Gue akan copas sejumput uraian dari blog Screenwriting Training. Uraian aslinya ada di sini https://www.patreon.com/posts/22176997. Di tulisan ini ide cerita disebut premise (alias cerita tentang apa). Jadi kalau baca kata premise, mengacu ke ide cerita ya. Yang dibahas adalah premise yang high-concept (alias besar dan laku). Beberapa highlightnya sila disimak di bawah ini.
A high concept is a story premise that fits the following requirements:
a) It's unique; b) It appeals to a wide audience; c) It can be said in one sentence, and you can imagine the whole movie (or the entire novel, if you write not for screen).
Dengan menyebut ide cerita itu dalam satu kalimat, lantas orang yang denger langsung antusias, tertarik, penasaran, pengen tau detilnya, kepo sama endingnya, bahkan kalo bisa tercengang dengan moral of the story-nya.... itulah high concept story.
High concept story itu harus pas banget, tepat sasaran, ke target penontonnya.
“Jurassic Park” is high-concept, too, for the same reason: it is clear to its intended audience. And so is “Sharknado” or “Snakes on a Plane” or “Grand Piano” (a sniper threatens to shoot a pianist if during a concert he plays one wrong note). For those hypothetical people who don’t know what a “sniper” and “piano” are, “Grand Piano” as a concept makes zero sense.
Toddlers, for example, wouldn’t respond with genuine enthusiasm to the concept of “Grand Piano” – they are not the target audience; but they would instantly recognize “Finding Nemo” as high concept! “Finding Nemo” is much higher concept than “Grand Piano” – because even a toddler can understand it. (“Peppa the Pig”, however, is not high-concept; it’s a character-driven story.)
Kalimatnya harus SEDERHANA! Yang sangat mudah dipahami. Mau temanya bukan yang sehari-hari macam manusia robot atau kehancuran dunia, tetap premis-nya harus disusun dalam kalimat SEDERHANA.
Di beberapa referensi (udah lupa dari mana aja, banyak deh pokoknya, baik internet maupun seminar), premise itu bisa dirumuskan begini:
Premis: seseorang yang unik - ingin sesuatu yang di luar kemampuannya atau di luar normanya.
Kalau mau lebih lengkap lagi:
Premis: seseorang yang unik - ingin sesuatu yang di luar kemampuannya atau di luar normanya - lalu dia menemukan hambatan yang luar biasa atau aneh.
Di bawah ini ada beberapa contoh premis dari tulisan di blog screenwriting training tadi:
A helpless Broadway ingénue drives a powerful alpha male mad with desire, and then to his doom: to the violent death by machine-gun and fall from the top of the world's tallest skyscraper… oh, and the alpha male happens to be a 60-feet tall prehistoric gorilla ("King Kong").
A chief of police, terrified of water, must battle and defeat the largest known specimen of the most ancient, most powerful water predator: a great white shark from hell ("Jaws").
A powerless woman must survive the catastrophe of the world's largest transatlantic steamer – and find new, meaningful life ("Titanic").
A man with debilitating memory loss must put together crumbling clues he can't remember, in order to solve the unsolvable murder of his wife ("Memento").
A tiny, peace-loving humanoid creature must travel the world and defeat the most powerful ancient superhuman evil that ever existed – in its stronghold, guarded by armies of vicious monsters ("Lord of the Ring").
A tinyfish must cross the ocean and rescue his son from a fish tank on the other side of the world (“Finding Nemo”).
An abused orphaned teenager discovers that he’s a wizard whose destiny is to defeat the world’s most potent and feared dark wizard (“Harry Potter”).
An aging priest must battle his ultimate enemy: Devil himself, and the only way to win is to allow Devil to possess him ("The Exorcist").
Ternyata eh ternyata, semua premise yang disebut di atas itu ada KESAMAANNYA.
