The opening scene to Pan’s Labyrinth, directed by Del Toro, begins with a black screen, showing subtitles that gives context to the film, which is set right after the end of the Spanish Civil War (1944). After this we are a brief description of the princess of the underworld; plus, we are shown the main character (Ofelia).
Throughout the opening of the film the five film form elements play key factors into showing what Del Toro wanted the film to foreshadow and represent. The camera focuses on Ofelia/the Underworld Princess during the entire opening, which is done in order to make it clear that she is the key character in the plot of the story. Different lighting is used to separate the way the audience should feel when watching certain scenes, for example, cold lighting colours such as blue are used in order to represent darker and sadder scenes. However, scenes that are focused on Ofelia’s growth throughout the film, such as scenes including the car journey with her mother. The cold lighting may also be to show more horrific scenes, considering the film has a director known for his horror stories.
During the opening mise en scene is used to show representation within the physical objects and clothing. Ofelia and her mother are wearing the same clothes, but in their own individual sizes. This is used to show that Ofelia and Carmen (her mother) may be from a place in conflict, where clothing is limited, which would make sense as the film is set just after the end of the Spanish civil war. The Spanish officers are wearing their uniform, which has the same colour pallet as the cold colours used to show more horrific and scary scenes typically. Del toro may have done this to show that the officers/ The Spanish Civil war are also horrific or should be seen as a threat to both the audience and Ofelia.
Pan’s Labyrinth tries to show accuracy to the context of the film by having the entirety of the performance in Spanish. This allows the audience to become more engaged with the film and it helps make us understand how the aftermath the war felt for the characters felt, as we see everything from their point of view. Having the film entirely in Spanish also allows the characters within the film to feel realistic, as if this story really happened. Another example of performance is shown with the Spanish Officers, as they are very demanding and use certain wording towards different people. Such as, when the officers refer to Carmen they call her “The captains wife”, which is done to show that during this time women were seen as as objects to men, especially by high authority figures. The performance overall allows the audience to become engulfed within the setting and story of the film.
Del toro uses a certain editing style in the opening of Pan’s Labyrinth to show the different viewpoints of certain characters. For example, when we shown the underworld, it is one long and continuous establishing shot instead of jump cuts showing different areas of the underworld. The long establishing shot is used to show that the camera is from nobody’s viewpoint and to represent how magical the underworld is compared to the real world in 1944.
Sound is one of the key film form features in the opening of Pan’s Labyrinth. It is used in the opening of the film to represent the after life of the princess of the underworld and Ofelia. When Mercedies is humming we can also hear Ofelia breathing rapidly; during this the camera zooms in on Ofelia, however, the blood running from her nose is going in reverse, which shows that the entire scene is in reverse. But Ofelias breathing and Mercedies humming is still normal with a close sonic perspective. Del toro has done this to show that Ofelia may be dead but the princess of the underworld is still living, and breathing. Ofelias breathing is also used a sound bridge to progress to the next scene of the underworld.
Throughout the opening of Pan’s labyrinth Del toro shows us how Ofelia has had to adapt to becoming mature at a young age. This is shown during the scene where Oflelia and her mother, Carmen, are in the car. Carmen is pregnant and therefore has become vulnerable and sick, which means that Ofelia must take care of her when possible. During this scene, Carmen starts to cough and asks Ofelia if she can stop the car, leading her to knock on the widow to the Officer driving them requesting to stop. However, because Ofelia knew what to do it means that she has had to become more adult-like in order to take as much care of her mother as possible, as she knew what to do immediately.
After the car is stopped the officers refer to Carmen as “the captains wife”, which was included in the performance to represent how women were seen in 1944. This was done in order to show how Carmen was seen as incubator/machine for the captain as he wanted a son who could take his position when he died. Another example of gender stereotypes is shown when Ofelia and Carmen arrive to their new home. When they exit the car Carmen is immediately placed in a wheelchair in order to “take care of the baby” and not Carmen herself. Also when Ofelia puts her hand out to shake with Captain Vidal, he squeezes her hand aggressively and says “wrong hand” in an incredibly blunt way. By having this scene we are clearly shown as an audience what little-to-nothing care the Captain her for Ofelia and Carmen.
One other message/meaning shown within the opening is how children were seen in 1944 with Ofelia and her book of fairy tales. Carmen tells Ofelia that she is too old to read fairy tales, even though we can clearly see that she is still at a young age. Del toro uses this message throughout the entire film to represent how the children are open minded and optimistic, but the adults are the opposite.
Del Toro is an incredibly unique director, who uses, iconography, codes and conventions to convey messages/meanings/responses to the audience within his work/art and is known for creating magical dark gothic horrors. He is known for creating gorgeous looking films as he has said that he feels as if the set in a film should also have character in order to open the mind of the audience. This is shown in Pan’s Labyrinth when we see the strong colour pallets of cold and warm colours to represent different meanings and add to the characters within the scenes. One of his trends in his work is having a story arc for the protagonist defined by having a choice. He says that he does this in order to separate his protagonists and antagonists. Another trend is that the main character is usually an orphan, or they become one because of the parents death. As well as this, they usually have some kind of special power. In Pan’s Labyrinth we find out that Ofelia is the missing princess of the underworld reincarnated, which gives her special abilities such as being able to see the creatures from the underworld. However, you could say that she has this power because of her optimism, open-mindedness and her young age. Del toro also like to show symbolism within film form, religion, the underground, creatures and monsters. One of the most famous quotes from Del toro is “people are often monsters, and monsters are often people”.
In conclusion, Del Toro conveys messages within the iconography, and his directing overall, by using techniques such as close sonic perspective, sound bridging, themes, context, the film form features, and the genre of dark gothic horrors within Pan’s labyrinth. In the opening five minutes of the film we are given the context of 1944, just after the end of the Spanish civil war, which allows certain plot developments. We are also shows the attitudes that people had towards women, children, and age and how Ofelia stands out from the majority of people in the film. All of the film form features are used in an specific way to represent all of these messages and techniques used by Del Toro to create both a fantasy and realistic universe in Pan’s Labyrinth.
Film Studies 