Steven Allan Spielberg - Essay Example

Introduction My director of choice is the film magnate giant Stephen Spielberg who has produced numerous films covering many themes and genres. He has over the years evolved with the current trend of filmmaking that has made him one of the most sought-after and decorate directors in modern day world of film industry. Despite his age, Mr. Spielberg has continued to identify with the industry as a heavyweight through the films that he directs and produces. Director Spielberg was born Steven Allan Spielberg on 18th December 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio to an orthodox Jewish family. Leah Adler Posner (restaurateur and concert pianist) and Arnold Spielberg (electrical engineer involved in computer development), were his parents. Haddon Township in New Jersey was his early dwelling place where he grew up. It was there where he first made 8 mm amateur films with his friends. He first directed his first independent film in 1963 at the age of 16 called firelight, which had a budget of $500. Later, he shifted California where he stayed in Saratoga with his father after his parents’ divorce. He went to Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona and then Saratoga High School where he graduated and then went to California State University, Long Beach. He graduated in 2002 with a B.A in Film Production and Electronics Arts with an option in film production, 35years after starting college. Spielberg started his film career in his teens, where he made amateur films. His first film, which was shot at the Pinnacle Patio Restaurant in Scottsdale, he charged 25 cents for admissions. In 1958, he fulfilled the requirement of being a boy scout by making a nine-minute film, The Last Gunfight, which earned him the photography merit badge. At 13years, for a film titled Escape to Nowhere, based on the fighting in East Africa, he won a prize. At 16years, he directed Firelight a science fiction that was his first independent film. As an intern and guest for universal studios, he shot his first film for theatrical release, Amblin, a 26-minute film, and that resulted in him being signed by universal studio. He became the youngest Hollywood Studio. 1969 saw Spielberg beginning his career as a professional film director. Escape to Nowhere was a film that Spielberg made about battle in East Africa; he tried to author, to the audience, the happenings of the battle. Throughout his career, he has tried to mirror his life and his experience as a Jew in a world that was satirised with a lot of religion persecution and biased perspective of Judaism. His films Munich and Schindler‘s List portrayed his Jewish background that elaborated the problems they were undergoing during the formation of the Israelite nation. He also paints his family upbringing by one parent and his father’s figure as the main parent in Catch Me if You Can and the Indiana Jones Series. Spielburg artistic talent to paint themes that resonates with the public and with his life as a Jewish child in a white society paints Andrews Sarris criteria as an “auteur” filmmaker. Section 1: Technical Ability There is a variety of techniques that Spielburg uses in his movies to portray clearly the different perspectives and themes. The best techniques include 1. Track-in-shots- the camera physically moves in on the subject i.e. from a medium close-up to a very tighter close-up. The movement is smooth while the background is made blurry a technique he used to draw attention to a significant moment in a characters story. 2. Sideways tracking shots: This is a classic filmmaking technique on which Spielburg puts tremendous value. He does so by putting objects and other things between the camera and the main subjects to add richness of the frame. 3. Sideways tracking shot with actors approaching camera at the end: Camera tracks the actors sideways with two actors walking and talking who stop and the camera stops and then the actors moved toward the camera to a close-up with the actors talking. He uses this in persuasion scenes. 4. Dramatic over-the-shoulder shots: Films character over the shoulder of the protagonist using a wide lens showing the protagonist look bigger than the other character. He tries to show dominance. 5. Character approaches the camera to be framed in close up: A technique that uses foreground subjects to dominate the background. 6. Framing characters through rich foreground objects: He shoots through an abject a technique used to concentrate on the character. Spielburg uses the black and white to evoke a world war era, which impacts deeply to the story. It also allows Spielberg to use color sparingly in important scenes and to signal time shifts. Spielburg also uses black and white to highlight the duality of good and evil, while the lighting and contrast noir style brought out the force of brutality of each scene. The Girl in a Red Coat Scene emphasizes the contrasts of innocence with the brutality of the movie. Spielberg films the girl from a high point and excludes her from the much violence that surrounds her, a confrontation of the horror that the Jewish community is going through and the hand Schielder has in the violence at hand. Spielburg uses the red coat to signify the flag of the Jews that they waved to the allied powers for them to help them. That was an allure to viewers to see the desperation of Jews at that time. It makes the viewer connect the fate of Jews during the holocaust. Spielburg follows her through the sideway shot walking innocently among the carnage that was going all around her, a style used to allay the innocence of the allied power in entering the war. He uses the contrast to paint the picture of innocence and power the allied powers hold. The styles used by Spielberg paints a picture that makes the viewer connect to the idea that he intends to array to them. He makes sure that all aspects have a significant theme that connects with the worldview and the viewer. Section 2: Personal Style 1. Triumph of human spirit: Schindler‘s List exhibits the struggle of human spirit to survive the horrors of life that it exhibits primarily in the movie. It is best illustrated by Mrs. Nussbaum that even after being sent into the ghetto, she is optimistic. Another scene is that one of the wedding in Plaszow labour camp. 2. The difference one individual one can make: Schielder is portrayed as an individual who tries to make a difference in a world that is cast with betrayal and death. He tries to save the innocent and every other person he can. 3. Lists: From the start, the motif of list appears and continues to appear throughout the film symbolising the extent to which the Nazi dehumanized the Jews. There is a list that Schielder makes for the essential workers and the unessential workers; a theme of fate. 4. Trains: The use of trains is used to symbolise death and the mortality of the Jews in the time of the holocaust 5. Death: Death and fear is a motif that is used throughout the whole movie and it is so prevalent in the movie. Spielburg connects his patterns and styles in the themes he wants to portray artistically to an extent that shows his talent as both an author and a creator of beautiful scenario moments. His ability to make the viewer connect with the actor is catching as a good author does with his readers. Section 3: Interior Meaning Spielburg is a Jew by birth and nature and was born in a generation that saw his kin massacred in multitude by the Nazis in Germany and other part of the world. Spielburg in an interview stated that he was uneasy being a Jew as he grew and most of the time he was looked down upon and at times came home with “broken nose”. The film Schindler‘s List tries to tell the story he felt that each Jew underwent and tries to connect it with the world. Their plea, which he underwent in the hands of his peers, is portrayed in his movies and he views himself as the narrator of the Jews plight to the world. His role as a director clearly tells that story. Conclusion Spielberg has been able to overcome the challenge of time and generation to be able to tell his stories the way that he wants people to understand them. It has made him a celebrated artistic director whose work is sort out for and who has over time recreated his story to in different ways through different patterns, themes and styles but with the same motive of appealing to his audience to connect with himself. Works cited Schindler‘s List. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Liam Neeson. Universal Pictures, 1993. Read More