The Storytellers

One of the greatest storytellers of this century has explained in the Sunday Times how, in an era where digital technology brings so much to life, the imagination still plays a vital role in good storytelling.

Spielberg talks of his wish to have had computer technology in Close Encounters, because the actors had to rely on their imagination rather than ‘pre-visualise’ what it was going to look like with the aid of digital technology, as he was able to do in War of The Worlds. However, he has mixed feelings about digital technology….

“I’m as guilty as anyone, because I helped to herald the digital era with Jurassic Park”, he says. “But the danger is that it can be abused to the point where nothing is eye-popping any more. The difference between making Jaws 31 years ago and War of the Worlds is that today, anything I can imagine, I can realise on film. Then, when my mechanical shark was being repaired and I had to shoot something, I had to make the water scary. I relied on the audience’s imagination, aided by where I put the camera.”

“Today, it would be a digital shark. it would cost a hell of a lot more, but never break down. As a result, I probably would have used it four times as much, which would have made the film four times less scary. Jaws is scary because of what you don’t see, not because of what you do. We need to bring the audience back into partnership with storytelling.”

(The Sunday Times)