Beginners Guide to Epic Fantasy

 

Bran is a young man content with this life in a sleep village, cut off from the rest of Buresia. One night a stranger comes and forces Bran to leave the village and travel Buresia to defeat a dark force. With him travel a band of mismatch companions, who were forced together by chance, but eventually become strong friends. While on the quest Bran discover he has a unique gift that means he is the only one who can stop the dark force, who he faces at the climax of the film.

The plot of an epic fantasy is essentially a coming of age story. There are wise mentors to lead the protagonist down the right path, as well as friends to help him through the difficult trials and a love interest to fight for. As the story develops the characters will rapidly mature and see the clear differences between good and evil. It is a story that has stood the test of time in literature, but only recently started to be seen on the big screen. This is because achieving the great depth and scale of these stories on film has only just been possible.

Epic fantasies are set in parallel worlds that have their own geography, religions and history, and the techniques to fully capture this have only been around in the last 25 years. Due to the improvement in CGI as well as international travel, plus the larger budgets, directors can successfully create the grand scale that comes with an epic fantasy. So now all the beauty and richness that is described on the page, sine most epic fantasies were originally books, can be brought to life on screen.

In the past epic fantasies have been saddled with the stereotypes of overacting leads, big bosomed women and low budgets, which means that film studios have avoided financing many projects. However, since the huge success of Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter, people in Hollywood have seen how epic fantasies can become mega buck franchises due to the hard-core fans that support them. Unfortunately even after the success of some franchises the old stigmas still exist so epic fantasies are found more often on the bookshelf rather than with the DVDs.

 

Films you must see

TheNeverEnding Story (1984)

Labyrinth (1986)

The Lord Of The Ring Trilogy (2001-2003)

The Harry Potter Series (2001-2011)

The Chronicels of Narnia  (2005-present)

Stardust (2007)

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010)

Skyline-movie clips

I hope everyone isn’t bored of twinkly lights in the sky after 5th November. Here are some more clips from soon to be released alien invasion movie ‘Skyline’. It certainly seems that this film is going to have all the trimmings with the CGI, action scenes and explosions.

Tron Legacy

It was not hugely popular on release, but has accumulated a huge cult status as being one of the best video game themed film of all time and now the story of Tron is continuing with Tron Legacy.

Tron Legacy follows Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) the son of original protagonist Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) as he searches for his father who went missing at the end of the last film. To find him he must enter the computer game world of Tron where each pixel has a mind of it’s own.

A lot of the original motifs and ideas from the 1982 film have been kept in by given a 21st century, big budget make over. The green screen and CGI look fantastic and it is likely that the 3D will be done incredibly well. Also Jeff Bridges plays his younger counterpart and the CGI has been used superbly to make him look identical to how he used to look back in the first one. This is likely going to have huge box office ratings when it is released on December 17th.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

written by guest lecturer Dean Newby

The Owls of Ga’Hoole is an animated film loosely based on the first book of the fantasy trilogy ‘Guardians of Ga’Hoole’ by Kathryn Lask. Directed by Zack Snyder of ‘300’ & ‘Watchmen’ fame, with voice work from the likes of Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill & Miriam Margolyes, and the lesser known but impressive Jim Sturgess, Joel Edgerton & Essie Davis. All the voice acting so impressive that you almost don’t recognize the famous voices; unlike other animated films this one has not relied on the strength of the names in the credits to hold it up. I had the opportunity to attend the European 3D Premiere in Leicester Square on Sunday 10th October.

As the film begins it’s obvious that we are in for a real visual treat. The leaves floating past on the screen are so ‘real’ that I move my head from their path while each feather if perfectly rendedered. It is movies like this that make you see what the true potential of 3D really is. The camera lands us on branch at the opening of an owl hollow, the sound of a family playing can be heard, and we are quickly introduced to the story’s young protagonist, Soren, a barn owl who is telling his young sister – the very cute Eglantine, the legend of the Guardians’ triumph over Metalbeak, a Sooty Owl who believes that it is the birthright of the ‘Pure Ones’ to rule over all other species.

