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Origins & Types 
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Origins & Types
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Film Genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films that are recurring and have similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, syntax, filmic techniques or conventions - that include one or more of the following: settings (and props), content and subject matter, themes, mood, period, plot, central narrative events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, recurring icons (e.g., six-guns and ten-gallon hats in Westerns), stock characters (or characterizations), and stars. Many films are considered hybrids - they straddle several film genres.
Genres History: By the end of the silent era, many of the main genres were established: the melodrama, the western, the horror film, comedies, and action-adventure films (from swashbucklers to war movies). Musicals were inaugurated with the era of the Talkies, and the genre of science-fiction films wasn't generally popularized until the 1950s. One problem with genre films is that they can become stale, cliche-ridden, and over-imitated. A traditional genre that has been reinterpreted, challenged, or subjected to scrutiny may be termed revisionist.
Main Film Genres Film Sub-Genres 
Action Films 
Biographical Films (or "Biopics") 
Adventure Films 
'Chick' Flicks 
Comedy Films 
Detective & Mystery Films 
Crime & Gangster Films 
Disaster Films 
Drama Films 
Fantasy Films 
Epics/Historical Films 
Film Noir 
Horror Films 
Guy Films 
Musicals (Dance) Films 
Melodramas, Women's or "Weeper" Films 
Science Fiction Films 
Road Films 
War (Anti-War) Films 
Romance Films 
Westerns 
Sports Films 
Supernatural Films
Thriller-Suspense Films Minor Film Sub-Genres
There are dozens of minor sub-categories, such as martial-arts action films,
espionage thrillers, black comedies, and more.
Other Film Categories 
The Major Categories or Classifications of Film: Mega-Genres
There are other major types (or mega-genres), classifications, or general categories of films (defined in this site's glossary of film terms), including:
Contrasting Types of Films Basis in Reality: Non-Fictional (or documentary), or biopics; also Reality Films (or Movies) - derived from Reality TV Fictional Film (also called Narrative Film); there are also Docu-Fiction or Docu-Dramas (part fiction, part documentary) or Semi-documentaries Length: Feature-length films Shorts (or short subjects), anthology films (films with two or more discrete stories), or serials Audio: Silents Talkies Quality and Funding: 'A' (or first-run) pictures; mainstream (big-budget Hollywood) studio films, sometimes blockbusters; professionally-made films 'B' pictures (and lower), also called B-movies, or even Z-movies; independent (aka indie), avant-garde or experimental-underground films (usually low-budget), or art-house films; amateur films or guerrilla-filmmaking Visual Presentation: Regular 2-D 3-D or Stereoscopic Color: Black and white or monochrome Color Viewing Format: Widescreen 'Pan and Scan' formats
Type: Animated films (hand-drawn, CGI, etc.) Live-action (or un-animated) films Language: Domestic films Foreign-language films (sub-titled or dubbed) Originality: Original version Prequels, sequels, re-releases and remakes Rating: Rated films - regarding the degree of violence, profanity, or sexual situations within the film: G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, or X Unrated films Purpose: Message Pictures (usually serious) or Propagandistic Films Purely for Entertainment Pictures
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