Theory research

STATEMENT: WHAT MAKES A SPIELBERG FILM?
Steven Spielberg
Quotes
“You can't intellectually purge yourself of who you are. Whatever that is, it's going to come out in the
wash, the film wash. What you are is going to be relevant, if not to yourself, to the movies you make.”
“Because of how much movies cost, it's dangerous to be experimental on one film after the other. But
we can experiment with television. We can do things that are fringe and bring ideas to the table that
are offbeat and original.”
“I even get inspired by movies that aren't very good, because there's always something good in movies
that are collectively thought of as a failure. There's good in everything, I find.”
“I love history, so I do a lot of movies about history.”
“It is not my job to compare my movies. I don't like to compare my films with other movies because I
don't really have that perspective. It is an intellectual exercise, but it doesn't intuitively come to me.”
“Bloated budgets are ruining Hollywood - these pictures are squeezing all the other types of movies
out of Hollywood. It's disastrous.”
“Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives.
It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine
something wonderful, because we're too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office
on the cell phone”
“People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They
usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.”
“When I grow up, I still want to be a director.”
“Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter what the movie's about.”
Born:18 Dec 1946
Age: 73
Films:
Duel (1971)
Jaws (1975)
Close encounters of the third kind
(1977)
Raiders of the lost Arc (1981)
E.T. : The Extra terrestrial (1982)
The colour purple (1985)
Hook (1991)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Schindler’s list (1993)
Saving private Ryan (1998)
A.I Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Catch me if you can (2002)
The terminal (2004)
War of The worlds (2005)
War Horse (2011)
Lincoln (2012)
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Ready Player one (2018)
West Side Story (2021)

WHAT MAKES A SPIELBERG FILM?
Chosen Spielberg films
Jaws (1975)
Jaws is a thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based of the Peter Benchley 's 1974 novel of the
same name. The film is about a giant man eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers on Amity
Island. It then turns to Police Chief Martin Brody to try and kill the shark before it continues it’s own killing
spree. Through Spielberg’s masterful tension making film, it had instilled a fear of the ocean and sharks in
millions of people ever since it’s released. Even today just going into the ocean after watching Jaws spikes a
chilling fear and wonder of whether you will become a Sharks victim. Initially the producers of the film
actually wanted to train a real great white shark for the film, but after realising that it would be impossible
to do they had to make three full-sized mechanical sharks. However, the Sharks were extremely hard to
work with as they kept sinking and were extremely difficult to control. This technical fault worked out in
Spielberg's favour in the end as this caused him to make the Shark only lurk underneath the water for the
majority of the film, and only teasing at its enormous size by only showing parts of the Shark not the full
thing. This technique ended up making a terrifying impact in the film and enhanced the suspense of the
film by increasing the fear of what was in the unknown. When on set of Jaws, Spielberg kept fearing that
he would never actually make the film and he would have to tell the cast and crew to pack it up, this was
because of the budget the film needed such as filming underwater, or making the mechanical Sharks and
all the faults that came with it. Spielberg said once he had an idea in his head that’s it, he has to picture
what the film is going to be exactly before he makes it and he was determined to make Jaws. In the end he
successfully proceeded to produce the film and it became a massive hit, which ultimately started off his
career.
Cast: Rory Scheilder, Richard
Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw,
Lorraine Gary.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Story by: Peter Benchley
Music Composed by: John
Williams
Screenplay: Carl Gottlieb, Peter
Benchley, Howard Sackler
Soundtrack
The main Jaws theme, is one of the most iconic theme songs in history. John Williams is the music composer of Jaws
and he came up with the terrifying and suspenseful theme which whenever it plays shoots a sense of fear in the
audience knowing or making them uncertain on whether the Shark is going to attack their next victim. Using this
theme messes with the audiences mind making them think at any moment someone is going to be attacked, it is one
of the main aspects of the film that helps build such a suspenseful feeling in the audience. Most of the time Spielberg
is just filming just the plain blue ocean which can be seen as quite a calming shot but when you put that score over
the scene it creates a whole other feeling of dread.

Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park is a science fiction adventure film, directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and
Gerald R. Molen. The film is based off the 1990 novel with the same name by Michael Crichton. The film is about a
millionaire called John Hammond who asks two dinosaur experts to act as consultants on his entrepreneurial
endeavour--an amusement park with DNA-cloned live dinosaurs as the main attraction. Hammond also brings along
his two grand children as well as a mathematician to have a tour of the park. Things take turn for the worse however,
when a hurricane strikes causing some dinosaurs to escape and as a result terror ensues. Jurassic Park was
Spielberg’s third film to break the record for highest-grossing movie of all time, his first being Jaws and his second
being E.T. Jurassic park is a very new and original story even now its sequels carry on their still hasn’t been anything
made quite like it. Despite it being about dinosaurs which is a age old story Spielberg has used a universal theme
and has recontextualized it in a new way. Not only does Spielberg carry the story perfectly but also the characters,
Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcolm and John Hammond. You get to know their personalities, their flaws, their goals,
everything you need to understand these characters. This is quite an achievement as the focus is on dinosaurs but
Spielberg makes it so much more, he wants the audience to relate to the characters and to show their all not perfect.
Most blockbuster movies have characters with such a bland personality that you don’t feel any personal connection
to them it’s more like they wont to focus more on the story than the characters itself but with Spielberg's film that is
not the case. Even the knew Jurassic world which is a sequel to the Jurassic park films, have this issue with Owen
Grady he’s a character that is made out to be pretty flawless, as compared to Alan Grant from the first film who we
get to see his struggles with working with dinosaurs, Owen Grady has no issue at all with it which makes for a
unrealistic character as he always seems to solve all the problems. Not only are the characters and story great but
the CGI for it’s time is incredible. The Dinosaurs in the film are made from the first CGI ever created and even to this
day watching it, it still looks incredibly realistic. However the Dinosaurs weren’t only made out of CGI but also actual
mechanical ones were made for the film as well. The set pieces and everything gone into designing the film is
masterful.
Cast: Sam Neil, Laura Dern,
Jeff Goldblum, Richard
Attenborough
Director Steven Spielberg
Story by: Michael Crichton
Screenplay: David Koepp,
Michael Crichton
Music Composed by: John
Williams
Soundtrack
John Williams score for Jurassic park is yet another iconic theme by John Williams. The Jurassic Park
theme gives you exciting chills, when they arrive at the island and the gates open up and the score sets in
that’s when you know the film is going to be magic. Hearing the theme today it’s still recognisable as one
of the greatest scores of all time, Williams never disappoints which is why he is Spielberg's go to guy for
creating a masterful soundtrack

Indiana Jones and the raiders of the lost arc (1981)
Indiana Jones and the raiders of the lost arc is an action adventure film, directed by Steven Spielberg
and written by Lawrence Kasdan it is based on a story written by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman.
The film is about an archaeology professor named Indiana Jones, set in 1936, Jones is venturing in
the jungles of South America for a golden statue. However, while doing so he sets of a deadly trap in
which he barely escaped. Then, Jones hears from a museum curator named Marcus Brody about a
biblical artifact called The Ark of the Covenant, which can hold the key to humanly existence. Jones
has to venture to vast places such as Nepal and Egypt to find this artifact. However, he will have to
fight his enemy Rene Belloq and a band of Nazis in order to reach it. This story first came about
when Lucas and Spielberg went on a holiday to Hawaii and Spielberg told Lucas about how he
wanted to make a James Bond film, Lucas told him to forget about Bond as he had a better idea
about an archaeology professor who travelled the globe looking for ancient artefacts and someone
who put themselves at great personal risk. This then created Raiders of the Lost arc which began one
of the biggest franchises in the world. Raiders of the lost arc is a thrilling adventure film filled with
humour, action and most importantly adventure. The character of Indiana Jones is someone the
audience can relate to, he isn’t a flawless character, in fact he makes many mistakes, sure when he
gets caught in traps and miraculously escapes it’s a bit unbelievable but that’s what makes the films
so iconic. All of Indiana’s daring escapes does make you question if he can get out of it, but of
course he can it’s Indiana Jones. One of Spielberg's greatest aspects from making his films is
character development, he knows how to make a character appeal to the audience and makes them
believable. There’s an iconic line in the film where Indiana Jones says “I don’t know. I’m making it up
as I go along.” According to Spielberg that’s exactly what him and Lucas was doing while they were
writing the script, they had the basic outline for the story but apart from that they just made the rest
up as they wrote it. Usually if another film director did this it could end up a rather messy story but
Lucas and Spielberg have had a lot of experience doing these types of films such as Star Wars for
Lucas and Jaws and E.T. for Spielberg so having the two greatest minds in the movie industry work
together on a film it was bound to be a hit. And they were right.
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen
Allen, Paul Freeman, John
Rhys-Davies.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Music composed by: John
Williams
Screenplay: Lawrence
Kasdan and George Lucas
Soundtrack
John Williams is yet again the composer for Spielberg in Raiders of the lost Arc, and yet again its another
iconic theme which can be recognised anywhere. Williams’ score really sets the audiences mood for the
film when you hear it you know you’re in for an adventure movie and it fits so perfectly with all the action
happening in the film.

