I' II .1 I' l' K II

1ACl'ilical Redefinition: The Concellt of High Concept

Co nSId e r two rmr sica ls from the lat e 1'17ih: Grea:,e (1 978), c.:riti(:ally lamb

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Frm.kli? )1.1'111011 ill Ihe Belll.lly 5(/11)01 Dropvulllllmber: tapping an older uudience seg. ",,'nl (G reasl'", l'amnrOIllI( 1978). (".oP)' riS/II .o MCM1XXVfll,1' PammUlml P!durcs Cmpma/iull.

a focus both o n c.h( young, drawn to Travolta and the subject of teen ro mance/musk, a n(j o n the o lder aud ie nce seg ments, dc;)w n 10 the nosta lgia . Critk David Ansen idenlifit:d this double focus in com ment ing, "The success of G ICOS' with lee n audiences, who o h en dance o n Iheir sea lS as if a t a concert, can have little 10 do with '50s no:

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"l,()Vl' I ~ a Many Sp len do rcd I'1l illg" il nd " Look ilt Me, I' m ~ndra Ue" (an Icon certa inly lost on the youth o f 1978). 'rhe hit singles fro m the fi lm, such (IS " You' re the One That I Wa nt " and " Hopelessly Devoted to You," however, had a "contemporary" '70s sound, and were, in fa(l, add~ to the origina l Broadway score fo r the fllm . Both decades co ale~ed in th e new theme "Grease," Sling by Franki Valli, and written and produced by Barry Gibh of the Bee Gees, the most popu lar group at the time, th anks to thr.-ir disco son!)s in SlIlurday Night F/'vet. The mix bet .....een o ld and new even in(l ueneed the visual style of the film, with dirt"t'tor Randal KI E.' ise r comment ing at the time of the release, "Stylisti call y, the act'Ors will stop and break into song - Ih a\ ' s old - but we are usi llg all the 70s 111m techniques we ca n m uster, like split screens and high-powered so und.'"

If) add itio n to the stars, the music, :lIld Ihe me-rchandising, Grease also had the marketing ildvantage o f Ile ing a pre-so ld pr operty, based o n the lo ng-running lHusica l (play ing a run o f 3,31\8 perfo rmance ... o n BrOadway )." The film's produ cers , Robert Stigvvood and Allan Ca rr, di scarded hillf o f the "strictl y '50 s" Broad way score, choosing to entice a YOunger uowd to th e fil m.' In a move that certai nty enhan ced the fi lm '

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These differences might be ar ti culated by desn ibi ng Grea~e as a relatively high concepT pro ject, wh ile All That jtlll would falJ int O tile low co ncept catego 'Y. This class ifi Glli o n offers an enlry poin! into an un de r~ ra nd ing o f a .~ ' g njficant f()(:us fOr mai nstrea m studio motio n picture prod uction . Th e term " high concept" o rigi na te

POSitin g h igh con('t'pl as a kind or sty le o f filmmaking in the contempor~ry fi lm indmtry h,1S implicat io ns fo r understanding not o nl y th(' determinants o f commercial fil m making, but also film histo riography. Ind eed , in term s o f fi lm hi story, the pen O

, I/,s" , '"", , "/,I ' 1IIl' ll tl Y.:1 ' po:-. t-da:-'ll. II " pl.." nl)lI I'). " li ~ l ll'd w Ith thl' "Nl'w Holl ywo(Jt.I " e.1 rh \..' ' 61", ,md '70), ;. period ch;uaCI(> riL\'U oy ,1\ 1I ~ur~ a nd the m edia r()n ~ I ( IIt1 ('ratlul l of Ih(' ftlm industry. High l.:oncepl ca n be ~omidered .:IS UJlC cen tral deve lollment-and pe1haps til e' ('nl ra] deveiopml'lll within post-classica l cillerna, a style o f fllmmaking mo lded by economic and institut iona l fo rces. T hrough high COncept, Ihe diverse manner thro ugh whi ch eco nomics and aesth etics are joined toge th er can be und er~ lood, and even appreciated, at one parliCu lar lime in American film history.

