List of film topics

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to film:

Film – refers to motion pictures as individual projects and to the field in general. The name came from the fact that photographic film (also called filmstock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist — motion pictures (or just pictures or "picture"), the silver screen, photoplays, the cinema, picture shows, flicks — and commonly movies.

Essence of film

Main article: Film

Filmmaking

Cinematic genres

Main article: Film genre

By setting

Biography - portrays a real-life character in his or her real life story.
Crime - places its character within realm of criminal activity.
Fantasy - films set in imaginary worlds, often with a swords and sorcery theme.
Film noir - portrays its principal characters in a nihilistic and existentialist realm or manner.
Historical - taking place in the past.
Science fiction - placement of characters in an alternative reality, typically in the future or in space.
Sports - sporting events and locations pertaining to a given sport.
War - battlefields and locations pertaining to a time of war.
Westerns - colonial period to modern era of the western United States.

By mood

Action - generally involves a moral interplay between "good" and "bad" played out through violence or physical force
Adventure - involving danger, risk, and/or chance, often with a high degree of fantasy.
Comedy - intended to provoke laughter
Drama - mainly focuses on character development
Erotic - sexuality or eroticism and sex acts, including love scenes
Horror - intended to provoke fear in audience
Mystery - the progression from the unknown to the known by discovering and solving a series of clues
Romance - dwelling on the elements of romantic love
Thrillers - intended to provoke excitement and/or nervous tension into audience

By format

Biographical - a biopic is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person, with varying degrees of basis in fact
Documentary - a factual following of an event or person to gain an understanding of a particular point or issue
Experimental (avant-garde) - created to test audience reaction or to expand the boundaries of film production/story exposition then generally at play
Musical - a film interspersed with singing by all or some of the characters
Silent - a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue

By production type

Live Action - film using actors
Animation - illusion of motion by consecutive display of static images which have been created by hand or on a computer
Television - a film that is produced for and originally distributed by a television network

By length

Short - may strive to contain many of the elements of a "full-length" feature, in a shorter time-frame
Serial - Similar shorts but forms constant story arc
Feature film - Film that is "full-length".

By age

Children's film - films for young children - as opposed to a family film, no special effort is made to make the film attractive for other audiences.
Family - intended to be attractive for people of all ages and suitable for viewing by a young audience. Examples of this are Disney films.
Teen film - intended and aimed towards teens although some teen films such as the High School Musical series may also be a family film. Not all of these films are suitable for all teens in which some are rated-R.
Adult film - intended to be viewed only by an adult audience, content may include violence, disturbing themes, obscene language, or explicit sexual behaviour. This includes various forms of exploitation films. Adult film may also be used as a synonym for pornographic film.

Cinema by region

v t e Cinema of Africa

Sovereign states	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

States with limited recognition	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland

Dependencies and other territories	Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla / Plazas de soberanía (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)

v t e Cinema of North America

Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States

Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

v t e Cinema of South America

Sovereign states	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay Venezuela

Dependencies and other territories	Aruba Bonaire Curaçao Falkland Islands French Guiana South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

v t e Cinema of Asia

Sovereign states	Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia China Cyprus East Timor (Timor-Leste) Egypt Georgia India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen

States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan

Other dependent territories	British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Hong Kong Macau

v t e Cinema of Europe

Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria

Dependencies and other territories	Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Svalbard

v t e Cinema of Oceania

Sovereign states	Australia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu

Dependencies and other territories	American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna

History of film

Main article: History of film

General film concepts

Main article: Film theory

Film formats

List of film formats

Films

Main article: List of film topics

List of films by title: #, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J-K, L, M, N-O, P, Q-R, S, T, U-V-W, & X-Y-Z
List of 'years in film'

Films by success

Film companies

Major film studios

Main article: Major film studios

20th Century Fox –
Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group –
Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment) –
Lions Gate Entertainment –
New Line Cinema (a subsidiary of Time Warner) –
Paramount Pictures (a subsidiary of Viacom) –
Universal Studios (a subsidiary of NBC Universal) –
Warner Bros. (another subsidiary of Time Warner) –
The Weinstein Company –
MGM/UA Entertainment Co. (another subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment) –

Awards and festivals

Notable people from the film industry

Film theorists

Famous film producers

Famous directors

Main article: List of film and television directors

Famous actors

Main article: List of actors

External links

Find more about Film at World Heritage Encyclopedia's sister projects
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This outline displayed as a mindmap, at wikimindmap.com
DMOZ
Allmovie - Information on films: actors, directors, biographies, reviews, cast and production credits, box office sales, and other movie data.
Film Site - Reviews of classic films
DMOZ
Rottentomatoes.com - Movie reviews, previews, forums, photos, cast info, and more.
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) - Information on current and historical films and cast listings.

v t e Outlines

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List of film topics