Formal Film Study: Steven Spielberg

      For my first Formal Film Study, I decided to study the great director, Steven Spielberg. Steven Spielberg is very famous in the film industry and is well known for all of his work. There were three films of Spielberg’s that I decided to watch for my project. I watched the movies The Color Purple (1985), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).  These movies were very different from one another, but in my opinion, were all good films.

     There were some shots and angles that were used in all three of the movies. All three movies had some kind of close up shot at some point in the movie. Usually there were close ups when it was an important part of the movie. For example, in The Color Purple when the main character, Celie, finds out her sister has been writing letters to her for years, the camera zooms onto her face. I think this is done so the viewer can see all the emotion and hopefully feel what the character in the movie was feeling. In Catch Me If You Can, when the main character Frank is told there has been a death in his family, the camera moves in close to his eyes. He begins to cry and there is a lot of emotion displayed in just his eyes. Finally, in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, just before there was an extremely suspenseful part, there is a close up of Indiana Jones. Close ups are used in the three films to show emotion.

     Between these three films, the only one that really used special effects was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was an action and adventure movie, so special effects were needed to make the movie stand out. The special effects in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark were pretty good. Since it is a little older than the other action films that I have seen today, I thought they were pretty good for the time. Even though it has only been about 30 years since this movie came out, there are so many new technological advances that are used in films today. Towards the end of the movie, when the huge ghost came out, I thought that looked really fake. You could totally tell that it was not real. Other than that the special effects were good for the movie. Also, I thought this movie was very violent for a PG rated movie.

     The sound of these films was very important. The music in the background honestly made the films what they were. In The Color Purple, there were a lot of different kinds of music in the background. This music worked with the time period and made it seem like a more realistic time period. In the film Catch Me If You Can, the background music was older. There was classical and jazz music playing. I do not know the exact reasoning behind this, but it really worked for this movie. Finally in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark the sound is very powerful. The music tells what is happening and it gets louder with suspense. If there were no words, you could tell what parts were suspenseful. You could also tell which guys were the “good guys” and which guys were the “bad guys”. Finally, it has the famous Indiana Jones music that is known everywhere.

     One thing that I liked about all of these movies is how realistic the characters were. I think it is really important in movies that the viewer can relate or feel exactly what the main character feels. In these movies I connected with the main character. In The Color Purple, the characters Celie and Nettie are sisters who get separated. I have a sister and I would be lost without her. I could not even imagine what the girls had to go through. Their emotions seemed so real. In Catch Me If You Can, Frank rips people off like no other. He lies his way through his life and becomes successful until he gets caught. I just thought it was amazing how he could come up with lies in the moment when he needed to and het got away with them.  Then in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones is prepared for anything and everything.  There is not one time when he cannot do something because he isn’t prepared.

     All in all, in these three movies there were a few things that really stuck out. The soundtrack was really important to these films. They played a huge role, almost as if a separate character. The shots and angles also were important because they showed emotion and set the scene. Finally, I could relate to all the main characters in the movies. I really liked this because I could enjoy the movies more if I could personally relate to the characters in the movie.