It starts with the writer-it's a familiar dictum, but somehow it keeps getting forgotten along the way. No film-maker, irrespective of his electronic bag of tricks, can ever afford to forget his commitment to the written word.
Steven SpielbergRead
Audience members are only concerned about the story, the concept, the bells and whistles and the noise that a popular film starts to make even before it's popular. So audiences will not be drawn to the technology; they'll be drawn to the story. And I hope it always remains that way.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Audiences value the narrative and emotional impact of films over the technical aspects or hype surrounding them.
In this quote, Steven Spielberg emphasizes that the heart of cinema lies in storytelling rather than technological advancements or marketing hype. He believes that regardless of how popular or advanced a film becomes, it is the story that truly resonates with audiences and captures their interest. This perspective reinforces the importance of narrative in filmmaking, suggesting that great storytelling should always remain the focal point of the cinematic experience.
Themes
StorytellingAudienceCinemaFilmNarrative
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used as a guiding principle when discussing film production in a workshop.
More from Steven Spielberg
All quotes →When I was a kid, there was no collaboration; it's you with a camera bossing your friends around. But as an adult, filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.
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I just had a crazy, wild imagination all my life, and science fiction is the greatest outlet for me.
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From a very young age, my parents taught me the most important lesson of my whole life: They taught me how to listen. They taught me how to listen to everybody before I made up my own mind. When you listen, you learn. You absorb like a sponge - and your life becomes so much better than when you are just trying to be listened to all the time.
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I wanted to do another movie that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world. I wanted to do something else that could make us smile. This is a time when we need to smile more and Hollywood movies are supposed to do that for people in difficult times.
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There are so many rumours about so many of us in the public eye. Sometimes it's too hard to deny what is not true.
Steven SpielbergRead
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