Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg was born on 18th December 1947 in
Cincinnati Ohio. His early childhood experiences played a
big part in shaping his later creative efforts. He described
one of his first memories as "all is darkness - as dark as a
minute to midnight on the first day of creation, as dark as a
movie house just before the feature starts. Then the
movement begins, a tracking shot down the birth canal of a
hallway, towards mystery. Suddenly, a light! A bright room
filled with old men in beards and black hats: sages, perhaps
from another world. At the far end of the room, on a raised
platform, is a blazing red light. The senses are suffused, the
mystery deepens." You might even think this was a scene
from one of his movies but Time Magazine reported that
this was Spielberg's recollection of his first visit to a
synagogue when he was just 6 months old! Spielberg's first
exposure to making films came when his father bought
home a 12mm cine camera. He was just 12 years old at the
time and after complaining that his father was not holding
the camera steady enough, he took over the family's film
making responsibilities. At that point he was hooked and
decided that his single goal in life would be to make great
movies. He made many 8mm films as a young boy and then
got his first break when he met an investor who was willing
to give him $10,000 to make a film in 35mm.
Spielberg often visited Universal Studios as a teenager
sneaking on and off the visitors' trams as they weaved
through the busy film sets. His confidence grew and
eventually he "squatted" in the studios by finding an empty
office and setting himself up in it, casually walking past the
security guards dressed in his suit and carrying his
briefcase. He watched, listened and learnt hoping to get a
chance to prove himself but found that his age was
considered a disadvantage. In his book "How to Think Like
a Millionaire" Charles-Albert Poissant says "Spielberg had
faith. He believed in his talent. He knew he was capable of
doing big things even though he was young. He realised
however that it was up to him alone to create his own lucky
break." Eventually his persistence paid off and he was
employed to do some television work. Unfortunately when
he was not engaged in TV work his contract forbade him to
do any other work and so there was a period in his career
where he did nothing.
His first major break came when he took the opportunity to
direct the film "Duel". It was a great success in Europe but
it took a couple of years before news of his triumph got back
to the Universal Studio bosses. He was given a couple of
film projects but it was not until he made "Jaws" that he
really hit the big time. This film became the number one
film of all time in a matter of weeks. Further success came
with "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", the
monumental "ET" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark". He had
several flops in his career but he always learnt from them
and persisted through the difficult times to find and then
stick at, what he was and is best at. They say that his secret
is that Steven Spielberg manages to look at the world
through the eyes of a child and that ability is the magic in
his work.
To ask about any aspect of Accelerated Learning, e-mail michael2008 (at) happychild.org.uk . Due to Michael's hectic schedule, he may not be able to write back, but will do his best to cover the main issues raised, in future articles [more about Michael on the page here].
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