Spielberg’s Filmmaking Style and Techniques

DOI

10.2991/978-2-494069-97-8_88How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Scene; production; style; technique; blocking; subtext

Abstract

Spielberg has managed the nearly unachievable position of one of the most successful directors by ensuring that his films are iconic, which means that any person will see that every possible element of his film is usually very well thought out and implemented excellently. Even the production designs in his films have a unique role, whereby he uses a prop or set piece in not only introducing scenes, but also in contextualizing them to the audience accordingly. These elements make his work unique, as indicated in how many of his films are iconic and have made him one of the most renowned, successful and influential directors in the world. The director also uses performance blocking to move actors in the scene so that his film has kinetic energy, and communicates sub-textually to the audience. Multiple compositions in shots are also used generously in Spielberg films as a means of introducing elements like emotion, attracting attention, and keeping the overall film entertaining enough. By applying these elements Spielberg manages to keep his audience engaged so that they do not miss the point he is attempting to make in the narrative of his various films. Camera movement is another element in which Spielberg takes a unique approach, whereby he understands the importance of moving the camera in all directions at all speeds at the same time as a means of enhancing the cinematic value of the film. While new and upcoming directors need not copy Spielberg’s style because he has established himself as the expert in this respect, they could greatly benefit from studying his approach to filmmaking.

Copyright

© 2023 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhaoyi Ding
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/02/13
TI  - Spielberg’s Filmmaking Style and Techniques
BT  - Proceedings of the 2022 4th International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development (ICLAHD 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 692
EP  - 698
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-494069-97-8_88
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-494069-97-8_88
ID  - Ding2023
ER  -