This document outlines different genres of films including horror, comedy, romance, fantasy, mystery, thriller, action, adventure, western, musical, sci-fi, crime, war and drama. It defines genre as a system of signs that allows a particular genre to be recognized based on common themes. Genres create a contrast between audience expectations and how filmmakers play with those expectations. Examples of characteristics for the horror, comedy, romance and fantasy genres are provided.

1. Types of genres
• Horror
• Comedy
• Romance
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• Thriller
• Action
• Adventure
• Western
• Musical
• Sci-fi
• Crime
• War
• Drama
• Slice of life
A genre is a system of
signs/symbols/themes by which a
particular genre can be recognised.
EG: the western= cowboy hats,
guns, horses, deserts,
cowboys/girls, Indians, gunfights,
“taming the west”
Genre= a contrast between the
audience and filmmakers.
Audiences build up “generic
memory” and can anticipate
things happening – so the
director can play on this.

2. Horror genre
The lighting is usually very dark and
the music would give a sinister or
creepy atmosphere, unless the
director has chosen to not play music.
The setting would usually be
somewhere common, like a house, but
it would be isolated, this makes it have
an even more scary atmosphere.

3. Comedy genre
The setting can be anywhere
and it always has jokes in it to
make the audience laugh.
There’s almost always a happy
tone in it and an upbeat feel.
Sometimes the comedy genre
can be rude or even offensive
but its still funny.

4. Romance genre
This genre is quite common
in movies that have more
then one genre. They usually
have a happy and comforting
atmosphere, with bright
lighting and romantic music.
Almost always it will end
happily.

5. Fantasy genre
This genre targets every type of audience, it
has things that are unrealistic, a made up
place for the setting and almost always are a
mixture of two or more genres.