Convention, Cliché or Challenge?

One of the ways we feel we can identify media texts as 'belonging' to a particular group or category, is to identify common features that both film-makers and audiences recognise.

Convention - a 'rule', usually determining the 'ways that things are done'. These are frequently generic - in other words they signify established practices associated with specific genres.

Cliché - a term used to describe a conventional feature of a text that has become over-familiar usually through either repeated use, or because it is a fairly obvious method of conveying some piece of story information.

Challenges - occur when film-makers are working in clear relation to a specific genre, but are consciously (or subconsciously) attempting to do something different.

Source: Teen Movies and Genre