Spielberg makes his audience feel something, whether he's shooting a kids' -adventure, a dramatic chase, or the darkest war scene. The auteur always employs a core set of techniques that make each shot crystal clear and evoke the most intense emotions from the audience. This book shows you how. From tension to tearjerker, these moves will make your scenes memorable enough to be talked about for years to come. Spielberg directs films that cover everything from childhood dreams to the horrors of war. He always hones in on the emotional center of a scene. This book unravels the secrets of his core techniques, and shows how you can use the same simple camera moves and setups to make your films full of wonder, thrills, and emotion.

Since the early 1970s, Steven Spielberg has directed more than two dozen films, many of which have achieved classic status. In addition to critical and commercial successes that include E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Lincoln, Spielberg’s name has become synonymous with such thrilling adventure films as Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and Minority Report. Before he became a world-renowned filmmaker, however, Spielberg established himself on television, helming episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery; Marcus Welby, M.D.; and Columbo. But it was the small-screen version of a Richard Matheson short story that brought the young director’s work to the attention of critics and viewers alike. In Steven Spielberg and Duel: The Making of a Film Career, Steven Awalt provides an exhaustive study commemorating the film that decisively launched the career of a major film artist. Through in-depth research and interviews with the film’s creative and technical crew, the author tracks the film from genesis through production to release. Awalt conducted lengthy one-on-one interviews with Spielberg, Matheson, assistant director James Fargo, editor Frank Morriss, composer Billy Goldenberg, former MCA/Universal president Sidney J. Sheinberg, and writer-producer Steven Bochco, among others. Spielberg provided access to many rare documents from his archives, including multiple drafts of Duel’s teleplay, the shooting schedule, shooting logistics breakdowns, and production correspondence. The first book-length examination of this important production in the director’s early career, Steven Spielberg and Duel also includes the original teleplay by Matheson, four additional scenes created for the international theatrical release of the film, photos, and storyboards of the film’s final sequence. A fascinating look behind the scenes of an acclaimed work, this book will interest not only scholars and film historians but anyone interested in the work of Richard Matheson and Steven Spielberg.

Martin Scorsese directs films that range from the subtlest studies of relationships to violent gangster movies, with characters who are driven to the extremes of their personality. This book looks at Scorsese's key techniques, showing how he uses space, framing, and a strong sense of direction, to en-sure that your films are brimming with tension, shock, and emotion.

Want your film to sizzle with danger? Then learn from the master of tension and action. Using Tar-antino's secret tricks for creating conflict, keeping dialogue taut, and letting all hell break loose, you will enhance your own shooting style. Whatever your budget, get the action pumping with the camera setups and moves revealed in this dynamic book. Quentin Tarantino is a master of tension, suspense, shocking moments, dazzling dialogue, and off-beat humor. This book shows you why the best moments in his films work so well, and how you can use these ideas to enhance your own filmic style and stun your audience.

Enhanced by stills from famous motion pictures and computer-generated images, explains framing, composition, and camera movement for achieving a high-budget look for such actions as building tension, anticipating motion, and developing a character's fear.

This volume presents an in-depth discussion of the work of Steven Spielberg, an American director of Jewish origin. It offers a careful study of the audiovisual and documentary material in Spielberg’s filmography, exploring both the biographical and sociological parameters that influence his cinematographic work and his values, and the director’s own personal testimony and critics’ comments on the value of dignity and other subjects prevalent in his work. The book then goes on to analyse the formal elements used by the filmmaker in his work, and his maturity in relation to anthropological matters.

This is an account of Steven Spielberg's first stand-alone film, Duel, a made for TV movie that first aired in 1971. This book chronicles the film's history, from the original short story by acclaimed writer Richard Matheson (16 Twilight Zone episodes, Somewhere in Time, I Am ...