The film was based of the real events within the Cidade de Deus suburb in Rio de Jenerio Brazil showing the growth in crime there during the late 1960s-1980s looking specifically at the drug dealer lil ze. During production many of the actors who starred in the film grew up in real Brazilian slums and had little acting experience giving the film authenticity.
Tone
Pan’s Labyrinth incorporates themes of war, drama and dark fantasy. Primarily focusing on the theme of dark fantasy. This is shown by the overall mood and atmosphere of the film, being set in a dark and gloomy place, with evil characters such as the Captain. The dark tone of the film is also shown by the dark lighting, before Ofelia and her mother get to the Captains place, it appears to be light and as they approach the Captains place, a dark and ominous feeling appears and it becomes dark and mysterious rather than a bright and mysterious situation which would completely change the plot as it focuses on dark fantasy.
Visual Style
In the film, the visual style can be seen in the switch between the fantasy world and the real world, by the use of change in the colour palette. In the fantasy world, Del Toro uses warm hues of red, yellow and brown, whereas in the real world, a blander palette is used with colours such as grey, blue and green which are more natural colours anyway.
Realism
Pan’s Labyrinth is a film that features a lot of aspects of non-realistic things so the realism in the film would be seen in the acting and the real life world rather than the fantasy world that is supposed to be non real because she is meant to be imagining this world. However, through the use of cleverly done make up and costumes in the film, as well as realistic voices from the creatures like the Faun, the fantasy world is shown to blend in slightly with the real world, making it a more smoother transition between the real world and the fantasy.
Historical context: The film is set between the end of the 1960’s and the beginning of the 1980’s. The film is based off a true story by Paulo Lins and accurately presents the growth of organized crime in the Cidade De Deus suburb of Rio de Janerio with gangs leaders such as Lil Ze taking control. This resulted in it becoming a lawless land and the City of God having some of the highest murder and crime rates.
Political Context: The film showcases the problem of the fight against inequalities and social exclusion in impoverished communities. During the time the film was set, the government had little control over areas in Rio de Janerio and the gang violence and crime that was ongoing. The police were also corrupt and would be payed off by criminals to not interfere. An example of this in the film is when the police try to extort money from Lil Ze for his freedom.
Institutional Context: During its release in 2002, the movie became a wide success. It was seen by 2 million Brazilians in its first two months. It received overwhelming press coverage and triggered heated debates among critics and intellectuals.
Gender: The theme of masculinity in the city of god is portrayed as toxic. With many younger boys in the film feeling they are forced to become more aggressive and violent to be able to survive in the slums. this can be seen through steak and fries who wants to kill lil ze stating “I am a man” as a result of being forced to shot his friend earlier on in the film.
Aesthetics: City of God has a high sense of verisimilitude, this is done through the visual style of the film using grounded mise en scene in sets and costumes as well as the cinematography using hand held camera movements and dolly shots giving a realistic documentary style feeling to the film.
Sound: Sound is used in this scene to create an impact on the viewer as it is just lil’ ze’s talking to benny and nothing else, making him isolated
mise en scen: the costumes of the characters show that they are living in a poor area as the clothes are dirty, as well as the walls being poorly painted
cinematography: cinematography is used in the scene of shaggy’s death to show all the people around him, the shot is a high angle shot from a birds view, the shot allows us to see more of the scene then if it was closer, or on the ground.
editing: editing is used in this scene to show a montage of li’l ze shooting people with a gun, it makes an impact on the viewer as they are seeing how one of the main characters has changed.
Poisoned
*Chiara and Daria are at lunch at school sitting in their usual spot*
Chiara- Hey I heard that there’s been this guy who’s taking this revenge thing on all the people he doesn’t like it’s actually kinda scary not gonna lie
Daria– oh my god yeah I heard about that but we haven’t ever spoken to this guy before so we shouldn’t be worried
Chiara- well I did reject him once a few years back maybe he’s still holding a grudge
*Chiara starts to get nervous and fidgets in her seat*
Daria– he probably forgot about it I wouldn’t even worry about it hahahaha
Chiara- its not that big of a deal but he has been looking at me funny recently and I keep seeing him near my bag in class and when I look away he’s proper staring me down
Daria- he’s known to be a weirdo at school I really wouldn’t worry he does it to everyone don’t know why you are overthinking this.
Chiara- I don’t want to be all dramatic but I think he hasn’t forgotten and might actually confront me about it or something
Daria- you are being like super dramatic right now stop worrying about this
Chiara- yeah you are right he probably forgot that i even exist, I’m just going to eat anyway he definitely did not do anything that’s so weird.
*chiara bites into her food and realises it tastes weird*
Chiara– yeah I don’t want to panic but he definitely did something to my food it tastes weird, am I being dramatic? I’m actually panicking right now
Daria- you are over thinking this stop, its getting annoying how passionate you are about this LOL
*Chiara starts to choke and falls to the ground choking on her food and realising she cannot breathe*
Daria- Chiara stop messing with me genuinely it’s getting annoying it’s really not something to joke about he’s really hurting people.
