Format refers to the general shape of the show, rather than the show's genre. For instance, a Sitcom is in a particular genre. It might be any length from a half-hour up to a miniseries. That's the format.
Format can also refer to the technical aspects of a show or electronic media, or what kind of media it's distributed on — for example, DVDs, Hi-Def, etc.
See also Camera Tricks.
General:
Subindex:
- Animated Adaptation: A non-animated work is adapted into an animated film or series.
- Anthology: A collection of stories that follow the same genre or theme but are otherwise unrelated.
- Compilation Movie: A movie made by editing together episodes of a television show.
- Direct to Video: A movie isn't released in theaters or aired on television and is instead released straight to home video upon finishing production.
- Dramatic Half-Hour : A dramatic series that can be run for around 30 minutes.
- Dramatic Hour Long
- Faux Documentary: A film done in the style of a documentary recounting fictional events.
- The Film of the Series
- Film Serial
- Half-Hour Comedy
- Inconsistent Episode Lengths
- Irregular Series
- Julekalender
- Kids Block
- Log Fic
- Made-for-TV Movie: A film that is made exclusively for airing on television rather than theatrical release.
- Mini Series: A television series that is intended to only run for a limited number of episodes.
- Mockumentary
- The Movie
- Narrative Poem
- Nature Documentary
- Newsreel
- Omnibus: A book series or comic book series receives a huge collected volume that contains the entire series or at least a significant portion of it.
- Original Video Animation (aka OVA or OAV)
- Panel Game
- Prime Time Cartoon
- Prime Time News
- Quarter Hour Short: A show that runs a quarter hour of 11-15 minutes.
- Radio Drama
- Rerun: Re-airing an episode of a television show that has already aired before.
- Roadshow Theatrical Release
- Saturday-Morning Cartoon
- Saturday Morning Kids’ Show
- Short Film: A film with a running time that is much less than an hour.
- 65-Episode Cartoon: An animated series that lasts 65 episodes.
- Sketch Comedy
- Soap Wheel
- Sporting Event
- Sunday Evening Drama Series: Unobjectionable, family-friendly series meant to air on Sunday night.
- Talent Show
- Telethon
- Television Serial
- Three Shorts: A television series where every episode has three segments.
- TV Documentary
- 12-Episode Anime
- 2-for-1 Show
- Unrated Edition: A work that had to be censored in order to be released theatrically or aired on television has a raunchier cut made available on home video.
- Variety Show
- Vignette Episode
- Visual Novel
- Wheel Program
Modifiers:
- Alternate Species Counterpart: Creating a new character by changing the species of an existing character.
- Celebrity Edition
- Distaff Counterpart: The female equivalent of a pre-existing male character (the reverse of this would be called a Spear Counterpart).
- Pilot: An experimental "first episode" of sorts that may or may not be picked up for development of a full-fledged television series.
New Media Formats:
Technical:
- 3-D Movie
- Analog vs. Digital
- Blu-ray
- CED
- Compact Disc
- DVD
- DIVX
- Film Formats
- High Definition
- LaserDisc
- SD Card
- VCR/Beta
- U-matic
