Design & Make: 'Pan's Labyrinth'

Emine Oktay
Mar 3, 2019
4 min read

Guillermo del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth/El Laberinto del Fauno' [2006]

"It's 1944 and the Allies have invaded Nazi-held Europe. In Spain, a troop of soldiers are sent to a remote forest to flush out the rebels. They are led by Capitan Vidal, a murdering sadist, and with him are his new wife Carmen and her daughter from a previous marriage, 11-year-old Ofelia. Ofelia witnesses her stepfather's sadistic brutality and is drawn into Pan's Labyrinth, a magical world of mythical beings."

Above: DoP still of the Pale Man.

I first became aware of this film during secondary school where my form tutor had a poster up on the wall of a pale man with eyes in the palms of his hands. Later on in life, I revisited the imagery of this film through a fan-made music video for Tool's 'Forty Six and Two' seen below. I've only ever known 'Pan's Labyrinth' for its imagery and cinematography. The usual way I create art & sculpture is through the visuals, so I'm currently hesitant to watch the piece as I feel that the synopsis, script and motion picture combined is the perfect foundation to produce a static piece.

Above: Unofficial Tool music video 'Sixty Four and Two'.

Ongoing personal project and link to 'Pan's Labryinth':

Over the past 3 years, I've been working on a personal project titled 'Paracosm'. It's an exploration into my diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, while also acting as a commentary on the world surrounding me. 'Paracosm' dissects trauma, abuse and mental disorders - but also illustrates hierachy, capitalism, patriarchy, oppression and war. Of course, both are linked which is why I'd like to use this project to turn these images into 3D entities. Below is a brief gallery of pieces created over the past few years.

Above: A selection of work from my project, 'Paracosm'.

I began to draw very apparent links between 'Paracosm' and 'Pan's Labryinth'. A lot of the work I've done, both within 'Paracosm' and my time at Wimbledon, have orienteered around WW2 and Nazism. Most noteably; 'The Birth of Hitler' [see above]. The figure being born isn't only Hitler, but he represents every evil world leader and also every man in my personal life who followed a path towards destruction.

Imagery of pale, sickly, hairless men has prevaled throughout art and history, yet the reasons for this are on a spectrum. My choice comes from a deeper psyche to both show cruel men for what they really are and/or to dehumanise them; making them vulnerable and weak.

To speak more generally, Ofelia's escapist route into Pan's Labryinth mirrors my own into 'Paracosm'. It's this dominating factor that makes this film perfect for the work I want to execute in 3D form.

Below is a piece I've drawn today that I'm hoping to adapt from a 2D image into a layered and textured landscape. Following this concept design, I've included a range of diagrams explaining how I'm going to do this and also, what I need to research in order to create this piece.

Above: Initial concept design, titled 'Cave'. A5 Fineliner.

Concept to Technical Drawing:

Over the course of a couple of days, the idea developed from a closed box environment with specialist lighting, through to a sculpture prop that would theoretically be placed on The Pale Man's dining table. The idea is that, once his feast is cleared from the room, this statue would be placed in the centre as a sort of hypnosis. I picture him sitting very still and staring into it for hours on end; perhaps forumlating his own desires and actions.

When considering the dynamics of the piece, I transformed the idea of lighting from the outside to a light source within. I'm hoping to use my salt lamp to fill a hollow gap within the piece, that would then refract throughout the entire form. These technicalities can be seen in the diagrams above.

The behaviour of the sculptural forms themselves are also something to take note of: while the piece conveys itself as some kind of chair - welcoming you in with its glowing light, the sharpness of the elbows and angular humanoids, pushes you away; leaving you in a state of limbo.

I want the final piece to translate the atmosphere shown in the concept art below: drawing you in but keeping you at a safe distance.

Above: Concept art of how the sculpture should make others feel/stand.

Creating the Maquette:

To become more familiar with the design from every angle, I quickly put together a metal wire, newspaper and plasticine maquette. The proprtions and textures are inaccurate, but this will act as a basic form for reference when it comes to making the final armature.

Above: Image of my workspace with the maquette armature made referencing technical drawings.

Above: Final maquette measuring 20cm in height.

In the following blog post, I'll be cross-examining elements from 'Pan's Labryinth', including colour pallettes, lighting, characters and props, as well as extracting interesting ideas from the screenplay. This will help develop my prop's shape, colour and light, while furthering its effect and purpose.