High Concept: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"You think there's a treasure map... on the back of the Declaration Of Independence."''|'''Abigail Chase''', ''[[National Treasure]]''}}

 

 

A '''High Concept''' work is one that can be explained with a short, to-the-point and (it is to be hoped), intriguing description; one that can sell on its own merits. This type is loved by producers who can get a full pitch and explanation of what is going to draw in the viewers within ten seconds. From these few lines they can imagine the trailer, the marketing, the [[Target Audience]] and [[The Merch|merchandise]].

 

Compare [[Laconic]].

{{examples}}

* ''Nemesis'': What if Batman was the Joker?

* ''[[Irredeemable]]'': What if Superman got genocidal?

 

* ''[[Air Force One (film)|Air Force One]]'': [[Die Hard on an X|Die Hard on]] [[Air Force One]] with [[Harrison Ford]] as [[Our Presidents Are Different|President]] [[Die Hard|John McClane]].

* ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' was pitched as ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'' [[Recycled in Space|in space.]]

* ''[[Dave]]'': An honest everyman has to impersonate the corrupt U.S. President during the latter's coma, and uses this position for the better. Or [[The Prisoner of Zenda]] in contemporary America.

* ''[[Die Hard]]'': Terrorists take over a building, leaving one man to sneak around and thwart them. (It's such an encapsulated concept that it [[Die Hard on an X|became a shorthand]] for other high-concept pitches.)

* ''[[Forrest Gump]]'': A single man [[The Zelig|obliviously influences dozens of landmark events]] throughout the [[Baby Boomer]] generation's lifetime.

* ''[[The Fountain]]'': "[[Tagline|What if you could]] [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|live forever]]... And your lover is dying?"

* ''[[Terminator]]'': Robot is sent back in time to kill the savior of mankind before he is born.

* ''[[Tower Heist]]'': ''[[Ocean's Eleven]]'' in New York.

* ''[[Under Siege]]'': ''[[Die Hard]]'' [[Die Hard on an X|on a battleship]] with nuclear weapons starring [[Steven Seagal]].

 

* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'': ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' as a [[Medical Drama]].

* ''[[JAG]]'': ''[[Top Gun]]'' meets ''[[A Few Good Men]]''

* ''[[Keen Eddie]]'' - New York detective fighting crime in London. Or ''[[Dempsey and Makepeace]]'' [[X Meets Y|meets]] ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]''.

* ''[[Smallville]]'': ''[[Superman]]'' meets ''[[The X-Files]]'' with [[Teen Drama|teenagers]].

* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'': ''[[Wagon Train]]''... [[Wagon Train to the Stars|to the stars]].

 

* [[Bret Easton Ellis]] [[Word of God|called]] the premise of ''[[American Psycho]]'' a high concept: a serial killer on Wall Street.

* ''[[The Left Hand of Darkness]]'' - An ambassador from Earth has to try and convince the [[Humanoid Aliens|humanoid members]] of another planet to join the federation of all the other planets - and the planet he's on is both stuck in an Ice Age and has no gender.

* ''[[Temeraire]]'': What if the Napoleonic Wars were fought from the backs of intelligent dragons?

 

* The ''[[Dresden Files]]'' RPG, which uses the Fudge System, makes extensive use of concept phrases, including actually name-dropping the phrase "High Concept" for character creation.

 

* ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]'': ''[[Hamlet]]'' from the perspective of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, [[World Limited to the Plot|with absurdism]]

* ''[[Blithe Spirit (theatre)|Blithe Spirit]]'': A remarried widower accidentally calls back the ghost of his first wife; [[Hilarity Ensues]].

 

* ''[[Pong]]'': Two paddles hit ball back and forth.

** "Avoid missing ball for high score"

* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' has one called by this name [[All There in the Script|in the vision statement]].

{{quote|The player is a scarred amnesiac immortal in search of his identity. On the way, the player character will kill a lot of people... [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|including himself.]]"}}

** The Laconic entry for the game used to be "Darkly humorous puzzle game in an empty laboratory that kicks the laws of physics in the nuts.", so called that because in order to solve the trickier puzzles, you need some excellent spatial reasoning skills. Or as the game calls it, "Thinking with portals!"

 

 

* ''[[Hot Tub Time Machine]]'': "Must be some sort of... hot tub time machine..."

* ''[[National Treasure]]'': "You think there's a treasure map.... on the back of the Declaration Of Independence."

* ''[[The Man From Earth]]'': "What if a man from the Upper Paleolithic survived until the present day?"

 

* [[Big Bad|Herrick]] in ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'': "So, [[Monster Mash|a werewolf, a ghost and a vampire]] decide to [[Mundane Fantastic|live like humans do]]. They get jobs, a house, and a TV license..."

* ''[[Breaking Bad]]'': "High school teacher turned meth dealer, brother-in-law's in the DEA? [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall|That'd make one hell]] [[Blackmail|of a story]]..."

 

* ''[[Wondermark]]'' got a High Concept Generator. Prepare your d12 and roll with [http://wondermark.com/554/ The Electro-plasmic Hydrocephalic Genre-Fiction Generator 2000]. Or use a ready script that randomizes it for you (linked on that page).

 

{{reflist}}