Theme: Man vs Nature
The main theme in Jurassic park is Man vs Nature. This is
powerful and recurring theme in the movie as the character
believe they can create and control a natural world. For
example Hammond creates dinosaurs a creature that has
been extinct for millions of years and he’s trying to control
their natural instincts in the same way a zoo keeps animals.
This is why later on in the film and with the very many
warnings from the archaeologist Alan Grant they learn that
nature, even if it’s artificial, has it’s own way in life that
cannot be governed by man.
Theme: Capitalism
Theme: Religion
The main theme in Raiders of the lost arc to me was
Religion, this is because Indiana Jones is someone who
wants to understand mystery, his job is to find artifacts,
understand where they came from and to show the rest of
the world. However, with the Ark he can’t do this as its
powers defies understanding, something science can’t
explain which ultimately is the reason why Indiana Jones
survived as he came to realise this. He also later comes to
respect the arc for what it is and he believes in it’s power
which is why he didn’t get burnt with the Nazi’s so in a way
the arc protected him when he opened his eyes,
For me the main theme in Jaws is Capitalism, to me the villain of
the movie wasn’t actually Jaws but the mayor of Amity Island.
This is because he knew there was a blood thirsty shark out there
but instead of closing the beaches he keeps them open, this is
after there's been a couple of deaths and he still knew there was
a danger to the public but to him he didn’t care, reassuring the
public that the shark was caught and it was safe to go on the
beach. He did all this all for money and it was his entire political
decision that placed the interest of the island business owners
ahead of the safety of it’s consumers. In the end it ends up ironic
that it costed him far more keeping the beaches open rather than
shutting it down and doing the right thing.

Audience
“I always like to think of the audience when I am directing because I am the
audience” – Steven Spielberg
When Spielberg makes a film, he always makes sure it appeals to the audience. Some critics
criticises him on this claiming directors shouldn’t make films for the audience but for the art or
some inner purpose. However, Spielberg makes films to please people, he wants to give the
audience what they want as what the audience wants is what he wants. Films such as E.T., Jaws,
Indiana Jones and Jurassic park are arguably all crowd pleasers. As Spielberg progresses in the
film industry his films become a lot more mature which also reflects his life as well. For example
Schindlers list is a much more mature film and definitely not made to please the audience, this
film shows what Jews had to go through in the war which is personal towards Spielberg as he is
Jewish himself. Schindlers list is definitely not a crowd pleaser film and can be very hard to watch
due to the content involved but it does justice and shows the true nature of what Jews had to go
through in world war 2. Spielberg’s movies all target different audiences depending on the
content of the film, E.T. for example is more aimed towards kids and families whereas Jaws is for
adults with it being quite violent and scary. However, no matter what type of film Spielberg
produces he always knows his audience and knows what they want to see in the type of film he’s
producing. Audience is the main target Spielberg looks at to make a successful film, if the film
doesn’t please the audience then it doesn’t please him. I think one of the aspects of what makes
a Spielberg film successful is the audience appeal to it, Spielberg also does a lot of film
adaptation based on books and he always makes sure the author of he book is involved so he
can do justice to the books and stay true to the source material as well as please the audience
who has read the books.

