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Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth

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The key characters:

Ofelia – daughter of Carmen

Carmen – heavily pregnant ‘new’ wife of the captain.

Captain Vidal – Soldier in Franco’s Army

Mercedes – housekeeper

Doctor

Officers and Soldiers in Franc’s Army

Communist / Left wing rebels

Fantasy characters:

Pan (a faun)

Faries (x 3)

The Toad under the tree

The Pale Man

The King and Queen of the Underworld

First Response

Score: 8/10Memorable scene: I think the most memorable scene was when the white pale man was chasing after Ofelia. The shots jumping, one showing Ofelia’s point of view (drawing the escape root on the ceiling and then it jumping to the white man stumbling closer and closer to her. This scene created such an immense amount of tension you are on the edge of your seat, always questioning will she make or will she get caught. Iconic Image: I think the most iconic image is the cover of the film. It clearly shows the vulnerable little girl and the intimidating pathway. It captures the audience’s attention as they could want to know what lies beyond that path. Crocker Art Museum

Micro-elements: 

Sound:

The Sound Design of the effects that accompany the violence is very realistic. This is most likely enhanced in post-production by Foley artists. As parts of this film fit a horror genre this adds to the horror and emotional impact of those violent actions on the viewer. There is also a music motif in the Lullaby that is sung to Ofelia. It can be diegetic when sung by an on-screen characters (the Mother or Mercedes) but it becomes the theme tune for the film taking on a number of different musical forms (orchestral) adding to the suspense in places or the emotional state of Ofelia (rather like the ‘Time Goes By’ tune is manipulated in ‘Casablanca’.)

Cinematography:

The cinematography in Pans Labyrinth helps support the narrative as well as the fantasy world and real world.
When we first see Captain Vidal there is a close up shot that shows his stern, serious facial expression and the staccato simple shots reflect on his personality. He is a very traditional character which can also relate to the simple shots.

When we enter, the fantasy world the shots become long shots and extra long, this helps us see the scenery around the fantasy and also see how different it is to the real world.

Mise-en-scene:

Del Toro has a very unique and individual way for his approach of editing. He sketched out ideas in a notebook and was very into animations and CGI. The fawn, mandrake and the white man were CGI. Del Toro recorded the sounds of the toad himself and similar animatronics. 

Editing:

The editing used in Pans Labyrinth heavily supports the ideas of the fantasy world and the ‘normal’ world. A few diegetic wipes are used or cross-dissolves to and from black – thus forging a link, showing a particular inkling of when it is fantasy and not. 

Representation (Gender)

Main women:

All three women are looked upon negatively from the captain’s point of view. The first encounter we see of him, and Carmen is negative as he forces her to sit in a wheelchair when she did not want to. This automatically sends out the conventions that Carmen is a weaker character who holds less authority. Mecedes is the stereotypical maid to the captain who obeys his orders whenever given. However, she secretly fights against the captain and is helping the other side. This shows Mercedes holds power in secret, she is represented in two ways. You can argue that she is more of a motherly and maternal towards Ofelia than Carmen is. Ofelia is away in her own world; she disobeys her mother’s order as she continues to dislike the captain and separate herself away from him. She is a countertype when it comes to the way little girls were in those times/traditionally as she does not do what she told.  

Main men:

Captain Vidal is the dominant male within Pans Labyrinth. He is the villain in the movie manipulative, controlling towards all/most characters. The officers/soldiers are extremely on edge and cautious when around him. The doctor is a positive and rebellious character; he tricks Captain Vidal and ends up stealing necessities.

Aesthetics

Ofelias lighting is warm, golden with lots of curves and Vidals lighting is cold with lots of straight lines. 

The film is magical realism meaning it involves both very realistic set and lift of the 1944 Spain and it also shows the fantastical life of Ofelia. 

CGI is used to cut out the actor’s leg when playing the Faun, the Faun has a very sharp acute angled leg which does not match a human. The actor must wear green leggings to make it easier in the post editing. The use of animatronics is also used in the Fauns costume; the ears and tail are both electrically. 

Historical Contexts

It is the after math of the Spanish civil war which the fascist won (1936-1939).

In this film the rebels were the winners, the rebels are the good even though the doctor and Mercedes had to steal to get necessities the rebels believe in the equality of people and the fascist only thought of themselves and that reflected on the ending of the film. 

