The film benefits immensely from the presence of Ellwood von Seibold as host-narrator-tour guide. Donning authentic military uniform and accessories - down to the “pineapple” style hand grenade hanging from his utility webbing - von Seibold shares a wealth of knowledge on the subject, presenting it with an elegance that provides an effective counterpoint to the brutality that is, after all, at the center of the D-Day story.

“The Americans on D-Day” strikes a tone appropriate to the nature of D-Day, offering a matter-of-fact account that acknowledges the powerful emotional component of its subject matter while stopping short of romanticizing or idealizing an event that was as bloody and brutal as it was essential to the Allies’ success in Europe.

The production deftly blends archival footage and stills with contemporary footage. Early on, we see black-and-white images of U.S. forces, including Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower - as we hear audio of Ike’s sendoff to the D-Day forces.

“You are about to embark upon a great crusade,” he tells them. “The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine.

“We will accept nothing less than full victory”

The film then goes on to function as a battlefield tour, offering close-ups of German fortifications along the beaches of Normandy, arms - including the MG-42, a heavy machine gun that could fired upwards of 1,200 rounds per minute - and bridges and structures that played key roles in the Allie invasion.

Interviews with both U.S. and German veterans of the operation provide further personal insight into the significance of D-Day and its human toll.

Many of the images presented in “The Americans on D-Day” will be familiar to those who have seen the feature film “Saving Private Ryan,” the TV miniseries “Band of Brothers,” or any number of other filmed projects that touch on D-Day.

The DVD package has extras including the film’s trailer, a making-of feature, a segment on weapons training, another on uniforms and a collection of stills. =================================================================== Editors note: If you would like a copy of Americans of D-Day to review at your publication or media news website contact: George@maycommunications.com.

About the Author

George McQuade, V.P., MAYO Communications International, is a national award-winning entertainment and corporate communications multimedia expert, and is often quoted on nationally on trends, campaigns and breaking stories. McQuade has been behind and in front of the camera/microphone for more than 15 years, 10 in the LA Market

This concept of creating new meaning from assembling stock footage was further explored in “found footage films”. A sub-genre of experimental cinema that integrates previously shot film into new productions, one of the earliest “found footage films” was created by American artist Joseph Cornell. The film “Rose Hobart” was assembled partly from footage of “East of Borneo” and was titled after its leading actress.

The recycling of footage to create new content has since then been widely experimented by numerous artists with varying agendas. Dara Birnbaum reconstructed television imagery from the television series “Wonder Woman”, to create her feminist work “Technology/ Transformation: Wonder Woman” (1978). Bryan Boyce on the other hand assembled news footage in “Special Report” (1999) to bring to light the sinister effect of electronic hypnosis.

Today, the use of stock footage is practiced more rampantly by the everyday man. The advent of video sharing websites, and cheap, layman-friendly editing softwares have spawned millions of home-made videos using recycled footage, most commonly in the forms of fanvids and mockumentary videos.

Technological advancement enables good quality reproductions of copyrighted works, and this has led to the exploration for more flexible, user-friendly forms of content licensing.

While much of archival footage are licensed as rights-managed works, stock footage can now also be bought under the royalty-free license.

The main difference between the two forms of licensing are:

1) Duration of use: Rights-managed footage are licensed for a limited amount of time; Royalty-free footage can be used for perpetuity.

2) Cost: Rights-managed footage are charged based upon various usage considerations, such as the purpose of production, the size of its audience and the duration of usage; Royalty-free footage are charged based upon the format required.

2. You can download stock footage instantly.

The advent of technology has not only enabled stock footage to be stored in digital format, but also created file-downsizing softwares and connected the world via high broadband speed, setting the necessary framework to buy and download them online.

3. You can buy stock footage more cheaply than before.

Buying rights-managed footage are generally considered to be a cheaper and more convenient option, as compared to hiring a crew and cast to obtain the required shots. However, royalty-free stock footage are based on an even more competitive pricing business model, making them viable options for cost-constrained projects.

4. You can make a living out of stock footage.

Traditionally, they are sourced from recycled content of previously produced works (usually news or film). Today, there are professional stock footage creators who make their living out of creating and selling stock footage.

5. You can act with dead people in your new movie.

With technological advancement, stock footage are no longer just used as establishing shots or cutaways. They can now be creatively manipulated for more interactive usage.

