Karate Kid presentation The construction of the “ New” Hollywood as a distinct period in American cinema history. The features said to have distinguished the New Hollywood as a symptom of a “ Blockbuster mentality”. High concept as a series of economic/aesthetic strategies said to have characterized the New Hollywood blockbuster era, to the extent to which High Concept and Blockbuster filmmaking reflects the late 1970s and 1980s The years of 1983 to 1986 were the years that represent the mature period of high concept.
Major studios had adapted their production schedule towards this form of production. Karate kid, having been made in 1984, is part of the new Hollywood along with films such as Jaws, Star Wars, Dirty dancing, Footloose and so on. Blockbusters aimed at bringing in a lot money and although its aims is usually to be over 100 million dollars the karate Kid did start off with a budget of 8, 000, 000 dollars and made $90, 815, 558. The era of High Concept A multi-faceted convergence of economics and aesthetics designed reduce financial risk and maximize profit.
An approach to film production, promotion, distribution, and delivery which gained momentum across the 1970s and 1980s The Look: Film aesthetics/style Slick, striking, visuals Up-tempo Music-driven montages : The 1984 film exploits similar training montages which emphasize the acquisition of martial arts skills. These include the now iconic scene on the beach where Daniel practices crane stance on a wooden post. Or even the Halloween fight scene where they are running and fighting against the soundtrack by Broken Edge called No shelter. http://www. youtube. om/watch? v= o1DmdgOdHgw Translate well to audio-visual marketing especially music videos: As seen in the last fighting scene the song you’re the best by Jason Esposito used the karate kid in part of their music video. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v= 9fWvub_WBho Fetish consumer goods and body Exaggerate facial/bodily movements The Hook: Marketability and merchandising potential; Easily marketable content : Synergy: Synergy is generally when two, if not more, ‘ forces’ come together to create a greater effect than the sum of their individual efforts.
In the media industry there is such a thing is as media synergy which is the way in which various elements of “ a media conglomerate work together to promote linked products across different media”, in other words linked products are created where each element promotes the other. The karate kid, being high concept with all its merchandising fall in this media synergy. The Karate Kid spawned a lucrative market in merchandising such as action figures, head bands, posters, T-shirts, a video game, etc. A short-lived animated series spin-off aired on NBC in 1989.
Furthermore, the film had three sequels, all following the same plot. http://ecx. images-amazon. com/images/I/41eJ1vPQ4zL. jpg http://www. youtube. com/watch? v= tClTFRqtcKA Sometimes emphasis on star talent: High concept could be seen as a subcategory to blockbusters as they have similar aims such as the use of big stars. Karate Kid is one of the greatest unexpected movie hits of the 80’s. On, paper the idea looks cliched and weak, but this is a case of the actors and filmmakers making movie magic against all the odds. Former Rocky director John G.
Avildsen directed the karate kid on a tiny budget from an inspired story and script written by Robert Mark Kamen, who had previously made his debut with the military academy drama, zaps. In review it is claimed that the movie is better than you expect due to the brilliant acting where you couldn’t imagine any other actors playing the lead role. Morita got his next break playing the often-perplexed restaurant owner Arnold in two episodes of the hugely popular. Morita was quite in demand on the small screen and also scored the lead in his own cop show, “ Ohara” (1987), and guest-starred on other high-profile TV shows.
Abundantly busy and much loved Asian-American actor who became an on-screen hero to millions of adults and kids alike as the wise and wonderful Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid (1984) and carried on with the sequels. His on-screen debut was in the 1980 film Up the Academy, and his first major role was playing Jeremy Andretti in the television series Eight Is Enough. In 1983, he appeared as Johnny Cade in The Outsiders alongside many young actors who had yet to become major stars, such as C. Thomas Howell, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, and Matt Dillon.
In 1984 Macchio became known internationally following the release of the first Karate Kid movie. Playing high school senior Daniel LaRusso and he continued this success with the film’s sequels. Other times emphasis on genre: THE KARATE KID proved its worth of being more than just another martial arts film. One can think of THE KARATE KID as the ROCKY of martial arts films. Where ROCKY (1976), a film director John G. Avildsen directed, focused not only on the sport of boxing, with help from writer/actor Sylvester Stallone, made it a truly exciting drama that focused on the dream of the titular character.
Avildsen and writer Robert Mark Kamen do the same exact thing here, focusing on the ultimate friendship between teacher and student. The Karate Kid’s genre is a family action which would consequentially attract a wide audience. It’s quite obvious why high-concept movies are so well liked because they deal with broad themes that are recognizable to any type of filmgoer, who can, whether they are male or female, black or white, English-speaking or not, identify with such themes.
Lost love, war, fear, life and death, family, and honour, are all dominant within the films themselves The karate kid itself explores the themes of balance and self-respect, that martial arts should be used in discipline and not for aggression. Moreover, it further looks into the issues of class, race, (teen) romance, and even war are explored in this coming-of-age tale, where karate is a metaphor for life. The Book: Quickly described story. Can be summed up succinctly: The karate kid like many films out around the same time had simple title that tells you most and close to everything you need to know about the film.
Moreover it is quite easily summed up in 25 words: A handyman/martial arts master agrees to teach bullied boy karate and shows him that there is more to the martial art than fighting. It is also known that high concept films have a logo that you will be catchy, memorable and quickly and easily be associated with the film. http://www. spraypaintstencils. com/a-zlistings/karate-kid-image. gif BI Conclusions: High concept has become a big part of the new Hollywood regime. “ the high concept style the integration with marketing, and the narrative which can support both of the preceding are the cornerstones of high concept filmmaking. High concept in general has been developed over time by the changes in economy, technology, and in general the “ institutional structure of the motion picture industry”. High concept is a powerful section of the film industry due to the fact that it is merchandisable, has pre sols property, stars, genres and so forth which has been proved to be well accepted and watched by the public gives more confidence to putting the film out due to have been well tested. Clearly seen through films such as grease, karate kid, jaws, Ghostbusters and so forth.
However, It could be argued that the high-concept movie has lost its distinction simply because American cinema is now almost totally overrun by films that are made primarily on the basis of profitability. Indeed, has 21st century Hollywood become high-concept and then everything else? The most dominant Hollywood directors of the past twenty years would suggest this: Spielberg, Tony Scott, David Fincher, James Cameron, Stephen Sommers, Simon West, Michael Bay, all have based their careers around high-concept films.