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r.v~ryb/ldy'S All American: Ihe 1I'",I1 J;;90 Wllm el 8ros, fl1(,

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;l tl IlOUIKl' lIl l ' lIl I rOl1l V,";!'I),: "Nnrm.1Il L l',H 'S Al' l III Clllllmu nil"o.Ill. )n:. a nti Colmullia I'IUml''' a rt' lkvcll)pin ~ Sw('cl Tuu/h, a so-ca ll l'd hi~ h c:-ollcep' comedy. as a slarring vt:hide for At no ld St:h war z(' nq;g(' r. Sch wMze rwggl'r is being primed 10 play tJle loolh r(l i ry in the scr ipt crahed over the past twO yea rs by wril {, f Ho lly SIO

1/',1'1, I '''''"pl" I il l' '1l t"d i;1 d~ 11 \ ,II yW< I( III flll'U,j ng I HI CUIl1I11 l'rn: rn associated wi th the m ost ~ens(llionaIiSI malerial. Consider (Ji tie Mic hael Wi lmington's condem.nation of t he term i n his review o f Nice Gi,ls Don '( Explode ( 1987): " In an era o f wil le!>s, las leles!> high com:epls, the o ne ill ,via Girl) 0011'/ Exp/(}(IC ought to be eligible for some kind of award : maybe th e Golden Bomb as TCII715 or Efldearment collide" with Carrie." IS

InhNen l in the media'~ usage o f the term is the importance of nOI just summ aci zin g, bUI also se lli ng the fi lm through the concepl. In fact, Timo th y Noah foregrounds this aspect in hi _~ definition of high concept: "The 'high con('ep" approach IS favored by the selle r-say, a producer trying 10 \,:onvim:e a siudi o to pul up mo ney for hh movie - because it renderS a proposed misunderstanding-proof. High concept proposals are by definition easil y grasped by th e sludio execu tives on the run and, furthE'r down the co')d. by th e (novie audiences, who are given only a week or 11"10 (rom a film 's opening to determine whether it will stay in theaters." 2~ This "~horthand" form of communication between industry and audience occurs through the marketing of the high concept, whidl is aided by th e simpli city and directness of the concept. Consequently, these film s are designed to be 501d; as critic Owen Glelberman desC ribt::s in 11i s review o f the John Good man film King Ralph (1991), "This is th e ~on o f high concept comedy in which the jokes seem to have been designed pri maril y for use in the film's trailer."r

The understanding of high w nccpt among the media critics actually parallels usage within th e indu ~ try in man y re~pects . BOlh the criti cs and the indust ry " pr ac titione rs" c.mphasize markeling and narrative in their definitio ns of high conrept. But whereas the industry focuses On the un iqueness and o rigi nality of Ihe com'cpt, Ihe media critics stress its creative ba nkruptcy. In e ffecI, Ih e indmtry utilizes high concept in a prescripti ve Ill an ner - o ne " rule" toward a fma nti,llly successful project - wh ile the media uses the term in an cvalua tive sense, with high concept inevitably syno nymo us with being acsthe- llcally suspect o r tainted . Undoubwbly as a reactio n to the negative connotatio n of high concept with in the med ia, Ihe crea tive community of Hollywood distances itS('U, in a self-serving manner, fro m all pro jects which might be

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II IS III ,m. ,'/ ,1" Th h rdat iOIl:'>hip h l' Iw ,-'l ' n \ '( t >lI t II n i... , .lIld ;11;.'0 1h c.' IIl':rms O( (Ompon a signi ficant recenl development in Ihe fi eld o f film ... tudies, and fi lm sc holars have utilized ma ny d ifferen t meth odo logIcal and th eo retica l approaches to the suhjecl. CE'ft3inly o ne o f the most Iniluential liP'" proach e~ has been the work o f David Bo rdwell, Janet Staige r, a nd Kristi n Tho mpso n, who develo p class lc,,1Ho ll ywood cine ma as a pa fli cular stylislic syste m with clear econOmic and il t?s thetic determinants.-" Cha racterizing the style of class ic fi lmmaking as the re-su lt o f seve ral interconnecting causal factor s, the auth ors ale abl e to prOVide a substanti al (lrgUrl1('nt for th e classkal Ho ll ywood cinema as a period wi th distinCt breaks from primitive d nema. Understandably, give n tht if locus, Bordwell, Staiger, and Tho mpson do no t co nsider the in O uen("f~ 01econo m k Jnd insti tutio nal changes since 1960 - many o f which have irrevocably altered the forms of prodlJct from Ho llywood. Hi gh concept addresses how th ese economi c anel in stituti onal changes - including th e co ngl omeratio n o f tht film inuu il ry and the riSt: of television , new markeling me thods, and ': hanging distri bu tion Sl{ilte.gies - have extended and mod itled some sign ificant Irail" o f the cI,1ssical model.

