Steven Spielberg

By Sahil Shah

Now ShowingSpielberg: The Making of an Award-Winning

Director

FeaturingJurassic Park

The Extra Terrestrial

Close Encounters of

the Third Kind

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Jurassic Park

The Extra Te

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Close Encounters of

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SpielbergThe Making of an Award-

Winning Director

The Early Life of Steven Spielberg• Born on December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati,

Ohio•Son of Arnold Spielberg, an electrical engineer working in the emerging field of computers, and Leah Adler, a concert pianist.•Was the only son, and was the oldest of four children.•Spent his childhood moving around because of his father’s job. They first moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey later moving to Scottsdale, Arizona.•He was raised Jewish, but when he was young he felt ashamed to be a Jew.

• As a child, Spielberg used his family’s 8mm home movie camera to record camping trips and other family events.•Growing dissatisfied with that, he began to film narrative movies while attempting to use special camera angles and primitive special effects.•At age 16, Spielberg filmed his first feature-length science fiction movie he called Firelight. The movie, over 2 hours long, was about an encounter with aliens, and cost Spielberg about $500 to make. Spielberg’s father rented out their local movie theater to show the film, and in that night, Spielberg made enough money to cover the cost of making the film.

Early Movie-Making Interests

Steven Spielberg’s Personality• Steven Spielberg is considered as,

"simple, honest and with immense candor“ (Amitabh Bachchan- Bollywood Actor)• During his childhood, Spielberg was very unenthusiastic when it came to academics, but his love for movies was immense• He would cajole his way past guards at

Universal Studios just so he could see movies being filmed.

Personal Struggles• His average grades caused him to get denied from the University of Southern California film school• Instead he attended California State

College as an English major since they had no formal film program.

• In 2007, Steven Spielberg was properly diagnosed with dyslexia. In a video for the website The Friends of Quinn, Spielberg revealed that when he was little he, “dealt with it by making movies.” This explains why Spielberg was not very enthusiastic about academics. •Spielberg divorced his wife Amy Irving after 4 years of marriage in 1989. He was forced to pay her $100 million which was half his fortune at the time.

Careers• Aside from directing, Spielberg produced and wrote the screenplay for many of his movies.• His first production company was Amblin Entertainment• It was named after a short film

Spielberg entered at the 1969 Atlanta Film Festival. He also entered the movie in the Venice Film Festival which got him a 7 year contract with Universal Studios.

•In 2009, Spielberg along with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen formed DreamWorks Studios.

Awards• Spielberg films have been nominated for over 200 major awards.•In total, he has won 33 Academy Awards, 11 Golden Globes, and 16 BAFTA Awards for movies like Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Schindler’s List, E.T., Saving Private Ryan, and the Indiana Jones movies.•His films have won many minor awardsas well

SummaryThe Extra Terrestrial (E.T.) is a film made in 1982. It is about a 10 year old boy named Elliott who finds an abandoned alien trying to find a way to go home. Elliott and his siblings must defy the government’s authority in order to make sure the alien returns back safely.

Major Characters: E.T. – part of a group of alien botanists who is forgotten on Earth after government agents tried to chase their space ship.Elliott- a 10 year old boy who is generally ridiculed by his siblings for his crazy imagination. Elliott finds E.T. and takes him in.Michael and Gertie- Elliott's siblings who help him.Government Agents- try to find the abandoned alien.Conflict:• E.T. needs to find a way to contact his home.• U.S. government agents are trying to capture E.T. for their research.

Themes•Spielberg is trying to show that no matter who we are or how we look, we all are the same in our desire for a home.• By using the researchers, Spielberg shows the importance of keeping an imagination (good vs. evil)

SummaryClose Encounters of the Third Kind, made in

1977, was another of Spielberg’s notable science fiction films. This movie is about an alien encounter by some civilian which cause them to be compelled to reach a certain mountain. Meanwhile, after experiencing some unexpected events, government researchers try to find a way to communicate with extra terrestrials.

Major Characters•Roy Neary- electrician who has a close encounter when the power in the town unexpectedly shuts off.•Jillian Guiler- single mother who has a close encounter trying to chase after her son Barry.•Barry Guiler- 3 year old boy who finds that his toy unexpectedly started moving. He runs out of the house to find out what was causing that to happen.•Claude Lacombe- French scientist trying to figure out how to communicate with the extra terrestrials.•David Laughlin- Former mapmaker who helps Lacombe.Conflict•After having a close encounter, Roy and Jillian are compelled to find some sort of mountain, but do not know where it is. •The researchers are trying to figure out how they can communicate with the extra terrestrials.

Themes• Nothing is impossible• Do not be fearful of the unknown

SummaryThe first of the Jurassic Park

movies , made in 1993, is about a billionaire philanthropist and his team of scientist who make a amusement park filled with cloned dinosaurs. When Dennis Nedry deactivates the security system to steal some dinosaur embryos during a private preview tour, chaos breaks loose.

Major CharactersJohn Hammond- Creator of Jurassic ParkDr. Alan Grant- Paleontologist called to check the safety of the parkDr. Ellie Sattler- Paleobotanist who comes with AlanLex and Tim Murphy- John’s grandchildrenDennis Nedry- scientist who deactivates the security system to give embryos to John’s competitorsConflictThe dinosaurs are able to run free because the security system was deactivated, but by fixing the system, they find that they have now released velociraptors.

Themes• With great power comes huge responsibility• Even new technology can have it own failures•Good always prevails over evil

Spielberg’s TechniqueLighting: In both Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., Spielberg uses less lighting so it can contrast to the brightness of the UFOs. This way he can emphasize their uniqueness. In Jurassic Park, less lighting during the parts when the dinosaurs roam free keep a scary and suspenseful atmosphere.Music: Spielberg uses only custom scores by John Williams. Williams has composed music for all, but two of Spielberg's major films. (The Color Purple and Duel)

CharactersGoing against the will of othersClose Encounters- Roy going against his family and the governmentE.T.- Elliott and Michael going against the researchersJurassic Park- Dennis going against JohnRidiculed by others for their imaginationClose Encounters- Roy by his familyE.T.- Elliott by his familyJurassic Park- John by Dr. Grant and Sattler

PatternsExamining Spielberg’s ImaginationAll of the films use something non- existent or extinct. This show the inner imagination Spielberg had as a child which he uses in his films. Spielberg used this imagination to get over his parent’s divorce and his childhood problems with dyslexia

ThemesAbandonment- In all three films there is abandonment which plays a role on the main characters. For Roy it was the abandonment of his family. For Elliott, it was the abandonment of his dad. Lastly, for Lex and Tim, John initially abandons them because he does not want to get killed. This would be part of Spielberg’s film because he felt abandoned by his parent’s divorce.Good vs. Evil- In Jurassic Park and E.T., good always prevailed over evil in the end.

I would definitely recommend Steven Spielberg to anyone who enjoys movies of any genre. From his imaginative animation films to his films based on historical time periods, Steven Spielberg has a movie for everyone which will keep you hooked until the end.

Sources•http://www.presidentialufo.com/steven-spielberg/344-spielbergs-saucer-secrets•http://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-St/Spielberg-Steven.html•http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/?ref_=sr_1•www.youtube.com•http://www.dreamworksstudios.com/about/history

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/09/steven-spielberg-escaped-his-dyslexia-through-filmmaking/