Films are often divided into
genres, which describe the typical subject matter -- what the film is
about. This is distinct from
film styles, which describes filmic conventions which can be applied to any genre. Of course, the more that genres are defined, the more likely that a filmmaker will try to combine, transcend and evade categories, so not every film can be neatly labeled.
Some of the most common film genres are:
- 3-D film
- Action film
- Adventure film[?]
- Animation
- Art film[?]
- Blaxploitation
- Comedy film
- Disaster film
- Documentary film
- Dogme 95
- Drama film
- Ephemeral film
- Family film
- Fantasy film
- Film noir
- Historical drama film
- Horror film
- Martial arts film
- Musical film
- Newsreel
- Pornographic film
- Propaganda film
- Romantic comedy film
- Science fiction film
- Short film[?] (duration approximately in the range 1-30 minutes)
- Silent film
- Spy film
- Surrealist film[?]
- Sword and sandal
- Thriller film
- War film
- Western film
- Wu Xia film
Post-hoc descriptions
- Cult film
Other related terms
- genre film theory