Institutional Context

Spanish because it is made in Spain and so is the cast apart from jones. Del toro and friends put their own money into this film (passion project). Usually, the big money studios have a big say in what the film is like and del toro did not want that, as he used his own money, he and friends had the very first and last say. It was made for 19 million dollars; this is due to the large crew and the make-up and costumes took lots of money to build. It made just over 83 million dollars in the box office. It won 3 Oscars, 1-cinematography, 2-make-up, 3-art direction. 

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CITY OF GOD

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EDITING  

Daniel Rezende said, “What we tried to do with the editing was attempt to use ‘effects’ whenever we thought that this could bring something extra to the sensation or emotion that we were aiming to evoke. If the situation is tense, and there’s no time to think, we speed it up and make it even tenser. If the 

character is going to be important later, then we freeze the face to commit it to memory. If both things happen at the same time, then we split the screen, so as not to lose anything. In the third part of the film, we especially welcomed anything out of the ordinary for the editing style. If a ‘badly made’ cut could increase levels of discomfort in the viewer, then we incorporated it.” 

Working with non-professional actors: – Used non-professionals as wanted to recreate the same feeling of the book as it would make the events of the film feel more natural and real. – Meirelles learned from Mike Leigh & Ken Loach to not give his actors a script 

The ‘restless’ style, characteristic of the film, announces itself from the start. It begins not with the customary establishing shot but with flashes that illuminate a series of close ups – knife, hand, and stone – with a cut to black between each shot. Another photographic flash illuminates Rocket with his camera. He zooms out from behind a network of bars, which collapses down into his image. This is in fact a flash forward to the scene that will replay very near the end of the film, where we will see then that the reverse shot has denied us here, with Zé bribing the police after his gun battle with Ned and subsequent arrest. He has been introduced as a key player in the drama, but still only a fragment. The montage of conflicting shots and the collision of the fast-paced editing now gives way to the spectacular circling shots which will morph Rocket from a young man to a boy, and the favela to its former days of low-rise shacks and open spaces. The meeting between two of the principle characters initiates the story; the circular shot will provide the bridge between what they were and what they will become. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• The series of tight close ups zooms in and out on further fragments of street life – faces, a guitar, a tambourine, hands with tumblers of drinks, hands scraping and chopping carrots, chicken feet and chickens being lowered into the cooking pot. The first mid shot of the film is of a live chicken on the table, tethered by its leg. A cut provides the first long establishing shot of the film. The chicken jumps down off the table making a bid for freedom. Brazilians describe a situation that appears to have taken off and be going but will soon crash to the ground as a “flying chicken”. This apparent freedom is illusionary – the chicken might try to fly but it can’t get very far. A close-up low-level shot from the chicken’s point of view shows a plate of blood on the ground, a reminder of the chicken’s fate.  Hotel Robbery- the Lighting in this scene starts out as golden and warm, suggesting that the tender trio and Li’l Dice are in the exhilarating beginning stages of their criminal careers. The warm lighting and fast cuts also highlight an absence of the inherent evil that is being committed during this scene to represent this gang as “robin hood” figures who are stealing because they have nothing- this creates a stark comparison to the actions we see Li’l dice (Li’l Z) commit in the future acts of the film. The fast cuts of the scenes show the high tension of the film, the editing merges multiple different scenes together, most notably when a man seemingly gets hit in the head the scene cuts to one of the boys breaking in, using the sound of the door banging open to replace the sound of the man getting hit.

SOUND-  

The diegetic sound in City of God is reflective of Brazilian culture. There is a mixture of Brazilian samba music which sets the scene for the film, as well as the sounds of traffic and knives. The sounds of knives in this beginning sequence, along with the layered sounds of music, traffic and scared clucks of chickens creates a sense of rising tension showing the oncoming and current threats for the people living in the favelas suffering through gang violence.  

MISE-EN-SCENE  

The first scene opens in the favelas with high contrast lighting; this technique allows the spectators to get a sense of the Brazilian culture shown throughout the film. There is a series of close-up fast sequences that show chickens running through the streets, as well as being killed, this highlights the jobs in the favelas born out of necessity and poverty. Additionally, Lil Z is introduced with a closeup- the choice of costume for this character presents him as a dominant antagonist, his gun {prop} further highlights his positioning as a villain within this film.  

GENDER.  

Within city of God gender is male central showing young men and boys to be predominant members of gangs and handling weapons, this can be seen through the character of Lil Z who is addicted to the idea of violence. Although, through the character of Rocket we can see that he defies the male expectations of joining a gang deciding to become a photographer and leave the favelas. Female representation is limited throughout the film presenting women as passive figures or victims- more specifically referring to the women who was killed for cheating on her husband- ultimately ending in the death of the man who she had an affair with, meaning that largely women are a plot device to further the events of the film.  

