Steven Spielberg case study

It seems a little obvious to research Steven Spielberg's film career since he is one of the most well known directors of all time. However, I enjoy the films he makes to a huge extent and could see myself replicating a lot of his trademark techniques when making my own films, so it made sense to look into his early life.


You could say Spielberg started making films at the age of 12, but instead of an epic feature it was a 9 minute film called The Last Gunfight, made to recieve his photography merit badge at boy scouts.
This was the first, but more followed. At 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40 minute war film called "Escape to Nowhere", and at 16 he wrote and directed his first independent film, "Firelight", which was a 140 minute long science fiction advernture. The film was shown at his local cinema and cost $500 dollars to make.
He moved to California soon after and applied to the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three seperate times, but was unsuccessful due to his C grade average. He attended California State University in the 1960's, but he dropped out to pursue his career in film (he later returned to finish his degree in 2002).

He managed to secure a job at Universal as an unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department. Here he made his first short film for theatrical release, the 24 minute Amblin (which later he used as the name of his production company) in 1968. Sidney Sheinberg (vice president of production for Universal's TV arm) saw the film and made Spielberg become the youngest director ever to be signed for a long term deal with a major Hollywood studio. In 1969 his first full length feature, Malcolm Winkler, was announced, but due to difficulties in casting the film was not made.

Contrary to popular belief, Duel wasn't Spielberg's first feature, but it was the first in a four film contract given by Universal. After they were made, Spielberg made his theatrical debut with The Sugarland Express, which received great press, but ultimately did poorly at the box office, and after that went on to make Jaws.