!\I ir.ro. aid MUI1I-ADl11'si,s: Slrl" II.rleli.!, and DiITrrcnlialion or l70dult The anong " Lady, Lady, I ,Iliy, " 'fhe ~ong match es the actio n o n ly in its ro mantic mood, and the ,," a~t: of th e striking couple in the pe rfectly li t iliduSlrial wasteland enPlu rdges a contemplatio n com pletely unconnected to the ostensibl e t):"f,lI ive. Th is tendency is bolstered also by the superficia l narrative ,." d (haracters. In some cases, the style o f the productio ns St" ms to seep through o nt O th e narrative; i s~ues of style o r image h('(ome crucial tn Ih(' f" nclio nin g of the cha rac ter.~ and the development o f the nMrative. ( (lJI~ide( , fo r example, the impo rtance of style in perfonn anc{' to Flash,/llJh l'", style in av iation to Top CUll, o r perso n,,1 s tyl e to America IJ Gisolo 1II),tIO) . The narrative of each film relies o n style in orel er to progress: Akx's unique dancing sty le places her ou tside the world o f bOlh Ihe , tfl P cluh~ and rhe ba llet, MHv(;' rick's re negade Oying :>ty le causes his dhd pli nary p roblems wilh hi ~ superio rs in Top Glm, and Julian Ka y's l ho kl' (.I f clothes and image sepilrates him from all the o ther gi go los in 10., An geles. Furthermore, the reliance on bolct images in th e fi lms reIlJ torces th e extractlon of th ese images fro m the fllm ro r th e li lm 's marI.. l"ii ll g and nwrchand ising. The reduced nan,lI ive and emphasi~ upon ,lyle, whkh o flt:n has a potent visual representatiOn, perm it. even en

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11,.~h I "". '/'/" 1Ill' dl'vdoplllClll ,)1 hiJ.(h l 'OIH.l' PI. Again, Grl'lI~c Girl h(' seE- 1l ;l .~ ,1 lJ;lrOl

d igll1 tor I he 1113 rketi 11).: pu.)~ibi Ii t ie.~ offered through h i~h wlleept - I he wide (and ~lJ(l'E'ssful) o peni ng o f ert'(ISc was completely depende nt on the slmng marketing potentia l bui lt into the film . It is impossible to overeslimah.- the i mpOl'lance o f market ing to the operation o f high con cept. High concept fi l ms, wh ich could be desnihecl as the most market driven projects in Hollywood, arc narrated as much by their market ing as by their ostensible sto r),. In this regard. Janet Staiger and Barbara Klinger have offe red persuaSive ilrgument~ for the importance of promotion (w hi Ch i.neludes both market ing and merchandising) to th e content, style, and receplion of Ihe Hollywood film n ThE' relationship which th{"y posit a mo ng pro motio n, the 111m lext, and receplion wou ld seem to be eVE' n more pivota l to Ihe marke-I driven high concepl fi lms.

