Pans Labyrinth Final Draft

Pans Labyrinth     James Fawcett AS Film

How does the use of mise-en-scene create suspense in the ‘pale man’ sequence from the film Pan’s Labyrinth?

Overview
In the pale man scene the lighting is low key, this is a strange choice for a fantasy film like Pans labyrinth, the low key lighting makes the children’s fantasy film seem dark and uncomfortable, it takes on an almost horror aspect as this scene features many conventions of the horror genre.

The scene initialises with Ophelia entering a dining hall with a table full of red liquids and fruits, the color red is used a large amount in this scene it resembles danger this is a common horror convention. The pale man is then introduced into the shot as he sits dormant at the end of the dinner table, placed in front of him are two eyes, these eyes are red which could tell the audience that the pale man is a dangerous character and is not to be trusted.

In this scene Ophelia is wearing a green over coat, green is often linked with greed and sickness. This is reflected in her actions in this scene as she ends up eating fruit from the dining table.

As the scene progresses the camera pans across pictures on the walls of the dining hall, the pictures are of the pale man eating and killing young children. This confirms the audience’s suspicion on the pale man, it confirms that he is a malicious character and potentially dangerous. It also foreshadows what may happen to Ophelia later in the scene. The use of death and blood in the pictures is a convention of horror which again doesn't particularly match the genre of the fantasy war film. Also the pictures on the wall will un-nerve the audience and make them fear the pale man. As the camera pans these pictures on the wall there is non-diegetic sound of children crying, this also further foreshadows that the pale man is a danger to children and therefore a danger to Ophelia.

The shot then cuts to a close up of children’s shoes the camera tilts up showing the large amount of shoes that are there, the audience will then be even further foreshadowed of Ophelia’s danger whilst she remains near the pale man.

Further in the scene there is a over the shoulder shot of Ophelia looking at the lock boxes on the wall, the stone around the boxes is shaped as faces and the boxes are the mouths, after Ophelia is urged to unlock the boxes by the fairies she unlocks the box by sticking her hand in the stone mouth which is another part of the mise-en-scene that could foreshadow the pale man may try to eat her in later progression of the scene. There is a quick shot of the hour glass quickly ticking down in the other room that Ophelia walked through to get where she is now, the hourglass is quickly running out which would add tension and suspense to the scene which would leave the audience on edge. Ophelia then takes a sword from the lock box, as she does this there is a camera shot where the camera is viewing her from inside the box. This shot would make the viewer feel confined and claustrophobic from the view inside the small hole. There is then a long shot of the dining table compact with red fruits and drinks; the pale man is sitting at the end of the table still dormant. Unmoving. Ophelia then curiously approaches the table of mysterious foods. There is then a close up of her face showing her curiosity and greed the camera then pans towards the fruit. One of the fairies waves in front of her face urging her to stop what she’s doing and leave, this would make the audience curious to the danger that may be linking with the food on the large table. Ophelia then becomes out of focus and the pale man in focus this may be linking the fear with the food towards the pale man. The red fairy then further urges her to leave the food alone, the color of the fairy links to the danger in the scene and the danger Ophelia is placed in.

Ignoring their warnings Ophelia then takes some of the red fruit that is on the dining table, the color red used in this scene is also further linking danger towards Ophelia in this scene. This particular moment also references Alice In Wonderland as it links with Alice consuming things and bad things happen in result of this, for example when Alice drinks the water that says do not drink on the front and consequently she shrinks. As Ophelia eats the fruit the camera begins to zoom into the pale man, which would leave the audience waiting for a reaction to occur on his behalf. The camera shows his hands begin to move the music in this scene changes dramatically from what it was before with hard drum thudding sounds as he begins to come to life at the end of the table. When the pale mans hands begin to move there are high pitch screeching sounds that follow his movement. He then puts the red eyes into the sockets in his hands and places his hands up against his head so that his eyes are in the same place a normal humans would be, this is shown in a close up of his face which would add horror to the scene to intimidate and make the audience uncomfortable. The music highly changes, as it now is a lot more urgent and rapid in pace.

Ophelia at first is unaware of the monster behind her, in this shot you see Ophelia carelessly eating as the pale man slowly approaches her from behind in an over the shoulder shot. This would make the audience feel worried for Ophelia’s safety and wonder if she will notice him before its too late. The fairies then begin to swarm the pale man to stall him from getting to Ophelia.
She catches on and there is then an over the shoulder shot from the pale mans perspective in this shot Ophelia is looked at from a high angle making her seem very superior and weak in this scene, it makes the pale man seem intimidating and dangerous. The pale man then catches onto two of the fairies and eats them in front of Ophelia, blood then runs down the pale mans face which is a classic convention of the horror genre, realising the danger she is in she begins the run and the chase scene begins.

As the chase initializes we get a side view of Ophelia fleeing through the corridor which she came through, the walls in this corridor are stained red which is also another convention of the horror genre. As the pale man pursues her through the corridor the non-diegetic music increases in pace and urgency this fits a chase scene well because it gets the audience’s heart racing and leaves them anticipating what will happen next. As the pale man moves there is an almost crunching noise which could be used to unnerve the audience, he also makes a various amount of screeches and cries which are all high pitched similar to nails on a chalk board which would make the viewer very uncomfortable and on edge.

There is then a long shot of the corridor as Ophelia runs towards the open wall, as she is running towards it the hourglass is out of focus but you can still notice that the time is just about to run out, this leaves the audience guessing will she make it out? As she proceeds down the hallway the door closes shut locking her in with the pale man, this adds to the aspect of isolation that is placed within the film. This isolation is also made to unnerve and discomfort the audience these are all typical aspects of the horror genre.

As the door closes in the wall you hear the distant cries of the pale man getting ever closer to Ophelia, in hurry she reaches for chalk out of her pocket we see this through a close up of her blazer pocket. The chalk snaps on the dense rough texture of the wall we then see another close up of the broken off chalk that has fallen on the floor. There is then an over the shoulder long shot from Ophelia’s perspective of the hallway showing the pale man right at the end of the corridor, this would make viewers fear for her safety and question will she be able to get out in time or will the monster get her. There is a close up of the pale mans hand with his eye looking directly at Ophelia. There is then close ups of Ophelia’s face showing her fear and terror towards the monster that is chasing her. Then we are shown a close up of the pale mans feet moving faster as they approach Ophelia, the amount of closeups in this part of the scene is very high and is a good common convection of horror, in desperation Ophelia begins to open up a door on the ceiling to try and escape. To do this she stand on top of the frame of the chair we then see close ups of the legs of the chair rocking this makes the audience fear because the chair might fall sideways.
As Ophelia opens the hatch in the ceiling and begins to climb through the pale man is shown very close to her we see this through a over the shoulder shot from the pale mans perspective, but this time their positions are switched, Ophelia is looked at from a low angle which could signify her new power in this particular moment. As Ophelia climbs through the hatch in the ceiling the pale man gets ever closer making the audience think will he get her, or will she get out? Ophelia climbs through the hatch just in time and is then placed in a low key environment which may mean shes not out of danger yet.