Explore how cinematography and mise-en-scene creates meaning in Pan's Labyrinth
Explore how cinematography and mise-en-scene creates meaning in Pan's Labyrinth
Sequence taken from clip four
We begin with a pan which then tracks to a mid shot of Carmel and Mercedes, we notice in the mise-en-scene that their clothing is heavily contrasted with each other, Mercedes in a brown and dark clothing to show her level in the patriarchy as a servant, this is then juxtaposed with Carmel who is wearing a light blue and beige robe, showing her relative wealth in this time of Spain, for a woman. Carmel is moved by Mercedes to create an over the shoulder mid shot of the couple and then we cut to a close up of Carmel's reaction, we see Vidal in the back and we infer that these people are strangers and Carmel has to be almost like a trophy wife, this is seen through her acting. We then cut to a close up of Vidal handing out the ration cards, cutting then to an over the shoulder shot of a man getting a card and says "I'm not sure it'll be enough." The camera pans and cuts back to the priest replying to the man saying "if people are careful, it should be plenty", "plenty" is ironic as in the mid shot of the priest we see in the mise-en-scene a colourful platter of foods and red wine. This is juxtaposed with the fact they are having a luscious dinner.
It then cuts to a close up of Mercedes when Vidal talks about supplying the rebels, allowing us to see her reaction as she is a part of the rebellion, it therefore foreshadows that reveal later on. We then cut again to a wide angle of the table, covered in luxurious foods. and the colour of the room suggests warmth, this is juxtaposed later on with the metallic blue of the outside world, this shows us that these people inside have all they need but outside this bubble of superiority you must fight for anything, especially in a post-civil war world. It then cuts to Ferrero's, the doctor, reaction as Vidal mentions an injured soldier. The camera goes from a mid shot of Ferrero to a close up. We cut back again to Vidal revealing the antibiotics at a close up him and them, Vidal being in focus and the antibiotics not. we then return to Ferrero to see his reaction of the reveal, showing his disbelief and shock, trying to disguise it. We cut to Ferrero's left, tracking his face looking at Mercedes from a point of view shot. This also forebodes their assistance to the rebellion. We cut back to the Priest and his line of dialogue "what happens to their bodies hardly matters to him", him referring to God. The actor shrugs here, nonchalantly, showing that the fascism of the Franco dictatorship obviously has a hold on the church, probably due to them being to scared to oppose him.
We then cut to a mid-long shot of the feast and showing Vidal and the fire glowing behind him, the rule of thirds of the guests on each line and Vidal in the middle shows his significance in the shot. We cut to a mid shot of Him, slowly panning towards him, the fire behind him flickering harsher and more every time a word is released from his mouth. We straight cut again to Ferrero, him being the only person in direct focus on Vidal's line "we're all here by choice." This may suggest that because the Doctor has to hide his assistance with the rebels he is disgusted with himself. Now we are with Mercedes and that warm glow has been lost in the working area, replaced by a softer version of the stove fire. We go from this warm glow with Mercedes into the blue hue of the outside, we see her with a lamp with the light illuminating dimly from the circular cuts in the lantern, this signifying the ever present theme of circles in the film, representing the circular narrative and how it foreshadows that Ofelia must be in this scene.
We finally spot her in a wide angle walking out from the woods, cold and her outfit muddied from her adventure, we see that her clothes represent Alice from Alice in Wonderland and this intertextual reference also links to the fact that she goes into a hole in a tree, similar to Alice. This idea shows Ofelia's imagination trying to "escape", literally and figuratively, from this Franco-occupied Spain. We then escape from this coldness back into the artificial warmth of the dinner party, Panning upwards from a woman's cutlery to her face at a close up, questioning Carmen about how she met Vidal. The fact that we see this food straight after seeing a dirty Ofelia may be trying to show us what she won't be getting due to this. We have an explanation of how they met and we see Vidal's coldness to his wife, and her ignorance of this until we then get a close up shot of Vidal shrugging off Carmel's hand and taking his wine, tracking it up to his mouth at an extreme close up as he drinks. Carmel takes half of the screen up in the foreground, her head bowed at Vidal, and Vidal in the background unfocused, carrying on eating, this obviously shows Vidal's coldness towards his wife and the fact that he really is only using her to carry his baby, this idea just reinforces how much of an image Vidal is for the patriarchal, fascist Franco nation .he resides in.
