Setting and Props
The labyrinth, mysterious and spooky at night, yet the death
of a hero (Ofelia), gives the maze a dark and cold mood. Though it becomes a
bright and warm mood as we reach the kingdom Ofelia dreamed of. Ofelia’s blood
helped her achieve the goal of becoming a princess. The thrones are high in the
air, and she is asked to sit with them and rule at their side, almost like the
white light some would see above them before they move on.
Costumes, Hair, and
Make-up
Ofelia and Mercedes are both dressed as what women would
have worn during the Spanish Civil War showing the authenticity of the time
period in Spain. The gunshot wound on Ofelia keeps dripping her ‘blood’ into
the portal and keeps doing so until she passes on. When she drifts into her
fantasy world she is no longer dirty, wounded, or covered in blood, but dressed
in attire with red, yellow, and a light brown colors. The king and queen are
also dressed in similar fashion of autumn colors.
Facial Expressions and Body Language
As we enter the scene we find Mercedes, terrified and unhappy
that Ofelia was wounded and Mercedes may have been too late. She kneels towards
the body and holds her hand to give Ofelia a little bit of comfort. Ofelia
carries a blank look on her face as she stares at nothing, while her other arm
reaches into the portal and drips her blood to the supposed portal. As we reach
the throne room we find her surprised that she still got to go to the kingdom.
As the faun appears, we see he is still loyal to the royal family as he bows in
respect of the princess, and answers the last task was a trick, as the king and
queen give off signals to come and join them on her own throne. As she drifts in and out of the fantasy world,
her blank look becomes a small smile as she has ‘found’ what she was looking
for and dies with that smile on her face, leaving Mercedes devastated that she
could not help save one last person.
Lighting and Color
The labyrinth lighting was supposed to take place in the
middle of the night, with only the light of the moon and the stars to see the
characters. This also applies to the dark and depressing mood of the story as
the visible color were dark colors and the light from the moon made everyone appear
to be pale as ghosts. As the bright light enveloped Ofelia, the mood was
suddenly changed to a warm and happy mood. The dark colors became a golden yellow and other autumn colors as Ofelia entered her kingdom. The change in lighting and color affects the mood of the viewer, even though it's just a film, you can't help but feel sorry for someone who died so young and believed there was magic in the world.
Positioning of
Characters/ Objects within the Frame
As we enter the labyrinth we see a medium shot of Mercedes
as it moves out towards a long shot and we see Ofelia’s body. Mercedes is
kneeling besides her and holding her hand and trying to keep her alive until
help arrives. The camera closes in on her and then her hand, dripping with
blood. The camera then gets a mixture of a high angle shot and point of view
shot as the blood drips into the ‘portal’. As we move on to the next scene,
where we find a medium shot of Ofelia, and then slowly becomes a long shot as
we see her transformed into the princess. Ofelia meets her true family as the
camera gives low angle shots of her and her parents that give the look of ‘high
authority’ as they ask her to join them on the tall thrones. It’s as if when
she was close to dying she looked up to see a light and was beckoned towards it.
Then we find Mercedes still kneeling besides Ofelia, as she goes limp, and the
camera backs up to a high angle shot, signifying the end of Ofelia’s journey.
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