SCRIPT TO SCREEN: Spielberg on Storyboarding

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Duel | Steven Spielberg | 1971 | USA | Format: 35mm | 90 min / 74 min (original)


"For Duel, the entire movie was storyboarded.  I had the art director sketch the picture on a mural that arced around the motel room.  It was an aerial view that showed all the scenes and the dead ends and the chases and all the exciting moments.  I think when you make an action film, especially a road picture, it's the best way to work,  because it's very hard to pick up a script and sift through five hundred words of prose and then commit them to memory.  The movie was more of a concept than a page-by-page description of what had to be shot, so I felt that breaking the picture up and mapping it out would be easier for me." ~~ Steven Spielberg

 In the video below, a young Spielberg, goes further on to explain why he sketches even if he can't draw, how much time he invests in storyboarding and how he still goes beyond the storyboards during a shoot.

 Spielberg discusses the filming of Duel.


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