The conventions of Gothic/ Dark
Fantasy movies
Gothic/ dark fantasy is basically the same as conventions of
a fantasy movie but combined with elements of horror and thriller movies. The
conventions therefore are just a mixture of both genres combined together.
Fantasy movies tend to have simplistic storylines, this is done as introducing
mythical beasts and supernatural elements can make a movie very complicated
when added to a complex storyline. Horror movies also have simplistic
storylines, this is done to make the audience think they know what is going to
happen and therefore allows the writer to add in more jump scares and other
thinks which make the audience afraid. Horror movies also normally take place
in the real world where nothing is really too complicated. Therefore, the genre
of dark fantasy normally contains a simple storyline like a fairy tale or other
type of simplistic script. Our own movie will be following the fairy tale story
of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ this is a commonly known story and therefore a
simplistic storyline, this will allow us to spend more time on complicated
characters so they audience doesn’t get confused.
Another convention of gothic/ dark fantasy is it is normally
set in a make believe world, fantasy is the same however horror is normally set
in normal places like a city or wood. This means when choosing a setting for
dark fantasy it should be make believe and “magical” but have some kind of
realism involved. Woods are common settings for dark fantasy as they are simplistic
but can be made to appear magical. Woods also supply a timeless feel as woods
have existed throughout history and therefore set no specific time period on
the movie, this again is done because in this mythical world the time period
normally is not as important. A good example of a gothic fantasy setting is
Wonderland from Tim Burton’s remake of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ this is an imaginary
world which is a timeless looking forest area, the setting adds to the
characters as it reflects how odd they are. For our own opening sequence we
will be basing it in a wood, we may add things to the setting to make it look
more magical and mystical such as snow or various other magical looking things.
Mythical beasts are also another convention of gothic/ dark
fantasy. Normally the main character is a human, they may have some kind of
magical power but they are normally an ordinary person in a magical world,
again referring back to ‘Alice in Wonderland’, Alice herself is a normal girl
who finds herself in a very odd world. The other characters are normally some
kind of mythical beasts, for example talking animals, or monsters, some of
which are taken from Greek mythology. Common examples of mythical beasts used are
dragons, centaurs or elves. As we are basing our film on the story of ‘Little
Red Riding Hood’ we shall be making Little Red Riding Hood herself a normal
person, the wolf (although you will not see him in the title sequence) will be
our mythical beast, a talking animal, larger looking that normal wolves, like a
large mutant wolf.
A very common convention of a fantasy movie is the idea of ‘Good
VS Evil’ there is always a defined good guy and bad guy. In gothic fantasy films
this idea still exists but sometimes it isn’t as much of a present theme, we
have our hero but as it is dark sometimes there are no defined good and bad
side to add to the air of mystery within the movie. In our opening sequence we
are shown our main character; however it does not give away if she is a good or
bad character. This makes the audience want to carry on watching so that they
can find out if she is good or evil.
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