High Concept Films
High concept is a term used to describe a film’s marketability. The idea of “high concept” came about after the end of the “classical Hollywood” period. It is closely associated with the “new Hollywood” of the 1960’s and 1970’s. The concept continues in the modern film industry today.
The studios during the “classical Hollywood” period controlled everything about the conception, production, and distribution of a film. Actors, directors, writers, and other talent were all under contract to the studios. The studios chose what films the actors would appear in and created images for them. They also released biographies that included information the studios wanted the public to know. The studios were a community onto themselves.
During this “classical Hollywood” period the major studios owned their theater chains. They had a ready-made distribution system. All the studios had to do was put films in their own theaters after they completed production. They would parade the stars of their films at the premieres (these images would be used on newsreels or magazines) and would give very polished articles to the newspapers and magazines. The studios would advertise their movies but not to the extent of advertising. They didn’t have national advertising campaigns because the movies were not released in wide release like studios currently do. The films were released in a staggered manner with films released first in the big urban centers in first run theaters and then the trickled down to other theaters.
Things changed after the 1948 consent decrees (which made the studios sell their theaters) and soon the studio system of “classical Hollywood” ended. In the 1960’s and 1970’s conglomerates bought out the studios. Now the studios were part of international organizations and they were not necessarily the main focus of these companies. Studios no longer had total control in the filmmaking process. They still created films but not at the level that they were and soon many studios would purchase films to distribute. The economics of the films became a greater importance of the studios because now they had to report and be accountable to these conglomerates. It was important to make a profit or at the very least break even on the films that they made.
This is when the “high concept” came into being. JAWS (Spielberg, 1975), in terms of marketing, was the first “high concept” film—in the sense of a film whose conceptual premise and story is easily reducible to a salient image, which then becomes the basis for an aggressive advertising campaign keyed to merchandising tie-ins and ancillary markets, creating “synergy” between film, products, and related media. (Cook, p.40) JAWS (1975) was based on a best-selling novel like many of the blockbusters before it and the image of the shark was used in advertising and merchandising. The image of the shark underneath the female swimmer with the graphics of the title became a very recognizable image.
What is a high concept film? High concept films are centered on a concept, which is marketable (i.e., that contains an exploitable premise or pre-sold properties such as stars). (Wyatt, p.23) Some of the main important factors in a high concept film are its style. Styles five major elements are: the high concept “look,” stars, music, character, and genre. (Wyatt, p.24)
Through my presentation I will talk about some films that are considered “high concept” and try to explain why they are considered “high concept”. I will talk about the past, present, and future of the marketing of “high concept” motion pictures.
Works Cited
Cook, David A., Lost Illusions: American cinema in the shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970 – 1979, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, NY, 2000
Wyatt, Justin, High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 1994
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