Pan's Labyrinth Notes Editing

PAN'S LABYRINTH EDITING

Opening Sequence

The film's opening shot is of Ofelia lying still on the floor with blood dripping from her nose, but after a few moments it begins to seep back into her nostrils. The fact it has been edited to play in reverse is significant because it indicates that the narrative is going back in time to the start of the story. At the same time, it foreshadows the ending where Ofelia is mortally injured, but at this moment we are unaware as to why or how.

The shots in this sequence once the exterior shots of the car within the convoy begin are ordered so that we see Ofelia's book before her face is revealed to us for the first time, meaning she is characterised by her love of fairytales and thus a distance from reality from the offset.

The frequent reaction shots of Ofelia in this sequence, mainly after she leaves the convoy to explore the forest alone, are used to build empathy with her character. When Ofelia jumps upon seeing the stick insect, for example, this encourages the audience to jump also. We also see more reaction shots of Ofelia than any other character in this sequence , which gravitates the audience's attention to her specifically in favour of other characters such as Carmen. The audience consequently understands from the opening sequence that this is Ofelia's story.

First Bedtime Sequence

This sequence has a slow pace due to reoccuring long shots. These make the experience more immersive for the audience because an absence of edits is similar to how we naturally see the world, and thus they are likely to pay more attention to the conversation between Ofelia and her mother.

Hidden edits are used in this sequence to create the illusion of single takes, for example when Ofelia begins to tell the story of the rose to her brother, a wipe transition, usually the most distracting transition, is invisible because it occurs when the screen is black. Consequently, the impression…