3 - Genre and Medium: What Would Fit Best

 

    Now that I decided that I will do animation, this should let me have more creative liberty in the genre I'd like to use! There wouldn't me many limitations in character design for example, as I wouldn't need to buy any makeup, clothing, nor accessories to get the same costume design. The problem lies in the few parts of a story I want to tell, and how ambitious it might be compared to the workload and time limit. If I'm going to do animation, I need to plan quick and start immediately. I will list some options I singled out that I'll elaborate to make it easier to visualize.

Fantasy - "Featuring elements of the fantastic, often including magic, supernatural forces, or exotic fantasy worlds." 

Thriller - "A story that is usually a mix of fear and excitement . . . It generally has a dark of serious theme, which also makes it similar to drama." 

Supernatural - "Exploits or requires as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace natural world and materialist assumptions about it." 

    (The page also listed genres of animation, though I firmly believe in Guillermo del Toro's words, "Animation is a medium, not a genre- nor an interest in kids or families only." that animation is a medium that can fit any other film genre. Thankfully, it does clarify that this aspect is debated.)*

    Thriller can be good for exploiting the unknown, but it might be difficult to cultivate suspense in such a short time. The mood would be serious as well, which would impact the premise of the intro. I could come up with a scenario that also contains a lot of suspense, such as the main character being a murderer hiding their nature. Making them the protagonist might also make the suspense towards another party finding out rather than the murder doing any violent actions, since usually the viewer would root for the protagonist despite who they are. However, I'm not sure if it's a story I'd like to tell, or one I would be able to accurately portray.

    I actually already had an idea for this project, but I wasn't sure where it would fit in terms of genre. The premise is that character in a monotone world keeps a colored pen, defying the logic of that world. With the logic of that world, filling it in with a simple dark tone, mid tone, and highlight should make the workload easier. I might also make it a slice of life to contrast the nearly noir composition. The problem lies with a probing question; what is the difference between supernatural and fantasy?

    I tried checking multiple sources such as both the supernatural and fantasy Wikipedia pages, Goodreads, and Kindle Direct Publishing. From what I could deduce, fantasy can be interpreted as a main genre, and the supernatural can be either an element of it or a subgenre. There were some that said that the supernatural belonged to werewolves and ghosts, as fantasy was set in a different world. However, supernatural horror may be a different category by itself. The subgenre that I feel best describes this premise is contemporary fantasy, where the magic or supernatural occurs in our world. Some examples of films that were listed were Mary Poppins, Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, and Enchanted. The example that stood out to me is the second! It technically is our world, but what may be considered strange is normal in part of the worldbuilding, which relates to the aspect of the monotonous world.

    Overall, I decided to do a contemporary fantasy film! However, I would like to add an element of childlike wonder despite that previous remark*. I'd like to fit my premise, which will be explored in a post in the near future, to a curious protagonist that the viewers follow. The simple style would compliment the lighthearted tone, and the lighthearted tone would contrast with the color palette (or rather lack of color).