Final Exam

Monsters perform many functions in movies. Please write an essay on how Del Toro treats the creation of monsters in his movies "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth." Support your argument with examples of how teh cinematographer's craft was used to support this principle.

     This is the prompt for our cinematography final. And this is my essay for our cinematography final:


     Del Toro uses monsters to convey the conception of imagination and difference in hi movies. In "The Devil's Backbone", he uses the 'monster', Santi, a prior occupant of the orphanage to show how messed up the older guy, Jacinto had become, from his days at the orphanage. There is a sense of imagination because Carlos, the new-comer, at first believes he only sees something that is not real. But then, this imagination turns into a remedy. Which is exactly what Del Toro wanted. Similarly to how Akira Kurosawa places every single strand of hair into place for a close-up shot, Del Toro does this, but with the mechanics and emotions of the characters of his stories. In doing this, Del Toro is able to let his 'monsters' perform the function of telling the story themselves. Rather than the story being about how the monster affects other people, it is simply about the monster and how they became what they are.


     Del Toro simply wanted to tell a story through his 'monsters'. In order to do this, he had to make his two films, "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth", seem demonic and dark. He used different cinematographic elements in order to achieve this. Del Toro uses; dim lighting , costuming and make-up is heavily used for all of the characters, specific props to certain scenes, and the attention to the periods. The plot of both films tie into each other. Del Toro says that "Pan's Labyrinth" is a continuation of sorts to "The Devil's Backbone". The dim lighting used throughout both films plays on the plots and emotions of the characters. It helps to (conceptually) highlight the motions of the actors as you follow them through the scenes of the films, but not playing favourite to any particular portion of the frame. Whether this was originally Del Toro 's concept or perception of "El Espinazo del Diablo", is debatable, but since it ended up being the vision of "El Laberinto del Fauno", it is accepted.


     The costuming and make-up used and needed for all the creatures in "El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)" was a great amount and no doubt most of the $19 million budget was spent on that and the elaborate sets. However, in comparison to "El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone)'s" $4.5 million budget, that was smaller because of the lacking need for complicated sets and costumes, both films still have sets of comparable value. Though the latter set of sets may look like they cost nothing, it is quite possible that they were what cost so much. But having made the film iin an isolated area, Del Toro was able to use long shots of the surroundings and the building(s) to show how and why the 'monster', Santi felt.


     In reference to the props, in both films, the different things sitting around, and again, props that were part of the costume were, of course again, part of the time period; along with helping set the stage for the monsters and the whole concept of imagination Del Toro wanted. Having only seen the first one and hearing about the second from others, I can not compare them as well as I should be able to, however, I am pretty sure that the introductions also help to set the stage for the monsters and get the wheels in your mind turning. The introduction for Devil's Backbone most certainly does, which also plays on the mechanics and emotions Del Toro wants his audience to feel.


     I hope this gets me an A, because I sure do need it. :-D    LOL ((and yes, I am going to keep my blog up))


     So, until next time--