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.

there was some good Mise-en-scene in the film, the costumes they used really set the time that they lived in. certain props like the jugs of milk and the different meals you can tell that it was the 1940s. the way the set was very old fashioned, like the brick houses and the old cabins.

POV shot of the main character opening his eyes and looking around

Close up handheld shot of the man looking around whilst the camera is going in an out of focus

Dutch angle shot of the man standing up

Long shot of the man walking around the room and walking towards a phone on the ground.

Close up shot of the phone as it is being picked up

Shoulder shot of him turning it on and seeing the date on the phone

Man 1: how long have I been out

medium shot of the man placing the phone on the ground

close up shot of the phone as it pans to some pills next to a bag

medium shot of man picking up pills

extreme close up shot of the man eating the pills

tracking shoulder shot of the man walking through the house and into another room where he finds a family picture.

Close up shot of the family picture

he picks it up visibly confused

Man 1 : who is this

Man turns around and starts looking unpleasant

Man1 : what’s that noise

Dutch angle of the man turning around and looking confused

Close up shot of him dropping the picture as it smashes

Camera pans to medium close up of a sleeping man on the sofa

Wide shot of the sleeping man and the man on opposite sides of the room

Close up shot of the sleeping mans closed eyes as the audio of the man snoring plays

Close up shot of the man stumbling through the rooms to get back to the door.

Close up of the door knob as the man tries to open it but he cant because it’s locked

Medium shot of the man stumbling back to his bag and taking more of the pills.

Extreme close up of him eating the pills

He blacks out.

Close up shot of the man on the portait

Cuts to a Overhead shot of the Man on the portrait in the living room in bed

Close up shot of his alarm going off

Medium shot of him waking up

Cuts to Tracking shot of him walking to his kitchen

Ellipse cut to a overhead shot of the coffee being made

Wide shot cut to him walking into his living room and sitting in the chair

Close up shot of the door bell being rang

Man 2 : Shouts “come in”

Close up shot of bell being rang again

Man 2: Frustrated ” I said come in”

Extreme close up shot of of the door ringing again

Man 2 gets up up and answers door

Man 2 opens the door and Man 1 is waiting

Man 2: “I said come in you know”

Man 1: “sorry didn’t hear you

Medium shot of man 1 entering the house

Man 2” you must be here for the plumbing

Man 1″ yeah that’s right”

Tracking shoulder shot of Man 1 and Man 2 walking through the house onto the kitchen.

Man 2″ do you prefer tea or coffee

Man 1″coffee please”

Wide shot of the room as man 2 is pouring coffee

Man 2″ I’m going to go toilet real quick just bring the coffees into the living room when you’ve made them

Man 1″ Sure thing”

Medium shot of Man 2 leaving room,

Shot pans to man 1 grabbing some powder from his bag

Close up shot of the man pouring the powder into one of the coffees.

Tracking shot of him brining the coffees to the man in the living room

Man 2″cheers mate”

Man 1″no problem”

Man 1 and Man 2 take a sip of their coffee

Man 2″this is strong”

Man 2 passes out on the chair

Man 1 takes both coffees back to the kitchen and opens his bag

He begins stealing items from the owner like ornaments and emptying them into his bag

Extreme close up shot of the pills.

He moves some pills in his bag so he can put some more stuff in their

He appears to be tired so takes a sip of the coffee

Extreme close up shot of his eyes drowsily shutting.

Dutch shot of him falling on the ground.

Quick cut to a wide shot of the sleeping man and man 1

Tracking shot of man 1 walking into the other room

Dutch angle shot of him clutching his head and looking shocked

He the collapses to the floor and drops his bag

Zooming out shot of the mans unconscious body

Cut to man 1 acting shocked after realising what he’s done

Tracking shot of him walking out the room

POV shot of him placing his hand on the door

Audio of police siren plays

Movie cuts to black.

1. The invisible style does not highlight the narrative directly. It achieves its goal by subordinating or even undermining the possible uniqueness of other elements such as lighting, camera angle, framing, costuming, etc.
2. Continuity editing uses a variety of classic film editing techniques to blend multiple camera shots — some taken at different times or even different locations — into a seamless, consistent narrative.