Formal Film Study: Steven Spielberg

                                               

  Steven Spielberg is one of the most influential people in the movie industry. He is a well known director and producer who has made many Oscar and Award winning movies that people still talk about to this day. He is well known for his movies Jaws, Indiana Jones, E.T, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Schindler's List, and that's just naming a few.
                                                       
                                                               
The first movie I watched was Schindler's List, this movie was very emotional and was based around the Holocaust. This is a true story, and is about a German man named Oskar Schindler who ultimately saves around 1,000 Jews by bringing them to his camp where they work but are never brutally treated like other camps such as Auschwitz. He spends all of his money in providing the proper living conditions for all of the Jewish people, and also in bribing the Nazi officials into helping him. The movie tells the devastating story of the Holocaust. Because of the topic, it is no surprise that the genre of this movie was very dramatic as well as historical. You can tell that the movie is older because of the cinematography, and the quality of the movie. It was black and white, and the music was very dramatic throughout the movie, making you anticipate what would happen next. It wasn't a mystery or thriller even, and a lot of times the piano would be playing in the background and it would be happy upbeat music in a very dramatic and dark scene. For example there was one scene where the police are checking the Jew's houses/apartments to make sure no one is hiding, and then this guy comes out of a piano and he makes noise and hears them running up the stairs coming for him, so he casually sits down and starts playing the piano, and two other guys come in the doorway contemplating whether the composer is Bach or Mozart nonchalantly, it adds a lot of dramatic irony to the scene. Maybe Spielberg did this to take the edge off a little, and not make the movie as depressing, but while still conveying the message of the movie, and accurately depicting what life was like during that time period.
                                        

                                                   
The second movie I watched was The Terminal with Tom Hanks, I did some research and saw that Spielberg worked with him a lot as well as Harrison Ford, and Tom Cruise. So he tended to work with famous actors and that probably is a big reason for why his movies are so popular in the box office, it appeals to the crowd, because people like seeing actors they recognize, but his movies are also deep and symbolic, which could also catch the attention of critics. The Terminal was about a man from Krakozhia who travels to America to get an autograph of a famous Jazz player that his dad liked, because he promised he would after his father passed. However, as he lands in New York his country goes into war making him country-less, and therefore a threat to the USA. So the main guy at the airport says he say to stay in the international terminal until everything gets cleared up. He ends up getting a job at the airport, falling in love, and winning the hearts of everyone in the airport. It's completely different from the deeper meaning Spielberg movies that I have seen. Its more of a feel good movie than anything else, and the message at the end is just that "good things come to those who wait", because he could have easily just left the airport and gone on his way, risking getting arrested for breaking the law, or he could wait and cling to his blind hope of fulfilling his dads dying wish, and since he chooses the latter we see that it was all worth it in the end. The shots of the movie were very direct and straight forward, a lot of times it would be a distant shot showing the whole setting and it would cut between the perspective of Viktor (Tom Hanks), and the main airport guy.
                                                            
  The third movie I watched was Lincoln which was the most Political and historical  because it talks about the civil war and his attempt to make sure freed slaves can't be re-enslaved. Its more of a war movie which also shows how Abe Lincoln tried to give African Americans their rights of freedom. The movie is more dark and there are a lot of scenes that are black and you can basically just see the peoples faces being lit, so the lighting in this movie was very interesting. It seems to me that the more dramatic the movie is the more Spielberg conveys it through the lighting. I thought the last scene of the movie was interesting, in that he gets shot and they end the movie of a flashback of him giving his speech, and its very dramatic and captivates the audience. I think Daniel Day-Lewis did an excellent job playing Abe Lincoln and really made him come to life. For a historical movie, it kept you interested the whole time, even though it was pretty long, the acting was done exceptionally well, and from some of the reviews I read online the accuracy of facts was dead on.

These movies were all unique, because The Terminal was a funny feel good movie that had a happy ending, and then Schindler's List is more historical and talks about the tragedy of the Holocaust, even though in the end the Jewish people are free, the movie ends with them putting rocks on his grave, and its a very bitter sweet ending, and Lincoln is very political and historical as well. Schindler's list and Lincoln both deal with political issues such as rights for human beings, whether it be race, or religion, it focuses on the morality of and quality of human life, and what is acceptable and isn't the way we treat others. It sends the message of the injustice that has occurred in history, in hopes of us remembering and not repeating the past. The movies both leave you going away with a more profound meaning of life and a sadness of actualization of what has happened in history. The Terminal was the odd one out of the three movies I chose, because even though it had a meaningful message for the main character, it didn't deal directly with a political issue. Indirectly though, the argument could be made that it shows how the system of America has cracks that people could fall into under the right circumstances, like Viktor, who merely came to New York to get a signature of a famous Jazz group member, and ends up being considered a threat due to the economic situation of his country. He can neither be taken into customs and be arrested because he hasn't committed a crime, but he also isn't free to enter America because he is potentially a 'threat'. The look of Schindler's List, and Lincoln were darker and had a more gloomy look to them. While the Terminal was brighter, even though it too had some dark scenes. What is unique about Steven Spielberg is he is known for the piano music that plays in the background of his movies, I saw this in all three regardless of the genre. The pacing in all the movies was generally pretty slow, which is ironic cause I found myself captivated by all the three. Typically, they start out slower, and then you get more into them, as the story-line progresses.
     These movies represent a lot of deeper and more thoughtful messages about history than typically a common Hollywood blockbuster would, yet somehow the audience is known for loving Spielberg movies. I think it is because he hires very well known actors, like Tom Hanks in Terminal, Liam Neeson in Schindler's List, and Daniel-Day Lewis in Lincoln. He appeals to the audience, and he makes history entertaining. Typically Spielberg does very well in the box office Lincoln made $275,293,450 in the box office.  Schindler's list won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and The Terminal won a few design and production awards as well. Spielberg movies are unique because he has a lot of consistent references to World War II, he uses a piano as a key element in scenes, he uses powerful flashlights in dark lit scenes, a lot of times shows children in some sort of danger and a lot of his important characters are scene in the rearview mirror of a car. 
      The movies he makes are often inspired by true events, or are depictions of true events. The movie the Terminal was inspired by a man who lived in a German airport, and Spielberg did his own spin of it, Schindler's list, and Lincoln are true stories. I think because Spielberg is Jewish it is one of the main reasons he references World War II so much in his movies, I think he wants to inform everyone in a way that makes people feel something towards the events that have happened in the past. He has a few movies relating to the Holocaust, The Purple Heart, Shooting War, Eyes of the Holocaust, and Schindler's List. Also Saving Private Ryan and Lincoln, are movies that feature a lot of war scenes. However, I looked into some of his other movies as well and he does a lot of Disney related things as well, like E.T, Who framed Rogger Rabbit, Casper, and The Flinstones. His movies are a ton of genres and don't just focus on war or drama. I think the movies he makes lie everywhere on the spectrum because there are so many sides of him as a director, just like any person, and that's why he appeals to any age group and any crowd. He has movies anyone of any age can relate to.    
    All of us every single year, we're a different person. I don't think we're the same person all our lives.

Steven Spielberg