The opening scene takes place in the labyrinth as the main character, a young girl, searches for a key under pressure of an egg timer. She explores long empty corridors lit with low red light, feeling isolated and in danger. She finds a dining table filled with tempting food, against the rules. At the end of the table sits a mysterious creature, the Pale Man. As she eats the food, the creature awakens and chases her as her time runs out, putting the audience on edge. She escapes back to her bedroom as the lighting changes from danger to isolation.

1. Millie Joshua
The opening scene to this part of the
Pan’s Labyrinth starts with a close up of
an egg timer. This reveals that she is
under pressure to find the key before it
runs out, which builds tension within the
scene, the pleonastic sound of the sand
grains falling into the timer also
enhances this as it shows how
important every second is. The airy-
windy sound also reveals her isolation as the corridors are empty and long. As the
character turns around to check how long she has on the timer, we see a sense of
worry in her face and also we hear her
breathing heavy - which reveals to us that
this could be a scene where things go
wrong. As the shot of the location widens
we see long airy corridors that show the
main character, a young girl, to be
isolated and at risk as she is on her own
which is typically a situation that a young
adult would be in, rather than a young girl.
This contrasts with her costume as she wears a
pastel blue coloured cardigan and dress, which
reflects her young age but her independence
throughout the clip shows us that she is very
mature for her age. This is also shown further
into the scene as despite what she is advised to
do she rebels against it.
The low key lighting throughout the scene of
dark blacks and red colours connotes a sense of
danger as she explores the unknown, and the
only traces of light are reflections from the ceiling above her - where her safe place
is, her bedroom. As she reaches the dining table she is greeted by a table full of
bright, vibrant food. The food is presented
this way to attract her, as she is not allowed
to eat it - which relates to the story of Adam
and Eve, as despite being told not to eat the
food Adam still ate it. We then see a wide
shot of the girl walking whilst looking at the
food, obviously with desire to eat it. This
successfully makes the audience on edge,
as they long for her to not give in to
temptations - but obviously there are many
hints within this scene that suggest she will.
Eventually the character realises that she is not on her own, and sat at the end of

2. Millie Joshua
the table is a creature ‘The Pale Man.’ We hear a non diegetic strike when she
realises that the creature is there, to shock
the audience and enhance danger. In the
background we now hear faint noises of
babies crying, and on the walls we see a
shot of a person eating and killing babies.
Additionally, we then see a pile of baby
shoes. This shows the audience that the
mysterious corridors of the location are filled
with danger and darkness, which worries the
character as her breathing gets heavier.
As the character goes to unlock the lock, we
see a zoom in shot of the egg timer as it
shows us
her time is running out. The non diegetic sound
accompanied with this shows us success as she
finds the key, but straight after we hear sounds of
tension and
faster pace
music as she
gives into
temptation and
eats the food. As the monster wakes up and
looks around for the girl, we see an over the
shoulder shot with a shallow focus as she
doesn’t realise it is behind her. As the creature
puts his arm out to see where she has gone,
we hear a loud baby screaming which
indicates she is in danger. The doors shut
close which creates worry for the audience
as the character is at risk and the monster is
coming, which is also heightened as she
struggles to get her chalk out and a piece of
it snaps. The screams and roars put the
audience on edge as the monster gets
closer and time runs out. As the character
finally gets back to her safe place, the
lighting changes from reds and blacks that represents danger to greys and blacks
that show isolation. This scene shows stereotypical features of a horror film as
there is a final girl left, as she has survived the dangers which is commonly seen in
other films too such as ‘Alien.’