The dennotative aspects of drama from Aristotle's "Poetics" include a story development with a beginning, middle and an end. In the more conventional sense, dramatic presentations include the portrayal of characters, settings, life situations and stories in the course of a theatrical performance. In theatre, drama usually takes on the scope of dealing with matters of a serious nature.

The primary characteristic of comedy, denotatively from Aristotle's "Poetics," is that the protagonist survives. Of course, in more recent times, what was formerly considered the connotative meaning of comedy has come to prevail. In theatrical productions as well as film, comedy has come to mean any work that elicits laughter from the audience or provides humor for them. Various forms of comedies continue to be made including dead-pan, slapstick, screwball, and farce.

An adventure film is an artistic genre that focuses on the travels, conquests, explorations and exciting situations of a protagonist. Events most often include the search for some phenomenon hidden by the passage of time, metaphysical phenomenon, or, simply the unknown, and fomented by the protagonist's desire to discover or find the lost entity be it a continent, treasure, ancient referent, or purpose. The emphasis is not on action like the sub-genre of action-adventures which is only differentiated by this characteristic. Examples include "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Soldier of Fortune," "Ashanti," and "The Adventures of the Wilderness Family" among others.

Two qualifications are used to characterize children's movies. They are not both necessarily required. One stipulation is that children's films must contain the child actor who is usually he star or focus of the movie. In this case, The Omen would qualify as a children's film simply for the reason that the rebirth and childhood of the "antichrist" is depicted. Most people associate children's themes as the major qualification for this genre. Such devices often include animation, fairy tales and adventures that appeal to the ages of five to fifteen depending on cultural climes, et cetera. Sme favorites include Heidi (1937), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Escape to Witch Mountain (1975).

Film mediums which, by definition, are supposed to deal with factual data. The exact meaning and purpose is contested. Documentaries contend with human issues, chronologies, events, real people, social concerns, political movements, and values. Whether or not creative treatment is appropriate is part of the debate. The history of documentaries includes the history of film technology itself. Early news reels and travel films were considered "documentaire" which was indeed the French term for travel films. In its most general description the documentary serves the purpose of conveying factual data.

A particularly popular film genre that seeks to frighten and captivate the audience at the same time. The onset of these films began with the combinaton of German expressionism and gothic tales. Psychologically horror films are at one moment cathartic and at the next confrontational for the movie goer is asked to confront their own beasts and demons. Formerly the films, though hardly innocent, were produced to elicit fear but not revulsion (as in Carpenter's Halloween series, C.J. Strawn's Nightmare on Elm Street or Fischer's Friday the Thirteenth). Early examples included John Robertson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), John Barrymore's Phantom of the Opera (1926) James Whales' Frankenstein (1931), and Tod Browning's Dracula (1931). Horror films and science fiction are genres which are often combined. In the latter science tends to be glorified while in the former science is depicted as part of the Faustian curse. Since the 1970s, with adaptive special efects, horror films have all but lost their gothic-romantic edge. Some contemporary examples that still accentuate the gothic include the prodcution of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994).

This film genre centers on the love of a couple, usually played by a leading man and leading lady, and the trials and tribulations through which they travel. The emotion of love is often depicted as overcoming any burden, or its import causes the sacrifice of the one for the other. . ."in the name of love." As an escape and fantasy, romance films have continued to provide audiences a genre into which they can psychologically enter for the sake of overcoming the triteness of their own mundanity. Unrequited love, forbidden love, forlorn love and love at first sight are other themes explored by this genre. Little Women (1933, 94-95), Casablanca (1942), Forever Amber (1947), Three Coins in a Fountain (1954) and The Blue Lagoon (1979) are all considered romance films.