Task 6

Chosen Director : Steven Spielberg

Chosen Director: Steven Spielberg

Known for: War Horse, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, E.T, Jurassic Park, Casper, Schindler’s List, Lincoln, Close encounters of the Third Kind and many more.

Genre: Spielberg directed many films with different genres such as action, adventure, sci-fi, thrillers, children’s, historical, drama, war based and true life stories. His early years were mostly science fiction and adventure films for example; E.T, Close encounters of the Third Kind and Jurassic Park. However, in the later years he began addressing humanistic issues such as the Holocaust, transatlantic slave trade, war and terrorism for example; War Horse, Saving Private Ryan and Munich. His historical based drama films are also very popular such as Schindler’s List, Lincoln and Amistad.

Storylines/themes of the films: Spielberg’s films tend to follow similar themes, they tend to convey a certain ‘heaviness/darkness’ regarding adult life but joy regarding children. For example in E.T and Empire of the Sun. His portrayal of adult life is usually marked by dark destructive behaviour, such as Schindler’s List and Amistad. His war films also tend to follow similar storylines, for example War Horse and Saving Private Ryan where the main characters embark on a mission at war.

Lighting/Colour: Spielberg uses lighting to create effect. In a lot of his films the scenery interior involves a backlit window with streams of light on the character to create a silhouette. He also uses a lot of low key lighting to set a dark tone. He uses intense lighting usually from above or outside. For example in Close Encounters the small boy standing against the doorway is blasted out with an alien light. This is effective because the light represents the danger that awaits outside the door.

Spielberg uses similar camera shots, angles and edits in a lot of his films. Sideway tracking shots are used effectively, the camera follows the characters usually from a long shot as they're walking or talking. This is shown in both Saving Private Ryan and War Horse. It’s effective as it adds a fast pace to the film and allows the audience to see the characters movement clearly and feel as if they’re in the film. Sideway tracking shots are also used when the character approaches the camera at the end this is effective when a character is trying to persuade another character. For example, the scene in Jaws where Martin Brody and his wife walk and talk before he boards the boat. It makes the audience feel as if the character is talking to them. Long establishing shots are used in a lot of films to set the scene for the audience such as in War Horse. Spielberg also likes to use over the shoulder shots, this is effective in emphasising a movement of particular significance. This is shown in Munich and Catch me if you can. The most common technique I’ve seen used is a wise lenses. He uses it to emphasise the characters and the setting around them. He does this a lot in Schindler’s List.

Spielberg doesn’t tend to use the same actors, however he uses a lot of John Williams’s music. John Williams is a music composer and has worked on most of Spielberg’s films such as Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters and Jaws.

Amblin Entertainment is the production company that distributes Steven Spielberg’s films. It’s an American film and television production company founded by Spielberg himself. The company mostly distributes Spielberg’s film however it also distributes some of a similar genre such as the Men in Black films.