AESTHETICS. 

Throughout this film we are shown sequences that are shot in the slums of the favelas as the spectator is forced into confined spaces with the combination of a hand-held shaky camera constantly shaking and moving into maze-like structures to reflect the growing tensions and threat of violence within the favelas. Oppressive low-angle shots are utilised to show the confinement of the people living in this city, almost like an open-air prison. In comparison, the flashbacks to the old slums show a vast and open area, with warm hues of yellows and oranges representing the innocence of the city and children before gang violence made its way into the city.  

HISTORICAL NOTES

{INFORMATION TAKEN FROM WJEC RESOURCES}

The use of digital editing allowed Daniel
Rezende to experiment and try out new ideas.
He claims that many of the interpretations
of the characters were created at the editing
stage. Brazil was colonised by Portugal in the
16th century resulting in almost genocidal
subjection of the indigenous people. Struggled
for independence, which was then gained in
the 19th century. Economy partly founded on
the transport of huge numbers of slaves from
the west coast of Africa, a practise abolished
in the second half of the 19th century. Their
multi-ethnic communities are today made
of the descendants of these slaves, together
with immigrants from all over the world.-

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth

1 Comment

first response

I decided to give this film a 6/10. I thought the storyline and narrative were very interesting and the contrasting elements between the fantasy and real world in the film. I am not a huge fan of films which use fantasy elements however the use of CGI and props used within the film (such as the pale man and faun) along with the continuity editing made this film very interesting to follow along. The overall plot and the ending of the film were enjoyable to watch develop throughout the film; however it was kind of an expected ending, but I thought it was good overall.  

memorable scene

For me, the most memorable scene was when Mercedes and Ofelia attempted to run away from the mill however, they get caught by Captain Vidal and his men. I liked the tension this whole scene was able to create from when Mercedes wanted to escape without Ofelia but then she takes Ofelia along with her, to when they were walking through the woods and sound effects used but also the pure silence creating almost a jump scare when they turn around and Vidal was stood right behind them.  

key characters in the real world

Ofelia – (daughter of Carmen)  

Carmen – (heavily pregnant ‘new’ wife of Captain)  

Captain Vidal – (Soldier in Franco’s Army) 

Mercedes – (housekeeper) 

Doctor  

Officers and Soldiers in Franco’s Army  

Communists/left wing rebels  

key characters in the fantasy world

Pan – (a Faun) 

Faires (x3) 

The Toad under the tree  

The Pale Man  

The King and Queen of the underworld  

micro elements

sound

Sound plays a crucial role when it comes to enhancing the emotions and actions of the characters all throughout the film as well as making the fantasy world atmosphere more prominent in contrast to the real world. The soundtrack composed by Javier Navarrete as well as the reoccurring sound motif of the lullaby we hear first sang by Carmen intricately blends a haunting score with natural sounds to amplify the fantastical elements and the dark, oppressive world of post-Civil War Spain. The sound design uses subtle yet powerful cues such as the eerie rustling of the Faun’s movements as well as the sinister echoing of the Pale Man’s footsteps and noises to convey a sense of suspense and dread. The contrast between the overall silent atmosphere of the fantasy world and the harsh noises of the real-world help with heightening the feeling of tension but also reflecting Ofelia’s journey between innocence and the brutalities of her real environment. 

cinematography

The director of the film, Guillermo del Toro, worked along the cinematographer, Guillermo Navarro to create the film’s visual elements which is what the audience is first captivated by when watching the film especially when it comes to firstly setting its ominous tone. The use of contrasting color palettes is one of the most visually striking elements; the muted, earthy tones of the real world, dominated by browns, greys and greens, emphasize the harshness of the atmosphere in Spain post-Civil War. On the other hand, the vibrant, almost dreamlike hues of the fantasy realm, including reds, golds and blues help transport the spectators into a magical, otherworldly space. The use of lighting further enhances the dichotomy, for example, soft and natural lighting gets used in scenes with the labyrinth, evoking a sense of mystery and wonder while harsh, shadowy lighting often gets used in scenes including violence and oppression especially when characters such as Vidal are on the screen. The composition and framing also serve to highlight the isolation of Ofelia, often placing her in the centre of the frame evoking a sense of vulnerability or using tight, close-up shots to capture her emotional state. Del Toro’s use of long takes and fluid camerawork such as haunting tracking shots allow the lines between the real world and the fantasy world to be blurred, creating a realizing experience for the spectator.  

mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene in this film is filled with symbolic details which enhance the film’s themes of innocence, oppression and blurred lines between the labyrinth and the real world. The set design and costumes used play a huge part in the overall ideas and representations of this film. The contrast between the dark, sterile interiors of Vidal’s military camp at the mill characterized by harsh lighting, metal furnishing and rigid structures heavily contrast with the organic environments of the labyrinth. The labyrinth itself, with the overgrown vines and moss-covered stones mixed with the ethereal lighting used when it’s presented cause a striking shift in tone when we see the war-torn and suffocating feeling real world. The costumes also play a significant role. Ofelia’s simple, modest clothing contrast with the authoritarian uniforms worn by the soldiers all around her, showcasing how she is seen as an outcast, specifically Captain Vidal who wears sharply tailored military uniforms all throughout the film symbolizing his authority. The pocket-watch the captain is seen using multiple times clearly plays a significant part in the film by representing Vidal’s obsession with keeping control and authority. Not only this but when we see his room, we can see that it closely depicts the mechanisms on the inside of a clock to further imply his implicature in the events taking place. Other props get used for symbolic purposes such as the dagger which Ofelia uses in the fantasy world is a literal weapon and a symbol of her agency and power. The careful placement of objects such as the fantastical creatures she encounters such as the pale man or the toad under the tree are each designed with intricate details by Guillermo del Toro himself showing their importance and how specifically they get created either by CGI or props used and animatronics.  

editing

The editing in this film was crucial in creating the final feel of the film. The conventional style of editing is used throughout the film. However, there are times when several diegetic wipes are utilised or dissolved to or from black/white therefore creating a seamless link between the real and fantasy world. A main example of this is when we see Ofelia laying her head on her mother’s stomach to talk to her brother in the womb and we see the transition from the real world to inside of Carmen’s womb into the fantasy world and with the help of a cricket, we get placed back to the real world where the transition started.

representations (gender)  

female

Each female character in this film is represented in a different way. The protagonist Ofelia embodies innocence as she navigated both the reality of her brutal life but also the fairy-tale-like fantasy world which she is also part of. Her mother Carmen represents the hardships and vulnerability of many women who are under patriarchal control but also her dependence of Captain Vidal as she is sick. Meanwhile, Mercedes, the housekeeper, stands as a powerful symbol of resistance. Even though we get introduced to her as a fragile character at first, her character arc over the film develops and we see her resilience and dominance shining through when she defeats the captain but we also see her motherly nature towards Ofelia therefore making her the most interesting character in my opinion.

male

There is an evident binary opposite when it comes the gender representations portrayed by this film due to its overall representation of the males being primarily represented as taking on the traditionalized roles due to the period it’s set in, such as fighting in wars and being soldiers, having a desperate desire of carrying on the family bloodline with male decedent in the family but not paying much attention to their wives but also having controlling tendencies and power over them. The central male character in this film, Captain Vidal, who is obsessed by his father’s military exploits and maintaining control, emphasizes the oppressive masculinity of that era and how many men would be driven by a desire of having power as a way of expressing their masculinity. His evil nature is contrasted by his emotional weakness and not being able to express of control any of his emotions, particularly with his obsession with legacy. However, the film also introduces male characters such as the doctor and the faun who portray themselves as being caring and having more humane tendencies and standards due to their guiding and protective behaviour. The juxtaposition of these characters (the captain’s brutalism and the Faun’s ambiguous role) creates a layered portrayal of male figures within the historical and fantastical landscape of the film.  

aesthetics

The director of the film was very clear about the fact that he wanted to create very original characters for this film which have never been seen before therefore giving this film it’s fantasy elements by using both CGI and animatronics. However, there is also clear realistic aspects of the film such as the historical background and accuracy of the real world and also the clear contrast between fantasy and reality through the use of colour pallets and costumes.

historical and social context

This film was set in post-civil war times in the countryside of Spain. Even though the people portraying the liberals did not win the war but the fascists did, the filmmakers decided to switch the roles of the winners to create a happy ending. Del Toro also decided to film in Spain to accurately portray the history of the Civil War and creating a reminiscing atmosphere.

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NEA Pitch Deck

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EXTRA INFLUENCES:

Aside from films and short films, I’m taking inspiration from season 2 episode 5 of Interview With The Vampire, ‘Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start The Tape’. Particularly the cinematography and ambient sound used throughout to gradually build unease and anticipation.