With reference to ‘Pans’s Lanbyrinth, explore how cinematography makes meaning

In the ending of del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, the cinematography makes meaning through the lighting. Specifically, through the contrast of the low-key blue lighting and the yellow flood of lighting that takes Ofelia to the fantasy world which has high key lighting. The colour blue has connotations of coldness and is often associated with Vidal, and therefore fascism. For example, during the ending sequence there is a long shot of Vidal and his men coming around the corner in where there is blue lighting. The connotations of coldness and the link to fascism emphasises to the audience the negative effects that the Spanish Civil War had (which the film was set shortly after), especially on children who are represented by Ofelia. The theme of how war effects children is a common theme in del Toro’s films, it is also explored in ‘The Devils Backbone’ which del Toro calls the sister film to Pan’s Labyrinth.

The ending sequence shows the collisions of the real and the fantasy world through the coloured lighting. During the long shot of Vidal walking into the labyrinth to follow Ofelia, the sky is filled with both blue (real world) and golden yellow, which normally is associated with the fantasy world such as when in the middle sequence Ofelia opened the magical book given to her by the faun and a golden lighting lit up her face. The visual representation of the collision of the two worlds makes the audience feel tense and nervous for the characters that they love like Ofelia and Mercedes, as the cross over of the worlds must mean something big will happen. In this case, it was Ofelia refusing to cut her brother with the sharp dagger she received in the second task, meaning she unknowingly had done what the faun wanted her to do. But this meant that Vidal, while there was low key and blue lighting, shot her, causing her to die and spell her own innocent blood, completing the third task. Also, Vidal shot her in what appears like the gut/womb area, which links to the bildungsroman genre, as it’s showing how Ofelia’s growth into a woman has been stopped in death. In this moment the tension that has been built through the cinematography, such as the close up of Vidal grabbing his gun, fades away and the audience are left with sadness. The death of Ofelia links back to the Spanish civil war, because her death is permanent and will last forever, just like the effects that the Spanish civil war had didn’t all end in 1939 immediately.

The flood of high key golden yellow lighting takes Ofelia into the fantasy world. This world has high key lighting and is filled with golden yellow and red mise en scene, for example Ofelia’s outfit, just like the rest of the fantasy world. These colours give a connotation of warmth, making the audience feel as though Ofelia is now safe. However, some audience members might interpret that this was just a dream, a lost hope that the child had before dying as after we see Ofelia in this very happy scene there is a close up of her still alive but breathing, suggesting she has dreamt it all because she is not yet dead and so couldn’t have passed into the fantasy world.

The yellow lighting is also used on Mercedes when she is looking for Ofelia, and the camera pans around to show the chalk drawn on the wall. The yellow lighting is linked to the fantasy world, and so it being associated with Mercedes suggests that she is worthy of the magic and imagination that it holds, as does her ability to see the chalk that Ofelia previously drew. The shot of the chalk and the close up of the flower with high key lighting may to some audience members prove that the fantasy world wasn’t a fantasy and actually real, as the magical elements (chalk and flower) can actually be seen in the real world, this opinion is emphasised by the voice over that explains how people can see the fantasy world if they know what to look. This links back into the fairy-tale genre and story that was started at the beginning of the move, as the film starts and ends with this fairy-tale voice over, it makes the film bookended by it, making it one of the main themes and genres of the movie.