Steven Spielberg

Any Steven Spielberg film that is released nowadays I take an immediate interest in, it is almost like brand trust; any film he makes i can come to admire from a filmmaker's point of view. Most of his films are instant classics; Saving Private Ryan shocked film audiences with the bloody 20 minute opening scene but was praised for the realistic, savage brutality of war and the portryal of the D-day and Operation Overlord landings. Close Encounters, the Indina Jones series and Jurassic Park were all the films I used to watch in m youth and I would be lying if I said they had no impact on my own style.

ET was probably the first Spielberg film I saw, and though I haven't re-watched it, I plan to. The latest Spielberg film I saw was Super 8, which I thought was quite similar in many ways to ET, perhaps just because of the time in which the narrative is set, but I would also say the directing methods, cinematography and art style that Spielberg makes use of is still very much his own, and not so generic and commonplace. Whilst I can't pick out individual scenes as I can with James Cameron, I think it falls down to the fact that his art-style portrays your role as an audience in the film as very subtle, I often forget I am watching a film, and no over-dramatic camera angles separate me from immersing myself within it.

I can trust Spielberg to deliver an immersive, narrative based experience. I don't think of him as cinematography centered or considerate as I do with James Cameron and  Hitchock - though he doubtless considers them.