To what extent do aesthetic qualities contribute to the impact of your chosen film? 
Answer this question in detail; when you're back after half term, we'll do it in timed conditions as your assessment. We'll spend half an hour on it.
Areas to consider:
- mise-en-scene (colour palette, costume, makeup, set design)
- cinematography (shots sizes, camera movements, depth of field, lighting)
- impact (meaning and response; spectator; context of fascism; ideology of women's role in patriarchal society, male violence; contemporary Mexico context)
- at least two key scenes (check pallet)


Aesthetic qualities like mise en scene in Pans Labyrinth are used to demonise fascism as to impact the spectator into resenting this ideology, particularly seen in the pale man scene where the ideology of fascism is personified. In this scene Del Toro uses a range of aesthetic techniques as to demonise fascism, beginning with a medium close up at a side profile to the creature, forcing the spectator to confront this grotesque creature in quite an intimate way but moving into an over the shoulder shot the front of the creature is revealed. This shot frames Ofelia in the foreground out of focus with the prominent pale man in the background in focus, showing the potential danger Ofelia is in as we watch from behind her, this shot also frames the two subjects fairly closely emphasising that danger through their proximity. Lighting is used to exaggerate the grotesque features of the creature in this shot, using costuming and lighting to achieve an impact on the spectator, as he is completely hairless with sagging skin and no eyes; metaphorically we can look at this presentation and see its lack of eyes as representing the blind cruelty of fascism, the sagging skin suggests extreme weight loss and since the film establishes the diet of the creature is children, this suggests that fascism, like the creature, has been starved of innocent children to abuse, fascism is presented as a mere shadow of its former self but still a terrifying force. Analysing further a fire burns behind the pale man which has connotations of hell, but more importantly it directly links Vidal to the creature as a previous dinner scene placed Vidal similarly at a dinner table behind a hellish fire. Del Toro is essentially presenting an honest, naked, depiction of Vidal in this scene, showing the ugly truths of fascism by linking the two individuals showing whats underneath Vidal's clean military exterior, causing us to resent Vidal even further and therefore fascism as this creature evokes a level of disgust in its presentation. The spectator is forced to witness the ugly truths of fascism through a series of close ups, as a camera from tracks along a lavish dinner scene, making the excess of the facist rulers seem endless. The colour palette of golds and reds connote excess and the blood that was shed for the facist rulers to enjoy this endless luxury. The close up forces the excess uncomfortably into view of the spectator as to make them confront this harsh truth. Further close ups are used to present frescos of the creature impaling and devouring children, giving the creature further demonic connotations through its depiction in a typically religious form.
Another example of Aesthetic qualities in this contributing to the impact of this film is in the end scene, when Ofelia is shot and transcends to a fantasy world. Before she enters this fantasy world the colour palette is dark blue creating a sombre tone, this is sharply juxtaposed when she enters the fantasy world which is drenched in a golden colour palette reinforcing this fairytale feel, as her mother is placed high on a raised throne. This juxtaposition emphasises the tragedy in Ofelia's reality, as she retreats into this wonderful idealised fantasy but the spectator is then reminded that this is just a fantasy, as we leave the golden fairytale and return to her blue reality in which she is dying. While in the fantasy however her costuming reinforces this fairytale, as a close up reveals sparkly red shoes reminiscent of Dorothy's in the Wizard of Oz. This adds to the tragedy as it again reminds the spectator that is just a fantasy, she isn't able to truly escape the violence and horror of fascism. 

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