Throughout Guillermo del Toro's film, Pan’s Labyrinth, mise-en-scène serves to deliver a story which at its core is a fairytale, yet maintains a firm sense of realism. Lighting, set design, makeup and costumes, in addition to the movement of characters are the foundation for mise-en-scène. It is through the use of these four elements that del Toro is able to place the audience in Ofelia's shoes, giving the Pale Man sequence its startling realism. The scene is introduced by a long shot of Ofelia reading a book, before leaving to complete her next task. The dramatic difference in lighting indicates Ofelia has left “reality” and now has entered a new world. Ofelias room has lowkey lighting while the hallway she has entered is bathed in diffused overhead lighting. The adoption of a dolly shot allows the viewer to see the hallway as Ofelia does, we see the worn stone pillars and floor, but we also notice that the only person in the hallway is Ofelia. In conjunction with the softer lighting, the viewer is given a false sense of security and is surprised when Ofelia encounters the Pale Man. An establishing long shot shows the Pale Man placed at the head of a great table, with a feast displayed before him. Ofelia stands in the middle left, which forces our focal point to be the Pale Man which with the usage of backlighting, is illuminated. The spectator feels just as small as Ofelia does, due to it seems the Pale Man is towering over us. Ofelia begins walking towards the Pale Man, which works to juxtapose the two characters. Up close the Pale Man is even more terrifying, a strange humanoid monster. This is a contrast to Ofelias historically accurate clothing which works to ground the audience when watching scenes that contain more fantastical elements. Ofelia begins to survey her surroundings and it is through her the audience sees the paintings on the wall depicting the Pale Man eating children, and if it was not understood before, the audience now knows Ofelia is in the presence of something extremely dangerous. Again, a medium close up shot reinforces the Pale Man's power, as Ofelia remains in the bottom middle, while the Pale Man is perfectly centered. In a comment made by del Toro, he stated that the “pale man feeds off the helpless.” The position of the Pale Man and Ofelia effectively scares the audiences, as we witness the dynamic between the two characters, with Ofelia being the helpless one. It appears that Ofelia is about to leave unscathed yet the food laid out before the Pale Man intrigues our protagonist. After Ofelia's first bite the Pale Man awakes, and to add to the terror the only way the Pale Man is able to see through placing his eyes on the palms of his hands. Ofelia remains distracted in the foreground eating, as the Pale Man approaches her from the background, his tiny legs unproportioned to the rest of his body making him stumble. The movement from the two characters has the audience switching their focus, inducing anxiety, which increases as Ofelia remains oblivious to what is coming towards her. At last when Ofelia notices the Pale Man is awake she begins to run back towards her exit, but amidst her panic breaks her chalk. There is a medium close up of Ofelias face as “an important part of aspect of mise-en-scène involves the space outside the frame,”(Nichols, 63). With the camera only focused on Ofelias face, we can only hear not see the Pale Man, which induces the fear of the unknown. This fear continues to build when Ofelia makes the decision to draw on the ceiling, doing so by balancing on the tip of a chair seen by the up close shot of Ofelias shoes, while the Pale Man continues towards her in the middle background. It is only until Ofelia escapes safely that the audience is able to relax, as it can be attributed to del Toros use of mise-en-scène which makes you feel as if you are with Ofelia on her journey. Works Cited
Nichols, Bill. Engaging Cinema: an Introduction to Film Studies. W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. Pan's Labyrinth.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 11 Oct. 2006, www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/. Toro, Guillermo del. “The Pale Man Represents All Institutional Evil Feeding on the Helpless. It's Not Accidental That He Is a) Pale b) a Man. He's Thriving Now. Pic.twitter.com/t3VXTc2V0F.” Twitter, Twitter, 2 Feb. 2017, twitter.com/realgdt/status/827065272028766208?lang=en.
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Film 100 was an especially exciting class for me as I finally pursued my interest in film. Here you will find film analysis essays discussing various film theories.
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