Pan's Labyrinth Pale Man Scene

Pale Man Scene.

During the start of the scene that audience is able to see the contrast of lighting and also the colour aesthetic between the real world compared to Ofelia's fantasy world. The real world holds a cold blue tone towards the fantasy world of having a warm golden tone, ultimately it's almost as if the fantasy is brighter and more welcoming and a place Ofelia wants to be compared towards the real world as its more cold and darker. As Ofelia opens the door a light is immediately shown and brightens up Ofelia and highlights how she looks in this scene, the use of upper lighting adds more highlight towards Ofelia however its not in a scary or menacing way, its more warm and welcoming compared to how upper lighting tends to be used for. The camera begins to zoom out and also fade which will  make Ofelia look more smaller and insecure compared to her surroundings, however it sticks to the rule of thirds as Ofelia remains to be place in the middle of the shot which will emphasise the point that she is much smaller and insignificant compared towards the fantasy world.

As it begins to zoom out we are able to see more of the setting that Ofelia is about to enter and straight away the audience can notice that the hallways and the setting has a main focus of the colour red throughout the surroundings, with the colour red the audience could initiate the colour with things such a blood or even danger, this could then was panic and fear in the audience towards Ofelia as she could initially be putting her life at risk as she carries on entering the fantasy world and completing the tasks she is given. As this is an establishing shot this emphasises the danger and the colour of the room and hallway being red

Here Ofelia has entered the main part of the world/building it appears that she is in, Ofelia appears to be the main focus of the camera as she is right upfront of the camera shot, however it begins to slow track towards Ofelia as she begins to walk quicker towards the table but the camera is Dollying/Slow tracking behind her almost as if its a person fearfully walking behind her. This shot makes it appear as if someone is following her but it also emphasises the power that she could ultimately hold over this world as she is able decide her future and what happens it. However Ofelia's power has been taken away and is in the hands of the pale man as he is sat at the end of the table in front of the fire emphasising the danger that she could be in. This could mean that Ofelia is walking towards a danger which could foreshadow an event to happen later on in the scene, this warns the audience about the atmosphere and setting Ofelia has placed herself in. With the mise-en-scene, the director made the fantasy world more brighter and controversial compared to the horrific reality that Ofelia has to live in. The table and the atmosphere in this scene is similar to a scene earlier on in the movie with Vidal sitting at a dinner table with him at the end and a fire behind him, as the pale man is in the same seating position is the same as Vidal, this represents him as being an evil character and causing trauma in Ofelia's life. However there is a difference in the mise-en-scene as the the table and the atmosphere is different. We can see more food on the table and there is lower population, this immediately shows the opposites compared to the real world

Tracking shots are very frequent and the most used shot in this scene as they are used to tell the audience things about the fantasy world and tell us more about where Ofelia is and the danger it appears she is in. In this shot the camera Pans across the circular paintings, circles are a popular theme in Guillmero del Toro's films, also along with generic fairy tales which can be identified throughout the film such as: The wizard of Oz, Alice in wonderland, Princess and the frog there is also elements of Little Red Riding Hood. This is done because the whole film is based on disobedience so the use of different fairy tales and not getting the ending that they are supposed to get adds towards the impact of Ofelia being disobedient and not following the rules that she is given, which fore shadows a mistake that she makes later on in this scene. The artwork was created and inspired by Francisco Goya, and he would create very surreal, political and gruesome artwork and Del Toro included this so the audience is able to discover the story of the Pale man and what he does. As the audience can clearly see the Pale man kills and eats children, this again creates initial fear in the audience for Ofelia.

Here the camera pans across a pile of children's shoes, this will add towards the impact and the idea that the paintings create and tell us about the pale man. The camera tracks up from a low angle shot going up towards Ofelia's point of view, this makes the shoes appear bigger than Ofelia and more overwhelming towards her and the audience. The pile of shoes also has a relation towards the children of auschwitz, where there was an extermination of jewish children and families. Del Toro includes a lot of intertextual context in this film, the whole film is based upon the Spanish Civil war, where Franco was the Spanish leader and induced high importance of fascism in the Spanish society, this ideoligy is used throughout the whole of the film with the rebels against the civilians.

This is an over-the-shoulder shot which will make it appear that someone is looking over her almost as if they are protecting her in this scene as she is in potential danger, her guardian in this scene in a sense is the "fairies" that were given to her by the faun which is her main guardian in the fantasy world. As she unwraps the sword from the red cloth, which again could symbolise the danger of the sword and the task that she has proceeded to go onwards with, a foley sound is present of a high pitch continuous noise almost as if its a magical sound, however the exact same noise is present when Ofelia takes out the key and is present on screen. Alongside with the over-the-shoulder shot is is also a close up of the sword this is to emphasise the importance of the sword and helps the audience identify the reason for Ofelia to enter the fantasy world again, however she is putting herself in increasing danger. The sword being locked away is symbolism of the theme of secrecy that is presented throughout the film through different characters, for example with Mercedes and her knife that she hides in the apron. The fantasy world that Ofelia is in is also hidden as her mother and everyone else in the outside world doesn't know about and hasn't discovered it unlike Ofelia, this adds to the impact of the secerets that the fantasy world holds and Ofelia must keep hidden in order to keep others same.