In the movie Forrest Gump (1994), Tom Hanks’ character Forrest meets several historical figures. Check out the video clip of Forrest Gump meeting John Lennon at The Dick Cavett Show. In the original interview, Yoko Ono was sitting beside John Lennon.

But what is the history behind claymation, and how has it evolved over the years? It actually dates back to 1897, and started with a messy material called plasticine. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s that this form of animation was prominently used in adverts and children’s shows. A man named Art Clokey started producing such advertising films during this time, and then went on to produce the famous Gumby and Pokey television show - which, for many, was the defining introduction of claymation into households. The series ran from 1956 to 1963, making a comeback in the 1980s. Another famous duo consists of Wallace and Gromit. The characters were created in 1989 by Nick Park for the Wallace and Gromit animated series, and Park went on to produce a number of other films starring the two loveable characters.

However, even with the rapid development of this type of animation, the process required a lot of work and time. While conventional commercials are shot on 35 mm film at 25 frames-per-second, claymation production requires stop-action photography, and shoots up to 30 individual frames for each second of film. The models in each and every frame have to be hand-sculpted by the animator, with the artist slightly changing expressions and movements - including forms of the characters’ mouths, eye movements, eyebrow raises, glances, shrugs, and of course, bodily movements - before scenes are shot by the camera. The process then slowly repeats itself one frame at a time. The result is an amazing and convincing portrayal of movement in the clay characters.

Claymation is now a popular form of animation, used not only for entertainment purposes but as an advertising and informational tool. Many companies, for example, have adopted characters of this type too - such as Wallace and Gromit - as mascots of sorts, to either represent a product or service, or to help relay more information to customers.

Such characters are often used in TV commercials, company literature and online media, helping assign a story or a theme to companies and products - a move that can make products, services, and companies as a whole more memorable to clients, as well as enable clients to make associations between characters and company offerings.

Finally, many customers find it easier and more entertaining to follow information relayed by claymation characters, thus making it a valuable marketing, advertising, and informational tool.

About the Author

Victoria Cochrane writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

An art form which has over a hundred years depicted the serendipitous romanticism, surrealism and activism of the journey of life. Extreme naturalism is the key; transcending the quandaries of human existence, documentary films go beyond the archetypal perception, unraveling the psychedelic mysteries of life, always giving a “voice to the voiceless”.

The art of documentary film-making traces its roots to pre-1900s when the French coined the term to depict any non-fictional film with an informational purpose. Often referred to as “actuality films”, these would include very short stretches of filming often a minute or less in length. There was no form of conceptualization of a real-life event or depiction of consciousness in these creations, primarily due to the technological limitations of the days. Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatwadekar (Save Dada) who in 1899 shot a wrestling match was probably the earliest traces of “topical” films in the Indian film industry. He is also accredited to have made the first Indian newsreel in 1901 filming the public reception of Raghjunath P. Paranjpye who had won a special distinction in Maths at Cambridge. Chitrapat Kaysa Taya Kartat (How films are made) (1917) directed by Dadasaheb Phalke, the “Father of Indian fiction film”, is another significant milestone in the genre of Indian “actuality” films.

The Czech filmmaker and theoretician Vit Janecek was one of the first few individuals who improvised the term “documentary film” to replace a “documental film”, to dramatize the camera shot on the spot, to depict discursive interests of a cultural-social domain. The first few such attempts were by the Lumiere Brothers which showed short clippings of a train entering a station, factory workers leaving a plant, etc. Romanticism found its way into the first official documentary film, Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North (1922), a contemporary look at the life of Canadian Inuit Eskimos living in the Arctic. However, the term “documentary” was first used in a review of Flaherty’s (also referred to as the “Father of the Documentary Film”) Moana in 1926. Over the years with the availability of cheaper 16mm film stock and the rising political movements in Russia and UK, documentary films gradually became an avenue to reach out to the masses. Films were projected on to factory walls and screens set up in church halls trying to raise awareness about unemployment, poverty and fascism. Thus we see the birth of the “alternative newsreels” in the 1930s, a generation of left-wing film makers motivated to guide the people from apathy to activism. The genre of “newsreels” was also sometimes staged, re-enacting some of the actual events which occurred. Dziga Vertov’s Kino-Pravda (literally translated as “film truth”) newsreel series depicted the everyday lives of bourgeois, trying to send a deeper message through a metaphorical montage of real-life recordings – often even using hidden cameras. This creation inspired the birth of cinema verite as another form of documentary, which utilized Vertov’s technique of juxtaposing scenes and non-intrusive filming techniques. This form of documentary film stressed on retaining the pristine form and authenticity of naturalism. John Grierson was the first documentary film maker and critic who coined the term “documentary” in writing a review for Flaherty’s Moana. He also extended the idea portrayed by Vertov, defining the art form as a “creative treatment of actuality”. This decade also saw the birth of documentary film-making in India with the creative acumen of Dr. P.V. Pathy, K.S. Hirlekar and D.G. Tendulkar.

