Pan's Labyrinth Scene Analysis

Pan’s Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, is a visually striking, dark fantasy film compiled of a range of gruesome and intriguing scenes that address themes of choice, gender and coming of age. In the ‘Final Task’ scene, the camera techniques, colour scheme, lighting, and sounds are the primary techniques used to express the ideas of good vs. evil, reality vs. fantasy, the effect of war on children and resistance.
The scene begins with a high angle over the shoulder shot of Captain Vidal looking down at Ofelia, emphasising that she is vulnerable and inferior to him. The camera cuts to a shot-reverse-shot which is used to show a close up of Captain Vidal’s harshly lit face commanding Ofelia and then Ofelia disobeying him, creating tension between the two characters. Unlike the harsh lighting on Captain Vidal’s face, when the camera cuts to Ofelia the background has low-key lighting, dark shadows and blue hues.
Del Toro’s films are commonly known for his use of the primary colours, red, blue and yellow, to further enhance the telling of the story by painting an incredible world of vibrant colours. Throughout the film, Pan’s Labyrinth, the parallel narratives of the real versus fantasy worlds are differentiated by the use of the colour scheme. The low-key lighting together with the muted greys and cold hues …show more content…
The camera is pedestalled upwards forming a high angle long shot of Captain Vidal staggering close behind, making him look inferior. The contrasting camera techniques used for Ofelia and Captain Vidal shows a change of power in between the two characters, where Ofelia is superior in the fantasy world contradicting the scenes opening shot where she is inferior in the fascist reality. The shot also shows the background where the golden hues and warm tone colours are bleeding into the muted blues and greys, establishing that the rebels have overpowered his