For a project in class we had to analysis a scene from a movie and break it down in its technical terms - Guillermo del Toro is a brilliant film maker and pays valued attention to detail, therefore, I chose to analysis Pan's Labyrinth - an Oscar-winning masterpiece. Throughout this scene there is a strong hellish theme, fire, red, diabolical creatures, Pan's Labyrinth "Child-Eater" Scene
The girl is looking upwards - this has a type of 'Alice In Wonderland' feel of overwhelming and uncertainty that the audience can relate to.
The room is lit with a fire and candlelight - this is the only visible source of light and symbolises hell and the hellish creature sitting at the head of the table in a dormant manner. There are no soft materials in the room - everything is cold stone and brass, harsh materials that do not show comfort to the girls' intrusion.
A feast of warm coloured food (browns, oranges, reds and golds) is on the table (the box which the girl needs to open is shown subtlety behind her) the feast looks otherworldly with goblets and chalices and large lavish platters. Dark and very little lighting is used to represent the sense of confusion but stillness of this table.
This is where we meet the monster. A dormant and terrifyingly ugly creature - he does not jump or make a sudden movement as the audience expects which is what makes him just so terrifying. He is also missing eyes and does not look human. The girl seems calmed by the fact that he doesn't move and the audience is consoled by this too.
The girl finds his eyes (however, in this shot it is now clear that he has no eye sockets). The hellish fire is ever prevalent and roars mockingly in the background diegetic music.
The camera cuts away to the ceiling where there are Grimm-type fairytale depictions of a child-eating monster (this monster) and shows what happens to children if they do 'something' to awaken the monster and his wrath (which we soon find out). The story pictures are shown in hellish colours and are gruesome for any wall mural.
The girl finds a pile of shoes - children's shoes - and cleverly within the same shot is the girl, the diabolical fire and the hellish creature. This is foreshadowing what almost happens to the girl. All the children are eaten by the monster and only their shoes remain. The warm light from the fire is taunting and becomes very haunting.
A simple but effective shot linking the fire, the girl and the monster and its feast all within one shot.
The girl has arrived with a task - to open one of these three boxes and retrieve a trinket that she needs for later - this is a distraction from the monster and the audience losses concentration on the location of the monster.
This short cut to the hourglass drenched in blue light (showing a different location [safety]) gives the audience a sense of urgency for the girl to get out and be quick about it.
The girl has chosen wisely and retrieved what she came here for.
The feast now represents temptation and the creature is its guardian. The girl came here for what she needed but the feast is what she wants. This part of the story plays with need and want and the monster is the wrathful avenger of greedy children.
The girl stops in her tracks - the monster leaning practically over her shoulder totally unmoved - she looks towards the feast and marvels at it. Need is fulfilled but now she is wanting.
Here we see the fine detail of the feast - the juicy and ripe fruits which are tempting to both the audience and the girl.
This is an over the shoulder shot which suggests two things: choice and temptation. The girl is checking to see if the monster has moved or awakened - just as the audience would - and then choses to take a piece of fruit because, to her, there seems to be no danger. In this shot the fire and the hellish monster are coupled together in relation to the girl - the fire is in between them and foreshadows the consequences yet to come.
Close up on the juicy and shining fruit, bulging freshly, it is tempting. And the girl gives in plucking off a piece of fruit that seems so small and insignificant but enough to awaken the monster.
The girl eats the fruit, close up on the satasfactory look on her face, the fire is out of focus behind her.
