sound

when Mercedes is singing the lullaby the scene gives off an innocent feeling Although this transitions into Mercedes doing something sketchy. as the scene transitions so does the music going from a simple lullaby in a major tone to some ominous minor music

mise en scene

the use of different types of foods on the table tell us a lot about the scene. in the scene with the pale man the room would be fairly hot and so the use of fresh bright fruit is used to make Ophelia want to disobey orders

in the scene with the Capitan in the real world. the food looks more dull and homey giving the impression that this is the real world

cinematography

the use of high and low angle shots shows a clear level of who’s in charge. as Capitan Vidal ises low angle shots it gives the impression that he is looking down at the camera

editing: the use of the wipe makes the 2 scenes seem connected and make it clear to the viewers this is all in the same world.

Sound – Narration is used in the opening of the film to establish to spectators what Ofelia was reading in the car, but also to introduce them to the magical reality they will see throughout the film. The narration foreshadows what the Faun eventually tells Ofelia about how she is the Princess and must “return” to her family.

Mise-En-Scene – The use of a dead rabbit prop in this scene makes clear to the audience that the men that Captain Vidal had killed were telling the truth about why they were armed, as they were simply out hunting. This reinforces the captain’s role as the villain of the narrative, as all him and his men had to do was look inside the bag before killing them.

Cinematography – A low angle of the Labyrinth, when Ofelia first comes across it, is used by Del Toro in order to pull spectator attention towards the head, indicating the significance of the fantasy-related iconography and how it will influence the plot of the film.

Editing – A wipe effect is used as the camera passes a tree, in order to connect two parallel stories in the film together in a natural manner. We see one narrative strand (the captain and his men entering the forest) transition into the second (Ofelia exploring the forest while reading).

Del Toro used a lot of different magic realism in this film. for example the Faun, he was a huge character through the film and he was edited in, same with the fairy’s that would be around him all of the time, it was realistic but it was also fake. it gave a supernatural feeling to the film.

the tone in the film was always dark and gloomy. they did this to show how unhappy everyone was in the village and it was never bright and happy, there was no bright colours it was always dull and lifeless.

Sound:

The non-diegetic, whimsical underscore used in the opening of the movie first of all sets the tone for the film; magic realism and fantasy, but also leads the film towards a backstory, paired with the cyclical structure the opening shot provides, the spectator is made aware (through the use of a J-cut and underscoring) that this movie is non-naturalistic and surreal, reflecting the auteur trademarks of Guillermo Del Toro.

Mise-en-scene:

The scene’s ‘look’ in this scene contrasts to the shocking murder the Captain committed just the night before, introducing the character to be relentless and psychopathic and also representing him as the story’s antagonist. The composition is thought-out and deliberate, adding to the uncertainty the Captain radiates.

Cinematography:

The shallow depth of focus in the ‘pale man’ scene adds to the tension created, the camera blurs the figure in the background to add to the impending terror. The shallow depth of focus also allows the eye on his hand to be focused, leading the spectators attention to the horrific, in-humane monster, engaging the audience and creating the effect of the pale-man coming closer and closer to Ophelia.

Editing:

The editing used in this scene essentially ‘teleports’ Ophelia to the Labyrinth, adding to the verisimilitude of Guillermo’s fantasy magic-relist world. The spectator is encouraged to loose track of the ‘unexplainable’ aspects of the movie, and to instead share Ophelia’s imaginative, fantasy world, therefore aligning with the character of Ophelia.

in this film you can tell there is a huge gender bias. all of the women are maids and chefs, they are there to take care of the people in the house. And all of the men in the film are either doctors or soldiers who help in battle while the woman stay back and tend to them if they get injured.

the Woman are always rushing around cleaning the house, cooking all of the meals for the dinners and also taking care of everyone during their stay in the house.

the men are all soldiers who carry around guns and protect the village. the other male is a doctor to helps to treat all of the injured soldiers and the mother.

Mise en scene: mise en scene is used here in both lighting and set design. The combination of royal, holy appearing room, along with the golden war, lighting gives a grand luxurious feeling to the scene portraying how Ophelia has achieved a higher level when compared to the dark and gritty mise en scene of the normal world.

Cinematography: Camera movements, specifically dolly shots are used frequently throughout the film, and example being the chase from the pale man using a fast dolly cam with hand held camera movements to give a sense of action and high tension.

Sound: Many orchestra style motifs are used within the film connecting to the magic realism of the film with more ambitious music which ties well to the fantasy genre of the film.

The mise en scene

The mise en scene of the film is very reflective of elements of horror which can be seen with the dark lighting in a lot of scenes and the costumes of the mystical creatures like the faun. A great example of mise en scene in the film is the scene with the pale man. The set is that of an eerie room with a table of food. The room shows pictures of the pale man eating children which creates a sense of fear in the viewer without the use of narrative.

Cinematography

The Cinematography of the film utilises a lot of handheld tracking shots to show the characters like Ophelia exploring different areas like when she enters the labyrinth for the first time. Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro makes use of a lot of wide shots to establish the scale of the sets to the audience. We can see this with the wide crabbing shot of the ruins of the labyrinth.

Editing

A frequent use of editing within the film is cross cutting between different narratives to show what events are happening at the same time. This editing is used to merge the two narratives together between Ophelia and the soldiers. An example of this is in the scene where the soldiers are riding out into the forest on horseback whereas Ophelia is traveling slowly by foot. This impacts the audience as it allows them to focus on two different narratives as the film stays at the same pace.

there is a lot of magic realism in the film. the faun and the other monsters are fake and edited in, same with the little plant baby that Ofelia puts under her mothers bed. they edited it all in really accurately and its hard to tell if its fake or not, the fauns Fairy’s are also fake. the ending of the film where she is in the after life is all edited to look more supernatural.

the cinematography in pans labyrinth was pretty simple, there was a lot of floor angles of the characters walking, for example there was a lot of shots where Mercedes was running away there would be a shot of her feet. the shot distances were usually medium close ups, there was not many close ups but there was a lot where we could see their face and their chests.

the sound in the film was very clear, there was not much music, the ride up to the Captains house had classical but also a bit ominous to show that nothing good is going to come out of travelling to live with them. when Ofelia would go down to see the faun there would be some very faint tunes. Also Mercedes would sing to the young girl to help her sleep.