Steven Spielberg Essays - English-language Films, Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg It is hard to imagine a person who has not heard of Steven Spielberg. He is one of the most renown, if not the most renown, American filmmakers of the century. His films have captivated and helped develop imaginations of contemporary society and remain among the most successful films ever made. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati on December 18th, 1946. His father was an electrical engineer, and his mother a concert pianist. Steven seemed to get the best elements from both of them. Spielberg had an early fascination with cinema and began making amateur films at a very young age. At 13, he won a local contest for his 40-minute film, Escape to Nowhere. Ironically, Steven was unable to get into a film school, so he settled for majoring in English Literature at California State University. After graduation, he set out to Hollywood, where he was determined to be successful. In 1974, he received his first break for The Sugarland Express. The film went on to win a Cannes Film Festival Award for best screenplay. The following year saw JAWS explode. This very successful horror film, depicting a man-eating shark, captured the attention of the world and has become part of contemporary pop culture. The movie was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars and won several Oscars for technical categories and for its very distinctive score. JAWS was not the only film of his to make the 100 best films of the century list by the American Film Institute. Many of Steven Spielberg's works have been placed on that list, and many are so timeless, they will live in the hearts of generations to come. Such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park have become legendary. In Spielberg's down time, he stringed together a personal little film about a suburban boy who befriends an earthbound alien, also known as E.T. for Extra-Terrestrial. It hit theaters in 1982 and became an instant classic and is still the defining film of his landmark-filled career. This magical and exceedingly sentimental film surpassed even George Lucas' Star Wars to become one of the biggest domestic moneymakers of all time. He has the unparalleled talent of capturing people's imagination and dreams, but at the same time tapping into humanities darkest nightmares. In 1993, Spielberg made Schindler's List, a haunting epic that showed the Holocaust in its ugly truth. The film would eventually win him a Best Picture Oscar. It has now become part of the regular curriculum in many schools and is considered by many to be the most significant film of this generation. In 1998, Spielberg came out with Saving Private Ryan, which captured war in gory and shocking detail as his soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy. This again shows his willingness to deal with larger, more serious issues. Further profiting as a producer of other directors' its like Poltergeist, Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Spielberg became one of the richest and most powerful players in Hollywood. In 1984, he founded Amblin Entertainment and used the E.T. logo as its trademark. While this was doing well, Spielberg wanted more control over his projects and did not want any other studios interfering with his work. In 1994, along with several other industry hotshots, they created the first new movie studio in Hollywood in over 75 years- Dreamworks. The company covers all its bases and produces live action and animated movies, music, computer games, arcades, television productions, and distribution. Spielberg owns approximately 22% of Dreamworks and he is worth around 1 billions dollars. His average salary is $238 million a year! A defining characteristic of a Steven Spielberg movie is the elaborate costs of making movies, huge box office returns, and many award nominations. For example, Jurassic Park was a special effects-laden adaptation of Michael Crichton dinosaur disaster novel of the same game that cost $70 million to make. But, it grossed $100 million in nine days on its way to completely shattering his own record in E.T. Schindler's List finally earned Spielberg his long-awaited Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. Most people know that Steven Spielberg is a director, but not all know that