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.
