The word movie has many meanings, depending on context. It can refer to a feature-length film that is shown in theaters or on television, or it can also mean a short film or an independent movie. It can also refer to a particular genre of movie, such as a drama, a romance or a science fiction movie.
When the cinematic medium first emerged, certain clever people invented a technology for recording still images on a long strip of celluloid film at very high speed. When it is run through a projector, the image appears to move because of the rapid repetition of 24 pictures or frames per second. Eventually, this evolved into the ability to record sound in addition to the visual images and to combine them together, producing what is now called a moving picture or a movie.
There are different types of movies, such as dramas, which are stories about real events in people’s lives and often follow a basic plot where one or two characters have to overcome something. Romantic comedies, which are mainly about people falling in love, use music and lighting to create a mood that makes the audience laugh. Science fiction movies are a kind of fantasy, where the story tells about machines or creatures that can do things that cannot be done in reality.
When there are several films with the same characters or story arcs, they may be considered a series and referred to as a movie franchise. For example, there are the Avengers and Star Wars movies. There are also prequels, which portray events that occur earlier in a timeline with those in another movie, such as Butch and Sundance: The Early Days.