Genre Research - Dark Fantasy

Definition 
Dark Fantasy is an adult genre where the combination of horror is put into a fantasy film. This horror can be used in various ways such as Psychological Horror,  Shock Horror and other types of elements such as blood, guts and gory elements that are aimed at adult audiences depending on the films as some may be aimed at younger audiences whilst others are not. However, whilst these films are aimed at various audiences , they do contain elements of danger and horror that can easily scare people such as movies like "Snow White And The Huntsman" where a kid aged 5 or under may find it too scary.



Typical Storyline

In a dark fantasy film the storyline is mainly very easy to follow as they may want to teach morals in a film such as to not judge people because of their past or to not trust strangers. This links to the film idea of mine as whilst I am intending of taking the story of Hansel and Gretel and setting it in modern day, I hope the film idea can teach a few morals such as not to trust strangers and that if you do then those actions may have consequences. As well as this, a normal fantasy film can have the battle between a villain which is very recognisable and normally defeats the villain. This would however be subverted in the film to show sometimes you don't always succeed so in this case they would die.

The Characters in Dark Fantasy
In a Dark Fantasy these are normally the following characters/creatures an audience would expect in a film:

• Hero/Heroine: In the film a hero or heroine is expected in the film and are seen manly sometimes and physically and mentally strong for a person as they have to willpower to stop the person and make sure that good will overcome evil. However, sometimes they are depicted as not intelligent and therefore they can fail due to this as a hero. This links to the film idea as the intention is for the hero and heroine to die as they are easily mislead and as a result of this they never escape the trap which is the old woman's house. 
• Villain: The villain in this genre is very recognisable and normally seen as weak and frail but also very cunning and evil. Their plan may be to gain power or revenge in a way that the hero will not realise and normally they are dressed in dark clothes suggesting that they are very dangerous and introversive. Such characters like this include the Evil Queen from "Snow White and the Huntsman" (See picture 1 above) as she is dressed in black to suggest that her personality is not nice at all and that they are are normally trying to be inclusive. However, they are normally recognisable as a villain to teach people such as younger audiences that it is not right to plan evil plans and that if they do then they may end up failing and that their actions may have consequences. This links to the film as in the idea, the villain will be dressed like one that is recognisable and one that children must not respect as a role model. 
• Companion- This companion can be either for the villain in achieving their plan or for the hero to help and gain power. They are normally not as well respected or known to others as due to their class they are seen as not as strong and a poorer than the hero or the villain. They normally would wear hand-me-down clothes and aren't seen as respected well by others. Such examples include Diaval from "Maleficent" (See picture 2 below) and also The Huntsman from "Snow White and The Huntsman" This links to the film as it may include a companion working for the villain to lure the children in and help the witch kill them. As a result of this, whilst he may end up gaining respect and power from the witch but could be also seen by others as poor and weak.

Similar Films to the film idea

• Maleficent - This film is one that is very similar in a way to the film idea I have created as the film looks at the story of Sleeping Beauty from the point of view of Maleficent and whilst the idea will not be from the point of view of the villain, the film contains many twists from the original that we intend to use to try and tell it to a more adult audience.

• Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters - Whilst this film is a more adult version sequel to the original story and the idea is based on the story, the film contains generic conventions to the genre of dark fantasy such as woods that look very scary and terrifying as well as the place looking dark and not welcoming as well as scary houses and witches which look like old scary people. This links the film idea as we want to use various conventions in this film and whilst the film may be aimed at a younger audience, we want our film to be given a sense of threat and danger for the characters and therefore end up getting killed.