I was quite lost on monday afternoon, searching for my film for the latest Art of Film Journal requirement. My first idea had been to see Raiders of the Lost Ark, however, I remembered Mr. Klob mentioning in class the most important requirement for our two outside of class Film reviews, 1 has to be before 1960 or a foreign film. Thank goodness I remembered that, my first film had been Star Wars Episode V, and I was on track to have to re-do the whole assignment over MEA. However, searching through my tv’s on demand system, I noticed a film that was causing quite a stir in our class. Pan’s Labyrinth (Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro), was the film that I chose to satisfy the “foreign film” requirement for our outside of class film review journal.
Taken from the commentary track from Doug Jones from the website, http://www.panslabyrith.com/gallery.html , he speaks about the character of The Faun and how he was created, not using CGI or other computer animation programs and sequences, however with on the set construction and production.
“The clay sculpture, becomes a negative impression, then upon placing becomes a positive impression glued to me. This kind of work took days, meticulous artistry and absolute precise measure was needed to create this kind of a character.”
This shows us how hard it was being able to create such a realistic impression of The Faun that could be used in the movie. This add’s to every scene he is in, creating these film sets, such as his Labyrinth and Ofeilia’s room, to just be encompassed and focused on him and his character. Doug Jones also played the role of the Pale Man that chased Ofeilia down the long corridor under her room. She had taken from his feast of food that was never supposed to be touched, awakening the beast from his slumber. Jones makes several comments on the construction of the Pale Man as well, tying it into the creation of the set as well, showing us how real these sets are, creating the most lifelike image possible.
“This design was done with silicone pieces, different then latex foam rubber, making it have more lifelike movement…The process took over 5 hours to apply for filming, with all of the special pieces in order on me.”
This shows the commitment of the actors as well to creating such a realistic fantasy for us to see.
Doug Jones has mentioned the art and design crew of DDT worked long and arduous hours creating the characters that we see. They cumulatively worked on the creation of many of the key settings that we see in the film. These settings include inside the labyrinth, the pale man’s location, the ending scene of Ofeilia’s mother and father on their thrones, and many more. The “about the filming” section of the website includes a detailed description of how the filming process went down, shedding some light onto their decision of settings and locations.
“Hic collaboration with his longtime director of photography Guillermo Navarro and production designer Eugenio Caballero moved swiftly. Recalls del Toro, ‘We were popping out set designs in one or two days. It was very intricate work: puppetry, traditional prosthetics, CGI, etc., but executed in a context that was totally unexpected.”
Guillermo then goes onto describe the music score from the film and how it was crafted to fit the characters and scenes as well.
“…and entrusted the sound design to Martin Hernandez, who has worked on all of Inarritu’s films as well as City of
I think Pan’s Labyrinth or El Laberinto del Fauno was a phenomenal movie through its addictive storytelling and luscious environments; it’s easy to see how Ofeilia can get lost in her fantasy world inside Pan’s Labyrinth.
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