Biggest ship in the world to ever sink; a giant ape falling from the world's tallest skyscraper; the world’s tallest skyscraper on fire; the largest and oldest water predator; an unsolvable murder mystery must be solved by someone who can't solve the mystery where he put his toothbrush 30 seconds ago; biggest and most dangerous supernatural evil entity – in Middle-Earth or in the entire Christendom – etc.Every one of these concepts describes something extreme: the giant ape; the tallest skyscraper; the biggest ship; the outsized shark; a fish tank in a house on the other side of a huge ocean. Usually this is counterbalanced by extremely vulnerable hero or heroine: the cop who can't swim; a tiny hobbit creature; a helpless damsel in distress; an aging pastor.
Gimana caranya bikin high concept story dari usual concept story?
Gampang. Taroh tokoh utama di situasi yang sangat di luar kemampuannya. Kontraskan bener-bener kondisi tokoh utama dengan situasi dia saat dia sangat menginginkan sesuatu.
“A young woman must survive the sinking of a small boat” wouldn’t be a high-concept story: the fact that it’s the largest passenger ship is what makes it high concept. But if we absolutely had to have a story about a small boat – no problem: we’ll just have to have a small kid stuck on that boat in the middle of the ocean, in the company of an enormous vicious tiger (“Life of Pi”).
“An aging pastor must confront a sinner face to face”: not a high concept, but “an aging pastor must battle the Devil by becoming possessed” is. “A suburban two-story house is on fire”: not a high concept; but “the world’s tallest skyscraper on fire” is.
Or some examples from TV. “A loser chemistry teacher finds out he has lung cancer”: not a high concept. But “A loser chemistry teacher finds out he has the terminal lung cancer, and discovers his unlikely true purpose in becoming the most powerful and feared drug lord in America” – is a high-concept story.
“A charming asshole advertising executive deals with identity crisis”: not a high-concept. But: “A son of a whore (literally) assumes a stolen identity to refashion himself as a charming asshole advertising executive – and ends up finding self-respect and creating the world's most famous advertising campaign” is (“Mad Men”).
A high concept must describe an extraordinary situation; something in it must be taken beyond the extreme. Maximum polarization of the dramatic conflict has to be present. A small car being chased by a huge semi ("Duel"); a failed boxer must go the distance against the world heavyweight champion ("Rocky"); an old guy who can't drive a car takes his lawn mower across several states to meet his old estranged brother ("Straight Story"); a small kid left home alone must defend his house and survive in a cat-and-mouse game against a duo of adult career criminals holding him under siege ("Home Alone"); a shy, submissive math teacher must defend his house against the invasion of an army of brutal bullies ("Straw Dogs") - in all cases, the adversity is polarized and there seems to be no way the hero can win.
Jika ada situasi yang biasa-biasa aja, jadikan gak biasa. Tentu saja dengan cara yang masuk akal.
A scientist discovers a way to bring dinosaurs back to life via DNA found in the stomach of a prehistoric mosquito preserved in amber. Science is what makes it plausible.
The largest ship in the world sinks, and a helpless girl must survive the sinking: this is based on a true story; and the producer went to greatest lengths to amplify plausibility through excruciatingly meticulous historic and technical details.
A chemistry teacher transforms into the most relentless drug lord in America – here, too, science (his expertise in chemistry) is what makes it plausible ("Breaking Bad").
"Mad Men" are set against the backdrop of real events of historic 1960's America, and so is "11/22/63" (Stephen King's novel based on the high-concept idea about a man who goes back in time to prevent the most famous political assassination in US history).
A Princeton math professor must overcome the world's most widespread and debilitating mental illness: schizophrenia – and become a great husband, father, teacher and one of the world top mathematicians, a winner of the Nobel prize in math. Simple? Check. Extreme adversity against the impossible odds, making it implausible? Check. Made plausible through science and being based on true story? Check. Conclusion: this is a high-concept story ("A Beautiful Mind"). It's also extremely specific. Not “a guy battles mental illness” but “a Princeton professor battles schizophrenia”. Which is another key element of a proper high concept. It must be expressed as specifically as possible.
Ringkasnya, untuk bikin ide cerita yang high concept perlu:
1. Make the concept simple, to be easily understood by the widest target audience. 2. Take it beyond extreme, by polarizing the adversity to the point of implausible. 3. Make the implausible seem plausible. 4. Be specific. 5. (Optionally), offer an unfamiliar view of something very familiar.
Mari kita coba. Fighting!
