Poltergeist and WOTW

[TheRuleOfThirds 0]

A little blonde girl is the star. The tagline contains the words "they're" and "here." Spielberg directed.

Coincidence?

[Dean1700 4]

Hmmm.

Theyr'e Here

They're Already Here

Stars a little girl

Stars Tom Cruise and a little girl

Directed by Tobe Hooper

Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Me thinks you is reaching. Not really much of a coincidence.

[Lurker 5]

Directed by Tobe Hooper

That's open to debate.

Neil

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

One has ghosts.

One has aliens.

Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Music by John Williams.

One is Horror.

One is Sci-Fi/Horror.

[Dean1700 4]

One has music

Other has music

Coincidence? Brilliant LOL

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Hmmm.  

Stars Tom Cruise and a little girl

So many Katie Holmes joke possibilities...

[JoeinAR 1,949]

officially its not open for debate, Tobe Hooper directed Poltergeist, and it shows.

There are only a handful of shots that seem like Spielberg, the rest don't.

[Hitch 57]

Poltergeist is not a horror story. It's a love story. See Jerry Goldsmith DVD for details. He even says it on the DVD. What was he on at the time?

[King Mark 3,624]

Poltergeist is Jerry's best score.

K.M.

[Steven Awalt 0]

officially its not open for debate, Tobe Hooper directed Poltergeist, and it shows.

There are only a handful of shots that seem like Spielberg, the rest don't.

Obviously you've been watching the film with one eye closed, Joe. The film looks as much a Spielberg film as any other. Considering the fact that Spielberg personally designed every single shot in the film (down to the framing), I don't see how it couldn't help but look like a Spielberg film.

You had to know I'd pop up when you drop chum like that, pal

[TheRuleOfThirds 0]

I think I read in the Poltergeist liners that Spielberg directed at least 80% of Poltergeist. He'd bicycle back and forth between soundstages for Poltergeist and ET, working on each. The only reason Jerry was hired was b/c JW was doing ET. Poltergeist and ET were released within a week or two of each other.

[Hitch 57]

He'd bicycle back and forth between soundstages for Poltergeist and ET, working on each.

E.T. made at Universal. Poltergeist made at MGM. Pretty long bicycle ride. Unless he had E.T. in front basket.

[Dean1700 4]

Poltergeist is Jerry's best score.

K.M.

one of

[Dean1700 4]

He'd bicycle back and forth between soundstages for Poltergeist and ET, working on each.

E.T. made at Universal. Poltergeist made at MGM. Pretty long bicycle ride. Unless he had E.T. in front basket.

[Yeruid 0]

In fact, in the Potergesit's Souldntrack Album, Goldsmith states that he never talked to Tobe Hooper, he discussed everything with Spielberg. In fact, Hooper did not take part in editing the movie. One more clue, Michael Kahn was the editor of the movie.

[Steven Awalt 0]

"E.T." wasn't shot on the Universal lot, it was shot at the Laird studios. As for the bicycling thing, "Poltergeist" was already into post by the time "E.T." was shooting, I believe.

The films did come out one week apart exactly.

Goldsmith on multiple counts stated that he worked exclusively with Spielberg and not Hooper. Spielberg oversaw the entire post on "Poltergeist" as well, with ILM and his editor Michael Kahn (Carol Littleton cut "E.T." since Spielberg had Kahn on "Poltergeist," certainly not a coincidence...) And while I'd kill to hear a Williams "Poltergeist" score in an alternate reality, Spielberg couldn't have chosen anyone better than Goldsmith for the "Poltergeist" assignment. Goldsmith even above Williams had a mastery of scoring horror films and his blend of aggressive and gentle sounds in "Poltergeist" is outstanding.

And Joe's still wrong

[Jeshopk 8]

Don't forget Spielberg drew ALL the storyboards. And that's what Hitchcock would do, leaving the camera work and actual shooting to a DP. Spielberg also wrote the script and was on the set for camera setups. He also undoubtedly talked to the cast to develop their characters and acting.

So Spielberg did all pre and post production, not just post.

Keep in mind that Spielberg had other people do storyboards for Jurassic Park, so its almost like he's giving up much of the visual directing to someone else in that case.

I can feel Tobe's contribution in the film. Tobe haunted the film. But it's still Spielberg's beast.

[Luke Skywalker 1,791]

The 'mummys' in the swimming pool are so Indy-like that is has to be Spielbergs idea.

[Steven Awalt 0]

Don't forget Spielberg drew ALL the storyboards. And that's what Hitchcock would do, leaving the camera work and actual shooting to a DP. Spielberg also wrote the script and was on the set for camera setups. He also undoubtedly talked to the cast to develop their characters and acting.

