Transcript Slide 1

Steven Spielberg
Childhood
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Steven Spielberg was born on December 18, 1946, in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
Grew up as the only Jewish family in the neighborhood, this
impacted his childhood and later his movies.
Looking for a distraction from life, young Spielberg picked up his
father’s 8mm camera, which was to be his newfound hobby. In
which he created many short films, enlisting his family members as
cast members.
At the age of 13, Spielberg taught himself how to master camera
angles, technical tricks, and visual storytelling skills.
His first feature-length film, “Firelight”, was two-and-a-half-hours
long. Firelight showed at a local movie theatre, whereby Spielberg
made one hundred dollars in profit in one night from his film.
After graduating from high school, Spielberg attempted to enroll into
film school but failed due to poor high school grades.
Early Years
He attended California State College at Long Beach, and
majored in English.
 After graduating from college in 1970, Spielberg snuck
onto the Universal Studios lot and tried to convince
producers to look at his films.
 Spielberg’s film, “Amblin” told the story of a couple
hitchhiking from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific Ocean.
 Spielberg scrounged together fifteen thousand dollars
from his friends and family to make this 22-minute film.
 The film “Amblin” revealed Spielberg’s talent and a
producer from Universal Studios, contracted Spielberg
for 7 years after he saw the movie “Amblin”.
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1973 - First assignment at Universal Studios
Universal assigned Spielberg to make a film
made for television, “Duel”. “Duel” is about a
traveling salesman whose car is relentlessly
chased down rural highways by a large truck
with an unseen driver.
 The American public enjoyed this thriller, and
was popular enough to be shown in theaters
overseas. The movie “Duel” may still be
considered to be the best American television
movie ever made.
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1974
The film “Sugerland Express” was released in
1974 as Spielberg’s feature film debut.
 Inspired by a real incident, Spielberg constructed
this movie about a young couple that led a
police chase across Texas as they attempt to
retrieve their baby from the foster parents.
 It received praise from box office critics but
failed at the box office.
 “The Sugerland Express” won a Cannes Film
Festival Award for Best Screenplay
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1975 – “Jaws”
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“Jaws” became Spielberg’s claim to fame, becoming the
top-grossing film of all time in 1975.
The movie was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars,
and won a few technical awards.
“Jaws” marked a new movie genre, the blockbuster. The
blockbuster movie could be interpreted as a highly
anticipated movie that made a lot of money and
captured both critics and viewers attention.
In 1998, the film was named by the American Film
Institute as one of the 100 best American films of the
century.
1977 – “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”
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Spielberg created and directed
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”,
in 1977.
He showed the viewing audience his
passion for science fiction.
This film earned Spielberg his first
Oscar nomination for best director.
“Indiana Jones”
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1977 - Spielberg told George
Lucas he wanted to make a film
with the James Bond character.
Lucas suggested a movie set in
the 1930’s about an archaeologist
and his adventures.
“Indiana Jones and the Raiders of
the Lost Arc” came out in 1981.
Spielberg won an Academy Award
nomination for best director.
Later he directed the film’s two
sequels, “Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom” and “Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade.”
1982 – “E.T.”
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In 1982, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” toppled the
film Jaws from the all time top-grossing movie
ranking.
Appealed to suburban America, the story line
became a classic hit.
• Once again, Spielberg earned an Academy
Award nomination for best director,
Spielberg’s status was “the first director since
Alfred Hitchcock to become a household
name.”
1982 - Spielberg creates “Amblin” Entertainment
Universal Studios restricted the
amount of films he could produce,
this was a hindrance to Spielberg’s
will, therefore, he was stimulated to
found his own production company
“Amblin”.
 Amblin Entertainment, using the
E.T. logo as its trademark of good
fortune from the movie E.T.
 At this point in his career Spielberg
was perceived more as of a
producer than a director.
 Spielberg did not find producing as
satisfying as directing and gradually
has become less involved.
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1985 – “The Color Purple”
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Spielberg directed “The Color Purple” (which
launched Oprah Winfrey's career), as a
response to critics claiming that he can't make
a "serious" movie.
This “serious” movie received a lot of “serious”
critical acclaim, and brought the Directors Guild
of America award to Spielberg for Theatrical
Direction in 1985, as well as 11 Oscar
nominations, but not one honoring the director.
As a consolation prize, he did receive the
prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1987.
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1987 saw the release of “Empire of the Sun”
“Always” was released in 1989
“Hook” was released in 1991.
These were each moderate successes, while the
latter two were pretty forgettable, especially by the
time 1993 came around.
1993 – “Jurassic Park”
Jurassic Park
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Spielberg made a major career
resurgence in 1993 with the special
effect-heavy dinosaur extravaganza
Jurassic Park.
Jurassic Park made an outstanding
impression, with a record-setting
opening weekend gross of $70
million and a total gross of $357
million.
The film encouraged and launched
other big money franchises,
including two sequels, the lost
World: Jurassic Park (1997), which
Spielberg directed, and Jurassic Park
3, which he produced.
“Schindler’s List”
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Also in 1993, Spielberg displayed an
affectionate, caring, and giving side of himself
when he released his sobering black and white
adaptation of Thomas Keneally’s prize winning
novel "Schindler’s List", the story of a
complicated real life hero.
"Schindler’s List" earned over $100 million at
the box office.
Spielberg gave all of his earnings from the film
to the Righteous Persons Foundation, an
organization that supports a number of
projects that impacted modern Jewish life.
1998-2005
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2005
2005
2004
2002
2002
2001
“Munich”
“War of the Worlds”
“The Terminal”
“Catch Me If You Can”
“Minority Report”
“A.I.”
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1998 “Saving Private Ryan”
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Roger Ebert (Sun-Times film critic) said: "If Spielberg never
directed another film, his place in movie history would be secure.
No other director has been more successful at the box office and
few placed more titles on various lists of great films. No director
or producer has ever put together a more popular body of work"
(Filmmakers).