Director Study: Spielberg
The films Jurassic Park and War of the Worlds both highlight Steven Spielberg’s distinctive directing style. Spielberg portrays similar ideas in both films. This essay will explore Spielberg's directing style through analysing the characters' Ray and Alan who are stubborn father figures but develop throughout the film. This essay will also explore how Spielberg portrays the idea that it is not man's place to interfere with nature. Finally, Spielberg is a director that often manipulates his audience and encourages an emotional connection between the audience and the characters' on screen. He uses several effective techniques in both films, such as dolly into close up.
Spielberg frequently uses protagonists who are
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An example of this is as shown in the movie Jurassic Park when the technology fails on the island due to life finding its way. Nedry's foolish actions show how humans stand helpless against the dinosaurs without any technology. The scene that shows the helplessness is when the T Rex breaks out of its den. The filming techniques used to show, the theme is a combination of low angled shots and low key lighting. A low camera angle shot is used when the T Rex flips the car and has the remaining on the tire in its mouth. The T Rex looks very horrifying as the T Rex is looking down at the audience. This allows the audience to feel as terrified and petrified as the characters are in the movie. Spielberg used low angles to show how the T rex's power and size cannot be contained by the arrogance of mankind. The lighting used in the scene was low key lighting. The low key lighting is showing how the scene is dark, gloomy and unexpected. The lighting also shows how the power is out and the humans are left to fight nature on their own due to their haughtiness. The lighting sets the tone of how mankind will fail and tremble in the face of nature. The combination of low angles and low key lighting helps the audience understand that nature is not something that can easily be dealt with. Spielberg also shows this idea that humans are helpless against nature in the movie War of the World. Humans become vulnerable against nature when all power and technology is lost when the “Martian tripods” first appear. Filming techniques like low angles and dolly to close-ups are used to create an effect of how weak humans are against nature. The low angles are used when the humans first encounter the octopus-like tripods. The tripods are filmed at a low angle which allows the audience feel what the characters are feeling. The audience should be feeling agitated because of the tormenting