George Stevens

600 Words2 Pages

George Cooper Stevens was born in Oakland California on December 18, 1904. His parents were Landers Stevens and Georgia Cooper who at the time had their own theatrical company called Ye Liberty Playhouse based out of Oakland. In 1922 his parents decided to make a change and move their family to Glendale California, leaving behind their company of live theater to find work in the movie industry. After moving, his parents were able to find little parts in low budget films getting their feet wet in the movie industry. George was inspired at a young age and growing up in a family where theater was there lively hood he left behind his education to pursue a career in film. George at age 17 got a job as an assistant cameraman at the Hal Roach studios. After two years of learning and shooting low budget western films he became a director of photography. After some time Stevens had his first credited film at Roach Studios called Roughest Africa (1923) (Hopwood, 2014). Later on in life he took all the knowledge he had learned and spent over a year editing his film Shane. His films were popular and in the late 1930’s as he became his own producer/ director. He had also enlisted in the army and with his own 16mm camera filmed many famous events such as the Normandy Landings, the liberation of Paris and of the liberation of Nazi extermination camp Dachau. It was said that the post war films he made when he returned had a “somber and deeply personal tone” (Hopwood, 2014) and many think this was a result of the terrible things he saw while overseas.
Stevens was famous for “shooting from an underdeveloped screenplay that was ever in flux, finding the film as he shot it and later edited it.” (Hopwood, 2014) He preferred to take his time and jus...

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.../producer. He didn’t over look the little things and I feel like this makes his films feel more alive almost as if you were there experiencing the action with the characters. We also see the use of extreme long shots where Shane is riding into the distance. As he gets smaller we see the wide-open desert terrain grow larger. We also see some use of low-key lighting when he gets into a shoot out with two men. I believe at the time George Stevens was one of the best director/producers in his era and his films will stay known for years to come.

Works Cited

Cronin, P. (2005, July 13). George Stevens - About George Stevens | American Masters | PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/george-stevens/about-george-stevens/710/
IMDb (2014, March 1). George Stevens - IMDb. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0828419/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

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