BSA 106 (Screen Arts) Semester 2 Week 10 : High Concept 80's Movies and Sequels
This week we looked at film in the 80's and the drastic way in which the industry changed. In 1975 Steven Spielberg made Jaws, a picture that changed the way studios would approach movie production. Universal spent an unprecedented amount of money promoting the film, this along with the fact that the movie provided something different than the grounded dramas of the Hollywood New Wave meant that Jaws became the highest grossing film of all time. Two years later Star Wars was released. The industry was introduced to commercial marketing, franchising and merchandising, an thus film-making was changed forever.
More financially viable than ever, movies became a product more so than art. People wanted relief from the politically motivated, subversive films and unconventional narratives of the 70's. When Jaws and Star Wars was released it proved that the people wanted an escapist experience. Producers took notice and tried to understand what made Lucas and Spielberg's films so popular. They called it "high concept", a premise so simple that it can be summarized in a sentence. These work because they are so easily marketable. Jaws was simple: A shark is attacking people in the shallows. It's a concept that gives us an idea of the goal of the film, creates a sense of mystery, as well as the kind of experience we can expect.
High concept ideas need to be easy to explain, but leave enough to the imagination to interest the audience. We should be intrigued but not be able to predict what will happen. Like an open ended question, a high concept idea provides the writer a lot of freedom.
Spielberg made his living on high concept films, his greatest success provide simple setups for audience pleasing films. Jurassic Park for example, the log-line of which can be summed up in one, simple sentence - "what if we could clone dinosaurs?".
He is just as well known for the movies that he's produced as the ones he direct, movies like Gremlins, The Goonies and Poltergeist are staple properties from the 80's. Looking back at the period these are the kinds of movies that serve as a representation for the decade as a whole.
One of the biggest revelations I had in class was how my view on Batman from 1989 changed. I grew up with the Burton and Schoemaker films so they never seemed so subversive to me. They were the norm, to me Nolan's take was a big improvement. In class we saw the evolution of Batman and how campy it started, seeing everything from the old Batman films and TV shows (the gadgets, villains etc) done darkly and realistically is very interesting. I finally understand the appeal of the 1989 Batman.
The 80's as a decade was very much dependent on the mid to late 70's that came before it. All the trends that we associate with the 1980's are popular because of films released in the previous decade. E.g. Halloween influencing the slasher films of the 80's and blockbusters in general.
Sequels were one of the most game changing introductions to the industry from the 80's. While they weren't unheard of they became bigger than ever, studios could now make more money with a sequel than with the original and movie franchises were now a reality. Today it's a very normal occurrence, a sequel doesn't seem strange but back in the 70's they were rare.
It was only in the 80's that everything got a sequel, the most successful movies from the 70's like Star Wars, Jaws, The Exorcist, Grease and Superman all received sequels in the 80's. They were standalone movies before and worked well, but studios saw the potential to maximize profits and took the opportunity to do so. Star Wars introduced the world to something even more profitable, toys and branded merchandising made more money than the movie itself, and the movie was the highest grossing film of all time. Suddenly a single good story wasn't enough, everything had to have continuations and merchandising to suit.
This is one of the many things that the 80's cemented and the industry hasn't changed much since. I think this focus on making money first and putting the quality of the film itself second has negatively affected the industry.
There's a weird trend where a sequel will be released an extremely long time after the original. This has been happening more and more recently. Studios have discovered that missing a chance to make a sequel within the five years after the original's release might not be such a bad thing, or at least the negative effects can be reversed. Nostalgia is the main driving force behind this idea, people will flock to a sequel of a classic film because they are familiar with the original property and want to revisit that universe.
Recently there has been somewhat of a renewed interest in the 80's, with many filmmakers paying homage to, or studios targeting peoples nostalgia of the decade. It's interesting to see the industry evolve and observe how different trends come and go. As far as I can tell we've just left behind the decade of Superhero movies and am now in the middle of an age of nostalgia. Popular culture is the same now as it was in the 80's.
More financially viable than ever, movies became a product more so than art. People wanted relief from the politically motivated, subversive films and unconventional narratives of the 70's. When Jaws and Star Wars was released it proved that the people wanted an escapist experience. Producers took notice and tried to understand what made Lucas and Spielberg's films so popular. They called it "high concept", a premise so simple that it can be summarized in a sentence. These work because they are so easily marketable. Jaws was simple: A shark is attacking people in the shallows. It's a concept that gives us an idea of the goal of the film, creates a sense of mystery, as well as the kind of experience we can expect.
High concept ideas need to be easy to explain, but leave enough to the imagination to interest the audience. We should be intrigued but not be able to predict what will happen. Like an open ended question, a high concept idea provides the writer a lot of freedom.
Spielberg made his living on high concept films, his greatest success provide simple setups for audience pleasing films. Jurassic Park for example, the log-line of which can be summed up in one, simple sentence - "what if we could clone dinosaurs?".
He is just as well known for the movies that he's produced as the ones he direct, movies like Gremlins, The Goonies and Poltergeist are staple properties from the 80's. Looking back at the period these are the kinds of movies that serve as a representation for the decade as a whole.
One of the biggest revelations I had in class was how my view on Batman from 1989 changed. I grew up with the Burton and Schoemaker films so they never seemed so subversive to me. They were the norm, to me Nolan's take was a big improvement. In class we saw the evolution of Batman and how campy it started, seeing everything from the old Batman films and TV shows (the gadgets, villains etc) done darkly and realistically is very interesting. I finally understand the appeal of the 1989 Batman.
The 80's as a decade was very much dependent on the mid to late 70's that came before it. All the trends that we associate with the 1980's are popular because of films released in the previous decade. E.g. Halloween influencing the slasher films of the 80's and blockbusters in general.
Sequels were one of the most game changing introductions to the industry from the 80's. While they weren't unheard of they became bigger than ever, studios could now make more money with a sequel than with the original and movie franchises were now a reality. Today it's a very normal occurrence, a sequel doesn't seem strange but back in the 70's they were rare.
It was only in the 80's that everything got a sequel, the most successful movies from the 70's like Star Wars, Jaws, The Exorcist, Grease and Superman all received sequels in the 80's. They were standalone movies before and worked well, but studios saw the potential to maximize profits and took the opportunity to do so. Star Wars introduced the world to something even more profitable, toys and branded merchandising made more money than the movie itself, and the movie was the highest grossing film of all time. Suddenly a single good story wasn't enough, everything had to have continuations and merchandising to suit.
This is one of the many things that the 80's cemented and the industry hasn't changed much since. I think this focus on making money first and putting the quality of the film itself second has negatively affected the industry.
There's a weird trend where a sequel will be released an extremely long time after the original. This has been happening more and more recently. Studios have discovered that missing a chance to make a sequel within the five years after the original's release might not be such a bad thing, or at least the negative effects can be reversed. Nostalgia is the main driving force behind this idea, people will flock to a sequel of a classic film because they are familiar with the original property and want to revisit that universe.
Recently there has been somewhat of a renewed interest in the 80's, with many filmmakers paying homage to, or studios targeting peoples nostalgia of the decade. It's interesting to see the industry evolve and observe how different trends come and go. As far as I can tell we've just left behind the decade of Superhero movies and am now in the middle of an age of nostalgia. Popular culture is the same now as it was in the 80's.
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