The Five Ways To Know You’re Watching a Spielberg Movie

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Like any director who has worked as long as he has — 29 films over more than 40 years, including the recent hit Bridge of Spies, his fourth collaboration with Tom Hanks — Steven Spielberg has both stylistic and thematic tics that pop up again and again in his work, regardless of genre (And he has worked across many genres, including war, sci-fi, adventure, historical drama and animated). Perhaps you’ve noticed one of these five, which we’ve compiled in the video above. (Special thanks to video editor Valerie Lapinski.)

1. Daddy issues

Spielberg’s parents divorced when he was 19 years old, an incident that clearly affected the young man. In films from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, fatherhood is something to be feared, avoided and run away from…until it isn’t. An older Spielberg has said that, had he been a father at the time, he would have thought twice about having the main character in Close Encounters abandon his family so quickly.

(MORE: See War Horse on Richard Corliss’ Top 10 Films of 2011)

2. Streams of light

Bridge of Spies is the 15th film that Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski have worked on together, a partnership that began with 1993’s Schindler’s List. In that time, Spielberg’s films have become increasingly full of interior scenes characterized by their backlit windows, with streams of light that pour in and leave the characters in silhouette, never more so than in the very brightly lit Spies. But the director has always relied on intense lighting, from above or outside. In speaking of the shot in Close Encounters that opens this video, of the small boy standing against a doorway blasted out with an alien light, Spielberg has said that it is one of the key images of his career, “That beautiful but awful light, just like fire coming through the doorway. [Barry’s] very small, and it’s a very large door, and there’s a lot of promise or danger outside that door.”

3. Awestruck faces

Film writer Matt Patches has dubbed this “The Spielberg Face”, an appellation adopted by a recent Kevin Lee video essay. “If Spielberg deserves to be called the master of audience manipulation, then this is his signature stroke,” says Lee in his piece. From Close Encounters on, Spielberg has relied heavily on shots of faces, agape, looking upward or off screen (sometimes with a dolly in as a cherry on top) to telegraph the wonder or fear that the viewer should hypothetically be experiencing.

4. This shot

A character sees something through a window, windshield or other piece of glass. The camera sits on the opposite side so that we see what they are seeing as well as the expression on their face as they see it, without a need for a cutaway shot. We first noticed it in Jaws and have observed it many times since.

5. The music of John Williams

The most famous film composer of our day, Williams has worked with Spielberg on every one of his films save The Color Purple, which was scored by Quincy Jones. His main themes for the Indiana Jones series, Jurassic Park, E.T., Close Encounters and Jaws (not to mention the Star Wars and Harry Potter films) are some of the most memorable of the post-Hollywood blockbuster era.

Were there any we missed? Please let us know in the comments below or Tweet it to us at @TimeCulture.

Note: Apologies to Schindler’s List, The Color Purple, Amistad, Empire of the Sun, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Sugarland Express and Always, which we were not able to incorporate into this video.

No apologies to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hook or The Terminal. You are all terrible.

Mad Max: Fury Road

FURY ROAD
Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron star in Mad Max: Fury RoadJasin Boland—Warner Bros.

In a summer full of CGI dinosaurs and robots, Mad Max: Fury Road proves that action blockbusters can still be the sort of high art that gets a standing ovation at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Director George Miller not only perfected the form, building the rickety fire-shooting vehicles from scratch, but adds narrative heft, taking on serious issues like sex slavery in a nuanced way.

—Eliana Dockterman

It Follows

Best of Movies 2015 - IT FOLLOWS
RADiUS-TWC

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—Sarah Begley

Far From the Madding Crowd

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Alex Bailey—Fox Searchlight

The new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel appeals to the Pride and Prejudice set, but with more subtlety and sadness than most Austen films, plus a hearty heaping of rustic drudgery. Carey Mulligan’s gutsy Bathsheba gets swept off her feet like the best of her 19th century romantic peers, but without their usual histrionics—somewhere between Lean In and Wuthering Heights.

—Sarah Begley

Love & Mercy

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Roadside Attractions

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—Sarah Begley

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Furious 7

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Scott Garfield—Universal

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Ex Machina

Best of Movies 2015 - EX MACHINA
A24

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Clouds of Sils Maria

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IFC Films

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—Dan D’Addario

Welcome to Me

Best of Movies 2015 - WELCOME TO ME
Suzanne Hanover—Alchemy

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Dope

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Open Road Films

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Fox Searchlight Pictures

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—Eliza Berman

The Boy Next Door

Best of Movies 2015 - The Boy Next Door
Universal

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