i'm confused...again. (reply)

[bankholdup]

I'm a bit confused again with film industry stuff. Let's say somebody called Steven Spielberg (just an example) the best storyteller alive. Well, as we all know, he directed Jaws, but didn't write it. Why wouldn't the screenwriter get much credit in this? And what exactally is it that Spielberg did so special in this film?

Note: I am in no way insulting the film, I am simply trying to figure out what Spielberg did that nobody else could have probably done.

Ok, Jaws pops out of the water. Scary stuff, right? How come many other directors can't pull this off and what makes it so great?


PS: I haven't seen the movie in 10 years.

[jeffkantoku]

What it again, dude. http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif

It's all the little details.

When you watch with a filmmakers eye you will notice things.

Watch when the Orca leaves with Brodie and Hooper. You see it through a window, what else?

Watch when Sherrif Brodie watches the beach on alert for Sharks. Classic moments.


[This message has been edited by jeffkantoku (edited 07-19-2002).]

[This message has been edited by jeffkantoku (edited 07-19-2002).]

[notchreturns]

Bank, it's a well-known fact that Spielberg takes part in the screenwriting process, he just goes uncredited.

Anyway, Jaws happens to be one of the best films when it comes to the visual side of filmmmaking. It's beautifully shot and orchestrated. Also, the use of diffrent camera effects and angles really set Spielberg apart. You know when your watching a Spielberg film, because it looks like nothing else anybody can put on screen.

Also, this might have to do with the writing as well, but Spielberg can take ideas that would seem weak and idiotic if done by someone else, but he makes it beautiful. Ex. A giant shark terrozing a small town, a young boy befriends a alien, a man is chased down by a unseen truck driver, etc. If anybody else would made these films it would have B movie written all over it. But Spielberg makes it special because he is a master storyteller and can put visuals on the screen no one else can dream of.

It doesnt hurt that Jaws also happen to be my favorite film http://www.joblo.com/ubb/smile.gif

Go rent it and pay attention to the little details of the use of lightning, structure, characters, suspense you will see the genius, trust me. http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Tuukka]

Think of any activity a man can do.

And then think of the millions of ways how that activity can be displayed in film medium. Actor-coreography, lights, compositing, sets, editing, pacing, music, camera-angles, camera-movements, etc...

The thing is that director is responsible for ALL of those things. Everyone else on the crew is trying to achieve HIS vision. For example 50% of acting comes from the director, because he tells to the actor how he has to act. He draws the performance out of the actor. The same thing goes for cinematographer, editor, composer, etc.

If you think of a shot of a man standing on the beach and looking at the ocean, there are millions of ways to do that shot. But which way is the RIGHT way? Which way makes the drama more powerful, the story more intriguing? Which way makes the audience feel the emotion that the character is feeling?

That's the responsibility of the director to decide, which approach of the countless of possibilities is the most effective one.

Spielberg is one of the few who knows the right way, and it is obvious in Jaws.

But I do think that screenwriters shold receive more credit for their work. It's an incredibly underrated profession.