Steven Spielberg: Personal Film Director
Steven Spielberg is one of the most acknowledged directors in recent American cinema history. Not only is he one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world, but he is artistically successful as well. He has directed, produced, and written numerous films. He first drew the attention of his peers in 1972, and quickly released both Duel and The Sugarland Express in 1974. However, he gained large public attention after the blockbuster release of the movie Jaws.
Spielberg was born on December 18, 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother, Leah Posner, was a concert pianist and a restaurateur. His father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. In 1950, his family moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey when his father took a job with RCA. Three years later, the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona where Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis.
Spielberg's’ earliest movie was a home movie of a trainwreck using his own toy train set. He then followed that with several 8mm “adventure” films. In 1958, as a boy scout he made a nine-minute western using his father's broken 8mm camera called The Last Gunfight. In 1963, at age 16, he directed a 140 minute science fiction movie called Firelight. Firelight, which would serve as his inspiration for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, cost $500 to make and was shown at a local theatre for one night, earning back its cost. Spielberg’s parents divorced while he was still in high school, which he graduated in 1965, causing the inspiration to one of the recurring themes in his films.
After he graduated he was rejected from USC film school for poor grades, but was accepted to California State University at Long Beach, where he majored in English. He later dropped out of college after making Amblin’, a 26 minute, 35 mm film in which he wrote and directed. That movie won many awards, garnering the attention of studio VP Sidney Sheinberg, who then offered him a 7 year directing contract, making Spielberg the youngest director to ever get a long term directing deal with a major Hollywood studio. His first professional TV job came when he was hired to direct one of the segments for the 1969 pilot episode of Night Gallery.
Spielberg has had an incredibly successful career. He is considered by many to be one of, if not the greatest, director in cinema history. He has been nominated for seven Academy Awards for Best Director, two of which he won for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. Nine of his films have been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with Schindler’s List winning one. In 1995, Spielberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute and in 2008 was honored the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. Many directors have claimed Spielberg to be one of their main influences, directors such as Quentin Tarantino, J.J. Abrams, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, and James Cameron. Other famous directors that have said they were huge fans of Spielberg’s works include Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, and Roman Polanski.
Spielberg, like many other directors want to make their movies distinct. They do this by using strange shot angles, transitions, themes, characters, designs, music, etc. They each have unique techniques or styles. Spielberg has a few things that can be said to be a style of his own. He has what is known as a “spielberg face” appear in his films. He uses certain types of music. He has recurring themes such as: the depiction of divorced couples, issues with fathers, the discovery of something extra-ordinary, and the “rear-view mirror”scene in most of his movies. For example, in Duel and Bridge of Spies, both main characters look through a rear-view mirror. In War of the Worlds, Dakota Fanning, the little girl, is in danger and her dad is trying to keep her safe. In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, an alien is discovered and befriended.
As stated before, music is a big part of what makes Spielberg’s movies recognizable. Steven Spielberg once said in an interview that John Williams is half the reason why his movies are so great. With the exception of two movies, legendary film composer John Williams has done every single one of Steven Spielberg’s movies. The two movies he didn’t do are The Color Purple, and Bridge of Spies. Because he uses him in all of his movies, the style of music in his movies are different from other directors. This can be widely attributed to John Williams’ style of music writing.
John Williams said that he doesn’t like to add in computers or synthesizers to his music. He’s so used to using symphonic orchestrated music in his scores, he considers it his specialty and has not looked back. This is the main reason why music contributes to Spielberg's auteurism. The music in his movies are usually grand and symphonic, almost as if the whole world can hear it. Something else that John Williams incorporates in his music is using the main theme song of the movie at certain moments. The most common use of this is whenever a triumphant moment for a character happens in the movie.
A couple of big examples is in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The moment when Indiana Jones escapes from the native americans at the opening of the movie, he hops on the plane and flies away. The main theme song plays at this moment, signifying a grand moment for the antagonist. Another example of music being used to express a grand or important moment is with Schindler’s List. When Oskar Schindler frees the Jews from the concentration camp, it’s obvious that it was a very triumphant moment for him, so the main theme song plays at the moment when they’re giving their gratitude towards him.
In Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, Spielberg uses an over the shoulder shot many times. When David, the main character, is speaking to Gigolo Joe, David takes up most of the frame. Spielberg uses this technique to claim that one character is more important than the other. Spielberg even takes this to the next level by leaving only a corner of the frame for the other character, thus creating a claustrophobic effect.
Father issues is a very common theme used in a lot of Spielberg’s films. As stated before, his parents divorced when he was young and in his high school. Spielberg always blamed his father for the divorce. He claims that it was easier to blame him because he was usually absent in a lot of his life. He considers his father a workaholic. So for the next several years, Spielberg built anger and malice towards his father. It’s obvious this experience influenced a lot of his films. In E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Elliot’s father is noticeably absent throughout the whole film. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana’s father is a sort of workaholic, focusing more on his work than his son. The same can be said in Hook, with Peter Banning being considered “married to his work,” and missing his son’s baseball game.
Spielberg even finds a way to issue this sort of element in movies that don’t even have fathers. In Jurassic Park, Dr. Grant has always had a sort of distaste towards kids, so when the time comes for him to serve as a father figure to these two kids, he’s reluctant and doesn’t want it. In Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler openly expresses with his wife that he doesn’t want to have kids. Even in some of his films, Spielberg implements the divorced factor in parent relationships. This includes E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Catch Me if You Can, and War of the Worlds.
It wasn’t until fifteen years after the divorce that Spielberg’s father came back into his life. Spielberg and his father reconciled and now they’re actively a part of each other’s lives. Ever since this event, Spielberg changed the way he handled father issues in his films. Father’s are now generally given a more heroic role in his films. In Catch Me if You Can, Frank Abignale, Jr. looks up to his father a lot and serves as an inspiration for him to be successful. At one point in the movie, he even buys his father a brand new car. In War of the Worlds when aliens attack the world, Ray goes through great lengths and does whatever it takes to protect his children. And in Lincoln when Mary Todd Lincoln forbids her son's desire to go fight in the war, Abraham Lincoln stands up and even argues with his wife for his son to go out and serve in the army. Conclusively, the thing that’s nice about this auteur is that virtually one way or another, it’s relatable to just about anybody. Whether you hate your dad or love him, there’s a handful of Spielberg films for both sides of the discussion that go hand in hand with this topic.
Spielberg’s auteurs are pretty subtle. They’re not as obvious as other auteur directors such as Wes Anderson or Quentin Tarantino, but they are there. They’re just a little more particular. The charm of Spielberg is how diverse his movies are. From the heart-shattering World War II drama Schindler’s List to the horror summer-blockbuster Jaws, he’s been known to have a varying resume. Nonetheless, his auteurs are present in all of his movies in careful and masterful fashion.
Works Cited
Read by Shayna Taylor
