Steven Spielberg is one of the most famous and influential film directors in the world. He began making short films as a child and teenager and eventually attended the University of Southern California's film school. Though he did not graduate, Spielberg gained experience as an intern at Universal Studios. His first major success was Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Spielberg then directed the first Indiana Jones film and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, both of which were major box office hits. Throughout his career, Spielberg has directed many of the highest-grossing films of all time and founded the successful DreamWorks film studio. He is widely considered one of
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Practitioner Biography
1. Practitioner Biography<br />In the world of film there are some obvious clear factors that are needed to create a film; you need actors, directors, producers and editors among other job roles involved. In this film industry Steven Spielberg is one of the most famous and distained directors in the world, Spielberg has helped actors grow and stand out in the world through his films such as “Saving Private Ryan” which starred multiple award winner Tom Hanks, “Catch Me If You Can” starring Leonardo Dicaprio and again Tom Hanks and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” starring Harrison Ford. Famous faces from all around the world would say that “undoubtedly one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film”.<br />Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio into a Jewish family. Spielberg in the earliest stages of his life produced short 8mm adventure films with his peers where he then went on to sell tickets to see these short films for 25 cents a ticket where his sister then made a profit from selling the popcorn to help the entertainment of guests. From this Spielberg continued to create short films and started to become recognised for his raw talent when Spielberg won a prize for a 40 minute short war film which he had named, “Escape to Nowhere” which was based on a battle in East Africa. Further on into Spielberg’s career when had reached his later teen years when he directed his first independent film, a 140 minute science fiction film called “Firelight” which then later developed into one of his most famous films “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. <br />Steven Spielberg then moved to California to further his education in the film industry and therefore applied at University of Southern California (USC) too focus on theatre, film and television two separate times but was unsuccessful. Spielberg’s career shot up when he returned to Universal Studios as an unpaid intern and guest of the editing department. As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release of a 26 minute film “Amblin” which Spielberg later took as the name of his production company Amblin Entertainment. After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice president for Universal Studios, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed for a long term deal with a major Hollywood studio, Universal Studios. After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree and then had further become a trustee of the university.<br />Steven Spielberg rejected offers to direct “Jaws 2”, “King Kong” and “Superman” so that he and actor Richard Dreyfuss could work on a science fiction film which became “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977). One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, “Close Encounters” was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. “Close Encounters” won Oscars in two categories and a Special Achievement Award. Spielberg went on to direct another film which was “disappointing” in accordance to the critics and therefore revisited the “Close Encounters” project where he retouched and edited the film to then release a 2001 DVD edition which made the film even more successful.<br />Spielberg then went on to create the blockbuster film “Indiana Jones” the first of the set with George Lucas who created “Star Wars” another famous blockbuster hit. This was the first of multiple action films that Spielberg went on to create such as “Blade Runner” another similar action film. A year later, Spielberg returned to science fiction genre with “E.T the Extra Terrestrial”. It went on to become the top grossing film of all the time; E.T was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Spielberg went on to produce three other high grossing films “Poltergeist”, a big screen adaption of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Goonies” where Spielberg also wrote the screen play as well as directed the film. His next directional feature was the Raiders sequel “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” which was PG rated despite it could be one of the most violent of the films. In 1985 Spielberg released “The Colour Purple” an adaption of the winning novel about a generation of empowered African American women during the depression era of America starring Spielberg’s most famous actors Whoopi Goldberg and famous talk show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash, this film received eleven Academy Awards nominations.<br />However after Spielberg’s major influence at such an early stage in his directing career he then went on to produce some of the most famous films ever created which had one multiple awards and had the greatest gross profits ever seen in the film industry. These films included “Saving Private Ryan” starring the distinguished Tom Hanks, “The Lost World” one of the “Jurassic Park” sequels which came behind James Cameron’s hit “Titanic” in the gross profit ratings. “Catch Me If You Can” starring renounced actor Leonardo Dicaprio and multiple other “Indiana Jones” sequels which continued to be box office hits. Spielberg also went on to create his own studio called “DreamWorks” which went on to be one of the most famous studio’s in the world. Spielberg distinguished his life as one of the most famous directors in the world and one of the greatest idols in the history of film.<br />