Fantasy films often take us in to a different world and away from the imperfections of our normal life

film is Frodo, he has little strength and fighting ability but is strong willed and brave. He has the characteristics of the typical fantasy main character, and these characteristics help entertain the audience; they like to see an underdog win. Also they will be a character the audience can usually relate to and are often a more credible person than most others in fantasy films. Frodo has three friends, Meri, Pippin and Sam who are all similar to him these characters add a comedy element to some parts of the film, mostly to relieve the tension when needed. This helps entertain the audience more so. In Lord of the Rings there is a slight exception to the rule of there being one person who is strong, brave and does most of the fighting, as there are four characters like this, Aragorn (Strider), Boromir, Gimli and Legolas. Having four incredible characters intensifies the battles, also all the characters are unrealistic yet this entertains people more as they are seeing something they wouldn’t usually see. Once again fitting in with the stereotypes of the fantasy genre there is a beautiful woman that someone falls in love with, audiences often like romance within a film, especially between two characters they have seen a lot of during the movie and have grown attached to. People like to see other people they like succeed or do well, whether it’s in a fight or in a relationship. This is yet another technique that gets the audience more in to the film. The final character typical of almost every fantasy film is the evil one, in this particular film it is Saruman, he is originally good but is then corrupted and turns evil. With an evil character in a film, it gives the viewer someone to hate and whenever they do anything to the good characters; it angers the audience and lures them deeper and deeper in to the world of the film. Another thing that is very much a characteristic of a fantasy film is the names of the characters, it’s not every day you meet someone called Boromir or Frodo, with these incredible , unusual names it takes the audience even further away from there normal life and more in to the movie.Events in a film are what entertain us the most, they are the factor that determines whether we enjoy a movie or not. Different people like to see different things on screen and films often need to try and interest everyone. Events in a fantasy film can completely change how we feel, they can make us sad, happy, angry, a whole range of different emotions. Fantasy films in particular try and cater for everyone’s tastes; they include intense battle scenes, yet also have the contrast with romantic love scenes. The most typical event in a fantasy film is a battle, or maybe even multiple battles, these engage the viewer and also determine what characters the audience take a liking to. The fights are mostly between the main character and their arch nemesis, the battles are incredible and nothing anyone would see in real life, therefore they entertain the audience. The other event that is almost always in a fantasy film is romantic scene, between the main ‘good’ character, and the beautiful lady. People like to see characters they like, succeed in a relationship, or even a battle for that matter. Also, the love scene acts as good relief from the stresses of the fights and other more aggressive moments in the film. Lord of The Rings once again contains these stereotypes; the battle at weather top between the four hobbits and Aragorn against the ring wraiths, the fight is intense and ends with one of the main characters, Frodo, being stabbed. This makes the audience feel more hatred towards the ring wraiths who are the evil characters, and more sympathetic towards Frodo. Music is essential in a film, try and imagine jaws without the music. The music provides the atmosphere for the setting, and also the characters will determine what kind of music will be playing. Music in a fantasy film is often very mellow and soft; it has a very classical, old feel to it. Yet the music depends entirely on what is happening, and what characters are involved, if it is a romance scene, soft, slow music will be played. Yet if it is a battle scene, more upbeat faster music will be played. The music in Lord of The Rings is exactly like the typical fantasy film music, it is mostly slow and soft, but then upbeat and faster when a more extreme event happens.If you’ve seen one ending in a fantasy film, you’ve basically seen them all. The endings almost always follow the same structure; the main character kills his enemy, then him and the beautiful woman fall in love and everything is happy. The ending in any film is very important, if the ending is poor, it often makes the whole film poor. During the end of a movie, the viewer’s emotions are often at their peak and anything that happens will engage the audience more and more. The ending in a fantasy film are always incredible and unbelievable, as in reality nothing always ends up perfect and happy. Lord of The Rings has this very typical ending, the ring and Saruman are defeated, and Aragorn falls in love with the woman. Although this ending is predictable, it is effective as the film comes to a slow and steady end; it isn’t rushed, nor does it drag on. Also because things have gone well in the film, it will make the audience feel good, and therefore even more in to the film, and out of their usual routine.The words said in a film and how they are spoken is equally important to the events that occur. In Lord of The rings the characters speak very clearly and with no distinguishable accent, this is the way characters talk in nearly all fantasy films. Also, the words that they use are often longer than those used in everyday life, and are nearly always polysyllabic. This shows intelligence within the film and can engage the viewer more.The attributes of a film always reflect each other, the music played is dependent on the event and the characters involved. Also, the setting of a place depends on what is happening there. Also every genre of film has certain stereotypes and you can now see how films of that genre can fit the stereotypes perfectly in most areas of the movie. I