*Daria realises that Chiara isn’t faking and runs to get help out of the room*
Daria- oh my god! she’s not messing about she’s genuinely passed out choking, I got to grab someone fast!
*when Daria leaves the room there’s already someone standing outside the door..*
Boy– I will never forget, ever.
boy- Chiara did more than just Reject me, she changed my life, she was the love of my life and she ruined it!
Locations used:
Act 1
actors needed:
Sophie Leslie, Theodora Valkerou
Scene 1: Gorey village houses, brick wall. – or St. Peters ruin
Montage 1 – Various locations around Jersey, maybe St Peters valley or sand dunes.
Overhead shot of little girl sat at desk – Maija’s house
End of Animation – playground
Montage carries on – Interrogation room – (studio)
Day 1 – My room ,
Act 2
Character needed:
Sophie, Theodora, Sophie’s mum,
either Maija or Skyla as ‘walker’
Walking up Hautlieu hill, in front of Highlands – statue of Virgin Mary.
Play Ground – either parade park, or Fort regent park ‘boqeejuep’
Act 3
Characters needed:
Sophie, ‘police’ men.
Outside My house, dolly shot
Country lane (on the way to school, or cow sign if easier) SUNNY
Grave – on P walk – near field on bench
Country Lane NIGHT
Interrogation room – studio
Country Lane NIGHT
Grave – on P walk – near field on bench
The end
Shooting in half term – Monday 27th May – Friday 31st May
Plan:
Alone
*Girl sitting at desk and doing homework then gets email from schoolteacher*
Good morning, Class,
In tomorrow’s lesson we are going to be presenting the childhood memory projects you’ve been working on for the past 2 weeks. You must bring in your projects tomorrow. No excuses.
Thank you, Miss Stone
Annabelle – *reads out letter from teacher* Muuumm! Where do we keep the old pictures from when I was youngerr!! *No reply* Oh she must have left for her dinner. Mm I bet the pictures will be in the attic. *Annabelle gets up from desk and heads to the attic*
*Annabelle walks up the stairs and see’s the attic, she grabs a chair and puts it under the opening, then reaches for the sliding lid/door to open the attic, camera switches to a POV shot of the ladder inside the attic facing down as she pulls the ladder out*
*Annabelle climbs up the ladder steps and reaches the top*
Annabelle – They better be in here.
*Annabelle climbs into the attic and starts looking for the pictures, she finds a box labelled ‘childhood memories’, she opens the box and finds an album labelled ‘Young Annabelle’*
Annabelle – Aww I remember these so well, I’ll take this whole book down with me. *Camera switches to POV of opposite side of attic facing the back of Annabelle but clear that a black gloved and hatted figure is peering into the attic watching her and accidently knocking something over*
Annabelle – *turns round to the entrance of the attic* What was that. *Looks around and gets creeped out from the attic* It’s getting kinda creepy in here now, I better go.
*Annabelle shuts the box and grabs her album and then climbs down the ladder, switches the light of, pushes up the ladder and closes the door* *She then sees a black glove on the floor, and looks around her with a scared expression*
Annabelle – Hello?! Is anyone there?! *Moment of silence as she stands there and looks around* I’ve been watching too many horrors recently. *Shrugs then goes back downstairs*
* * *
*A bit later, Annabelle is doing her washing, she opens the washing machine and camera switches to a POV of washing machine door, so we see Annabelle as she opens the washing machine door* *She puts the washing powder in and turns the washing dial to ‘mixed load’ button, then she switches it on to start washing*
*Annabelle’s phone starts ringing and it says, ‘No caller ID’, she answers, very sceptical about who’s on the other side of the phone*
Friend – *camera is still on Annabelle, voice over is speaking* Hey, have you done your project, It’s due tomorrow?
Annabelle – Oh thank God it’s only you.
Friend – *camera switches to friend who is watching Annabelle through the window* Who did you think it was gonna be?
Annabelle – Oh haha, just had this feeling I was *as Annabelle is speaking, there is her friend dressed in all black in the background appearing in the window, looking into the utility room where Annabelle is facing the other way still talking* I don’t know being stalked or something? *She looks around again*
Friend – *camera is showing the back of the friend as she watches Annabelle through the window, we see her too* Right, you’re overthinking this, you’re probably just paranoid cause your home alone.
Annabelle – Hahah, yeah, you’re right, that’s what I was thinking. Wait how did you know I was home alone?
*Camera switches to POV of the figure watching through the window so we see Annabelle standing there on her phone*
Friend – Oh, I was guessing. Anyways I’ll see you tomorrow.
Annabelle – Uh. Yeah Okay.
Filming week 1 – Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May
Location 1 (Tuesday 28th) – House (EXT and INT) – The aim here is to get a first shoot of the majority of scenes featuring the character of Seb.