PAN'S LABYRINTH CINEMATOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE STRATEGIES

The film is about a young girl named Ofelia whose passion for fairy tale causes her to see one during her trip to the forest that is not quit. She goes to her sadist stepfather with her pregnant sickly mother. While in there Ofelia creates an imaginary/fairy tale world of her own to escape from the real-world cruelty. She has to complete three tasks in order to obtain immortality. Lighting There are two types of lighting used in the film, one is used a little bit to bring out the storyline while the other is used throughput to make the film more dramatic. The prop is used to propel the narrative forward. The girl’s dress resembles “Alice in Wonderland” except for the green color which symbolizes growth and fertility connected to the fallopian tube.

The green also denotes lack of experience which is reflected when Ofelia’s is given her first task when entering the unknown as a novice (Dancyger 89). The editing brings about fantasy anticipates reality due to the juxtaposition and cross cutting of shot the editing brings about fantasy anticipates reality due to the juxtaposition and cross cutting of shots between finding the toad and the guerillas. The toads are found first and the guerrillas later bring about how fantasy is overshadowing reality. Was used when Ofelia asks Mercedes if she knows any lullaby to sooth her, she was replied ‘Only but I don’t remember the words' (Carmela and Haguenauer 66). Cinematography The cinematography used in the film is consistently moving, thus capturing the viewer’s attention.

It has the height of Ofelia’s eye line emphasizing her role as protagonist. Natural light is used in most scenes example in the tree cast shadows among the floor highlighting the light rays coming through, which place emphasis on the magical pollen. The ideology of the magical pollen has been incorporated by carefully placing of the camera. Sequence camera movement was used to introduce the audience to the main character Ofelia whereby it rotates anticlockwise and zooms into her face and further into her eyes then the back story begins. When Ofelia first meets the fairy and her mother takes her back n to the car we see the camera pan across to the left of a tree on the road side, the fairy around the trunk to see the car drive past, and once the last car has passed the fairy flies off and the camera follows this gives the viewers the sensation of watching, Ofelia, just like the fairy tale, supporting the idea that this creature is in fact watching her and is an important element in the story (Carmela and Haguenauer 61).