Cinematography and lighting in Pan's Labyrinth

Principal elements
1. Camera shots
  1. 1. medium close up showing Ofelia lying down with a canted angle showing that the film may not be as straight forward as it may seem
    2. Blue tone to the picture showing that she is in the real world suggesting that she may be really dead eventhough this is in the opening sequence which is foreshadowing what will happen later in the film
    3. Her hand is closer to the camera making the audience focus on it more and creating a theme of death as soon as the film starts
    4. Her facial expressions are clear and shows the audience that she is in pain and suffered when she died
  2. 1. Medium shot of the pale man when he shows his eyes to Ofelia and tries to intimidate her
    2. Focus is on his face, hands and eyes showing the audience that he is a creature and isnt normal and is meant to be feared by the characters
    3. golden colour scheme in this scene to show greed and his hands are red connoting death and danger
    4. Yellow tone to the scene to show that Ofelia is in the fantasy world
  3. 1. lighting focusing on Ofelia's face and her facial expression
    2. medium shot showing Ofelia and the faun
    3. dark lighting showing that its at night and tha'ts when the mythical creatures appear
2. Focus
  1. Lighting helps the audience focus on different characters in the film
  2. Some characters such as Ofelia has constantly good lighting on her face to show the audience how she is feeling and what she thinks of characters
3. Composition
  1. The opening shot could be argued that it contains the whole film in as it not only begins with the end but the movement of the shot takes the audience from underground to the light of day
Conveying messages and values
1. The cinematography creates a particular view on different aspects in the film
  1. For example, the camera looks at the world in Ofelia's perspective for example there was an over the shoulder shot where the camera tilts up when looking at Vidal to show that she is smaller than him and to him less significant
  2. The camera is always eye level to Ofelia showing that she is the protangonist within the film and so the audience will support her and like her
Creative use of cinematography
1. Cinematography is used to highlight certain aspects and show the separation between the good characters and the bad and the real and the fantasy world

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Cinematography and lighting in Pan's Labyrinth

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	Created by megan stevens almost 9 years ago