Genre Research Activity

Fantasy:

Genre:

The fantasy genre is one that has been present throughout human evolution. Storytelling, folklore, and mythology all contain fantastical elements. Fantasy is such a popular genre in film because it is able to be enjoyed by a broad audience. This genre contains storylines and elements which are unrealistic, and imaginary.

Genre Conventions- Content:

Fantasy always contains elements to the characters or plot, which do not belong to our world. Despite all fantasy films being different, they are often similar within their subgenre. Dark fantasy, fairytales, and magical realism are all subgenres within the fantasy genre. Fairytales, for example, have children as their target audience, containing heavy elements of magic and having an overall moral. Dark fantasy, on the other hand, is aimed towards an older audience. These films combine elements of horror, making it more gruesome. Magical realism films will take place within a world similar to our own, with the exception that magic is widely accepted and considered normal.

Despite their ability to vary, fantasy films have many common elements which can be found in nearly all films within this genre. A battle against good and evil, romance, betrayal, a vast journey into the unknown, and one character, usually the protagonist, who is destined to stand up for change. Fantasy films are able to expand past the limitations of this world, into creating a new one.

Production Techniques:

Fantasy films often include supernatural creatures, such as unicorns, ogres, dragons, trolls, and more. The inclusion of these creature rely heavily on special effects: prosthetics, computer generated images (CGI), and green screens. In order to make these effects seem natural or appear realistic on screen, editing is a very important part of creating fantasy films. Productions often use models to examine the way wings may move on a Pegasus based on the weight that is being carried, and take the time to digitally design the wings, and synch the wings movements according to that of the model.

Since films in such an elaborate genre often take place in complex settings, productions often must create small scale models to replicate a theoretical large scale, which will then be shot as an establishing or long shot. Large scale sets will then be built based off a place with in these settings, in order to shoot individual scenes. It is tedious work designing and creating these sets in accordance to the directors vision, and building these sets can take weeks at a time.

Marketed:

A marketing design team must keep the desired audience they are wanting to attract as well as the general theme of the film in mind when deciding how it is to be marketed. One example of a well marketed movie is Disney's Narnia.

The poster shows the contrast between good and evil through yellow on the side of good, and blue for evil. The movie is very clearly targeted a younger audience.

Examples:

Coraline (2009)

Coraline is a prime example of dark fantasy. The story focuses on a young girl, Coraline, who feels neglected by her parents who are too concerned with their jobs to have much interest in their child. After moving to a new house, Coraline discovers a doll made to look just like her. Coraline finds a suspicious key, which unlocks a small door in her new home's living room. That night, she is eventually lured into the door, where she exits into a world parallel to her own, but everything is made to seem like the better, happier version of her other life. There she finds a woman and a man who call themselves "other mother" and "other father." The pair are identical to her parents, with the exception that they have black buttons for eyes. It is later discovered that the "other mother" is the story's villain named the Beldam. She used the doll to lure Coraline into her magical parallel world, in order to convince Coraline to stay and let her sew buttons into her eyes, which allow her to absorb the child's soul. Coraline is very evidently a fantasy films, as it contains many elements of magic and talking animals.

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

The story of Alice in Wonderland accompanies a young girl named Alice who follows a white rabbit into a rabbit hole, which transports her into a magical and confusing realm. Alice finds herself surrounded by talking animals wearing clothing, walking playing cards, and strange people who to her seem completely mad.