Me and My Movies: Fantasy Films

Cesca Haig

Fantasy Films Films from the fantasy genre are films that feature things such as magic, make believe creatures and supernatural events. They have an element of myth, mystery, wonder and escapism.

I think fantasy is one of my favourite genres because of how you have to be able to use your imagination to actually enjoy the films and get involved in them and they can be in any type of place, from real places that exist to make believe worlds. I also like how different the characters can be in fantasy films, you can have humans mixing with aliens, or other supernatural beings or you could have completely made up creatures as the main character.

There are many types of fantasy films, some that are aimed at children and feature things such as fairies and have a basic good verses evil storyline and others that are aimed towards a more mature audience that feature more scary or complex creatures, events and storylines. However with some films the fantasy genre tends to overlap with other genres, such as science fiction, when this is done the films feature new technologies from different worlds or the genre can overlap with horror and a supernatural feature can be used to frighten the audience.

Pan's LabyrinthDirector: Guillermo del ToroYear of Production: 2006

Pan’s Labyrinth is set in Spain, 1944, five years after the Spanish civil war. The film is narrated by an unseen person and tells both the story of a the real world and a fantasy world that is centred around a abandoned overgrown labyrinth and a faun that the main character, Ofelia, talks to. The main character lives with her pregnant and ill mother and her stepfather who is a Falangist Captain searching for remaining Spanish Maquis. Ofelia comes into contact with many mystical creatures while trying to help her pregnant mother get better, they lead her through the trials and tasks of the labyrinth.

Special EffectsPan’s labyrinth uses a lot of special effects, such as animatronics and CGI, to bring the creatures and scenery alive in the film.

Special effects are a great way of making your film more effective and memorable, as when people watch them they will remember certain bits because of the way special effects have be used.

An example of this is a scene in Pan’s labyrinth where Ofelia, the main character, is told to go through a door where a creature who is said to eat small children if she eats any of the food on the table. The creature she discovers there a tall, saggy skinned man(?) with no eyes on his face, instead they are on his hands which he holds up to where his eyes should be, in this scene Ofelia is chased by the creature and gets out the room in just the nick of time, this scene is quite scary to watch and is a scene that I and other people remember from the film because of how the creature looked, this was achieved by special effects.

Spirited AwayDirector: Hayao Miyazaki

Year of Production: 2001

Spirited away is a fantasy animation set in japan, the main character, a young girl called Chihiro Ogino is moving house with her parents when they come across an abandoned town, in which they find plates and plates of foods which her parents begin to eat. Chihiro goes exploring and when she finds her parents she discovered they have turned into pigs. The town that they have come across is in fact an alternate reality that is ruled over by a bathhouse owned by the witch Yubaba, who is the one who transformed Chihiros parents to pigs. To set herself and her parents free, Chihiro takes a job at the bathhouse where she meets Haku and young boy who helps her on her mission to escape back to the human world.

Story LineThe storyline of Spirited Away is about a young girl who has to find her way out of an alternate reality with the help of a young boy and other mystical beings she meets a long the way. I liked the storyline of this film because at first it was easy to follow but as it developed I found it to be really interesting.

Having an easy story to follow is a good way of getting people to watch a film because it enables people to tell other about the film without giving too much away, this way a film will get more popular by word of mouth.

Although I do prefer films with more complex storyline because it gives you something to think about during the film and also after, I think a film is more memorable when you have to think about what happened afterwards to try and make sense of what was happening and putting all the bits together.

Sucker punch would be an example of a film with quite a complex storyline.

Sucker PunchDirector: Zack Snyder

Year of Production: 2011

Sucker punch is a film set in a mental institute, the main character is Baby Doll, who is forced into going there by her step father after the sudden death of her mother. The film centres around Baby doll as she tries to escape the institute before the date of her lobotomy, in five days. She switches from real life to fantasy, as she and fellow female inmates plot to escape the institute together. Along with a mystical guide, they fight to find the items that will help them escape and defeat fantastical and real foes.

Star TheoryOne of the main reasons I watched Sucker Punch was because of the people that starred in it, the main character is played by Emily Browning, one of my favourite actresses. Also two other actresses who were in the film are Jena Malone and Vanessa Hudgens, actresses whose films I have enjoyed.

I think that Start Theory is a big factor in why a lot of people go and see other films, or buy them to view at home. If a well known actor or actress is in a film, more people are likely to go and see it, because they see them in magazines, on tv, on radio and on the internet so much they develop an interest in them and become more interested in wanting to see films that they star in.

I also think that star theory is a very clever way of broadening the audience of a new film, because if you have star from a different genre of films from what they usually star in then their fans will watch their new film to see their favourite actor/actress, this way your film will make more money from their fans as well as fans of the genre of the film. For example the films that Vanessa Hudgens has stared in are usually romance or comedies, so her fans will be used to this type of film with her in but they might want to see Sucker Punch as she is in it, despite it being different from their choice of film.

Frame Work of Interpretation: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland Analysis Sheet

Frame Work of Interpretation: Tangled

Tangled Analysis Sheet

Media Literacy Media literacy is a repertoire of competences that enable people to analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres, and forms. This is a key way of getting films recognised.

The main way that I find out about new films are trailers on the TV and on different websites on the internet, I think that trailers on TV are a better way of advertising films because there is a huge number of people that watch TV and if a trailer is played a lot they will become more and more interested in going to see a film. I also think that the internet is a good way of advertising films because you can add more information abut the film then, and people can find out more things about the film.

Other ways of advertising films are billboards, blogs, word of mouth and social networking sites.

Reception Theory