Steven Spielberg Directing Style Explained — 7 Ways He Crafts the Ultimate Cinematic Experience
- Andy McIlvain
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
Video from Studio Binder
Steven Spielberg Directing Style Explained — 7 Ways He Crafts the Ultimate Cinematic Experience
"Steven Spielberg Directing Style — A complete breakdown of how Steven Spielberg makes movies, including cinematography, editing, color, music, and more
Chapters: 00:00Â - Introduction to Steven Spielberg 00:40Â - The DNA of Spielberg Films 01:32Â - Story 04:36Â - Production Design 07:11Â - Color 10:09Â - Camera 13:16Â - Editing 17:16Â - Sound 20:23Â - Music 25:27Â - Takeaways
Steven Spielberg Directing Style
The genius of Steven Spielberg can be tricky to explain, but it cannot be understated. How Steven Spielberg makes movies is unlike any other director before or since. From the stories he tells to the immersive, cinematic experiences he constructs for the audience, there’s just nothing quite like him. In this video, we’re going to break down the Steven Spielberg directing style into seven categories: story, production design, color, cinematography, editing, sound, and music.
Spielberg has a knack for telling stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. He’s not the only filmmaker to tell these stories but what makes him stand out is his ability to transpose that extraordinary experience to the audience watching. We are just as awed and transported as the characters, and Spielberg’s masterful storytelling is the culmination of all these elements.
First up is the production design and how Spielberg uses the concept of scale. Everything is big, from the threats themselves (like sharks, aliens, fascism) to the settings around the characters. Color is one of the most important elements in production design but also a relatively underused element with the Steven Spielberg directing style. He will use it like many other filmmakers to help mediate the tones in his films (which can vary greatly). But he also uses color to draw the eye. Consider how he uses red wardrobe to draw our attention to specific characters in films like Schindler’s List, The Color Purple, and Empire of the Sun.
A large part of Steven Spielberg’s directing style is his camerawork. Nobody moves the camera like him, and his ‘oners’ are legendary. Not only does he capture multiple compositions in a single shot, he instinctively knows how to keep the audience engaged and up-to-speed. Paired with these long takes is Spielberg’s editing that blends these shots together invisibly. This is the strategy behind continuity editing — to create a seamless presentation to help ensure immersion in the film.
Finally, there’s sound and music. For Spielberg, sound design is both dynamic and specific. In Jurassic Park, we hear the quietest sounds like the ripple of water, and this is followed by a deafening roar of the T-Rex. The quiet puts the audience directly into the jeep to match the character’s experience with our own. He will also use sound to isolate a character or an idea, like the ticking clocks in Lincoln as a constant reminder of the pressing issues at hand. Music is a massive part of the Steven Spielberg directing style, largely due to his long-time composer John Williams. Williams is a lavish composer with swirling melodies that sweep us away to these extraordinary worlds.
Hopefully, by the end of this video, you’ll be able to appreciate the genius of Steven Spielberg a little bit more. We’ve only scratched the surface on how Steven Spielberg makes movies which just goes to show that he is perhaps the greatest director of our lifetime." from the video introduction