List of basic film topics

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For a more comprehensive list, see the List of film topics.

Film can refer 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.

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

Contents 1 Essence of film 2 Cinematic genres 2.1 By setting 2.2 By mood 2.3 By format 2.4 By age 3 Cinema by region 4 History of film 4.1 Major film studios 5 Basic film concepts 6 Notable people from the film industry 6.1 Film theorists 6.2 Famous film producers 6.3 Famous directors 6.4 Famous actors 7 Film lists 7.1 Film genres and plots 7.2 Awards and festivals 7.3 Cast and crew 7.4 Film companies 7.5 Film details 7.6 Film success 8 External links

[edit] Essence of film

Main article: Film

[edit] Cinematic genres

Main article: Film genre

[edit] By setting

• Biography - portrays a real-life character in his or her real life story.
• Crime - places its character within realm of criminal activity
• 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

[edit] 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
• Fantasy - speculative fiction outside reality (i.e. myth, legend)
• 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

[edit] By format

• Animation - illusion of motion by consecutive display of static images which have been created by hand or on a computer
• 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
• Short - may strive to contain many of the elements of a "full-length" feature, in a shorter time-frame

[edit] 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. Adult film may also be used as a synonym for pornographic film.

[edit] Cinema by region

v • d • 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 · Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti · Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Dependencies, autonomies, other territories Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) · Madeira (Portugal) · Mayotte / Réunion (France) · Puntland · St. Helena (UK) · Socotra (Yemen) · Somaliland · Southern Sudan · Western Sahara · Zanzibar (Tanzania) Italics indicate an unrecognised or partially recognised country.

v • d • 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 · Panama1 · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · St. Vincent and the Grenadines · Trinidad and Tobago1 · United States Dependencies and other territories American Samoa2 · Anguilla · Aruba1 · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Cayman Islands · Greenland · Guadeloupe · Guam2 · Martinique · Montserrat · Navassa Island · Netherlands Antilles · Northern Mariana Islands2 · Puerto Rico · St. Barthélemy · St. Martin · St. Pierre and Miquelon · Turks and Caicos Islands · United States Virgin Islands 1 Territories also in or commonly reckoned elsewhere in the Americas (South America). 2 Territories also in or commonly reckoned to be in the Pacific basin.

v • d • e Cinema of South America Sovereign states Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Guyana · Panama1 · Paraguay · Peru · Suriname · Trinidad and Tobago1 · Uruguay · Venezuela Dependencies Aruba1 / Netherlands Antilles1 (Netherlands) · Falkland Islands / South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK) · French Guiana (France) 1 Territories also in or commonly reckoned elsewhere in the Americas (North America).

v • d • e Cinema of Asia Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma (Myanmar) · Cambodia · China · Cyprus · East Timor1 · Egypt1 · Georgia1 · Hong Kong · India · Indonesia1 · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan1 · Korea (North Korea · South Korea) · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Macau · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Northern Cyprus2 · Oman · Pakistan · People's Republic of China · Palestinian territories3 · Philippines · Qatar · Republic of China · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Taiwan · Tajikistan · Thailand · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen1 1 Transcontinental country.  2 Only recognised by Turkey.  3 Not fully independent.

European cinema
• Cinema of Albania
• Cinema of Armenia
• Cinema of Austria
• Cinema of Azerbaijan
• Cinema of Belgium
• Cinema of Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Cinema of Bulgaria
• Cinema of Croatia
• Cinema of Cyprus
• Cinema of the Czech Republic
• Cinema of Denmark
• Cinema of Estonia
• Cinema of the Faroe Islands
• Cinema of Finland
• Cinema of France
• Cinema of Georgia
• Cinema of Germany
• Cinema of Greece
• Cinema of Hungary
• Cinema of Iceland
• Cinema of Ireland
• Cinema of Italy
• Cinema of Latvia
• Cinema of Lithuania
• Cinema of Luxembourg
• Cinema of Montenegro
• Cinema of the Netherlands
• Cinema of Norway
• Cinema of Poland
• Cinema of Portugal
• Cinema of Romania
• Cinema of Russia
•  • Cinema of the Russian Empire
• Cinema of Serbia
• Cinema of Slovakia
• Cinema of Slovenia
• Cinema of the Soviet Union
• Cinema of Spain
• Cinema of Sweden
• Cinema of Switzerland
• Cinema of Turkey
• Cinema of the UK
• Cinema of Ukraine
• Cinema of Yugoslavia

v • d • e Cinema of Oceania  Australasia Australia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · New Zealand1 · Norfolk Island   Melanesia East Timor2 · Fiji · New Caledonia · Papua New Guinea3 · Solomon Islands · Vanuatu  Micronesia Federated States of Micronesia · Guam · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Nauru · Northern Mariana Islands · Palau   Polynesia American Samoa · Cook Islands · French Polynesia · Niue · Pitcairn Islands · Samoa · Tokelau · Tonga · Tuvalu · Wallis and Futuna 1 Often included in Polynesia.  2 Often included in Southeast Asia.  3 Often included in Australasia.

[edit] History of film

Main article: History of film

Camera obscura - Intertitle - Magic lantern - Motion Picture Patents Company - Phantasmagoria - Silent film - Thomas Edison - Zoetrope

[edit] Major film studios

Main article: Major film studios

20th Century Fox Buena Vista/Walt Disney Pictures Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment) Lions Gate Films 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)

[edit] Basic film concepts

Main article: Film theory

Academy awards - Actor - American Film Institute - Film director - Film studio - Movie projector - Photography - Set construction - Sound stage

[edit] Notable people from the film industry

[edit] Film theorists

Rudolf Arnheim - André Bazin - Sergei Eisenstein - Siegfried Kracauer - Lev Kuleshov - Vsevolod Pudovkin

[edit] Famous film producers

• George Lucas

[edit] Famous directors

Alfred Hitchcock - Stanley Kubrick - Steven Spielberg

[edit] Famous actors

Humphrey Bogart - Marlon Brando - James Cagney - Bette Davis - Alec Guinness - Audrey Hepburn - Katharine Hepburn - Jack Lemon - Walter Matthau - Edward G. Robinson

[edit] Film lists

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'

[edit] Film genres and plots

List of films featuring extraterrestrials List of character-based movie franchises List of cinematic genres List of comedy films List of comedy-drama films List of drama films

List of disaster films List of fantasy films List of films noir List of gangster movies List of gay-related movies

List of horror films List of punk movies List of racism-related movies List of science fiction films List of war films

[edit] Awards and festivals

List of movie awards List of film festivals

List of Academy Awards ceremonies

List of Golden Globe Awards ceremonies

[edit] Cast and crew

List of actors List of actresses

List of directors List of show business families

List of soundtrack composers

[edit] Film companies

List of Hollywood agencies and management companies List of film production companies

List of Motion Picture Production Companies List of Motion Picture Production Units

List of Motion Picture Production Studios List of Motion Picture Distributors

[edit] Film details

List of film formats

[edit] Film success

Films that have been considered the greatest ever List of highest-grossing films

List of movies that were financial failures List of movies that have won eight or more Academy Awards

Films considered the worst ever

[edit] External links

Find more about Film on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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• Movies at the Open Directory Project

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