Spielberg understands why geography matters in action scenes #stevenspielberg #filmmaking

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Short edited by Benjamin Collins

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[YouVSMeTV]

Spielberg is one of the best to ever do it with almost no misses.

[benlime]

Tom Cruise is pretty good at geography too. There was a special feature on the MI3 DVD (yes I'm old) where he and JJ Abrams discuss the geography for the missile on the bridge scene.
Also, I seem to remember a pretty good column on Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott's Wordplayer site about putting action geography in the script. Something they learned from Spielberg. And I think they used to take a corkboard into pitch meetings to show the storyboards for those sequences too?

[emkultra]

I love these bite sized crash courses in film literacy!

[go-go-genevieve]

The raptor kitchen scene still haunts my nightmares 31 years later. I think that speaks to its effectiveness haha

[indyspotes]

For Close Encounters, he put a mountain in Muncie, Indiana and also put it on the Ohio border.
It's a minor miracle he got Devil's Tower in the correct state...

[maishadigital]

The best example of Spielberg's genius with geography is actually the final battle in Saving Private Ryan. That was a complex battle that takes a turn when the 22mm wipes out half the team, and Upham doesnt keep the machine guns refilled, allowing the Germans to flank them, forcing them to retreat. But they are not in the same location. Some get cut off and have to fight to the death, while others are beating a hasty retreat while defending themselves.

No battle scene in movies has been so chaotic while being so clear in how it unfolds.

[rjiputra]

love your channel btw theese short is so wonderful keep up the good work much love <3

[STRANGEANATOMYBAND]

This is also exactly why a movie like Jurassic World has NO TENSION: because the geography of where the monster is relative to the people it is chasing has virtually no meaning. Geography is fundamental to action, suspense, and horror.

(George Miller is also a master of this and that’s one main reason why the action in Fury Road is so pulse pounding and never gets tedious or boring when by all right it should after lasting so long.)

[aaronhayes]

Except for Jurassic Park where a massive trench appears out of nowhere in the T-Rex breakout, haha.


It should be said that Jurassic Park is my all time favorite movie.

[kmcrater]

Spielberg is the greatest filmmaker in the world. There's really no comparison to his level of greatness other than those no longer living.

[Slumdankers]

The action sequences are pretty basic, but Spielberg's point is good

[uidentity]

What’s the movie with street and cars?

[CornishCreamtea]

Paul Greengrass took one long at how hard that is to do and just went "No, just disorient the viewer with bad camera work"

[Raufi]

What?? The whole Trex thing was messed up!

[EugeneGM]

Except for the non existent shot establishing the huge trench that is suddenly willed into existence.

My problem with Spielberg has always been his very casual relationship with audience immersion and explaining why they don't have to explain illogical things in movies. He says, it's a movie, no one will care!

Except, by the time I'm walking to my car, I suddenly think, how was there just a hand on the steering wheel to the boat, but the trex and her baby are locked in the hold? The door was closed. There's no exterior damage. How did the hand get there?

And just like that, the movie is ruined.