Pan’s Labyrinth: Sound

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

The film starts out with narration from an unseen man who is telling us a story. This sets up one of the films major themes of fairytales and fantasy. The fact that we don’t ever see this man or know who he is suggests to us that he is some kind of all-knowing being. This makes us understand that the film that we are about to watch has unreal/ fantasy elements to it.

There is also a non-diegetic composed score during this scene as well. This score sounds quite melancholic and moody, suggesting that the world of the film has bad things within it and that the film isn’t going to be happy all throughout. This contrast between the fairytale-like story we’re being told and the score tells us early on that this film is going against the typical traditions of what a fairytale is.

Music is used later in the opening as well. Ofelia walks off to explore the woods a little bit while the car has been stopped. She finds a stone on the ground which looks mythical on its own. As soon as the stone is shown, a very light piano comes in to punctuate the moment and to emphasise that this stone has a greater purpose/ meaning. When a statue is revealed moments later, a violin comes in. The violin in the score sounds much more ominous than the piano. This makes us feel uneasy to start with as we don’t know what is going to happen. The scene goes completely silent after Ofelia places the stone in the statue to build up tension. There is then a quick and loud sound of an insect type creature coming out of the statue to make us jump along with Ofelia. This puts us into the scene and makes us feel more immersed within the world and its story.

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

A non-diegetic score comes in as Ofelia starts to tell a story, and this score bridges into the sequence. The score here sounds melancholic and similar the the music during the opening of the film. This creates a link to the opening as it is the same format of narration, melancholic score, and the visuals to accompany what’s being told. Ofelia’s narration is also somewhat exaggerated to further sound like the narration at the start of the film. During the story being told, there are also the diegetic sounds of the wind, insects and a heartbeat which all adds to the score and the grandeur of the story. This makes us feel more immersed in the world that Ofelia is presenting in her story.

As the sequence moves location to focus on the Captain, the score changes to accompany his presence. The score now sounds much more sinister with much lower notes than before. The score also rises in the mix to make it feel somewhat overpowering, which mimics how the Captain is the most powerful person in the whole film. This score fades, however, as soon as the Doctor shows us. This is done so that we can follow the conversation between the two characters but it could also be because the Doctor is a good character in the film, and so the almost evil sounding score is removed as the characters on screen are no longer all bad people.

The scene ends with the Captain brutally beating a man to death with a bottle. Before this happens, it is established that the bottle has some weight to it as the sounds given to it has a low/ heavy tone to it. When the bottle hits his face, we already understand how painful it must be for the man as we have an idea of what the bottle could be capable of. The actual sound of the man being beaten has layers to it such as wetness, meaty, and sloppy sounds which all add to make us feel uncomfortable and repulsed throughout this moment.

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

This scene has a diegetic score added onto it which is meant to be coming from the Captain’s record player. This music sounds happy and energetic which contrasts the Captain himself, making it seem like he himself is happy within his own world but as outsiders we see him as being sinister. The music is also reminiscent of the time period and sounds almost patriotic, linking to the Captain’s ideals of what the military believe in. The music here does bridge between cuts, so in a way it is non-diegetic.

The sound of the razor itself makes it seem very sharp and dangerous, emphasising how the Captain himself is dangerous.

The music is made quieter to move focus onto the conversation between the Captain and Mercedes. However, this could also be done to emphasise Mercedes’ presence as a good person in the scene. Furthermore, as the conversation progresses to be more and more intimidating, the music goes even lower in the mix to create even more tension throughout the sequence. Mercedes also has a quieter voice than the Captain when she is around him. This makes the Captain seem more powerful than her and gives off the impression that she is somewhat frightened of him. This is suggested later in the sequence when Mercedes moves to the kitchen and she is talking much louder than she was before, suggesting that she feels much more comfortable when not around the Captain.

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

This sequence starts out with a non-diegetic composed score which sounds regimented and intense when we are following the army. Plus, we get the diegetic sounds of the horses running high in the mix as well which creates a sense of urgency when we are following the army. However, whenever we switch over to Ofelia, the score changes to a more smooth and adventurous sound to better fit with Ofelia’s perspective of the world. Moreover, when we are with Ofelia the diegetic sounds that we can hear are of the nature surrounding her. This tells us that Ofelia is more focused on the nature/ environment instead of what is happening with the army and the Captain.

The sounds of the film change once Ofelia enters the fig tree. The non-diegetic score changes to a much darker tone to make the setting seem more mysterious and scary. This is emphasised by the diegetic sounds of Ofelia’s heavy breathing to show that she herself is frightened during the sequence. Once Ofelia gets further in the tree, the score cuts out completely to make us feel more immersed in what’s happening. We also get the diegetic sounds of wind to tell us how deep into the tree Ofelia has gone, emphasising that Ofelia is in an unknown and mysterious place away from everyone else in the film.

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

At the start of this sequence we get the diegetic sounds of the book which Ofelia is reading. We can actually hear the sounds of writing as the book reveals what’s on the page. This tells us that we are about to enter the magical world and leave the real world behind. It is done again as the sound of the wall turning into a door makes it sound like something magical is happening, setting us up for the rest of the scene.

The Pale Man has various sounds added to him which make him even more unsettling to watch. The first sound he makes happens when he wakes up and there is a stab sound when he first moves his fingers. This makes us jump and it emphasises that the Pale Man is going to be a major threat to Ofelia. Throughout the rest of the scene he makes wheezing noises to make the audience jump as well as feel repulsed and uncomfortable during his presence. As he puts his eyes into his hands, there is also a squelchy sound which also adds to the scene being uncomfortable.