Director Research!

Steven Spielberg!

I thought I’d have a little look at a thriller director, so I decided to choose I’d say one the most famous directors of all time… Steven Spielberg!

His full name is Steven Allan Spielberg and he was born December 18th, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, video producer and studio entrepreneur and is worth roughly 3 billion dollars!

He has a career spanning 4 decades and has covered many themes and genres, from Star Wars to Schindler's List making him not only successful, but an extremely diverse director. Spielberg's early science-fiction & adventure films such as Indiana Jones,Back to the Future and E.T were seen as a typical example of Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years his films addressed more controversial and sensitive issues such as the Holocaust, terrorism, war and slavery e.g. Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and Munich.

Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extra terrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films. Spielberg described himself as feeling like an alien during childhood, and his interest came from his father, a science fiction fan, and his opinion that aliens would not travel light years for conquest, but instead curiosity and sharing of knowledge.

A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. According to Warren Buckland,^[ these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks. In the cases when his films include children (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park, etc.), this type of shot is more apparent, but it is also used in films like Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Terminal, Minority Report, and Amistad. If one views each of his films, one will see this shot utilized by the director, notably the water scenes in Jaws are filmed from the low-angle perspective of someone swimming.

He is a co-founder of Dreamworks SKG.

He is the godfather of Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow!

He often casts new actors based on their performances in other works, he rarely does auditions for major roles.

Is a huge fan of the actors Steve Martin, Bill Murray and Robin Williams. He is also proud to admit they are good friends of his.

When he is asked what films he would like be remembered by he said E.T and Schindler's List.

In terms of casting, Spielberg has a known fondness for working with actors from his previous films.

For example:

Richard Dreyfuss; Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Always.

Frank Welker(voice actor): Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Gremlins 1+2 and The Land Before Time.

Tom Hanks: Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal.

Tom Cruise: Minority Report and War of the Worlds.

Shia LaBeouf: Transformers 1, 2 and 3, Eagle Eye and Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Crystal Skull.

Kathleen Kennedy has served as producer on all his major films from E.T. to Munich.

Michael Kahn has edited every film directed by Spielberg from Close Encounters to Munich (except E.T)

The most famous professional relationships Spielberg has is his long time collaborations with composer John Williams. He has created the musical scores in all of his films since The Sugarland Express (except The Colour Purple and Twilight Zone: The Movie.) One of Spielberg's trademarks is his use of music by John Williams to add to the visual impact of his scenes and to try and create a lasting image and sound of the film in the memories of the audience. Williams has created some of the world's most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Home Alone and the first 3 Harry Potter films.

So why did i research Spielberg? Although he's the almost stereotypical Hollywood director, his work is incredible, and he has directed some of the most famous films of all time, and certainly some of my favourite films. He is amazing at expressing controversial issues through motion picture, and he is an inspirational director!