Before producing a film, firstly the creative team behind the project must ultimately decide what genre the motion-picture will be.Once that has been decided; the conventions surrounding that given genre will play a major influence on the director's ideas and choices in regards to the story such as presenting iconographies associated with the genre. Once that gap within the director's story has been filled then the creative team can begin planning how they will visually present the story by deciding casting choices, choosing/creating relevant settings, selecting effective sounds and ultimately deciding on a colour pallet for the cinematography which can visually represent the genre that the film-maker has requested. Conventions can be both helpful in regards to the film-maker being provided with necessary plot points in which the director can decide to arrange in any particular fashion they believe could help play as a benefactor to the telling of their story.Although, convention can to a degree restrict film-makers in some aspects in regards to the fact that the director's story is confined to the generic conventions associated with the given genre due to audience's expectations towards that specific genre.
However there have been projects throughout cinematic history which have proven that no matter what the genre; so long as the creative team behind the film are imaginative enough then they can still bring an innovative idea to the silver screen which audiences with appreciate and fully enjoy. There have been films over the past year in fact that have embodied this form of creativity due to the directors behind the camera finding inventive ways of manipulating generic conventions in order to apply hybrid genres within those particular films whilst remaining firmly within the conventions of the titled genre.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" was a film this year that was able to captivate audiences across the world with it's unique take on the science fiction genre due to the director "James Gunn" creatively incorporating many sub-genres within the film to endorse a range of preferences that would appeal to all audiences.
This film is an example of a
film-maker who not only understands the conventions and the expectations surrounding a science fiction epic but is able to apply layers of sub-genres such as superhero,drama and comedy.
James Gunn was ultimately able to cleverly merge all various genres into one whilst maintaining the generic conventions of a sci-fi adventure therefore meeting the audience's expectations in relation to the film's iconographies to not only the science fiction genre but by indulging the audiences to a degree of exceeding their own expectation to present generic conventions belonging to various genres.
This is an example of a film-maker who found the principles established through the generic conventions remarkably helpful due to his ability to recognise plot points within the story that could be coated with elements of humour and drama without the combination feeling forceful but profoundly natural and flowed well with the story and also provided extra dimensions and trade-marks to individual characters. This film ultimately highlights that with the right talent; can find the dynamics of the generic conventions associated with those genres to be remarkably helpful providing the film-maker with infinite possibilities in regards to the direction of a story so long as you are creative...
"The Lego Movie" is obviously a children's animation film but don't let this allow you to overlook this film; because you'd be overwhelmed at some of the life lessons and moral questions this film brings to mind.
The genius aspect of the conventions within this film is that the directors were able to recognise formulaic and generic conventions of their story which have been replicated many times prior to theirs and will continue to do so.
Which is why the directors chose to highlight those cliché plot points within their story and have the entire film mock itself in a clever and believable manner due to the concepts of the world in which the character belong to: which are created within the mind of a child therefore making any outrageous cliché plot point to be acceptable. This in fact not only makes it humorous for the film's target audience which is clearly children but is also entertaining for adults due to the tremendous amount of iconographies to iconic and symbolic pieces of cinema.
However due to some extent, this film did to a degree in regards to its content were restricted due to the clear conventions in relation to the film being targeted a young child. This left a majority of the jokes being expectedly forceful and predictable at times due to the simplistic nature of the humour but this can be argue simply because the film does ultimately achieves it's purpose as an animated film and meets the expectation of child.
Ultimately "The Lego Movie" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" justify that regardless of the genre, conventions still can remain helpful to film-makers ultimately because it provides them with potential concepts on possibilities for a story and then is able to use these references to meet the expectations of their particular audience by including iconographies that is expected to be associated within the cinematic world within certain genres.
However to a certain degree; the film-makers may encounter few restrictions in regards to the content within their story due to the confines of some aspects of genres due to the fixations they may have in regard to the genre they belong to.
Otherwise in the eyes of the film-maker, conventions are necessary when creating a story and is vital that they stick to them otherwise it will ultimately effect the film they are intending to make.
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