Steven Spielberg: background
Steven Spielberg was born on the 18th December, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio. When Spielberg was a child he developed an interest in
filmmaking, in his teen years he made a short 40 minute war movie called ‘Escape to nowhere’, the film won first prize at a film
festival. He next directed a feature length science fiction called ‘firelight’ followed by another short film called ‘Amblin’’. An executive
at Universal studios saw the latter film and gave Spielberg a contract, he then began to work in the studios television after attending
California State college in Long beach. He then directed episodes of various TV series such as, Columbo, Marcus Welby, M.d. and
Owen Marshall: Counsellor at war. In 1971 he made his first television movie, Duel, which was claimed to be too intense for a typical
TV fare it was also a huge success and it enabled Spielberg to go on and make theatrical release motion picture films, starting with the
tragic comedy, ‘the Sugarland express (1974). Spielberg next film was ‘Jaws’ (1975) and it was this film that established him as a
leading director as well as it being one of the highest grossing movies of all time. The highly praised film received an academy award
nomination for best picture, and it’s iconic soundtrack composed by John Williams won an Oscar. This film was Spielberg’s first
commercial success and it lead him to produce more blockbusters over his career. His next film was another success called ‘close
encounters of the third kind’ (1977), for this film Spielberg was nominated for his very first academy award nomination for best
director. However it was the films cinematography that received the films only Oscar, but the rest of the film was highly praised.
Spielberg then became the second director in history to score back-to-back $100 million grosses. After making two very successful
films he then made the film ‘1941’ which was hit by very disappointing reviews, however Spielberg made a comeback directing
‘Raiders of the Lost Arc’ (1981) the film was a huge hit receiving nominee for best picture and Spielberg's second best director
nomination. Spielberg didn’t stop there as his next film E.T. (1982) turned out even more successful, Spielberg an the film was
nominated for academy awards as was Melissa Mathison’s screenplay, Allen Daviau’s cinematography, and Williams’s score, however
it was only the score that won. After directing the sequel to Indiana Jones, Spielberg went onto make another film called ‘the colour
purple’ The film was very bold for it’s time but received criticism for downplaying some elements such as the lesbian relationship,
Spielberg stated that he wasn’t brave enough to do it especially in that time however, the film stilled got an academy award for best
picture, but snubbed Spielberg from the best director category, a slight that caused quite the scandal at the time. After all these
movies Spielberg continued to impress and amaze the public with the films he kept producing such as Jurassic park, Schindlers list,
Saving private Ryan, War of the worlds etc… and to this day he is still carrying on producing and directing films such as Ready player
One and his next project which is the highly anticipated West Side Story.

Bibliography
1. Dinning, M. (2012). Raiders Of The Lost Ark Review. Available:
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/raiders-lost-ark-review/. Last accessed 5th Oct
2020Haskell, M (2017).
2. Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films. New York: Yale University Press. 224.
3. Manufacturing intellect. (2017). Steven Spielberg interview on Directing (1992). [Online Video]. 25
October 2017. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-96-lAfagow. [Accessed: 5 October
2020]
4. Quirke, A (2019). Jaws. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 96
5. Scott, M . (2017). Steven Spielberg biography. Available:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm. Last accessed 8th Oct 2020.
6. Spielberg. 2017. [film] Directed by S. Lacy. USA: HBO.
7. Tallerico, B. (2014). The Audience Man: “Steven Spielberg Director’s Collection”. Available:
https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/the-audience-man-steven-spielberg-directors-collection. Last
accessed 8th Oct 2020

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