Guillermo Del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth'

[TomCGCG]

In the special features on the DVD they show it being done.

Neat! Something to check out tonight.

[Despin]

Hey there.

"EDIT: I should state that by 'computer generated' I mean they haven't added anything that wasn't there. The needle is actually going through makeup which was applied to the actors face. All they have done is key out a small piece of green make up to extend the slash, and they obviously used a computer to do that but there's no additional 3D modelling involved."

I'm pretty sure there is. I think they modeled the inside of his mouth. It's dark. But not that dark. It's not like they just replace the BLUE with BLACK and left it like that. There IS depth there and unless they pained that depth in frame by frame I'm pretty sure they would have built very low res model of the inside of his mouth to have something to match to the light of the scene. Had it JUST been a black hole I think ti would have stood out as just that. Maybe not so much on dvd but in the cinema for sure.

Despin out.

[Andsom]

Hey there.

"EDIT: I should state that by 'computer generated' I mean they haven't added anything that wasn't there. The needle is actually going through makeup which was applied to the actors face. All they have done is key out a small piece of green make up to extend the slash, and they obviously used a computer to do that but there's no additional 3D modelling involved."

I'm pretty sure there is. I think they modeled the inside of his mouth. It's dark. But not that dark. It's not like they just replace the BLUE with BLACK and left it like that. There IS depth there and unless they pained that depth in frame by frame I'm pretty sure they would have built very low res model of the inside of his mouth to have something to match to the light of the scene. Had it JUST been a black hole I think ti would have stood out as just that. Maybe not so much on dvd but in the cinema for sure.

Despin out.

I'm not so sure. A subtle little bit of gradient is all that would be required. I'd be very surprised if there was anymore to it than some pretty basic compositing. Also, WHY all the RANDOM capitalising of WORDS?

[Guest Radio Flyer]

Watched this tonight. I enjoyed it.

Still confused over the English title though - "Pan's Labyrinth"? The Spanish name is "The Faun's Labyrinth". Where the hell does 'Pan' come from?

That's what I said to Crashlander who makes the Edge cartoons.

"Why the fuck is it called Pan's Labyrinth when there isn't even a character called Pan in it?"

This is what he said to me

He said

"Because that's the name of the main character." He sort of sneered it so I didn't call him on it because I thought I'd fucked up. But now here you are. I thought maybe the girl's nickname was Pan or something obscure.

Who the fuck was Pan?

[Davros sock drawer]

I watched this on Monday night, the missus just bought it for me. I thought it was mind-bendingly brilliant.

But I was very, very shocked at how violent it was for a 15. The bit with the bottle was the very definition of "dwelling on it". It shows his face being caved in, as the bottle is smashed repeatedly into it! The gunshots were quite disturbing too.

Still, really enjoyed it. It looks sumptous too.

Edit: Stuff about Pan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(mythology)

[Guest Radio Flyer]

Watched this tonight. I enjoyed it.

Still confused over the English title though - "Pan's Labyrinth"? The Spanish name is "The Faun's Labyrinth". Where the hell does 'Pan' come from?

EDIT: It seems that 'Pan' is the name of the Faun

Fuck.

Well. it certainly wasn't mentioned in the subtitles I watched. He was called Faun everytime. And the film is actually called Faun's Labyrinth. So fuck you, Crashlander!

[Nibbles]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_%28mythology%29

Maybe they thought the western audience needed a more definite mythological reference? Or maybe the Spanish for 'Pan' is simply 'Fauno'?

Great film, watched it today.

[Guest Radio Flyer]

But the subtitles read FAUN.

[Nibbles]

Yes, but was it written as his name or as a description of what he was, a faun?

Either way, it's perfectly possible they just thought the explicit reference to Greek mythology made it look classier to western audiences and Disney's Hercules fans alike.

EDIT: Wait, his name was Phil...

[Davros sock drawer]

The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun and the whole thing is inspired by those sort of myths about Pan, The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun and the whole thing is inspired by those sort of myths about Pan, The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun, The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun and the whole thing is inspired by those sort of myths about Pan SLAP!

Sorry, got stuck. It's pretty obvious why it was called Pan's Labyrinth.

[Davros sock drawer]

Well, The Captain couldn't find his way through it very easily.

Loved the way Mercedes put him in his place, both when she cuts his face and when she shoots him at the end with "He won't even know your name". Oof, straight at his pride. Best villain I've seen in a film for years too, a truly diabolical creation.

[Guest Radio Flyer]

The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun and the whole thing is inspired by those sort of myths about Pan, The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun and the whole thing is inspired by those sort of myths about Pan, The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun, The faun is a bit like Pan, Pan was a Faun, the film was called Pan's Labyrinth cos Pan was a faun and the whole thing is inspired by those sort of myths about Pan SLAP!

Sorry, got stuck. It's pretty obvious why it was called Pan's Labyrinth.

I'd never heard of a myth about a pan before. I went to the university of life while you were lying in bed watching Countdown.

[DarhkFox]

watched it last night.

I did enjoy it, but i thought a lot more would take place inside "the walls" or whatever. Very weird film, a mate was very freaked out by the faun and other creatures, lol.

[Monkichi 3.0]

I saw this yesterday and was really... well emotional. I've heard a lot of stories of the civil war from my grandparents and my family was quite affected by it. What was happening in the film, well, that stuff really was happening. Stuff like the hunter and his son getting killed like that... it really reminded me of what my grandparents told me.

That's not the only reason it was so emotional though, it was because it would confuse me. One moment it's a lighthearted fairy tale and then next someone is getting tourtured. I didn't know what to feel at times, which was perhaps the point.

