeth, following her as she walks through the hanging linen towards her house. As she walks past the door of the house, the camera stops following her and we are taken into the house. 

In this single shot that lasts over a minute, we are quickly introduced to the rest of the family and this gives us brief insight into their characters. 

The camera then stops moving forward and slowly pans to the right so we are given a further understanding of the family's home life. 

Then, the camera stops panning and continues to move forward and takes us outside onto the veranda and we are re-joined by Elizabeth who comes up onto the veranda and looks into the window in front of her as she hears her mother's voice and the camera stops just behind her, creating another over-the-shoulder shot enabling us to see what Elizabeth can see which could signify that what is happening in the window provides information relevant to the rest of the narrative. 

The camera then moves backwards creating a long shot and continues to track Elizabeth, highlighting her significance, making it very clear that she is the protagonist. 

The next shot is a medium long shot of Elizabeth's two youngest sisters, Kitty and Lydia eavesdropping outside the room their parents are in and this illustrates their childishness. Elizabeth initially tells them off but then in the next shot which is a medium close-up shot she joins them, suggesting that she too has a childish side to her. They are then joined by their oldest sister Jane and the remainder of the scene alternates between the medium close-up shot of the four sisters, and the medium long shot of Mrs Bennet through the ajar door which reinforces the idea of the importance of the conversation being had between Mr and Mrs Bennet.