Conventions of the Fantasy genre

Fantasy films use magic and fictional stories rather than supernatural elements, they may also include elements of magic and imaginative and original magical creatures. The ‘Fantasy’ genre is believed to have evolved from the ‘Science-Fiction’ genre, there are clearly noticeable differences between the two. The Fantasy genre is usually targeted at, families, teenagers and young adults. Many animated films such as ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ are not considered as fantasy films, even though they contain elements that we would expect to see in a fantasy film, they are separately categorized as ‘Fairy tales’. The Fairy tale genre, can however be described as a sub genre of the fantasy genre.

From my research, I have found that many fantasy films are in series format and they all prove very successful. Examples of this includes ‘The Lord of The Rings’ which are a trilogy of movies

Sub Genres

There are two main sub genres of Fantasy, they include ‘High Fantasy’ and ‘Sword and Sorcery’.

High Fantasy – This sub genre, is set in a world that is not considered ‘real’, the location is fictional, the rules in this place differ from that of the real world.During this genre, the plot is usually centred around a battle which is between good and evil, both parties are easily recognisable from each other. An example of this genre is ‘Maleficent’ this is a typical High Fantasy film as it includes all of the conventions. The storyline of these films are fairly simple and where good overcomes evil. This definition ‘High Fantasy’ came from Lloyd Alexander.

Sword and Sorcery – This sub genre is much more plot driven than that of the ‘High Fantasy’ genre. Hence the name of the genre includes ‘sword’, this means that the genre is heavily centred around action, and sword fighting, in addition, ‘sorcery’ implies that during these heavy action fights there are also elaborate sword fights that include magic.Just like the ‘High Fantasy’ genre, there is a battle between good and evil, however, within this genre they may introduce a hero who sets out to protect ‘something’ or ‘someone’. The characters within this type of film tend to be more human, for example ‘Harry Potter’, although he is surrounded by magic and magical creatures, he is still human.

Codes and Conventions

• High production values• Younger target audience although significant older appeal• Wide/saturated distribution (normally by an American Studio

e.g. Warner Bros or Disney). • Dedicated, sometimes obsessive fan base• Convergence and Synergy • Emotive, often ‘romanticised’ narratives• Hyper real, idealised representations• Saturated primary colours• High key lighting • Significant CGI and FX e.g. green screen technology • Aspiration, escapism characters, often undertaking a quest • Occasional political narrative themes• Simplistic, linear narrative (e.g. Hobbit travels across middle

earth) • Iconography including magic, mystical creates, e.g. Elves and

Faires • Often set in the part or in an imagined times

Examples of the Fantasy genre