Later into the 1930s and 1940s, documentary films became more propagandistic in nature stressing the marginalized and laboring majority of the Years of Depression and War Years. This form of media took up an activist role in its efforts to comprehend the reality and an ethical responsibility. Triumph of the Will (1934) was a masterpiece from Leni Riefenstahl, very much controversial and propagandistic in its horrifying depiction of the Nazi Part Congress rally in Nuremberg. In spite of the controversy surrounding the creation, in the realm of cinematography, this creation has earned laurels beyond par from critiques. The year 1940 is a significant milestone in Indian Documentary film making, wherein the British Government created the Film Advisory Board (FAB) to provide the infrastructure to boost the war propaganda effort. In 1943, the Information Films of India (IFI) and the Indian News Parade (INP) were formed to expand and consolidate film production and distribution units. Between 1940 and 1946, the FAB and the IFI produced more than 170 films apart from the INP newsreels. Unfortunately in the year 1946, government grants to these institutions were drastically reduced and there was no official film unit to record Nehru’s ‘tryst with destiny’ speech on the auspicious first Indian Independence Day. The efforts were revived in 1948, through the formation of Films Division, the official vehicle of the Government of India to promote production and distribution of information films and newsreels. The Documentaries were to be released under the banner of ‘Documentary Films of India.’

The 1960s and 70s perceived a theme of protest against neocolonialism. La Hora de los homos (1968), The Hour of the Furnaces, directed by Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanos, is a four-hour long manifesto inciting a sense of revolution against imperialism and the disasters it brought in Argentina. In addition to portrayal of social and political issues, biographical, rock concert/music-related and nature-related documentaries were also finding their way into the mainstream during these years. Filmic stylization and informational reportage in documentary films has reached newer echelons of success with the advent of hi-tech digital photographic equipments. Director/Cinematographer Ron Ficke’s, Baraka (1992), depicts the “the essence of life”, transcending the limits of nature and time. Without a single word narrated in the film, it is often referred to as have delivered a “message without words” with its scintillating visuals accompanied with pristine musical scores.

Documentary film-making started off for informational purposes but graduated over the years through to reflect the persuasive creative ambition of the film-makers. Along with the aesthetic hues of romanticism and surrealism, the films have become more diaristic, self-reflective and experimental. The infant “actuality” art form of the yesteryears soon became the energetic activist threatening to topple the hegemonic powers of oppression. The film genre has extended much beyond the etymological sense of the term and had been visualized as doing so in a more than seventy-year old futuristic article by one of its founding auteurs and theoreticians, John Grierson as “Documentary is a clumsy description, but let it stand”.

A brief history

The journey of world movie began with the silent era. Silent era implies that the films were made without using any sound or dialogues, as the technology of sound in cinema was not developed at that nascent stage. There were no devices to synchronize sound with the image, thus for the first thirty years of its birth the cinema remained silent until the development of sound technology in the late 1920s.

The first ten years of the world movie was more or less unorganized, but gradually it started to become an established industry by itself. The films represented a switch over from films consisting of one shot, totally made by one person with a handful of assistants, to movies which are several minutes long, consisting of several scenes, which were made by large companies in professional methods.

The most successful film company in the United States which had the largest production unit until 1900, was the American Mutoscope company. This company used to project peep show kind of movies. This kind of projection was done with the help of a machine called Mutoscope. During that time there were numerous other small time movie producers in the United States of America but some of them established a longer presence in the field of cinema making at the advent of the century.

France was not far behind US in the field of movie making. Lumiere was the one of the first companies to shoot movie scenes outside the studio. They also sent their cameramen allover the world to shoot films. Georges Meilies was the biggest producer of feature films in France. He started using various effects such as trick effects from as early as 1898. Later on many other film makers went on to use other new effects which became very successful.

