Production: Guillermo del Toro
Distribution: Esperanto Filmoj and Warner Bros., Picturehouse (US)
Genre: Fable/Dark Fantasy Drama
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Synopsis: It's 1944 and the Allies have invaded Nazi-held Europe. In Spain, a troop of soldiers are sent to a remote forest to flush out the rebels. They are led by Capitan Vidal, a murdering sadist, and with him are his new wife Carmen and her daughter from a previous marriage, 11-year-old Ofelia. Ofelia witnesses her stepfather's sadistic brutality and is drawn into Pan's Labyrinth, a magical world of mythical beings.
UK/American Poster: Simplicity is key for the colour palette for this poster as the other areas of it are far more complex, so there is no need to make it overhwhelming; there are blacks, blues and a bright white in the centre which draws attention to the light shining on the trees, a Semantic Code of hope and new life in all the darkness. A sense of realism goes amiss in this poster besides Ofelia as the setting established is pure rural fantasy. Into this darkness, we see Ofelia, her back facing the camera as if she is wandering into the unknown. This adds suspense as the arches with archaic depictions of goblin faces radiates a sense of unease; this allows a global audience outside Spain to empathise with her character as we see that she is a naive, helpless child. Furthering this point, (whilst there isn’t a tagline on this poster as it isn't necessary to attract attention) alternate posters include the tagline “Innocence has a power evil cannot imagine" also alluding to how the character is perhaps unwittingly facing evil. This is also suitable for a universal audience as it has an element of fairytales to it, and whilst they are debauched of their dark, intimidating elements, or morphed into complex tales of morality, the theme of children's Literature is very prevalent, so this may be a nostalgic fable throwback for an older audience of C1C2DE stature who will remember listening to old tales.
The stars are from large film festivals in the industry, including Cannes Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, showing that the film is very desirable, even amongst the harshest of expertise. In the top third of the poster, smaller than the title, it reads “Beautiful and exhilarating…a fairy tale for grown-ups”, which means it should be the second thing that the viewer reads; through the Cultivation Theory, these positive ideological reviews and laurels intruige a Mainstream audience as they can familiarise and trust professionals.
Either side of the text is the itself is surrounding branches, which promote a sense of journey into directing and guiding gazes from the bottom of the image to unveil the rest; this effectively promotes the universal theme of unity as it is very visually demanding in aspects of having to attaching and connecting everything together, decoding the visual hierarchy much like one would in a story.
Secondarily, the same theme is also provided through elements of repetition, which is a component of visual harmony and subject to the Cultivation Model; the continuity of the stone arch and trees compliment one another symmetrically. However, this also alludes to the Binary Opposition of man and nature as Ofelia seems rather out of place.
Whilst props and settings are established, Ofelia is focalised in this poster through framing and triangulation as everything on either side of her is symmetrical, so an audience's eyes are naturally drawn to the very centre, which is where she is. This is demonstrated again through the faun archway, the moon and then Ofelia, the rule of thirds drawing our eyes to her as we travel towards the bottom of the poster.
In conjunction, the copy accomplishes prominence, even in the business of the poster by the illuminating white light originating from the center of the image, gradually and almost unnoticable diffusing as it moves out to the enigmatic darkness. This gives it a glowing, moon-like appearance in the midst of a slightly busy poster as it tries to translate the fantasy genre aswell as possible to a global market. Furthermore, as the font is sophisticated and classical, the ideology is conveyed that this is a very old tale and is respected in other cultures and henceforth should be respected in ours.
The film can further be considered reputable to a global audience due to the mention of del Toro's name and other works of particular American notoriety.
Spanish Poster: This theatrical poster is a unique concoction of various visual components and techniques working together to convey a coherent, stunning and simplistic visual image. It is not overtly busy as the context behind the movie does not need to be explained, so subsequently the emphasis is placed on the dark colour on the poster that really provides a sense of mystery and danger which also provides unity as a Spanish audience feel a connection and a sense of protection and autonomy over the young girl. This alludes to the archetype that women need to be protected.
The text below is jaunty; it is not a bright and attractive section, because it doesn’t appear to be particularly interesting or necessary to read, but as it is the only piece of text on the minimalistic cover, our eyes are drawn to it as it appears to be of significance. This title differs from the global title as producers were worried that international audiences would not understand what a faun was, or the meaning behind the Spaniard fable.
As Ofelia's identity is anonymous, there are a lot of Enigma Codes. This, in combination with the fact there are no well-known Hollywood-style actors or actresses, demonstrates the importance of the integrity of the story over the movie as a star vehicle. This paradigm is because names and faces would be plastered on the posters, effectively hijacking the plot's artistic balance.
Rural settings are established via the mise-en-scen of recognisable moons, trees and even headstones (which add creepiness and supernaturality), combined with unrecognisable elements which conform to Neale's genre theory as this derives pleasure from difference via the labyrinth entrance and faun-faced keystone. This is a way of revealing integral props in the movie and as they are all found in one place in the poster, the real Enigma Code is asked of how they interplay with each other in the movie. This also reveals the strong intermixing of fantasy with reality in the film, borrowing from old and new in the fantasy genre, though as it is a fairly indie film (Curran and Seaton) it will not be extensively high-budget.
This is represented in how the forest and the moon (realistic aspects) take on a magical appearance of another mysterious world Ofelia explores.Ofelia further connotes this ideology of the genre as her presence at entrance to the labyrinth further connotes that because she is simultaneously human yet princess of the underworld, there is an innate conflict of her worlds; reality and appearance are blurred, aswell as life and death. This is emphasised by the fantastical clothing she wears, which are worn only in the scenes after she dies and inhabits the underworld; the labyrinth acts as a link between these Binary Oppositions.
Undoubtedly, an inherited audience of Toro fans would see this, but also those interested in history and literacy, particularly fables and World War 2. There is also a demographic of fantasy lovers, and those who may enjoy adventure/exploration within a text; this may suit an Explorer as they are challenged of the conventions of fantasy movies as it focalises a young girl yet she is far from the target audience.
Interview:
This interview with the director of the movie starts out in a conventional way; there is a light-hearted yet slightly intrusive feel as we enter on the interviewer and interviewee sharing a joke; starting out on this positive note reinforces the flippant nature of these culture programmes.
There are also brief references to other interviews del Toro has done which he is questioned on regarding what he plans to do next, which is a convention of these cultural interviews as to get a wider scope of who they are talking to and to get as much information as possible, showing that they are possibly sensationalist yet slightly more modest.
A particularly commonplace ordeal for these junkets are to have the posters of the movie being marketed in the back, as if it is a constant plug no matter what angle or which shot the camera cuts to.
Whilst in places this can get a little trenched in ideoligical messages and purpose, there tends to be an observational joke made not too long after to try anf muster up positivity again; these are not highly political nor stressed, they are purely a way to sell the movie.
Comments