Steven Spielberg's Trademarks

"Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter what the movie's about."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czhfcLff_jo

Born December 18 (1946), in Cincinatti, Ohio , Steven Spielberg is for sure, one of the main producers and director of the last century.

No director is as well known, nor has had as much success in Hollywood as Steven Spielberg. He has done a remarkable Job as a producer, helping George Lucas producing the Star Wars saga, but also directing acclaimed movies such as Jaws, ET, Indiana Jones, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, among many others. He invented a style of filmmaking that audiences ate up in the 1980’s, single-handedly invented the modern blockbuster.

Besides, among his trademarks, Spielberg’s work is characterized mainly by the so called “The Spielberg face” which tends to show surrender, horror, wonder. How the director wrangles a spectrum of emotion from a single expression. Spielberg keeps his characters’ humanity front and center, he never lets the audience forget that whatever wonders or horrors are occurring onscreen, the real focus is the effect these wonders or horrors have on the characters and how in turn they react to the situation. . The idea is simple, zoom in on a character as they are looking at something. Most of the time, this character is amazed, and their face is full of surprise, and the thing that they are looking at is not revealed to the audience until after the character shows their expression.

On the other hand, John Williams, and his unique soundtrack creations are a identification of his films. And this excellent musical work has a name in it, and this is John Williams, the best composer. known for their entertaining stories, relatable characters, impressive production values, and attention to detail, it is the soundtracks that make them the most memorable. No other director has made so many films with soundtracks that are as easily recognizable. ET or Indiana Jones soundtracks are one of the examples.

The reflection shot, consists in using complicated camera movements and angles. One of his favorite camera angles is using a mirror or window reflection to capture his characters indirectly. He uses this technique to show the face of a character when the camera is located behind them. This allows the audience to see the details of a scene/setting without losing the connection to a character.

We should also considered the idea of a broken family and “daddy issues” but, what is particular of this uses is the tendency of giving a higher role to the children feeling rather to the adults ones. This is shown particularly in ET, Elliot's sense of absence of his father or in Hook, with Peter until the Lost Boys brought the “pan” out of home again.

Bibliography:

- Perno, G.S (2016) https://www.cinelinx.com/movie-stuff/item/6309-directors-trademarks-steven-spielberg.html

- René.V (2015) https://nofilmschool.com/2018/03/14-trademarks-steven-spielbergs-iconic-filmmaking

-Imdb website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-C01T0kw74

- https://www.thetoptens.com/notable-filming-techniques-steven-spielberg/