The first movie cameras which were used to film shots, were tied or fixed on the tripod with the most basic kind of levelling devices provided. The earliest movie cameras were effectively fixed during the period of a film shot. But the first camera movements were made by mounting a camera on a moving vehicle.

The standard pattern for early film studio was adapted from the style of studio which Georges Meilies built in May of 1897 which had three glass walls and a glass roof. It was fitted with thin cotton cloths stretched under the glass roof to diffuse the direct rays of the sun. The history of world cinema underwent a long process of creation, research and application of new techniques. Innumerable methods have been tried and applied to make film making one of the greatest and finest of performing arts in the world.

Think of it this way; someone shoots a video of your favorite cousin’s wedding. The end product is a nice, mostly continuous documentation of the event, with abrupt starts and stops here and there when the main activity changes or moves to a different area or location that necessitates a different “shot”. The end result is a compilation of pictures and sound that is considerably better and hopefully more memorable and satisfying than still photographs, but still leaves a lot to be desired.

However, if the same raw video was placed into the hands of a skilled editor, the end result would be quite different. The resulting piece would tell the story of the culmination of your cousin’s three-year romance, as narrated by several key family members. It would capture and convey to the viewing audience the couple’s wedding day emotions of love, and joy and appreciation for one another and family, anticipation of the new life the couple intends to create together, a bit of sadness for the life they are forever leaving behind, and so on. In other words, in the hands of a skilled editor, the video becomes a “story” with a beginning, middle and end; a cohesive synopsis of the couple’s romance. A day in the life…

What most people not in the film or video industry don’t realize is that film and video editing is an art form. Editing is arguably the most important element of film or video production. It is in the editing, the art of arranging pictures and dialog and sounds, that a finished film product is able to communicate a story first envisioned by its writer, and subsequently by a director and producer to its intended audience. Days, weeks even months of shots captured on film or video must be studied, interpreted analyzed and finally distilled into a story lasting a fraction of the time it took to capture it all.

People outside the film making industry have little or no idea about “post production” and the crucial part it plays in the production of a film or video work. It is because of the significant importance of this phase of film and video production that the process takes an extended amount of time to complete.

Much more that cutting and splicing pieces of cellophane together or merely arranging video sequence, editing is a wonderful blend of technical knowledge and skill combined with an artist’s creativity and craftsmanship. It is moving, adding, deleting, juxtaposing, scenes, sounds, and images to develop film shots and video clips into a certain context, create specific imagery and timing, evoke particular emotion, create specific imagery and mold them into a story.

Film editing as a craft began in the late 1890’s in the very earliest days of motion pictures. In the intervening years between then and now, anyone interested in learning about film or video editing, usually attended college courses or one of a number of reputable film schools to learn the craft.

In his book, “The Technique Of Film And Video Editing”, considered one of the best teaching and training tools for directors , Ken Dancyger highlights the history of film editing from its origins. He speaks specifically about the editing of great cinematographers such as Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, taking a detailed look at the fundamental principles of film and video editing. He discusses ideas, practices and styles and choices for editors in the context of theory, the history of film and video editing, and practice. He also discusses new technology and the impact it has in terms of the art of editing.

One of the greatest changes to film and video editing occurred with the introduction of computer editing. Hand cutting and splicing of film, as well as the more complicated, mechanical and “linear” process of video editing, became tedious and outdated with the advent of computer editing in the early 1990’s. Editing on computers gave rise to a whole new creativity prized by film editors, as well as lower costs and much more efficiency in terms of video editing.

Whether for film or video, the editing process occurs in three basic steps. These include capture, the editing process itself, and putting the product in a distributable form. During the capture phase, the actual “shots” or picture images are compiled into a format from which they can be edited. During the actual editing process, the collection of shots are organized in a desired sequence and sound is added through “sound mixing” until they form a comprehensive storyline. Once this has been accomplished, the film or video is finalized in the desired format whether film or high-quality video for distribution.

As technology continues to advance, the ways in which film and video are edited will continue to develop and progress. As it stands today, computers and user friend video editing software as well as the Internet have opened the doors to editing so that it is available to not only professional film and video editors. Now students of film and video and film making novices, as well as journalists, writers and the general public have unprecedented access to video editing tools. Several popular video editing programs make film and video editing possible for professionals as well as novice editors, including Avid Express Pro, Adobe Premier Pro, Sony Vegas, Final Cut Pro and Apple Final Cut Studio 2.

