Fantastic Voyage: Reconsidering Target Audience

After choosing an idea for my animation, drawing more thumbnails and looking at more inspiration I decided it might be best if I change my target audience. At the minute, I feel as though my animation is going to be more like a fairytale or a scary story to be told at bedtime or next to a campfire. Because of this I think I may change my target audience from generally everyone to children. I think this would also make more sense in terms of how I'm currently designing my bacteria to be kind of cute. I think the type of story I'm going to tell/how I'm going to tell it along with my art direction would lend itself to a scary fairytale, like The Brothers Grimm.

Since I started reconsidering my target audience, I began to look at a few different books that I used to read as a kid. I always enjoyed scary books when I was little, some of my favourites being Goosebumps (my favourite being The Werewolf of Fever Swamp), In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (my favourite being The Green Ribbon), and The Witches (although this isn't really a horror story, there were aspects of it that used to frighten me), Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, and Edgar Allan Poe.

I also had another look at some films and artwork made by Tim Burton such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, a film I loved as a child despite it being slightly grotesque. Tim Burton's films, although gothic and dark, also features some cuter characters which is partly why the films remain kid friendly. Since the characters aren't too realistic they aren't too horrific for children to watch.

TV shows like Invader Zim, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and Courage the Cowardly dog all have dark undertones but appeal to a younger audience. Although some episodes are undoubtedly creepy (I remember a few episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog that really scared me) I think even children are attracted to things that are frightening. Through my art direction, story telling and narration I hope to create an animation that gives off a dark fairytale, campfire story, urban myth feel.