6 Best Genres For Short Films

Supriya Verma
3 min readJul 18, 2018

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A short film is any motion picture not long enough to be considered a feature film. It is an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits. In the era of traditional television common serials, this is the time that we look out and reach out to more social as well as entertaining and upcoming concepts that a short film throws. It is nothing but a platform to showcase the content into a compact format than a film. Now a days many known directors have ventured into world of digital space as well as short films. Moreover, it is important to know the genre of the shot film to understand the concept and story that it revolves around. Here are the best genres for short films.

  1. Romance
Source: Pixabay

This genre follows the way of passion, love and emotional attachments which usually makes audience to follow the characters journey for love. The subtle way of showcasing love onscreen is an art which a short film can easily show to its audience. Examples of short films that have romance as its genre are Arranged Marriage, Leonard in slow motion, Humsafar, etc.

2. Comedy/Drama
Usually comedy and drama goes hand in hand as they both act as each other’s supportive genre altogether. If not, both have their own characteristics which hold its viewers back t the chair till the end. They are more often funny and light hearted. In case of short films, single genre may not act prominent some times, hence need of another backup genre is vital. In this case comedy and drama make a right pair for the entertainment. Examples of short films having comedy/drama as its genre are Khujli, Oye teri, Haircut, etc

3. Non-Fictional

Non-Fictional short films are most often narrative based as the facts and features are told to the audience in the similar way as it happened. Some short films might not have 100% true facts or true stories but might have derived from a true event and have changed a little bit by taking liberty and having a copyright of the same.

4. Horror

Horror usually focuses on the dark side that is the side of fear and often plays on audience. The treat to audience is they always end up serving good results in such type of genre unless the story itself is on the wrong track. Horror is the genre which hold back its viewers and hook them up till its end. Examples of horror short films are I am alive?, Farmhouse, etc.

5. Epic/Historical
This type of genre in short films is used when one wants to show the past events or historical events. Epics are usually more dramatic and add elaborate costumes and settings to emphasize the period or the era in which the characters are living. It also has narratives sometimes which make it more interactive at times. There are very few such features.

6. Drama

This is the most used and known genre amongst all. Everyone loves to watch drama. Drama is a genre that relies on the light hearted characters. Also, it relies heavily on this kind of development, dramatic themes play a large role in the plot as well.

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