will now look at another fantasy film that doesn’t fit the stereotypes quite as well Lord of The Rings does.Star Wars is a film that doesn’t fit the characteristics of your average fantasy film, although being a fantasy movie.The settings and locations in Star Wars are all in space and on planets other than Earth. All of the locations are very futuristic and mostly dark giving the whole place a dark atmosphere, this darkness reflects the happenings in the certain setting and as most of the events in the film are evil or upsetting, the settings will be also; there is rarely a lighter more cheerful place in the film making this film different to the typical fantasy film, where there are many peaceful places to relieve the tensions of the other locations. The settings in Star Wars are all extremely incredible and nothing the audience would see in reality, this takes them away from the real world and engages them in the film. This is one similarity that Star Wars has to the typical fantasy film, that the settings are unbelievable.In fantasy films, there will always be certain types of characters, a strong and brave person, someone who is wise and clever, one who is weak yet brave and noble, a beautiful woman who is adored by most of the characters. There will often be an evil counterpart for these characters, and the characters within Star Wars are still what you would expect to see in a fantasy film, despite not having the usual characteristics of this genre.Luke Skywalker is the character that is strong and brave; he does most of the fighting in the film along side Han Solo. If there is action these two characters are usually involved, they are both unbelievable characters and could only exist in the film world, yet provide entertainment and will help bring people in to the film and out of reality. The character that provides the role of the wise and clever one is Yoda, a small green old Jedi master; just how he looks is incredible and would never exist in the real world, this is another example of the technique to engage the audience, by having characters with a strange appearance. Princess Leia is the beautiful woman in the movie that is adored by many of the other characters; she is the one that provides the romance in the film to appeal to a wider audience. Darth Vader is the evil character, the black clothes he wears portrays his dark personality, he is one of the best bad characters in a fantasy film and does the role of being hated very well; hatred towards a character is a great way of getting the audience involved with the movie. Both R2D2 and CP30 are android characters; they are unbelievable and also relieve tensions in the film, with slight comedy.  The events in most fantasy films are very varied and have some battle scenes and some romantic scenes. Star Wars follows this stereotype to a certain extent as it does contain battles, and it includes the very famous fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. And it also contains the love scenes, yet these scenes aren’t quite the same as they are in other fantasy films. The fights only involve two characters at once, whereas the stereotype for a fantasy film, usually involves multiple people battling at once. In the epic battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, they are engaged in combat for quite a while, and the action is high, this will entertain the audience. Then, there is a huge twist in the story, and Darth Vader reveals he is actually Luke Skywalker’s father. This then makes the viewer think, and ponder their judgement of the evil character before they new he was the father of the character they have been following for the whole film. The audience will be feeling many emotions in this part of the movie, and they will be thoroughly engaged.Music is a huge part of the film Star Wars, without it, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective and such a good atmosphere wouldn’t be created if there was no music. The music helps set the scene and in this film it works really well for engaging the audience. The music is mostly slow, with loud instruments to create an epic sound. Yet the music is dependent on the event, so in a fight scene, the music would be more upbeat and faster, to create a different atmosphere. The music used in Star Wars is much different to the usual music in a fantasy film; it is usually very classical and has instruments like violins playing.A fantasy film usually ends very happily, with the hero character falling in love with the beautiful woman, this happens in the story, yet all is not happy. Luke Skywalker’s dad Darth Vader ends up dieing and all is not well. This makes emotions run high in the film as a character the audience have just grown to like, dies. The viewer will be deeper in to the film and taken more so out of their own world. Once again this is another thing that doesn’t fit in with the stereotypical fantasy characteristics unlike Lord of The Rings.The words said in a film and how they are spoken is equally important to the events that occur. In Star Wars the characters speak very clearly and with no distinguishable accent, this is the way characters talk in nearly all fantasy films. Also, the words that they use are often longer than those used in everyday life, and are nearly always polysyllabic. This shows intelligence within the film and can engage the viewer more. A lot of Fantasy films follow the usual characteristics, yet there are always some films in the genre that don’t follow them quite so well; they will always have various aspects of it, but wont be as stereotypical. Films use many techniques to get the audience engaged in the film and feeling catharsis. The Settings, characters, events, music, ending and dialogue all contribute towards the emotions we feel when watching a film. If the events are sad, we feel sad. Most of these things in a film are unbelievable and incredible, this takes the audience more in to the world of the film, as it isn’t something anyone would see in reality, it also entertains and takes someone out of their every day life. The settings, characters, events etc. all reflect each other and work together to make us feel the emotions that the director of the film wants us to feel at the particular moment in the movie.