Pan’s Labyrinth: Editing

Opening Sequence (00:00:00- 00:05:52)

The opening shot of the film is played in reverse, which tells us that we are going to go back to the start and that we are going to see this happen again at the end of the film. There is a transition into the next shot as the camera goes into Ofelia’s eye. This could indicate that the story that is about to be told is all in Ofelia’s head and that the story isn’t actually real. The sequence that happens in the underworld is all one shot, which lets us focus on the story that’s being told as we don’t need to see that much of this place since we never go back to it (with the exception being the final moments of the film). This sequence ends with a fade to white (iris shot) which could represent the girl in the story going blind as our view of the film is literally blinded for a brief moment.

First Bedtime Sequence (00:11:14- 00:17:52)

This sequence starts out with a slow pace due to very few edits when we are with Ofelia and Carmen. This creates a sense of calmness and security as they is no conflict in the scene. When Ofelia tells her story, there is a CG visual sequence that accompanies it which is edited to look like one single shot.

There is a cross fade to the Captain which tells us that what we’re about to watch is happening at the same time as when we were focused on Ofelia and Carmen. A glance/ object edit is used to tell us that the Captain is focus on cleaning his watch, which shows us that the Captain cares for the watch. The rest of the scene uses simple continuity edits to show what’s happening with some shot/ reverse shot with the Captain and the Doctor. The number of edits decreases when the scene moves outside to create a slower pace as it builds up to the Captain killing these two men. The number of edits then rapidly increases once the violence begins to enforce that what’s happening is brutal.

Shaving Sequence (00:24:36- 00:26:13)

The length of shots as the Captain is shaving are fairly long which shows how leisurely the Captain is as he shaves to tell us that he’s comfortable while on his own and cares about his appearance. During this sequence, there are a couple of hidden edits which move us to somewhere else in the room but in a more natural way than if there were to be simple hard cuts across the room.

The scene has shot/ reverse shot edits of the Captain and Mercedes in which the length of shots is unusually long. This makes the scene have more tension as we are made uncomfortable by the distinct change of pace. Plus, as the conversation becomes more sinister, the pace of the edits get slower and slower to focus on the tension.

Fig Tree Sequence (00:30:50- 00:38:18)

There are hidden edits throughout this scene as the camera flows past trees. These edits are parallel to show us that what’s happening with Ofelia and the the troops is happening at the same time. These edits also make it so that the sequence has a more consistent flow where we’re not suddenly in a separate location as that would be disorientating. Furthermore, the hidden edits serve as contrasts between the two separate worlds shown in the sequence.

While Ofelia is in the tree, the film uses simple continuity editing to make her trial easier to follow along to. This gives off the impression that this is meant to be more reminiscent to traditional fairytale storytelling. Ofelia interacts with the monster by having a one-sided conversation with it. This conversation of sorts is still edited with shot/ reverse shot as if the monster was actually responding to Ofelia. This has an effect to make the scene still feel natural even if the monster isn’t really responding.

Pale Man Sequence (00:55:21- 01:02:19)

The frequency of edits starts off slow so that we are able to take in the scenery of the new location that we are now in. There is a dissolve edit so that we are seeing more of the corridor that Ofelia is in but in a way that’s faster than if it were all one shot up to that point, but it’s not a jarring edit. There is a cut to the hourglass which reminds us that Ofelia is on a time limit, this creates some tension as we know there is the danger of Ofelia running out of time. Plus, this sets up for when Ofelia almost doesn’t make it back at the end of the scene and we see the hourglass again.

There are infrequent edits when the Pale Man wakes up so that we are forced to watch him, which makes us feel uncomfortable. This happens again when he walks towards Ofelia and she does’t notice him at first. We get reaction shots of Ofelia as the Pale Man gets close to her to show that she is now frightened, also establishing to us that the Pale Man poses as a very dangerous threat to Ofelia. This happens again as we are forced to watch the Pale Man eat the fairies to make us even more terrified of the Pale Man. There is also parallel editing between Ofelia, the Pale Man and the hourglass as Ofelia tries to escape to tell us that it’s all happening at the same time.