So Spielberg did all pre and post production, not just post.

Keep in mind that Spielberg had other people do storyboards for Jurassic Park, so its almost like he's giving up much of the visual directing to someone else in that case.

I mentioned Spielberg's having designed the shots above, so I'm certainly aware of it. But he did not personally storyboard the film in the sense that he didn't draft it by hand. He always sits with conceptual artists (who work from Spielberg's ideas and thumbnails) to get his visuals on to paper. But he did not draw any storyboards on "Poltergeist," "Jurassic Park" or any of his films. But the shot design is the point here, not who put pencil to paper. The conceptual artists are drawing at Spielberg's behest, so the shots are his. And just because a director doesn't operate the camera (Spielberg does some times), this doesn't make a shot any less his either. You can be sure Spielberg collaborates and listens to other's suggestions, but he does not give up the "visual directing" to any one.

"Poltergeist" was Spielberg's picture before the screenplay (which he wrote and then had rewritten by another team of writers). It's his concept, and an important concept that has more roots in his own person than "Indiana Jones," "Jurassic Park," etc. The film is as personal as "Close Encounters" and "E.T.," since it stems from his own imagination wholly and has a lot of personal references to his childhood. This alone makes this a Spielberg film through and through.

[Steven Awalt 0]

The 'mummys' in the swimming pool are so Indy-like that is has to be Spielbergs idea.

And the corpses in the swimming pool and in the house look a lot like the "Raiders" corpses since special effects artist Craig Reardon designed and constructed both sets of dead bodies.

[Hitch 57]

Indeed. I've never seen him so happy.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

"E.T." wasn't shot on the Universal lot, it was shot at the Laird studios. As for the bicycling thing, "Poltergeist" was already into post by the time "E.T." was shooting, I believe.

The films did come out one week apart exactly.

Goldsmith on multiple counts stated that he worked exclusively with Spielberg and not Hooper. Spielberg oversaw the entire post on "Poltergeist" as well, with ILM and his editor Michael Kahn (Carol Littleton cut "E.T." since Spielberg had Kahn on "Poltergeist," certainly not a coincidence...) And while I'd kill to hear a Williams "Poltergeist" score in an alternate reality, Spielberg couldn't have chosen anyone better than Goldsmith for the "Poltergeist" assignment. Goldsmith even above Williams had a mastery of scoring horror films and his blend of aggressive and gentle sounds in "Poltergeist" is outstanding.

And Joe's still wrong

unofficially

I find it hard to believe that in the space of a few weeks two near perfect scores were released to the world.

[Steven Awalt 0]

[i find it hard to believe that in the space of a few weeks two near perfect scores were released to the world.

It was a wonderful time!

[Hitch 57]

Ah yes...the summer of '82. The year Reagan finally remembered where he lived and Monica Lowinsky was still a twinkle in Bill's eyes or was that Bull's eyes. Anyway after standing in line for E.T. and after 4 days of bulk eating, I finally grew 10 chins. Those queues paid off handsomely. Spielberg finally got his revenge on me but not for long Stevie boy.

Hitch, tampering with the final edit of WOTW to include a one-second porn shot. HAHAHA. Sweet! No one seen Tyler Durden's projector-splicing in FIGHT CLUB?

[Jeshopk 8]

But he did not draw any storyboards on "Poltergeist," "Jurassic Park" or any of his films.

Actually, he does draw complete storyboards sometimes, with terrible art. Then each panel is drawn nicely by others so it looks pretty. In Jurassic Park, the storyboard Artists did not work from Spielberg artwork. They came up with shots that looked "Spielbergian."

[Steven Awalt 0]

It's all down to semantics, but Spielberg's sketches are not storyboards by definition. He draws out his idea in thumbnails or guides the sketch artists through his ideas verbally and they (being professional draftspersons) create what are technically the films storyboards. So I maintain that Spielberg isn't a storyboard artist, but the important point here is that he designs all of his shots.

[Lurker 5]

The 'mummys' in the swimming pool are so Indy-like that is has to be Spielbergs idea.

And the three strong female leads in this film are akin to the three strong male leads in Jaws. And the kidnapped little girl is like the kidnapped little boy in CE3K.

Poltergeist is viewed by some as the key to all of Spielberg's earlier films.

Neil

[orrakul 0]

Poltergeist is Jerry's best score.

K.M.

One of my favourite Goldsmith scores is "Explorers"; don't know why I love it so much - I just do!