Hello everyone
I want to talk about high concept.
You’ve almost certainly come across artistic work—films, books—which may be regarded as high concept, without realizing.
What is high concept?
A book or movie may be regarded as being high concept if it has a central premise that can be expressed in a single sentence or a few words. In short, within those few words, you understand the full movie/novel, not simply the initial dilemma facing the protagonist.
High concept is interesting for its succinctness, but also the completeness of the statement.
Examples of high concept
Let me give you a few examples, starting with two movies:
Snakes on a Plane
Take the movie Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L Jackson. You can watch the trailer on YouTube, but you don’t need to because you’ve probably already understood enough of the story just from the four words of the title.
I’ve never actually seen the movie…but I get the concept immediately. With those four words, I understand the basic thrust of the story:
- there is a plane
- which cannot land (at a guess, it’s over an ocean)
- when it is discovered that there are snakes on board
- those snakes are loose
- those snakes are dangerous
- …and as a result, everyone is in jeopardy…and you know there are going to be a lot of passengers on board which intensifies the stakes
I get all of that from just four words. I don’t know how or why the snakes got there, but I do understand the type of movie just from the four words of the title.
Here’s another example, but where the summary isn’t in the title:
Jaws in Space
From this, I get:
- danger
- hidden, unseen, uncontrollable, danger
- with no hope of rescue due to extreme isolation
“Jaws in Space” is reputedly how Alien was pitched to the Hollywood producer who funded the movie. To explain the proposed movie, the pitch took the movie Jaws and relocated it to space. Reputedly, these three words were enough to raise the funding to make the movie.
You’re probably aware of the hook line used with the film: in space, no one can hear you scream. This is good, but unlike the Jaws in Space, it doesn’t tell you the whole movie—it just gives you an idea that (in effect) the movie is a horror movie, set in space.
High concept novels
The principles of high concept apply equally to novels.
He is her husband. She is his captive.
This is the encapsulation of The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean.
Tiffy and Leon share a bed. Tiffy and Leon have never met.
This example is from The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary.
I don’t need to expand…you understand the story for both of these novels without elaboration.
Why does high concept matter?
High concept is important for novels (as for films) because it makes books “self selling”. When it’s easy to explain a book in a few words, it is easier for the work to be sold—to a publisher, within a publisher, to bookshops, and then to readers—and by word of mouth when it’s in the hands of readers.
But, of course, there is a flip side. If you can grasp the entirety of a book or movie in a few words, you can dismiss it equally quickly…as I have done with Snakes on a Plane (although the Rotten Tomatoes review suggests I may have been over-hasty, but probably not that over-hasty).
Low Concept
There is, as you might expect, the notion of low concept (although, more usually, people just think of this work as being “not high concept”). These are movies/novels where there is less focus on the plot and more attention to character development. In short, these works are much harder to explain in a few words.
It’s important to note that the high concept/low concept label is not a reflection on the artistic quality of any work. Indeed, many low concept works are often regarded as having higher artistic merit (when compared to high concept works).
Until August
That’s me for this month.
I’m still not going to watch Snakes on a Plane, but I’ll see you again in August. Until then.
All the best
Simon