Pans Labyrinth:
Part 1:
Guillermo Del Toro: Guillermo Del Toro is a Spanish film director and is easily one of the most influential indie and mainstream directors of the past couple of years, while not necessarily a house hold name he's garnered quite the cult following with films like Hellboy, Pans Labyrinth, which gained him most notoriety, Pacific Rim and his debut, Cronos, 1993. While being a predominantly film director Guillermo has delved into tv before, most recently with 'The Strain' 2014. Although being known for his hits he's also well known for his projects that never got off the ground: Meg 2006, an adaptation of Steve Altens 1997 novel about the prehistoric shark Megalodon. The project was being directed by Jan De Bont and produced by our very own GDT, the film was being headed up at New Line but never made it past pre production because of budgetery issues. Del Toro was also in line to direct the Hobbit trilogy before Peter Jackson but had to step down due to a clash with Pacific Rim, our main man was also due to helm the adaptation of H.P Lovecrafts 'At The Mountains Of Madness' starring everybody's favourite Scientologist Tom Cruise.
Guillermo Del Toro: Guillermo Del Toro is a Spanish film director and is easily one of the most influential indie and mainstream directors of the past couple of years, while not necessarily a house hold name he's garnered quite the cult following with films like Hellboy, Pans Labyrinth, which gained him most notoriety, Pacific Rim and his debut, Cronos, 1993. While being a predominantly film director Guillermo has delved into tv before, most recently with 'The Strain' 2014. Although being known for his hits he's also well known for his projects that never got off the ground: Meg 2006, an adaptation of Steve Altens 1997 novel about the prehistoric shark Megalodon. The project was being directed by Jan De Bont and produced by our very own GDT, the film was being headed up at New Line but never made it past pre production because of budgetery issues. Del Toro was also in line to direct the Hobbit trilogy before Peter Jackson but had to step down due to a clash with Pacific Rim, our main man was also due to helm the adaptation of H.P Lovecrafts 'At The Mountains Of Madness' starring everybody's favourite Scientologist Tom Cruise.
Fascism And The Spanish Civil War: The Spanish Civil War was waged between 1936 and 1939 between the republicans who were loyal to the democratic party and the Nationalists, a Falangist group. It was a fight between Democracy and fascism. In the end the Nationalists won and their general Francisco Franco ran Spain for the next 36 years until his death in November 1975. The war was caused by a group of generals from the Spanish Republican Armed Forces railing against the elected leftist democratic government of the Second Spanish Republic.
Francesco Goya: Francesco Goya was born on the 30th of March 1746 and died on the 16th of April 1828. He was a Spanish artist specialising in painting and printmaking. He studied painting from the ripe old age of 14, in his later life he contracted a severe, undiagnosed illness which left him deaf. After this event in 1793 his work became progressively more melancholy and cynical. His later paintings, prints and drawings reflect a gloomy perspective on personal, social and political levels.
Pan: "In Greek religion and mythology, Pan (/ˈpæn/; Ancient Greek: Πάν,Pan) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds and rustic music, and companion of the nymphs."-Google.
Part 2:
Characters:
Ofelia: Acts as our eyes and ears, is a curious and strong willed character.
Mercedes: Is a luxury sports car but also a weary and wise maternal character.
Carmen: Is a resilient yet lonely character that lets other people push her over but cares deeply about her daughter.
Faun: The Faun is an ambiguous character who could be sneaky and manipulative or may be caring and paternal.
El Capitan: Is a fascist and brutal man who facades his anger in a vale of placidness.
Characters:
Ofelia: Acts as our eyes and ears, is a curious and strong willed character.
Mercedes: Is a luxury sports car but also a weary and wise maternal character.
Carmen: Is a resilient yet lonely character that lets other people push her over but cares deeply about her daughter.
Faun: The Faun is an ambiguous character who could be sneaky and manipulative or may be caring and paternal.
El Capitan: Is a fascist and brutal man who facades his anger in a vale of placidness.
Part 3:
Character Motivations/Decisions: Carmen was seemingly down on her luck, lonely and desperate for a companion, not only for validation but stability and other things;). She just happened to end up with El Capitano and whether she was being selfish or not ended up in her current predicament.
Le doctor: Had a choice to either stay under cover, survive and patch up the guy, or he could do what he thought was right and uethanise the guy but get himself killed in the process. In the end he realised the Captain was onto him and that he had limited time, so he made the decision he thought was right.
Ofelia: Her decision was to either sacrifice her baby brother and take her 'throne' or keep him from harm and return to her harsh reality. She chose to do the right thing and ended up sacrificing herself in an act of bravery to save her baby brother, which turned out well because that was the decision the faun wanted her to make. She returned to her kingdom safe and sound.
Le doctor: Had a choice to either stay under cover, survive and patch up the guy, or he could do what he thought was right and uethanise the guy but get himself killed in the process. In the end he realised the Captain was onto him and that he had limited time, so he made the decision he thought was right.
Ofelia: Her decision was to either sacrifice her baby brother and take her 'throne' or keep him from harm and return to her harsh reality. She chose to do the right thing and ended up sacrificing herself in an act of bravery to save her baby brother, which turned out well because that was the decision the faun wanted her to make. She returned to her kingdom safe and sound.
Part 4:
Fairy Tales: The story or fairytale of the film goes something like this: Along time ago in a galaxy far far away Ofelia aka Princess Moana runs from her home in the underworld and enters the human realm, she forgets who she is and goes about human life, While the king knows she will one day return. After three trials set by the Faun the Princess decides to not complete the third and final trial, inadvertently getting herself shot, little did she know the final trial was a test and to go against it meant fulfilling her destiny, she then returns to the kingdom of the underworld and to our knowledge lives happily ever after.
Part 5:
The Films Primary Colour Pallet :
Blue: Trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. For me personally blue conjures up feelings of etherealness, solitude, vastness, safety and loneliness.
Green: Renewal, nature, and energy, is also associated with meanings of growth, harmony, freshness, safety, fertility, and environment. Green is also associated with money, finances, banking, sickness, ambition, greed and jealousy. For me green makes me think of vitality and health or depending on the green, sickness.
Gold: Richness, luxury, wealth and power.
Colour Use: In scenes containing horrific or magical aspects the colours green and gold are used to evoke feelings of sickness or grandeur and wealth. The colour Blue is almost exclusively used to represent the military and powers of authority in the film, all military uniforms are blue, the mill house lighting is blue and the night time scenes are blue. Possibly symbolising the power of the night. Military scenes outside also have a blue hue to them.
Blue: Trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. For me personally blue conjures up feelings of etherealness, solitude, vastness, safety and loneliness.
Green: Renewal, nature, and energy, is also associated with meanings of growth, harmony, freshness, safety, fertility, and environment. Green is also associated with money, finances, banking, sickness, ambition, greed and jealousy. For me green makes me think of vitality and health or depending on the green, sickness.
Gold: Richness, luxury, wealth and power.
Colour Use: In scenes containing horrific or magical aspects the colours green and gold are used to evoke feelings of sickness or grandeur and wealth. The colour Blue is almost exclusively used to represent the military and powers of authority in the film, all military uniforms are blue, the mill house lighting is blue and the night time scenes are blue. Possibly symbolising the power of the night. Military scenes outside also have a blue hue to them.