Pan's Labyrinth

Peter Egan · November 29, 2006

Good film.

Does anyone have any technical details?

Max Jacoby · November 29, 2006

I saw one behind the set picture with an Arricam. From the look of the trailer I'd say Cooke S4s, but this is just a guess, since I haven't seen the film itself

Daniel Carruthers · January 23, 2007

I saw one behind the set picture with an Arricam. From the look of the trailer I'd say Cooke S4s, but this is just a guess, since I haven't seen the film itself

I finaly saw this movie, good movie great use of color and shadows.

Max Jacoby · January 23, 2007

Actually it's shot on Zeiss Variable Primes and Ultra Primes. I might chekc it out tomorrow, it's being shown in the Screening Room of the Greenwich Picutre House, which is my favourite cinema here in London.

Matt Goldberg · February 1, 2007

Wasn't the film on the front cover of the last AC? I forgot, but if it is in there, they may have specs on lenses, camera bodies, stock, DI, etc.

Saw the film last Saturday and was deeply impressed by the color schematic. Color shifting to produce mood swings in film is such a viable tool, and del Toro & Co. really used it well to differentiate the main character's dream-like fantasy world with amber and golden warm tones, and the almost entirely blue tints of the real war outside of her control. It certainly had an impact on the mood and emotional intensity.

Great film-- classic villain, great visuals, and very well shot.

Tony Brown · February 27, 2007

Fabulous film and fully deserved the awards (though what a gift of a subject eh?). Best film of 2006 by a mile.

NathanCoombs · February 27, 2007

Actually it's shot on Zeiss Variable Primes and Ultra Primes. I might chekc it out tomorrow, it's being shown in the Screening Room of the Greenwich Picutre House, which is my favourite cinema here in London.

Yeah its nice. Tell Rosie you won that award and you might just get in for free ;)

Robert Lachenay · February 27, 2007

Yeah its nice. Tell Rosie you won that award and you might just get in for free ;)

I thought it was a fun and lovely film...I liked Days of Glory better, but not by too much. I am very surprised that Pan's Labyrinth didn't win, given the momentum it had coming in. The Lives of Others was a very good movie though...I would have been torn (as I imagine the judges were), for there were 3 very, very good foreign films in competition this year. What's up with no nomination for VOLVER though?

Edited February 27, 2007 by Robert Lachenay

Mike Panczenko · February 27, 2007

I saw one behind the set picture with an Arricam. From the look of the trailer I'd say Cooke S4s, but this is just a guess, since I haven't seen the film itself

It was actually a Moviecam Compact and a 435ES.

Christian Appelt · February 28, 2007

Excellent film in terms of storytelling, great set design and some great visual ideas and concepts.

Fine acting, good VFX and solid cinematography. But I cannot understand the enthusiastic praise for the DPs work because in that kind of film, set design and the work of all other conceptual artist are more important in giving shape to the final images than, let's say in a movie like THE DEPARTED.

Don't get me wrong, PAN'S LABYRINTH certainly is a great film and has more depth than most films trying to walk the edge between reality and fantasy.

Technical details:

I saw PAN'S LABYRINTH on a large screen (65ft. wide), 35mm 1.85 projection was sharp and bright (judging from the pre-show that was run in the same format). The first thing annoying to me was that there was absolutely no shadow detail in dark scenes - like the doctor talking to Mercedes when he emerges from the mother's room. It looked just muddy, not even like a darkness shot with only a few highlights visible (like Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW). This went on through the film.

Overall sharpness and resolution was bad, no detail in long shots, only closeups looked OK. Might be the DI or the further dupe printing for international release. Certainly not slippage in release printing, because image steadiness was perfect all through the film. eFilm did the DI, but I suspect the dupe printing process is to blame for the lack of shadow detail and resolution.

And now for matters of taste: (snails & oysters, as Crassus said ;) )

I disliked the color scheme, especially the earlier exterior daylight shots. Burnt-out highlights, greenish skies - looked to me like a bad dupe from vintage Kodachrome. Some interiors with rays of light and an almost dutch painting color palette reminded me of classic three-strip Technicolor, but why was it necessary to separate reality and fantasy through lighting schemes when they interweave anyway?

IMHO, the film would have gained a lot from more depth of field. If you have great sets and fine actors, let me see them on a large screen instead of pulling focus. For some reason, CGI characters out of focus look really fake to me (of course, they have to match the DOF of the shot they're in).

But all in all, I liked PAN'S LABYRINTH very much, reminded me somehow of COMPANY OF WOLVES which I will try to see again soon.