Pan's Labyrinth

1. Describe each film including the genre, the style of film, the actors, the storyline (include synopsis if you can find one).

The film I chose was Pan’s Labyrinth, which is a film of many genres, including: Fantasy; Horror; Drama; War film; Supernatural; and Fairy tale. All these genre’s show how diverse this film is. There are 6 main actors in this movie, who take the characters of Ofelia, Fauno, Mercedes, Carmen, Vidal and The Doctor. Ofelia is played by Ivana Baquero, Fauno by Doug Jones, Mercedes by Maribel Verdu, Carmen by Ariadna Gil, Vidal by Sergi Lopez and The Doctor by Alex Angulo.  

The plot of this movie is that In 1944, in the post-Civil War in Spain, rebels still fight in the mountains against the fascist troops. The young and imaginative Ofelia travels with her pregnant and sick mother Carmen Vidal to the country to meet and live with her stepfather, the sadistic and cruel Captain Vidal, in an old mill. During the night, Ofelia meets a fairy and together they go to a pit in the center of a maze where they meet a faun that tells that she is a princess from a kingdom in the underground. He also tells that her father is waiting for her, but she needs to accomplish three gruesome, tough and dangerous assignments first. Meanwhile, she becomes friend of the servant Mercedes, who is the sister of one of the rebels and actually is giving support to the group. In a dark, harsh and violent world, Ofelia lives her magical world trying to survive her tasks and sees her father and king again.

1. Separately discuss the overall feel developed for each film’s promotional materials (is it clean, crisp and bright or dark, moody and grungy etc.)? Be as descriptive as possible, you could discuss the colours, textures, tone and use of movement in the website to create interest in the film.

The home screen, when first entering the website of Pan’s Labyrinth feels very magical and unreal, with a hint of fantasy included. The screen is dark around the edges, but the centre is dimly lighten with blue lighting. This home screen is animated, with sparkles and beaming light from the title. As you enter the site, you are led to the synopsis page, where the trailer plays in the upper right hand corner.  The middle of this page is filled with bright white light, but the edges are still dark. The mood is still dark, however on this page it has a feeling of happiness and hope. The movement flows very well, as when you scroll your cursor over a button, a drop down menu pops up, leading you to several different pages. It has a very natural movement and makes looking at different pages very enjoyable and simple. “The Film” is a very information-packed pages, with a clean crisp look and feel. On the upper left hand corner is a production video, which can help viewers understand the film

1. For each film reflect on how the film’s website is laid out. Look at the links, font and how the information or promotional materials are presented.

This films website  is set out very well, and makes it interesting for the viewers to look at and explore. Each page is different and amazing in its own way; with different animations, set-outs, pictures and videos. The materials are presented very uniquley, with a dark mood to give the audience an idea of the genre of the film.

1. Identify the Target Audience for each site (who are they? what age, interests, etc.) and discuss whether you feel the website is effective in appealing to this intended audience.

I believe the target audience for this site is for adults, as it seems to have much too horror for children. I also think this is an adult-fantasy, rather than a fantasy for children. The ages would be around 18-35, as it seems to fantasy-based for older people, but too horror and violence-stricken for people younger than 18, unless very mature. The interests would include fantasy films, and would have a large imagination and are very intrigued and outgoing in trying to new things. I believe the website would appeal to this audience as it seems very interesting, and I feel the people watching this film would be wanting to explore a unique website. The website is also different in each page and has a fantasy colour scheme, pictures and animations. 

1. Talk about what you like/dislike about the promotional material for each film. Why?

I like the promotional material for Pan’s Labyrinth, as it seems very unique from other posters, and has a very magical and fantasy theme to it. The poster draws your attention in, and almost takes you to another world as it it so different and luring. However, I believe the final poster could have made the main section of the poster larger, as it seems as though it is smaller than the side pictures of the poster. This distracts the viewers eyes from the centre, but overall still has a very magical feeling to the poster. 

1. Find a poster or advertisement for each film, save the images in to your folder and insert here. In as much detail as possible discuss the following:

The colour scheme is very cool, including blues, browns, blacks and greens. It is crisp and very fantasy-like, which makes the poster identify the genre of the film. It makes me feel as though I am entering a parallel universe, due to the magic feel the poster has. My eyes focus at the centre of the poster, which is of Pan entering a tree-like object. This is because it is at the centre of the game, and it a different colour from the background. The centre is mainly blue and brown, however the sides and background is more blacks and blues. In the sense of Balance, the advertisement seems to be balenced, as the focus point is in the centre, and the side pictures seem to be in proportion, and centre the middle object nicely. The tone is also balanced, and is the same on each side (mostly). I believe the elements work well together, as the colour, lines, shapes and font all contribute to make the poster have the feeling of fantasy. All these elements also unite to make this effect, and makes it more effective as the colour scheme of blue and greens make the crisp and magic feelings. The overall message being communcated about the film, through the visual language in the poster, is that this a film for adults, not children. Also that this is not a happy film, and more a crisp, new, thrilling adventure of fantasy and magic. 

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