Relationship Between Shots

Pan’s Labyrinth was directed by Guillermo del Toro in 2006, and won an academy award for best cinematography that year. One scene in particular that I decided to analyze is towards the beginning of the movie, when Ofelia first experiences the fairy that will lead her throughout the rest of the film. The scene begins with a shot of Ofelia walking away from her mother and toward the camera, looking up above her head out of the frame. This is an example of an open frame shot since it is calling the audience’s attention to something that is not pictured in the frame. The shot is cut to one of the trees from straight below, and pans down to the back of Ofelia’s head as she walks deeper into the forest. What proceeds is a succession of rapid cuts that are a perfect example of continuity editing, since the viewer can barely notice that there are cuts happening. They simply follow the movements of Ofelia, which are to bend over, pick up a curious rock from the ground, and bring it in front of her face to look at it. Each action has a brief shot of its own, each no longer than 2 seconds long. We then watch Ofelia continue to survey her surroundings as she slowly walks toward the camera, until she stops and appears to spot something in front of her. The camera then jumps to what she is looking at, as she starts to walk toward it. A few seconds later in the scene, we see an example of point of view editing when we watch Ofelia place the small rock she found into a larger rock with a perfect sized hole for the smaller. After a large insect jumps out and surprises the audience and Ofelia, the camera jumps to Ofelia’s startled reaction to the bug.