Pan's Labyrinth Opening

The director uses cinematography and mise-en-scene to depict the two different worlds to the audience, visually and tonally. 

This is done through its cinematography: for example, the first shot of the film is a close up of Ophelia dying after being shot. This immediately resonates with the audience not just because showing a child dying is dark tonally but also the shot is sickly in the way it's framed. Ophelia is taking up most of the frame and then camera tilts and zooms. These movements are disorientating to the audience because the camera doesn't stay still and feels claustrophobic and entrapping. The film then has the effect of going through Ophelia's eye and then slowly pans across the kingdom. This not only showcases the fantasy element of the story but also conveys the idea that it is a grand kingdom. The kingdom is in the back of the framing whilst there is a massive gap in the foreground. This makes the kingdom look bigger and more grand, perhaps symbolic of how the story of the underworld feel grander and more important to a child. This is further implied with the eye shot, literally aligning us with her perspective and almost her mind. Maybe it is hinting that the world is in her mind and she is just imagining it to escape her real life.

The aesthetic of the film swiftly changes when it cuts to main continuity of Ophelia moving to live with Vidal. The lighting goes from cold to warm, which emphasises the contrast between the two worlds. The artificial and blueness of the underworld almost purposely looks unsettling to subvert the expectations of the audience, so when we are introduced the real world we expect it to be pleasant. This is reinforced with the more naturalistic, bright lighting with the vast green landscape creating a lush and almost tranquill environment for the viewer. This is juxtaposed with the avaricious and controlling ideology of fascism, that Vidal embodies: he is living in this calm and freeing environment to create the impression that he believes in these things, so when his darker nature is revealed, it is a bigger surprise. On the other hand, the camera angles and movement align us with Ophelia and her character traits. 

For example, the first shot in the car is a close up of Ophelia reading her fairy tale book. In other words, she enjoys reading books about fantasy to escape her upsetting and entrapping family life. More specifically, fairy tales are typically associated with smaller children, so it is odd to see a teen/older child reading them. However through the framing, it indicates that Ophelia does it to escape her reality: the warm lighting covers most of book, except for the spine perhaps symbolising the darkness of Vidal creeping in. Then it pans to a mid shot in the back of the car: the audience becomes less physically close with Ophelia thus losing alignment as the mother is framed in front, almost as if she spiritually towering over her aswell as physically. The car's lighting is immediately darker and is also more cramped and tight, a perfect visualisation of Ophelia's mind which started with her imagination and now her personal outlook of the world. She feels small, trapped and insignificant which is why she reads the books, to escape those feelings.