I was six years old and I had no idea what I was about to experience. For months my parents had been talking about Star Wars and we were now sitting in the third row of a movie theater. Music blared and I saw a large space ship encompass the screen in pursuit of a smaller ship. I was horrified to see the menacing, tall, dark figure of Darth Vader enter the smaller ship and I was hooked. I became Luke and as I left the theater I was a Jedi.
From that moment I had lost the ability to choose my career. I loved movies and had become addicted. I cried when E.T. was about to die and remember a woman yelling in the theater, "Run, Elliot, run!" I screamed in Jaws as the tension grew so thick I could not hold my voice. I cheered and laughed with Indiana Jones as he fought the German soldier who threw him through the windshield onto the hood of the truck and as he used his whip to trail between the wheels on the dirt road and climbed back to resume the fight. I screamed as the T-Rex in Jurassic Park smashed through the sunroof of the truck attacking the children and after each film I dreamed of them for months and laughed with my friends talking about them. These had all become part of my life. I watched Jurassic Park five times in the theater on the opening weekend!
Some movies penetrate your soul while others give a few laughs and fall to the wayside moments after you leave the theater. Star Wars, E.T., Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Arc and Jurassic Park are among the highest grossing films in history. George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg are in the business of entertainment as are many other people yet the films they create continue to bring enormous returns while many others fail to recoup their investments. So what do George Lucas and Steven Spielberg know?
They know the need and how to fulfill it.
That is an odd statement - "They know the need." Yes, it is odd, but that is the great key to success in any business. When you know the need and fulfill it, success will follow. For instance, there is a need for chocolate. People love chocolate and the need for it is more than just the taste, there is emotion attached. Have you seen the face of a woman who loves chocolate when she slips it into her mouth and savors it? There is emotion attached to that need that can approach (and in some cases, truly is) addiction. Chocolate manufacturers understand this need and set up their products to accommodate those needs and they make millions doing so.
There is a need for stories and story-like characters. In our nature we need them. For thousands of years stories have been part of our existence and we crave them just as we crave chocolate. We are addicted to them. There is emotion attached to them and we cannot get enough. For the most part we live mundane lives-no adventure, no purpose, no reason for strength, no reason for courage, no reason for honor, we simply go to work, come home, watch TV, read the news and go to bed. All the while we crave adventure, love, courage, a sense of honor and redemption. When those items are experienced by characters we are watching we feel the courage the character is expressing, we become that courage or strength and we are the people we watch. We become them and crave that sense of honor and when we have characters that give us redemption we are redeemed.
So George Lucas and Steven Spielberg know the "need" but how do they fulfill that need? There are four basic ways they do it and through which they create narrative tension which pulls us in and allows us to experience the adventure of their characters:
1) The Unusual - They use things that are unusual to us. Remember, we live basically mundane lives and the "regular" is boring, it is what we live. We want a story that allows us to escape. Think of Star Wars. How unusual is that? Jurassic Park? E.T.? A face-to-face encounter with Jaws.
2) A Threat - They work with our fears, our hates and our loves. Each of these is a threat on many levels. If the characters in the story have fears, we associate with them and that association endears them to us and we see ourselves in the actions they take against what is threatening them.
3) Extreme Values - These are things such as your family, your home, your occupation. When a character has to make decisions based on what they value in the extreme we side with them because we have similar values.
4) Programmed Needs - Think for example if your income is jeopardized or your stability or security. These are programmed needs we all have and when a movie puts them in jeopardy we feel it in our emotions.
The movies I have mentioned by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg score five stars in each of these categories and have been created in a manner to attract the largest audiences in that they appeal to all age groups and most demographics. They are constructed with content that entertains but does not cause a parent to fear taking their child. They have the unusual, the threat, extreme values and the main character's programmed needs are attacked. Whether you are young or old, you will enjoy these stories and they will fulfill the craving "need" in you.
I have spent my life in this industry and when Stephen Sobisky and I took control of Sandman Studios we decided we would work on and create films which fulfill the undying "need" within each of us for great stories. As we partner with filmmakers and studios, we consciously accept and create projects with the audience and narrative tension in mind. The core of entertainment is in the story and if your story fulfills the need of your audience, it will be a success.
I was hooked sitting in that theater chair watching Star Wars when I was six years old and the feeling has never left me. I love movies and the creation of great stories has become my life. People have told me that when they read Speed of Light they wanted to be Pierce Black. I get the greatest satisfaction as I hear that my stories have made a mark in someone's life and they had felt the emotion of my characters as they read. I hope that someday a young child will be watching Pierce Black struggling for his life in the feature film of Speed of Light and dare to dream his dreams and make them real.
Lee Baker is the president of Sandman Studios, a Hollywood visual effects and animation company and is the author of the illustrated book, "Humbug, A Christmas Carol" and the novel "Speed of Light." Learn more about Lee Baker at http://www.leebakeronline.com/
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