For my final project, I will be discussing my all time favorite director, Steven Spielberg. Spielberg has had one of the longest, most successful (both critically and box office) careers in film history, and has directed, produced, and written countless films in the past forty years.

Spielberg was born into a Jewish family in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1946. Much of his early life was spent in the Haddon Township of New Jersey and in Scottsdale, Arizona, and many of the first films he saw in theaters were in these two places. Some of the first films that Spielberg himself made were short adventure films that he and his friends would make using an 8mm film camera. When the films were complete, him and his friends would show the films to neighborhood children and charge 25 cents admission for the films. During his early life, Spielberg also struggled with his Jewish heritage, often getting beat up in school simply for being Jewish, as well as being reluctant to bring his mostly protestant friends over to his house because of his family's Jewish practices.

 A Super 8mm Camera similar to one used by Spielberg for his childhood films

One of the parts of Spielberg's early life that heightens my love for him, is that he was an active Boy Scout. I was also a Boy Scout throughout my teen years, and found one story from Spielberg's scouting years particularly fascinating. One year at Boy Scout Camp, I was taking the Photography merit badge, and my instructor began telling a story about when Spielberg took the badge during his scouting years. Basically, the badge teaches a scout to take all kinds of still photographs at a variety of different angles to teach the fundamentals of what a photographer does to frame a shot. Spielberg decided to take a different approach to completing these requirements, as he had access to his trusty Super 8 camera. After getting approval from his instructor, Spielberg decided to complete his requirements by making a western that exemplified all the shots required, and earned the badge. Spielberg's approach to the Photography merit badge inspired an entirely new badge based around making films, the Cinematography merit badge. Shortly after hearing this story, I earned my Photography merit badge, and a few years later, I earned the Cinematography badge as well. Spielberg continued his scouting career, and eventually became an Eagle Scout during his high school years. Famous and influential Eagle Scouts like Spielberg gave me the drive to become an Eagle Scout myself in 2010 (Which was also the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in America), and I am proud to be a part of an elite that people like Spielberg belong to.

The Type 3 Eagle Scout Badge from Spielberg's era of Scouting

 Spielberg went on to graduate from Saratoga High School in California in 1965, and began to pursue his dreams of becoming a filmmaker by attending film school. Spielberg was rejected twice by the University of Southern California's Film School, but managed to find acceptance at California State University at Long Beach. During his time at Cal State, he became an intern at Universal Studios, and after executives saw his first short film Amblin' in 1968, he became the youngest director to be signed for a long term contract in Hollywood history. After being signed, Spielberg dropped out of Cal State to begin his directing career, and would eventually begin his own production company, Amblin Entertainment, named for his breakthrough film.

Poster for Amblin'

 Spielberg proved that he was a skilled director in his early work for Universal making single episodes of television shows, and after realizing his talent, Universal allowed him to direct some made for TV films. Duel was the first, and was an innovative chase film about a large truck trying to run a much smaller car off the road, and received special praise from British film critic Dilys Powell, which had a significant impact on Spielberg. The Sugarland Express was his first feature film to be released in theaters, and was praised by The Hollywood Reporter, stating that Spielberg would be the next big director. The film, however, performed poorly at the box office and was given only a limited release to theaters, but Spielberg's talent remained clear, which is what landed him his first big role as a director, the film adaptation of Peter Benchley's novel, Jaws. 

Jaws

 Jaws was a gigantic success, and made Spielberg a household name, solidifying his career as a director. Spielberg would receive many offers to direct many films, but turned most down so that he could make films that he was personally interested in. Spielberg would enjoy much success from his future films, often working with other talented directors such as George Lucas, and many of the films he was a part in would be nominated for various Academy Awards. Much of this success can be attributed to Spielberg's unique style as a director. In my opinion, this style is best shown in E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982).

Spielberg generally uses an ordinary child like character who is then met by an extraordinary figure. ET is no exception, and actually has two child like characters, the first being Elliot, the boy that discovers ET, and ET himself, as he has the knowledge of a child when it comes to the way things are on Earth. This style enables the audience to identify with the characters, as many of us would like to be children again, and in many cases, the extraordinary is usually only truly understood by the child. In ET, basically every adult is against ET in one way shape or form, but Elliot is the only one to consider ET's true civil nature, and to help him get home safely. Many of Spielberg's films follow a pattern similar to this, generally occurring in works that Spielberg does exclusively most often.

Spielberg's style, as well as other styles of his generation, were the first styles to be pioneered by film school graduates. These films would go on to break box office records, and the way that they were produced would quickly become the industry norm. Overall, influential directors such as Steven Spielberg had a tremendous influence on how movies were made during their time, and even today.

Works cited
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg
Pictures are from their respective wiki pages, I believe the links are linked to the pictures in the blog already. Regardless, I do not own any of them, and am only respectfully using them to clearly display my project.