The Lord of the Rings Return of the King, Jackson’s trilogies end is one of the biggest film projects that have ever been brought to the screen. Because of the popularity of the novels, amazing filmmaking techniques, and the high-profile marketing strategy of the studio New Line Cinema, these three films have become some of the most successful films in history. From its screenplay to its trailers, Lord of the Rings Return of the King is a perfect example how a picture is produced as High Concept film, one that has influenced many others. The movies are closely based on a book series which has gone through many variations.
Jackson needed to create a film which pleases the people who love the books and have built the Lord of the Rings world into their fantasies, but also to interest a new crowd who was not familiar with the stories. Many of the high concept films have only one purpose: to make money; the majority of the box office successes are High Concept films. The Lord of the Rings Return of the King is an unexpected movie in regard to this, in some ways. On paper The Lord of the Rings Return of the King appears to be the perfect High Concept film, a big budget, preposterously expensive and expansive sets, an amazing film score, and epic battles. It seems the film was created for success and money making and seemed to have a good chance to be a success.
Jackson brought new elements to the High Concept strategy. He started with not using any big name Hollywood stars. All of his actors were well established but they were not the big box office magnets of the time. It somehow helped the film to establish its own identity and not be carried by or relying on a big name. The settings are not easy to follow as well. The film has many locations which could create confusion sometimes, especially for the viewer who doesn’t know the books. This also creates many subplots, which make the films more complicated and harder to follow.
The genre of the film is fantasy which was not really a box office magnet. Fantasy films seem to be more to be for a specific subgroup than for the general audience. It takes a genius of a director to maintain the High Concept approach with all of these complications and create a blockbuster that attaches itself to a general group of the population instead of just a small subgroup.
All of this modification to the High Concept method worked, also there is no real deep character development, none of protagonists change significantly throughout the films, and there is a basic, simple conflict, which can be told in one sentence: The Ring needs to be destroyed by Frodo and Sam who continue suffering to bring it to the Mount of Mordor. The audience can see the main conflict but also can empathize that this is not an easy task. The plot of High Concept films needs to be easy to understand by the broader audience, so that many people get curious about the film.
These days, computer generated imagery (CGI) is an assumed part of High Concept strategy. These films overuse CGI almost to the point that impressing the audience is more important than communicating the narrative. For example, the character Golem is totally CGI.
In Lord of the Rings Return of the Kings use of extensive montages add to the idea of high concept, as it exaggerates the tension in the battle scenes and amplifies the excitement and fierceness and transfers that feeling to the audience and this makes them even more engulfed in the film.
Lord of the Rings Return of the King has significantly influenced the way High Concept films are made today. It brought fantasy to a broader audience. It created the idea of splitting up films and transformed fantasy genre.
Peter Jackson took on a very difficult task when he produced and directed this film, but through great filmmaking, an excellent marketing effort, and usage of the popularity of the original books, The Lord of the Rings trilogy became one of the most successful franchises in film history. With its amazing filmmaking techniques and fascinating script, Jackson created an experience which perfectly fits the basic desire of a high concept film – to make loads of money – and in the process rewrote the basic aspects of the high concept itself.
by
003212 (student)