With today’s technology and the advantage of personal computers, digital camera equipment and the availability of knowledge from new and increasingly powerful software programs, almost anyone with the desire, can learn film and video editing, produce commercial products and even feature movies from their home or personal studio.

We all know them as Curly, Larry and Moe, but when they first started in1922 they were with a vaudeville act called Ted Healy and his Stooges (which was originally called Ted Healy and his Southern Gentlemen).

The ensemble consisted of Ted Healy, brothers Harry Moses Howard (Moe), Samuel Howard (Shemp) and Larry Fine (Larry). In 1931, Shemp left the group for a career in feature films, and needing a third stooge, Moe suggested his brother Jerome. Ted, not enamored with his long hair and facial hair, stated he (Jerome) was not a character like Moe and Larry. Jerome left the room and quickly returned with a shaved head and face and Curly, as we know him, was born.

In his autobiography, Moe Howard and The Three Stooges, The Stooges and Ted Healy parted company in 1934 because, as Moe recalled, of Healy’s abrasiveness and alcoholism. This is when they began their Columbia Pictures film career and the Three Stooges, as most of us know them, started their long journey into comedy history.

From 1934 until 1959, the Three Stooges starred in 190 film shorts; the longest such series in film history. They also appeared in a dozen movies and entertained millions throughout the world with their catch phrases, physical routines and masterful comedy.

In 1946, Curly suffered a stroke and Shemp was asked to rejoin the group. Knowing that Moe and Larry careers and the Stooges would be finished, he reluctantly agreed to rejoin the group, but only on a temporary basis. Unfortunately, Curly never recovered and died in January of 1952.

The Stooges, with Shemp as Curly’s replacement, went on to appear in 77 more short films and a feature film called Gold Raiders (1951). Additionally, in 1949, Moe, Larry and Shemp made a pilot for a Three Stooges television show called “Jerks of All Trades”. The show was never picked up, but the pilot is public domain and is available on home video.

The Three Stooges dynasty took another hit when Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack in November of 1955 at age 60. Joe Besser replaced Shemp in 1956-57, appearing in 16 short films. Interestingly, Joe had a clause in his contract specifically prohibiting him from being hit too hard, although it was lifted as time passed. Unfortunately, the market for short films and for the Stooges had passed. Columbia Pictures, the last studio still producing short films fired the Three Stooges in 1957. (Because of contractual obligations and backlogs, final Stooge shorts weren’t released until 1959). A new medium, television, had taken over.

The Stooges weren’t down for long as the “rebirth” of the Stooges came rather quickly. In 1959, Columbia Pictures syndicated the entire Three Stooges film library to television and the Stooges were rediscovered by the baby boomers.

Stoogemania quickly swept across the country and Moe and Larry found themselves back in the spotlight again. But Joe Besser’s wife had a heart attack and he withdrew from the act, so Moe quickly signed Joe DeRita as his replacement. DeRita shaved his head and became Curly-Joe, because he looked like the original Curly.

This version of the Three Stooges went on to make 39 short films and a few full-length movies in the late 1950’s and through the 1960’s. In 1969 they filmed a pilot for a new TV series called “Kook’s Tour”, which would have been a show about the “retired” Stooges traveling the world, with episodes filmed on location. Alas, during production, Larry suffered a stroke that ended his acting career as well as the TV series. Larry suffered another stroke in December 1974 and another month later suffered a fatal stroke and died in January 1975.

It was thought that they could carry on, several movie ideas were considered, however Moe Howard passed away in May 1975. Although Curly-Joe (Joe DeRita) did some live work with a new group of “Stooges” in the early 1970’s, the Three Stooges, as we knew them, we gone.

This has been a synopsis of the lengthy careers and the phenomenon that was and still is the Three Stooges. With the advent of cable television, home video, dvds and with a loyal army of loyal fans, the Three Stooges are still entertaining the masses and will be for years to come.