Si llce high concepi film s are con(cived as highly markE' table, o ne might wond(>f ahoul Ihe aClual co mmC'rc ial performancE' of these fi lm s wi th in Ih e marketpla ce, Afte r my investigation of the markcting slrate gies in the high concept fi lms and lh ei r impact upon the fi lms' reeep tion, the lin ks between thi s co mm ercia l style o f filmmaking and th e ir actual popularit)' at th e boxoflice wi ll be investigated. A statistica l model aCl,:ollnting fo r boxoflice reve nu e will be deve loped, \.',.ith an eye towa rd explainin g the com mercial success or failure of the hig h (oncer' film~. This prOject a lso r {"IlCC I ~ Ihe IIlc reased (Ole Ihal mark E' 1 researc h (induding forec.:asling) has played in the conrcmporary film ind ustry, a fac lo r which re info rces the d t'velo pmelll of high concept. Barry Ut man's study, " Predicting Succe~s or Theat rical Movies: NE'w Empirica l [videnct'," offers a mood for such ... n analysis. l ' As parl of this analysis. the relationship betweel1 boxoflice fCVenue and the 5ubset of film s fit ting Ihe criteria for high cone-epi wi ll be anal yzed. Given thei r market ability and the re liance lipo n past s uccesses, it is p robable tha t the high concept films wou ld be mo re pOpU lilf Ihan Olher film~. In addition, given Ihei r modularity and " recycled" quali ty, sia lis tka l modeling, based upo n cod in g the film into sevl'ral conslitulive va riables, might be ahle to predict thei r boxof(1tt pe rfo rman (e with mo re precision than that for the " low conce pt " fi lms, If high ronee pt functions as product differe nti ation , as I ha ve posited, the financia l $urcess or fa ilure of this diffe rentiati on in the nctua l m'lTkctp lace is a significant 3Spett o( hi gh contert in praClke to be ace-ounted for .

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Th b defmit ion I:" l lComp,I"l'!i severa l .)specls o f hiHh conc~pl; to gather these aspecls logether in an "'ppropriate ly high concept fashio n, o ne ca n think of lugh concept .)5 comprhing " the look, t he hook, and the book." The look of Ihe imagoes, the markl'ling hooks, ,md the reduced narrat i ves. form The cornersiones. o f high concept. High concept ca n be desCJibed most fruitfully as a spectfum based upon tiltS.(" three pa_ rameten: all Hollywood films fall along the sca le, some falling toward thl' low end of the spectrum (the low ConCE'pt films). while some fall towa rd the high end of the spectrum (the high concept films). few fl lms would actuall y fall .11 ehher end of Ihe spectrum -either purely low concept or purel y high concept. fo llowing fro m this model , fi lms cou ld lie classified more accurately in relative, rather than abSOlu te, terms: fo r exa mple, altho ugh both projects are star-driven, the st raightfo rwa rd comedy Com illS 10 America (1988) is mo re high concept than lhe darkly comic satire Tile War Qf111(> RoS('s ( 1989) .

The attempt to construcl th is mode l of hi gh con.cept shou ld neither be viewed as an academic spin o n the cri ti cs' co ndemna tio n of commercial filmmaking, nor as an attempt to glori fy the popul ar. Rather, the project addresses th e initially curi o u~ ~upposition that Crease, along with laws (1975), Sial Wars (19 77), and Sa turday Night Fever, is of much greater significance to American fi lm history than the cri tica lly and institutionally recognized fi lms of th e pettod, such as All rlmt lazz, Network (1976), Olle Flew over IIIl' Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and Kram('1 I':S . Kramer (1979). Whil(' thi s stateme nt ma y alarm "cano n" bui lders already pe riodizing the las t Ihree decades ()f AmeciCiIn fi lm, I believe that thro ugh understa nding th(' commercial recipe and I.."'\:ono mic determi . nants o f a film li ke Crease, one ca n gai n a true appreciatio n o f the COfl tempo ra ry landscape of American fillll - a landscape 'v hich has nurtured and privileged the hi~ h concept film .

\' II ,\ I' 'I' t "2 Constl'uctiOIl or the Image and the High Concept Style

High concept fIlIU S are differenti.11 tis o:n style and through .I n integration with their marketing. These twtJ fa(.: tors \lre not mutually txd ll~iv(' . Tilt! tie between marketing an d high concept is cen tered on a u ,ncept which is marketa ble (Le., that con tains an \;;xplOHable premise or pTI..'-!>o ld properties, such as stars). The ffi.uketabili ty of Ihe concept IIlllst pOSSI!SS a- I'i~llal fo rm, prescillilble in t e levi ~ ion spots, trail ers, and pri m ads. The high concept film!> the refore depend upon the visual ( (,prt'.~l'lHation or the ir marketable conceptS in advertising. Advertising is I.cy to the com mercial succe.ss of these fi lms through represe nt ing the marketable concepts o f the fi lms, but, mo re hasicall y, advcrti sing as a medium o f expre