Empire of the Sun is a 1987 American epic coming-of-age war film based on J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Steven Spielberg directed the film, which stars John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, and Christian Bale. The film tells the story of Jamie "Jim" Graham, a young boy who goes from living in a wealthy British family in Shanghai, to becoming a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp, during World War II. Harold Becker and David Lean were originally to direct before Spielberg came on board, initially as a producer for Lean.[3] Spielberg was attracted to directing the film because of a personal connection to Lean's films and World War II topics. He considers it to be his most profound work on
In the first 20 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey you see a group of monkeys going through evolution. The first change you see is that of a leader. In the beginning, each monkey did their own thing, and was not bound to any organization whatsoever. The monkeys did what they want when they wanted. Then the change begins. A single monkey, by himself, rises to the top of a cliff. He stands and screams. The other monkeys notice him screaming and began dancing and rejoicing. They scream and jump around, in what appears to be reverence for their new leader. Stanley Kubrick shows the change very simply, yet its message is still very clear. The monkeys had never shouted as loud or danced as much as they had previously in the film. Their actions confirm that something in fact had changed.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, USA 1981) Harrison Ford stars in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark as a character called Indiana Jones. The opening sequence has left Indiana’s character mysterious to the audience but throughout this sequence we understand his character as bold, cool, calm and a collected leader, but as the sequence develops and the scene changes we see another side to Indiana, an intellectual man who dresses smartly and doesn’t seem cool anymore. From the opening sequence we know that this film is an action/adventure because it is packed with excitement, violence and close encounters with death. The mise en scene or what the audience see and hear plays an important role in an action/adventure because it influences what the audience’s reaction to what is happening.
I didn’t watch “Empire” much when it first came out. I had read about co-creator Lee Daniels and the cultural dysfunction that clings to his work. It seems that typically the black women of his work are stereotyped into poverty, subservience, abrasiveness or hypersexuality, with an additional amount of internalized misogyny. On “Empire,” the poverty is now excessive materialism, but Taraji P. Henson’s performance manages to save her character Cookie from being a comfortable stereotype. Sometimes, all it takes is a single character to save a show and I found that Cookie was that character for me. “Empire” is basically The Taraji Show and the humanity that she pours into Cookie’s character won me over. Otherwise, the show is a bit trashy and
Rome for the end of the film. At the start of the film the central
The movie would be best directed by Stephen Spielberg, because of his ability to keep movies true to nature, and still produce a compelling story. This would be an excellent project for him because the objective of the film is to do exactly what Spielberg did with movies such as Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan: to take a story, fiction or non-, and portray it as a emotionally moving picture, while keeping it true to the original vision.
The first idea I will be looking at is that Star Wars is a type of
Spielberg. The reason why it is set on 4th of July is because it is
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.
'Aliens' by James Cameron James Cameron creates atmosphere in a key sequence in ‘Aliens’ using cinematography, editing, sound, special effects and mise-en-scene. The scene opens with one of the protagonists, Corporal Hicks, telling his troops what he managed to ‘salvage from the APC’, this dialogue is of a military style, and emphasizes the professional nature of the characters. This idea of military professionalism is reinforced by the costumes worn by the characters e.g. bullet proof jackets and bullet belts etc, these make the audience feel protected as if they are in ‘safe hands’. Whilst the marines are hunched over a table, the camera is positioned looking over the shoulder of one of them, giving the audience a chance to ‘be there’ with them. This allows the audience to connect with the characters and to feel what they feel.
A cultural product that inspires me is the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, which was directed by Peter Jackson. This movie gave me inspiration because of how beautiful and well put together the film was. It made me want to be involved with the process of how great films are made. According to Wikipedia, “Jackson knew he wanted to bring the movie to the big screen, and was curious to why nobody decided to do so.” He wanted to take advantage of the new technology, and create a fantasy that was serious and felt real (Wikipedia, 2014). Peter Jackson demonstrates the art and business of the film in many ways, which is culturally inspiring.
Spielberg made his first film at the age of 12. In 1969, his short film “Amblin” came to the attention of Universal Pictures and he signed a seven-year contract with them. His earliest commercial efforts were television movies, which included the f
The movie was directed by Steven Spielberg. One of the main producers was Quincy Jones. Quincy Jones was a producer, and he was the musician for the movie. Steven Spielberg was the main producer and the director. The production company was Amblin Entertainment. It was distributed by Warner Bros. The pictures were Edited by Allen Daviau. The release date was December 18, 1985. The running time is 154min or 2 hours and 34 min. The budget was $15million. The box office made $142 million. Also the screenplay was by Menno
Steven Spielberg is one of the most respected directors of all time. He has made so many great movies over the years. With his strong imagination and his humongous love for movies, there is no doubt that he stands out from most directors.