About the author and more information
The Three Stooges-Classic Comedy Icons
By: Robert Benson

Robert Benson has written articles on many subjects and operates two web sites. Learn about the hobby of vinyl record collecting or shop for your unique home decor at his online shopping site: http://www.collectingvinylrecords.com http://www.ezshoppinghere.com

However it was his next film that truly cemented Spielberg’s
reputation as a rising star. Jaws came out in 1975, andproved to be a
tremendous success. It quickly established Spielberg’s reputation and
fame, also heralding a new era of blockbuster films with large gross
revenues. When Jaws was released not even Spielberg himself could have
imagined the impact it would have on contemporary cinema. The release
of Jaws and shortly after George Lucas’ Star Wars was a move towards
big budget blockbusters and as many called it ‘New Hollywood.’

“Hollywood itself was in the midst of an aesthetic, cultural, and
industrial reorientation, which was signalled most dramatically by the
unprecedented box office successes of Jaws and Star Wars.”

Spielberg’s follow up, 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind was
another staggering success, employing state of the art special effects
to document its story of contact with alien life. In 1981 Spielberg’s
teamed up with Producer George Lucas and actor Harrison Ford and
introduced the world to Indiana Jones, an archaeologist and intrepid
adventurer that became the most popular screen hero since James Bond.
The film Raiders of the Lost Ark went on to be one of the biggest hits
of the decade and later sequels The Temple of Dome (1984) and The Last
Crusade (1989) were launched, as well as a short-lived television
series. Shortly after Raiders of the Last Ark, Spielberg released ET -
The Extra Terrestrial in 1982. This science fiction classic about a
boy, who befriends an alien, is often regarded as his Spielberg’s
greatest artistic achievement. ET became one of the most commercially
successful movies of all time and at the time of its release was the
highest-grossing film ever made

After 1984’s Raiders of the Lost Ark sequel, Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom, Spielberg directed a film called The Color Purple. It
was an adaptation of Alice Walker’s much honoured novel exploring the
lives and struggles of a group of African-American women during the
Depression years. The film went on to gross over 100 million dollars
at the box office, later securing 11 Academy Award nominations.

A 1987 dramatisation of J.G. Ballard’s novel Empire of the Sun was
Spielberg’s next picture, and was one of his few box-office
disappointments, but Spielberg returned to form with 1989’s Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade. Hook (1991) was Spielberg’s long-awaited
return to fantasy material. It was a lavish yet quirky update of the
Peter Pan story starring Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, and Julia
Roberts. Budgeted at over $60 million, the film received mixed reviews
and although doing better than original thought at the box office,
Spielberg fell victim to a lot of criticism.

However in 1993 Spielberg returned with a vengeance with Jurassic Park,
a $70 million adaptation of Michael Crichton’s dinosaur disaster
novel, represented a return to the kind of muscular adventure that had
served him well in the past. This film consisted of superb special
effects, which ranked among the most aggressively marketed films of
all time. The result was a global blockbuster, with receipts coming in
at over one billion dollars.

In the same year as Jurassic Park, Spielberg released Schindler’s List.
For once, he went against his instincts and made an impressively
restrained black-and-white epic docudrama set during the Holocaust.
The film achieved widespread critical praise and won two Academy
Awards for best director and best picture. This was Spielberg’s first
Academy Award for best director, although the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences had honoured him with the Irving Thalberg
Award in 1987. The film also collected Best Picture honours from the
major critics organisations, in addition to seven British Academy
Awards, including two for Spielberg. He also won the Golden Globe
Award and was honoured by his peers with his second Directors Guild of
America (DGA) Award, the first having come for The Color Purple. In
February 1997, Schindler’s List was seen by a television audience of
65 million people in NBC’s unprecedented airing of the film in its
entirety, without commercial interruption.

In 1994, Spielberg announced the formation of the new studio
DreamWorks SKG, the first new film studio in nearly 50 years, in
partnership with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Amistad (1997)
was the first film directed by Spielberg under the new studio banner.

Spielberg has directed, produced, or executive produced eight of the
top grossing films of all time. In 1997 he had back-to-back
blockbuster hits with The Lost World: Jurassic Park which he directed,
and Men in Black, which he executive produced.

Continuing to challenge himself artistically, Spielberg turned to
World War II for another based on fact story, Saving Private Ryan
(1998), about a team of soldiers selected to rescue a paratrooper, the
only surviving member of a family of four who had served in the same
unit.