The captain guy, he was the perfect example of the cruelty in many people in his position at the time. The way you never felt safe, the way he seemed to have complete power over everyone, I thought it was really well done. I don't think this was a "fascism is bad" film at all, it just conveyed what it was like to live in Spain at that time and gave a more interesting setting for a child's fairytale world.

[Davros sock drawer]

I agree, I often found myself more entranced by the stuff to do with the war than the fantasy world, but the two gelled nicely, leading to a very rich viewing experience.

[Chopsocky]

Best movie i've seen recently. Nice story, good acting and quite surprisingly violent for a fairy tale. Very dark in some places. The only thing that was a little bit of a let down was the end.

The king of the underworld looks like father christmas?!

Otherwise great and I am very tempted to pick it up on DVD.

[Strawp]

Watched this last night. It was spoiled somewhat by the DVD failing to play past chapter 12 on both my PS2 and XBox, meaning I had to relocate upstairs to my PC to watch the end. Watching films legitimately blows

Anyway, really good film. One of the few films which actually had me wanting to look away when it felt like a violent bit was coming up. After the bit with the rabbit hunters you just didn't know what the Captain (or director) was capable of.

As with all good fantasy stories, you're left with a massive question mark over whether the main protagonist was just imagining it all.

[frumious]

I finally watched this the other night in an Israeli cinema, with English and Hebrew subtitles. They did not detract from the film's brilliance, or stop me from having to bite my lip to stop myself crying at the end.

[holly]

Anyway, really good film. One of the few films which actually had me wanting to look away when it felt like a violent bit was coming up. After the bit with the rabbit hunters you just didn't know what the Captain (or director) was capable of.

Interesting point actually, the really violent part is pretty near the beginning, so for the rest of the film they don't actually have to have the Captain do very much to anyone and it's still very tense because you know he might do something worse any minute.

Except I'd already read more than I should have done about the film and knew which bit had been talked about as particularly violent so I probably missed some of the tension

[mindgames]

Interesting point actually, the really violent part is pretty near the beginning, so for the rest of the film they don't actually have to have the Captain do very much to anyone and it's still very tense because you know he might do something worse any minute.

Except I'd already read more than I should have done about the film and knew which bit had been talked about as particularly violent so I probably missed some of the tension

Yeh, I would have loved to have watched the film without knowing anything, would of been (even more) mind-blowing...

Got Devils Backbone to watch next, might do it tonight, will it stop me sleeping though?

[Roboplegic Wrongcock]

Yeh, I would have loved to have watched the film without knowing anything, would of been (even more) mind-blowing...

Got Devils Backbone to watch next, might do it tonight, will it stop me sleeping though?

Nope, it's starts off fairly scary but soon you'll be ok with it. Awesome film though just magnificent.

[Gabe]

I saw this last night and it was all a bit...well, meh, really. It didn't seem to get going, and didn't really flesh out the trials at all and I just didn't really feel for the girl - after all, whilst enduring not a great life she was destined for greater things. I'm not sure if we were meant to question if it was fantasy or not, but for me it didn't really matter.

Maybe I just didn't get it.

[Coltrane]

Maybe I just didn't get it.

No I don't think you did.

[Gabe]

No I don't think you did.

Thanks for that!

[Strawp]

I specifically avoided information about this film. I'd heard Mark Kermode's review and I'd heard there were some quite violent bits in it, but that was it. I usually do this when there's a film I want to see.

[Mr.Crowley]

Fantastic film!

(sniff..)

[Nibbles]

I saw this last night and it was all a bit...well, meh, really. It didn't seem to get going, and didn't really flesh out the trials at all and I just didn't really feel for the girl - after all, whilst enduring not a great life she was destined for greater things. I'm not sure if we were meant to question if it was fantasy or not, but for me it didn't really matter.

Maybe I just didn't get it.

Got to say, as effective as the story and the meshing of dark fantasy and darker reality was, I'd agree that the girl let the film down. Her character wasn't at all fleshed out and the child actor was pretty average.

Still, a good film. Interesting how Pan was far more disturbing in her room than he ever was in his spooky labrynth.

[Andsom]

Got to say, as effective as the story and the meshing of dark fantasy and darker reality was, I'd agree that the girl let the film down. Her character wasn't at all fleshed out and the child actor was pretty average.

She was a ten year old. How fleshed out do you want her to be?

[lordcookie]

Got to say, as effective as the story and the meshing of dark fantasy and darker reality was, I'd agree that the girl let the film down. Her character wasn't at all fleshed out and the child actor was pretty average.

An average child actor? What the hell are you on, Nibbles.

[Nick R]

I finally watched this last night. I thought it was very good, although quite different from what I was expecting: I wasn't expecting so much focus on the wartime setting, and assumed that she'd be stuck inside the labyrinth for most of the film rather than regularly returning to the real world.

As for the violence, I looked away for the killing of the rabbit-hunters and the amputation, but the sewing up of the wound didn't bother me. The speeches before the torture scenes were very nasty - and extremely effective, because they really made me hope we wouldn't see any of it.

After seeing it, I watched the first half of the film again with the commentary. I didn't get to listen to all of it, but it's one of the best commentary tracks I've heard. I noticed the parallels with the two keys and the two banquet tables, but he points out a lot of other details I missed. (He gives a shout to video games for inspiring the surround sound design, and mentions that the scream blended into the soundtrack when the blood spreads across the pages of the book was inspired by Pink Floyd's The Wall!)

One of the points he makes is that in the scene where Vidal lies about his father's watch, saying in an offhand way that he never owned one, del Toro notes that if he was making a Hollywood film he would have needed to add an entire extra scene to spell out the fact that he'd lied. And he's probably right, too.