Pan's Labyrinth
To what extent are techniques used effectively to integrate different storylines in a film you have studied.
Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guellermo Del Toro is set in Spain 1944. Captain Vidal, the leading commander at the Mill is fighting the resistance, who fight for a Spain where people in power do not rule over the people. Captain Vidal’s pregnant wife Carmen is introduced with her daughter Ofelia. Del Toro has built the movie by balancing the brutal storyline of Captain Vidal and the fantasy that consumes Ofelia’s. Lighting, symbolism and editing were used to integrate the storylines and the idea of choice, imagination and empathy which Del Toro said are “Urgent in the world today.”
The editing techniques used in Pan’s Labyrinth, …show more content…
Captain Vidal’s watch is a symbol used in almost every scene he is in. To Vidal the watch represents his father’s legacy, as a symbol in the film it is also used to magnify Vidal’s characteristics. He is often seen checking, cleaning and synchronizing his watch, this exposes his obsession with detail, which like the paleman we realize his inability to see the big picture. This again offers a link between storylines as the fairytale characters mirror the ‘real’ characters. An important symbol used in the presence of Ofelia is the Labyrinth. The circular shape of the Labyrinth is used in many scenes, such as the window in the bathroom where Ofelia bathes and the frame of the mother, Carmen’s bed. Circles represent a purposeful path and in this film are used to symbolize Ofelia’s journey to the centre of the Labyrinth, were she will be reborn as an immortal. Introducing the circular pattern more and more as the movie progressed made the fantasy elements become more accepted by the viewer as reality. Keys and knives are symbols that were used intentionally to link Ofelia and Vidal. Ofelia’s task to retrieve the knife behind the door in the underworld mirrors Vidal’s key to the shed of supplies. Ofelia’s disobedience when opening the ‘wrong’ door mirrors Mercedes stealing the keys to the shed to give to the resistance. The knife that Ofelia retrieves from the locked door is later
Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guellermo Del Toro is set in Spain 1944. Captain Vidal, the leading commander at the Mill is fighting the resistance, who fight for a Spain where people in power do not rule over the people. Captain Vidal’s pregnant wife Carmen is introduced with her daughter Ofelia. Del Toro has built the movie by balancing the brutal storyline of Captain Vidal and the fantasy that consumes Ofelia’s. Lighting, symbolism and editing were used to integrate the storylines and the idea of choice, imagination and empathy which Del Toro said are “Urgent in the world today.”
The editing techniques used in Pan’s Labyrinth, …show more content…
Captain Vidal’s watch is a symbol used in almost every scene he is in. To Vidal the watch represents his father’s legacy, as a symbol in the film it is also used to magnify Vidal’s characteristics. He is often seen checking, cleaning and synchronizing his watch, this exposes his obsession with detail, which like the paleman we realize his inability to see the big picture. This again offers a link between storylines as the fairytale characters mirror the ‘real’ characters. An important symbol used in the presence of Ofelia is the Labyrinth. The circular shape of the Labyrinth is used in many scenes, such as the window in the bathroom where Ofelia bathes and the frame of the mother, Carmen’s bed. Circles represent a purposeful path and in this film are used to symbolize Ofelia’s journey to the centre of the Labyrinth, were she will be reborn as an immortal. Introducing the circular pattern more and more as the movie progressed made the fantasy elements become more accepted by the viewer as reality. Keys and knives are symbols that were used intentionally to link Ofelia and Vidal. Ofelia’s task to retrieve the knife behind the door in the underworld mirrors Vidal’s key to the shed of supplies. Ofelia’s disobedience when opening the ‘wrong’ door mirrors Mercedes stealing the keys to the shed to give to the resistance. The knife that Ofelia retrieves from the locked door is later