Abstract
Some directors actively cultivate a ‘personal’ style through the repeated use of specific devices—such as Wes Anderson and his frequent application of planimetric compositions. However, Spielberg claims that he always applies variation to his style.
I think every movie I’ve made after Indiana Jones, I’ve tried to make every single movie as if it was made by a different director, because I’m very conscious of not wanting to impose a consistent style on subject matter that is not necessarily suited to that style. So I try to re-invent my own eye every time I tackle a new subject. (Windolf 2008)
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Notes
- 1.
Excluding the two episodes he directed for the television series Amazing Stories (1985).
- 2.
It also adds complexity and dimension to the character of Tanner.
- 3.
- 4.
The third instance involves the T. rex menacing the children in the SUV. This is examined in Chap. 8.
- 5.
A similar shot appears in the final scene of Saving Private Ryan but the composition is reversed, instead beginning with a close-up and ending with an over-shoulder wide.
- 6.
The film is pre-CGI so this would have been staged as a ‘live action’ shot reportedly using scale model aircraft.
- 7.
The implication of this type of cut for spectator cognition is examined in Chap. 8.
- 8.
The historical use of mirrors in Hollywood is examined in Chap. 9.
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Mairata, J. (2018). The Wide Reverse and Extended Variation. In: Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69081-0_7
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