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Overview of Film Genres and Subgenres

This document provides an overview of common film genres and their descriptions. It lists seven major genres: comedy, horror, action, sci-fi, romance, thriller, and drama. For each genre, it gives a brief definition and examples of subgenres that fall under each category. It notes that genres can overlap and provides the example of superhero films, which contain elements of both action and sci-fi. The purpose is to assist readers in understanding how films are categorized based on their stylistic elements, characters, plots, and settings.

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Aizel Nova Fermilan Arañez
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Topics covered

  • audience engagement,
  • thematic elements,
  • cultural impact,
  • action sub-genres,
  • genre overlap,
  • political drama,
  • romance,
  • romantic comedy,
  • action,
  • film genre
3K views5 pages

Overview of Film Genres and Subgenres

This document provides an overview of common film genres and their descriptions. It lists seven major genres: comedy, horror, action, sci-fi, romance, thriller, and drama. For each genre, it gives a brief definition and examples of subgenres that fall under each category. It notes that genres can overlap and provides the example of superhero films, which contain elements of both action and sci-fi. The purpose is to assist readers in understanding how films are categorized based on their stylistic elements, characters, plots, and settings.

Uploaded by

Aizel Nova Fermilan Arañez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Topics covered

  • audience engagement,
  • thematic elements,
  • cultural impact,
  • action sub-genres,
  • genre overlap,
  • political drama,
  • romance,
  • romantic comedy,
  • action,
  • film genre

Your Guide to Film Genres

By definition, a film genre is the term


categorizing a film based on some stylistic
criteria. From there, sub-genres are
developed. The category of a film indirectly
assists in shaping the characters and the
story of the movie. The shaping determines
the plot and setting used. Here are the basic
film genres.

Genre Description
Comed It is generally meant to
y make people laugh. Its
subgenres include
slapstick comedy and
romantic comedy.
Horror It aims to evoke
viewers’ nightmares,
fears, and terrors of the
unknown. Its subgenres
include zombie horror
and folk horror.
Action This has tremendous
impact, continuous high
energy, lots of physical
stunts and activity. Some
of its subgenres are war
& military action, spy &
espionage action, and
martial arts action.
Sci-fi Uses visionary, fictional
science-based
depictions through
fanciful imaginative
settings. Some of its
subgenres are space
travel, time travel, robot
and monster films, and
alien invasion.

Roman The plot revolves around


ce the love of its main
characters such as
courtship, forbidden
love, or love triangles. Its
subgenres include
historical romance,
romantic drama,
romantic comedy, and
chick flick.
Thriller Induces strong feelings
of excitement, tension,
suspense and other
similar emotions. Some
of its subgenres are
conspiracy thriller, crime
thriller, and spy thriller.
Drama This is a serious
presentation or stories
with settings or real- life
situations that portray
realistic characters in
conflict with either
themselves, others, or
forces of nature. Its
subgenres include
political drama, romantic
drama, and melodrama.
Fantasy A film genre that most
likely overlaps with sci-fi
and other genres, but it
bases its content on some
degree of scientific truth,
fairy- tale experiences
and mystical beings.
Take note that film genres can
sometimes be difficult to identify
because genres tend to overlap. Take
the case of superhero-themed films
where it can be categorized as an action
type genre but also as sci-fi when the
story involves Science in the story plot.

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