High Concept : : Movies and Marketing in Hollywood / Justin Wyatt.

• VerfasserIn: Wyatt, Justin,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : University of Texas Press, [2021]; ©1994
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Texas Film and Media Studies Series
• Physical Description: 1 Online-Resource

Steven Spielberg once said, "I like ideas, especially movie ideas, that you can hold in your hand. If a person can tell me the idea in twenty-five words or less, it's going to make a pretty good movie." Spielberg's comment embodies the essence of the high concept film, which can be condensed into one simple sentence that inspires marketing campaigns, lures audiences, and separates success from failure at the box office. This pioneering study explores the development and dominance of the high concept movie within commercial Hollywood filmmaking since the late 1970s. Justin Wyatt describes how box office success, always important in Hollywood, became paramount in the era in which major film studios passed into the hands of media conglomerates concerned more with the economics of filmmaking than aesthetics. In particular, he shows how high concept films became fully integrated with their marketing, so that a single phrase ("Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.") could sell the movie to studio executives and provide copy for massive advertising campaigns; a single image or a theme song could instantly remind potential audience members of the movie, and tie-in merchandise could generate millions of dollars in additional income.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- CHAPTER 1 A Critical Redefinition: The Concept of High Concept -- CHAPTER 2 Construction of the Image and the High Concept Style -- CHAPTER 3 High Concept and Changes in the Market for Entertainment -- CHAPTER 4 Marketing the Image: High Concept and the Development of Marketing -- CHAPTER 5 High Concept and Market Research: Movie Making by the Numbers -- CHAPTER Conclusion: High Concept and the Course of American Film History -- Notes -- Index