The fire has now nearly devoured Vidal now, An officer speaks about an anecdote about Vidal's father, about his broken pocket watch, Cutting to a mid shot of Vidal we see his annoyance and we cut back to the officer, seeing his now anxious behaviour, intimidated by the captain, reinforcing this idea of shutting your mouth and only seeing, not speaking. We now return to Ofelia, panning upwards from her dirty dress to see her mother's distraught reaction, we see in a mid-long shot that Ofelia is having a bath and her mother is in the wheelchair, her mother looking down upon her. this is shown again through the low and high angles used on the line "Sometimes I think you'll never learn to behave." she turns her back to Ofelia as she says "You mean the captain?" we track Ofelia backwards, smirking at her mother. Ofelia is not closing her mouth as the soldier did, her act of defiance in this time is an example of her strength may come from her fate to be the princess
It then cuts to a close up of Mercedes when Vidal talks about supplying the rebels, allowing us to see her reaction as she is a part of the rebellion, it therefore foreshadows that reveal later on. We then cut again to a wide angle of the table, covered in luxurious foods. and the colour of the room suggests warmth, this is juxtaposed later on with the metallic blue of the outside world, this shows us that these people inside have all they need but outside this bubble of superiority you must fight for anything, especially in a post-civil war world. It then cuts to Ferrero's, the doctor, reaction as Vidal mentions an injured soldier. The camera goes from a mid shot of Ferrero to a close up. We cut back again to Vidal revealing the antibiotics at a close up him and them, Vidal being in focus and the antibiotics not. we then return to Ferrero to see his reaction of the reveal, showing his disbelief and shock, trying to disguise it. We cut to Ferrero's left, tracking his face looking at Mercedes from a point of view shot. This also forebodes their assistance to the rebellion. We cut back to the Priest and his line of dialogue "what happens to their bodies hardly matters to him", him referring to God. The actor shrugs here, nonchalantly, showing that the fascism of the Franco dictatorship obviously has a hold on the church, probably due to them being to scared to oppose him.
We then cut to a mid-long shot of the feast and showing Vidal and the fire glowing behind him, the rule of thirds of the guests on each line and Vidal in the middle shows his significance in the shot. We cut to a mid shot of Him, slowly panning towards him, the fire behind him flickering harsher and more every time a word is released from his mouth. We straight cut again to Ferrero, him being the only person in direct focus on Vidal's line "we're all here by choice." This may suggest that because the Doctor has to hide his assistance with the rebels he is disgusted with himself. Now we are with Mercedes and that warm glow has been lost in the working area, replaced by a softer version of the stove fire. We go from this warm glow with Mercedes into the blue hue of the outside, we see her with a lamp with the light illuminating dimly from the circular cuts in the lantern, this signifying the ever present theme of circles in the film, representing the circular narrative and how it foreshadows that Ofelia must be in this scene.
We finally spot her in a wide angle walking out from the woods, cold and her outfit muddied from her adventure, we see that her clothes represent Alice from Alice in Wonderland and this intertextual reference also links to the fact that she goes into a hole in a tree, similar to Alice. This idea shows Ofelia's imagination trying to "escape", literally and figuratively, from this Franco-occupied Spain. We then escape from this coldness back into the artificial warmth of the dinner party, Panning upwards from a woman's cutlery to her face at a close up, questioning Carmen about how she met Vidal. The fact that we see this food straight after seeing a dirty Ofelia may be trying to show us what she won't be getting due to this. We have an explanation of how they met and we see Vidal's coldness to his wife, and her ignorance of this until we then get a close up shot of Vidal shrugging off Carmel's hand and taking his wine, tracking it up to his mouth at an extreme close up as he drinks. Carmel takes half of the screen up in the foreground, her head bowed at Vidal, and Vidal in the background unfocused, carrying on eating, this obviously shows Vidal's coldness towards his wife and the fact that he really is only using her to carry his baby, this idea just reinforces how much of an image Vidal is for the patriarchal, fascist Franco nation .he resides in.
The fire has now nearly devoured Vidal now, An officer speaks about an anecdote about Vidal's father, about his broken pocket watch, Cutting to a mid shot of Vidal we see his annoyance and we cut back to the officer, seeing his now anxious behaviour, intimidated by the captain, reinforcing this idea of shutting your mouth and only seeing, not speaking. We now return to Ofelia, panning upwards from her dirty dress to see her mother's distraught reaction, we see in a mid-long shot that Ofelia is having a bath and her mother is in the wheelchair, her mother looking down upon her. this is shown again through the low and high angles used on the line "Sometimes I think you'll never learn to behave." she turns her back to Ofelia as she says "You mean the captain?" we track Ofelia backwards, smirking at her mother. Ofelia is not closing her mouth as the soldier did, her act of defiance in this time is an example of her strength may come from her fate to be the princess
Word count: 1100 words.
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