Santina's Film Blog

Pan's Labyrinth: Opening scene Analyse how film form is used to create meaning and generate response in the opening scene of Pan's Labyrinth + one other scene: cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and performance.  The film of Pan’s Labyrinth uses film form to create meaning and generate a certain response from the audience. The opening scene starts by giving the viewers social and historical context. The film directly situates the viewer in the fascist Spain of the 1940's and gives historical context about the civil war that had recently ended but there were still some who still resisted the regime. Pan's Labyrinth presents the main character with the ending scene - a shot of the main character lying on the floor, bleeding, while a smooth voice sings a lullaby. Rewinding and going into Ofelia's mind, the narrator tells the audience a story about the princess of the Underworld, a place where there were "no lies or pain", that dreamt of seeing the ...

City of God - Analysis of opening scene + the kids scene City of God, a film considered to be a modern masterpiece of Brazilian cinema, tells the story about the hopelessness of living in the favelas and not being able to escape. In the first scenes of the film, the audience understands the themes as they are being foreshadowed through narrative and cinematography. The main themes presented being violence, the want to escape, community and the contrast between the present and the past. Firstly, these themes are foreshadowed in the first minutes of the film. The opening scene shows the audience what themes are going to be treated from the very first image: a knife being sharpened, mixed with the sound of reggae music, typical from Brazil. A fast paced introduction that captures the audience's attention, showing a poor community dancing, playing instruments and cooking outside on the rooftop of a two story building. The chicken’s attempt to escape from the same fate as the other slai...