The story quickly progresses, with a multitude of characters and character types introduced, including the evil Metalbeak who is rebuilding his army to yet again go to war with the Guardians in an attempt to wipe out both them and the lesser species. The Guardians are unaware of Metalbeak’s plan, but soon starts preparing in extraordinary style, and of course the band of companions are ever-present and vitally important as in all quest-based fantasy films.

Something this film is definitely not lacking is characterisation, which considering just how many characters there are is really quite impressive. The fact they are all owls is never a problem in how much personality they are given and how well we feel we know them. Even the members of Soren’s band of companions are given room to evolve, and play an important part in the story, with each contributing a characteristic one imagines is needed when on an exhausting and life-threatening quest. They also offer some of the film’s lighter and funnier moments, allowing the audience to take in and process either a piece of vital mythology or background, or a visually stunning sequence – of which there are many, each better and more impressive than the last.

It would be quite easy to write off a film like ‘Legend of the Guardians’ as simply an animated fantasy for children, the main characters are after all birds and the plot is not particularly complicated. But, to do so, would be a mistake. While it does fall short of being an epic, it is most definitely one of the higher quality animated fantasies. Not only in terms of visual effects and impact, but also in terms of plot and sub-plots, characterisation, and the natural flow and rhythm of the story’s timeline.

‘Legend of the Guardians’ is an enjoyable and visually beautiful film that though at times can be predictable, gives both children and adults alike enough reason to sit mesmerised for it’s entire 97 minute running time. An ideal weekend family film.

Degree: 2:1

A stunning adventure of good vs bad, light vs dark, owl vs owl.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

The Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga Hoole

Here is a film that has truly mastered 3D animation and CGI. The detail and beauty rendered in every scene and with every owl could give Pixar a run for their money; Animal Studio have really outdone themselves.

The film is based on a series of novels called ‘ Guardians of Ga’Hoole’ by Kathryn Lasky and follows the epic of journey of a young owl named Soren. With his friends he wants to find the guardians in order to warn them on an attack by an army of owls called The Pure Ones. Think of this as an epic version of ‘Happy Feet’.

With the voice cast including Hugo Weaving, Helen Mirren and Sam Neill it is clear that this won’t only be visual stunning, but will also be an enjoyable family film to sit through. Set to be released on 15th October, this one will be one to look out for.

Until then enjoy the many clips below which introduce us to a lot of the characters.

PC Power

There is no question of the fact that hand drawn animation has made classic films. Childhood movies (think Bambi, or Snow White) will forever bee crucial to cinema. Now, however, the new way of telling stories is CGI.

You can’t talk about CGI without mentioning the big studios, Pixar, and Dreamworks, who have made a fortune out of the new technology. Pixar’s Up opened with a staggering $64 million, $44 million more than Disney’s recent hand-drawn release The Princess and the Frog. Admittedly high box office figures don’t make a good film, otherwise every Harry Potter would have won an Oscar and The Hurt Locker would be at the bottom of the bargain bin. CGI, however, unarguably has the power to drag you into the film itself. The worlds that CGI achieves have more depth, texture and richness than anything drawn with pencil and paper. The beautiful coral of Finding Nemo and Puss’ fur in Shrek make CGI films feel more real to the audience. CGI animation also gives each character more expression and life than their drawn counterparts. The character that most epitomizes this is Pixar’s Wall.E; the mute metallic robot is one of the most expressive, adorable characters in animation – all done through a computer. It is true CGI films can be nothing more than cash cows, as films like A Shark’s Tale make explicitly obvious. However, what movie genre doesn’t have a few embarrassments that were better off on the drawing board?

CGI will also evolve as films continue to evolve. The animation will improve, the techniques will improve and, if Pixar are anything to go by, the stories will improve. Its existing stunning properties coupled with a limitless potential to be better is why I will always champion CGI over and above hand drawn animation.