a theme park with Dinosaurs an underground fighting club for office workers and a man whose entire life is a reality TV show this is the power of a good concept the power to make your audience say why didn't I think of that and immediately buy a ticket to watch your movie while will established writers can get by by solely relying on their name to sell their next story an amateur writer's secret weapon for recognition is their concept a good concept costs nothing and can open so many doors a good concept demands immediate attention and yet
so many writers fail at their story concept when done wrong story concepts are unengaging shallow or overly complicated and this cannot only scare audiences away from watching a movie but it can also sour the entire story in the anatomy of story John truby writes what you choose to write is far more important than any decision you make about how to write it character plot theme symbol it all comes out of this story idea if you fail at the premise nothing else will help the building's Foundation is flawed no amount of work on the floors above
will make the building stable at first this might sound harsh we can all agree that execution is highly important in storytelling and saying that it all boils down to concept can sound misguided however what truby is getting at is that without a truly captivating premise no one will have the interest to pick up your story without a hooking or engaging concept no one will actually read your execution no matter how amazing it may be in this video I want to guide you through a simple and practical process for how you can create a strong original
concept which demands your audience's attention let's begin if you look up how to find a movie idea you might come up with many well-intentioned but often unpractical pieces of advice you may hear people say be original or ask yourself what if none of his advice is wrong but none offers a clear cut guide or practical steps one can use to create a concept so to understand concept it is helpful to look at what stories are about this channel we repeatedly stated that the core of Storytelling is the two conflicting philosophical or moral beliefs to the
story analyzes thus it only makes sense that a story's concept should be a natural extension of the philosophical conflict therefore concept is philosophical conflict externalized this the Crux of understanding what a story concept should be philosophical conflict and concept are two sides of the same coin while one is abstract the other one is physical well one side is the moral elements we think of when we watch a movie the other one is what we see on the screen philosophical conflict and concept are like Yin and Yan this means that your story concept is there more
than just to wow whoever reads your log line your story concept does not live and die on a movie poster instead your concept is the playing field on which you will explore your philosophical conflict how do we do this if we were to break this down into a simple step-by-step procedure it would look like this step one be clear about the two beliefs in conflict that the story tackles Step 2 externalize each belief creating two very distinct and seemingly incompatible external elements step 3 combine these two external Elements by weaving what they have in common
and what sets them apart let's go through each step using the example of a classic High concept movie Jurassic Park step one be clear about the two beliefs in conflict that the story tackles the writer of Jurassic Park Michael Christian wanted to debate whether the technological progress in the late 80s was in fact as good as the media wanted to portray it he wanted to investigate whether human beings aspiration for advancements might have tempted us to go beyond what nature intended making us play God because of this Jurassic Park deals with a philosophical conflict of
progress versus nature Step 2 externalize each belief creating two very distinct and seemingly incompatible external elements taking the beliefs of progress and nature Jurassic Park externalizes each belief the following way on the one hand progress is externalized using a state-of-the-art theme park with high-end technology and cutting-edge scientific discoveries on the other hand nature is externalized through Dinosaurs the most untameable beasts that have roamed the Earth theme parks and real-life dinosaurs are seemingly incompatible Elements which creates a strong contrast next we must weave them together step 3 combine these two external Elements by weaving what they
have in common and what sets them apart on the one hand dinosaurs are animals human beings are known for keeping animals for entertainment in the form of Theme Park attractions zoos circuses aquatic Parks Etc hence we can connect theme parks and dinosaurs by having a theme park where dinosaurs are the main attraction as a stand-in for exotic animals If This Were possible this would be a believable way to connect these seemingly distinct external elements on the other hand we must find what sets these elements apart the obvious element is that dinosaurs are extinct a living
dinosaur theme park would require to genetically recreate these Prehistoric Beasts this is where the idea of progress versus nature comes back maybe someone created technology so Advanced that it can bring extinct animals back to life just because one can create dinosaurs for entertainment doesn't mean they should the story should explore the dangers of bringing these beasts to reality the result by following these three steps we end up with a unique concept that combines to external elements in a way that supports the story's philosophical conflict when invited to a remote theme park whose main attractions are
genetically restored dinosaurs a group of archaeologists Must Escape it when a power failure sets the beasts loose we combined two external elements that no one would have thought of putting together while allowing us to explore our philosophical conflict let's look at another example Fight Club Step 1 be clear about the two beliefs in Conflict the story tackles Chuck palahnik wanted to explore themes of consumerism in late 20th century America and how the capitalistic Legacy of the previous generation negatively impacted the new generation at the time hence Fight Club deals with a philosophical conflict of corporate
life versus Rebellion against the status quo step two externalize each belief creating two very distinct and seemingly incompatible external elements on one hand Fight Club takes the beliefs in favor of corporate life and externalizes them through emasculated highly caffeinated white collar workers these are men who are comfortable their desk jobs and nice Apartments but deeply frustrated with the meaningless of all of it on the other hand Fight Club externalizes the idea of rebelling against the status quo through an underground fighting Club unlike office jobs underground fighting is brutal masculine and disruptive underground fighting and office
workers are too seemingly incompatible elements step 3 combine these two external Elements by weaving what they have in common and what sets them apart on the one hand the contrast is clear office workers are not physically mentally or professionally equipped for one-on-one combat this means that they will have to undergrow psychological training as well as potentially putting their jobs and lives on the line on the other hand even though office workers are not equipped to fight their resentment and frustration lend themselves perfectly for fuel for underground fighting the underground fighting Club can be these office
workers therapy the result frustrated with corporate emasculation why color workers created a therapeutic underground fighting club which might put their lives in danger when its spirals out of control see how the simple combination of two elements that hold philosophical weight is enough to create something new this is a more practical way to come up with original ideas than trying to be original or just asking yourself what if to paraphrase Arthur costler in his book The Art of creation something cannot be created from nothing creation does not come from thin air but is a conscious act
where pre-existing ideas are selected and combined or shuffled in a unique way this allows for previously hidden similarities or connections to be revealed when this is done with very similar things the new creation can be even more impressive as it is unexpected and if you look at movies with memorable Concepts most of the times you'll realize that they are a simple combination of two distinct and seemingly incompatible external elements not only that but underneath each of these two external elements lies one of the two philosophical beliefs that the story explores limiting yourself to only two
elements ensures Simplicity and Clarity one thing worth noting is that you don't necessarily have to start with philosophical conflicts to create the external elements of your concept you can start with an interesting combination of external elements and then attach appropriate philosophical beliefs to them you can perform the procedure backwards there's no problem with that but what writers must deliver is a final concept that combines unique philosophical conflicts through a unique externalization of two elements how you reach that is mostly up to you today you have learned that concept is philosophical conflict externalized to build a
unique concept we can follow three simple steps step one be clear about the two beliefs and conflict that the story tackles step two externalize each belief creating two very distinct and seemingly incompatible external elements step 3 combine these two external Elements by weaving what they have in common and what sets them apart When developing a concept remember that concept is philosophical conflict externalized and focused on a plus b nail these two elements externally and philosophically in future videos we will discuss how to implement your concept on every page of a story as well as the
potential pitfalls of high Concepts that writers often fall into and if you're interested in fixing your screenplay with a top development team click the link below this video to work with us thank you foreign