Apart from the re-release of ET Spielberg’s most recent Spielberg film
was Artificial Intelligence staring

As well as directing all these films mentioned and many more
Spielberg’s has also served his own production company, Amblin as
producer or executive producer on more than a dozen films. These films
include such successes as Gremlins, The Goonies, the Back to the
Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, An American Tail, The Land
Before Time, The Flintstones and Casper.

As you can see Spielberg has help make some of all time most popular
and most successful films and has made a massive contribution to
contemporary cinema. Considered one of the world’s most famous living
filmmakers, as a producer and director, Spielberg has become a
household word and brand name. Many of Spielberg’s films as a director
are among the highest grossing in film history. What he has
accomplished is perfecting the successful combination of the intimacy
of a personal vision with the epic requirements of the modern
commercial blockbuster.


About the author and more information

The Great Spielberg
By: Sharon White

The article was produced by the writer of masterpapers.com. Sharon White is a senior writer and writers consultant in College English paper writing. Get some useful tips for College dissertation

In fact, Titanic was the largest grossing domestic film in actual dollars, with Star Wars a distant second at $460%2B million in 1977. Because money not only talks but sings and dances as well in our society, we remain impressed by large amounts of money. Not satisfied with this approach, I looked for a more accurate measure to compare and found it in adjusting for inflation. When adjusted for inflation, the actual moneymaking value of films takes on a new look.

Titanic, while No. 1 in actual dollars generated, is only No. 6 when adjusted for inflation.

The real No. 1 largest grossing domestic film in movie making history is none other than “Gone with the Wind”, which grossed $198%2B million in 1939 but its inflation-adjusted value in today’s money is $1.329 billion (1,329,000,000%2B).

Here are the Top 25 moneymaking movies when inflation adjusted:

1) Gone with the Wind - $1.329%2B billion (actual gross of $198%2B million in 1939).

2) Star Wars - $1.172%2B billion ($460%2B million in 1977).

3) The Sound of Music - $937%2B million ($158%2B million 1965).

4) E. T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - $933%2B million ($435%2Bmillion in 1982).

5) The Ten Commandments - $861%2B million ($65%2B million in 1956).

6) Titanic - $844%2B million ($600%2B million in 1997).

7) Jaws - $842%2B million ($260%2B million in 1975).

8 ) Doctor Zhivago - $816%2B million ($111%2B million in 1965).

9) The Exorcist - $727%2B million ($232%2B million 1973).

10) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - $717%2B million ($184%2B million in 1937).

11) 101 Dalmatians - $657%2B million ($144%2B million in 1961).

12) The Empire Strikes Back - $646%2B million ($290%2B million in 1980).

13) Ben-Hur - $644%2B million ($74 million in 1959).

14) Return of the Jedi - $618%2B million ($309 million in 1983).

15) The Sting - $586%2B million ($156 million in 1973).

16) Raiders of the Lost Ark - $579%2B million ($242%2B million in 1981).

17) Jurassic Park - $567%2B million ($357%2B million in 1993).

18) The Graduate - $563%2B million ($104%2B million in 1967).

19) Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - $558%2B million ($431 million in 1999).

20) Fantasia - $546%2B million ($76%2B million in 1941).

21) The Godfather - $519%2B million ($134%2B million in 1972).

22) Forrest Gump - $516%2B million ($329%2B million in 1994).

23) Mary Poppins - $514%2B million ($102%2B million in 1964).

24) The Lion King - $508%2B million ($328%2B million in 1994).

25) Grease - $506%2B million ($188%2B million in 1978).

Here are 10 more eye-poppers among the Top 100 grossing films when inflation adjusted:

44) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest - $423%2B million ($423%2B million in 2006).

46) Blazing Saddles - $416 million ($119%2B million in 1974).

55) The Passion of the Christ - $392 million ($370 million in 2004).

62) Smokey and the Bandit - $373%2B million ($126%2B million in 1977).

69) The Rocky Horror Picture Show - $362%2B million ($112%2B million in 1975).

70) Rocky - $362%2B million ($117 million in 1976).

80) M.A.S.H. - $353%2B million ($81%2B million in 1970).

81) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - $352%2B million ($179%2B million in 1984).

88) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - $333%2B million ($305%2B million in 2003).

96) Sergeant York - $316%2B million ($16%2B million in 1941).

All figures are adjusted to the estimated 2007 average ticket price of $6.58. Some of these films had multiple releases; the release date used reflects the year of initial release.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley