The Great Success Story of Steven Spielberg 斯皮爾伯格:成功并非偶然

When I grow up， I still want to be a director.

長大后，我依然想做一名導(dǎo)演。

—Steven Spielberg (史蒂文·斯皮爾伯格)

The day seemed like other days in Steven Spielberg’s life. Attired in his office suit and carrying a briefcase， he walked past the guards of the Universal Studio1) building， sat on a chair， made some calls， and then went around watching the film shooting2) in progress. But actually that day he wasn’t expected to be on the location and his briefcase contained only his lunch. At that time， no one had heard about Steven Spielberg—an interval administration 12-year-old employee working in Universal Studio’s purchase division.

Spielberg got that job through Chuck Silvers， a friend of his father’s friend who was in charge of the Universal Studio film library while Spielberg was already an able film maker for teenagers. Silvers had told him what administrative tasks to do and he admitted he couldn’t give Spielberg a permanent pass card to enter into shooting locations. But Spielberg made his appearance every day during summer with his office suit and his father’s briefcase and sometimes got past the guards.

It was all that you could expect from a boy who adopted a personal lifelong conviction he learned from a 1954 Disney film where Davy Crockett3) said: “Make sure you are right and then go on!” And the whole career of Spielberg’s film creating truly adhered to that advice.

When Spielberg was eight years old， his father gave him an 8mm Brownie film camera as his birthday present. Spielberg immediately took hold of it and started to document every family outing. Sometimes he even asked his parents to repeat some scenes so he could record them again more “artistically.” Amazed by his own ability to create stories， he was attracted to remake a favourite action film into his own version by shooting a train accident scene using his electric toy train. In the following year he succeeded in shooting his boy scout troop in the Western area. Thus he proved he could manage to gather a crowd as required by his film scenario. In that film The Last Gunfight he won a prize for cinematography.

By the eighth year， Spielberg’s talent for film making was already known across his neighborhood and all the children there took part in his films. Wearing their fathers’ old army uniforms， they marched to the airfield， where Spielberg had secured4) a permit to record them in the cockpit of an old fighter aircraft for a drama film about World War II entitled Fighter Squad. Among the actual documentary scenes of fierce air battle he inserted scenes of his friends in action.

People who knew him then came to realize his talent. His film Escape to Nowhere won a national contest in the category of new up-and-coming directors. Firelight was twice analyzed by a national newspaper and was presented in the city theater as if it was a Hollywood premiere. By the time he finished making Firelight at the age of 17， Spielberg had established himself as a bright director and as mature as a man twice his age.

His achievement might have resulted from his personal misery at an earlier age. As the eldest child of an IBM computer engineer and an ordinary housewife， Spielberg had to undergo three moves as he grew up and faced lots of difficulties that came with those moves. Spielberg hardly made an effort to attend to his school lessons， so he consequently got C’s. He was unlike any other boy， rather5) he was peculiar; a boy whose talent and skill seemed more suitable for creating films than for sports or popularity contests. Frequently mocked and insulted， Spielberg’s unique interests and religious background made his classmates shun him. As one of only a few in the waspy6) suburb， he had to face ethnic insults thrown at him in his school community.

His home was no heaven either. His father worked for days away from home and Spielberg yearned for his presence. But when his father was at home， they both were involved in heated arguments over Spielberg’s low school grades， especially in science subjects—it was Mr. Spielberg’s greatest mistake to forever expect his son to become an engineer like himself. When not arguing with his son， Mr. Spielberg got into quarrels with his wife， as the mindset of an engineer just would not compromise with his wife’s artist mindset. The unhappy marriage ended in a divorce when Spielberg was in high school. The lack of a fatherly figure in Spielberg’s life would later be a common theme in his films.

Unfriendly surroundings at home and school made Spielberg take refuge7) in the fantasy world of his films. He talked about his ambition to become a “Cecil B. DeMille8) of science fiction” to anyone willing to listen， but his poor school grades didn’t help much in taking him closer to the fulfillment of his ambition. In the last year of his school， he enrolled himself to two of the best film institutions in the country: the University of Southern California and University of California in Los Angeles. But even with ten years of experiences in film making， he was flatly turned down.

Unwilling to give up， Spielberg entered California State College in Long Beach. He chose that school because it offered a degree in the field of TV and radio which might open his way to Hollywood. But the university was not suited to his experiences. One of the instructors there recalled， “Spielberg knew more about the camera than anyone else in the department. He could teach there.” After watching a short film made by George Lucas9)， a USC student， he tried again to transfer to a better film program. But his habit of playing truant10)—so he could watch movies all day long in the local theater—stuck to him through his university days. His low school grades were his setbacks and a professor told him， “You’d better go to Vietnam” because he was always expelled from the campus.

Not finding any inspiration in the university education， Spielberg created his own education. He cleaned his jacket and briefcase， and then returned to visiting the Universal location. He came into any department he could find access to—shooting rooms， editing， sound-mixing. He introduced himself either as an actor， director or producer and invited some of the people there to dinner. He snuck onto film locations and stayed there until his unrightful presence was found out and he was ordered to leave. But quietly he returned. Spielberg guessed he was expelled from the location at least once in a day.

When Spielberg tried to convince the Universal executives to watch one of the 8mm films he made when he was learning， they told him they were only interested in 16 mm films. Spielberg got himself a job in the university cafeteria， used his money to create a 16mm films by renting a camera and completed the film in one week. His mentor， Chuck Silvers， reprimanded11) Spielberg and told him he would not see him again until Spielberg made a 35mm film. He followed the same procedure and finished it several months later. He showed Silvers his film， and Silvers later recalled， “What I saw was a perfect movie.”

The film was titled Amblin. It was a short duration silent film about a young couple having an existence crisis， and differed greatly from the sci-fi and combat films Spielberg later directed. Still， the short film was an amazing creation—amazing enough to be presented to the executive board—and then Spielberg， at the age of 21， signed a seven year’s contract with Universal. After directing TV dramas and low budget projects， Spielberg was entrusted to direct his debut big Hollywood film: a thriller film starring a shark!

Jaws was a box office hit and it made Spielberg a well-considered director. He continued his relationship with Universal and produced E.T.， Jurassic Park， Schindler’s List， etc. As his first producer reflected， “it is not by any coincidence that Spielberg is in his present position.” Spielberg’s fervent spirit in making films strengthened him to stand fast12) against all rejections， prejudice and skeptism and gave him a determined conviction of his ability which drove him to keep moving forward.

That was the thing that gave him the last laugh. Once rejected by USC， Spielberg is now holding an honoris causa13) degree granted by that institution and is a member of its supervisory board.

那天與史蒂文·斯皮爾伯格生命中的其他日子似乎沒有什么不同。他穿著西裝，提著公文包，從警衛(wèi)身邊走過，進入環(huán)球電影公司大廈。他坐在椅子上，打了幾個電話，然后起身到處走走，觀看正在拍攝的電影的進展情況。但實際上，那天他不該出現(xiàn)在那里，他的公文包里也只有午餐而已。那時，還沒人聽說過史蒂文·斯皮爾伯格——他只是環(huán)球電影公司采購部一名12歲的臨時行政雇員。

斯皮爾伯格獲得這份工作是通過查克·西爾弗斯。西爾弗斯是他父親的朋友的朋友，當(dāng)時負(fù)責(zé)管理環(huán)球電影公司的電影資料館。那時，斯皮爾伯格已經(jīng)是一個能干的青少年電影攝制者了。西爾弗斯告訴他作為一名行政人員應(yīng)該做哪些工作，并向斯皮爾伯格坦承，說自己無法給他一個進入拍攝現(xiàn)場的永久通行證。但是整個夏天，斯皮爾伯格每天都出現(xiàn)在那里，穿著西裝，提著父親的公文包，有時候能蒙過保安進入拍攝場地。

這就是斯皮爾伯格，你在一個從電影中獲取自己畢生信念的男孩身上期望看到的所有特質(zhì)都在他身上得到了體現(xiàn)。斯皮爾伯格的信念源自1954年的一部迪士尼電影，在這部電影中，大衛(wèi)·克羅基特說：“確信你是對的，然后堅持下去！”斯皮爾伯格在整個電影創(chuàng)作生涯中始終堅持這一點。

斯皮爾伯格八歲時，父親送給他一部八毫米布朗尼攝影機作為生日禮物。斯皮爾伯格很快就掌握了攝影機的使用要領(lǐng)，并開始用它記錄家人的每一次外出場景。有時，他甚至要求父母重復(fù)表演某些場景，以便他能更加“藝術(shù)地”將其記錄下來。他對自己創(chuàng)作故事的才能感到驚訝。備受攝影吸引的他將自己特別喜歡的一部動作片進行了翻拍，用自己的電動玩具火車拍攝其中的火車事故場景，使之成為獨具斯皮爾伯格特色的版本。第二年，他在西部地區(qū)成功拍攝了一部自己所在的童子軍的影片。由此他證明了自己能夠根據(jù)電影情節(jié)的需要成功地組織一群人來拍電影。憑借這部名為《最后的槍戰(zhàn)》的影片，他贏得了一項電影攝影獎。

八年級的時候，斯皮爾伯格的電影才華已經(jīng)在當(dāng)?shù)厣鐓^(qū)聞名遐邇，附近的孩子都來參加他的電影拍攝活動。他們穿著父親們的舊軍裝，開拔至一處機場。斯皮爾伯格獲準(zhǔn)在那里拍攝孩子們在一架舊戰(zhàn)斗機座艙內(nèi)的表演。他要拍一部關(guān)于二戰(zhàn)的劇情片，片名為《戰(zhàn)斗機飛行隊》。他在真實的二戰(zhàn)紀(jì)錄片空戰(zhàn)場景中插入了他的朋友們表演的場景。

后來，認(rèn)識斯皮爾伯格的人漸漸看到了他的才華。他的電影《無處容身》贏得了全國比賽新晉導(dǎo)演獎。他的電影《火光》兩度成為一家全國性報紙分析和評論的對象，并在市劇院放映，那陣勢就像是一部好萊塢電影的首映。拍完《火光》的那一年，斯皮爾伯格只有17歲，彼時他已經(jīng)成為一名才華橫溢的導(dǎo)演，和比他年齡大一倍的人一樣成熟。

斯皮爾伯格的成就也許得益于他早年生活的不幸。他是家中的長子，父親是IBM公司的電腦工程師，母親是一位普通的家庭主婦。在成長的過程中，他被迫經(jīng)歷了三次搬家，并不得不面對隨之而來的諸多困難。斯皮爾伯格對學(xué)校的功課并不怎么用心，結(jié)果只得到C的成績。他與其他男孩不同，確切點說，他很“另類”：他的才華與技能似乎更適合創(chuàng)作電影，而不是參加體育運動或者人氣競賽。斯皮爾伯格常常受到嘲笑和欺負(fù)，他特殊的興趣愛好和宗教背景讓同學(xué)們對他避而遠之(編注：斯皮爾伯格出生于信仰猶太教的猶太家庭)。在他所生活的郊區(qū)，信仰基督教新教的傳統(tǒng)白人占絕大多數(shù)，作為僅占少數(shù)的“異類”之一，他在學(xué)校不得不面對種族歧視的侮辱。

他的家里也不是天堂。父親工作時一連幾天都不回家，那時斯皮爾伯格總是渴望父親在身邊。但當(dāng)父親回家后，父子倆又會為斯皮爾伯格學(xué)習(xí)成績差——特別是理科成績差——而發(fā)生激烈爭執(zhí)。斯皮爾伯格先生最大的錯誤就在于他期望兒子像自己一樣成為一名工程師。不和兒子爭的時候，斯皮爾伯格先生又開始與妻子吵，因為這位工程師的思維方式就是無法與妻子頗具藝術(shù)性的思維方式妥協(xié)。這段不幸的婚姻最終以離婚告終，那時斯皮爾伯格正在讀高中。父親這一形象在斯皮爾伯格的生活中是缺失的，這日后成為他拍攝的影片中常見的主題。

家庭和學(xué)校兩方面的冷漠環(huán)境，讓斯皮爾伯格躲進了電影的幻想世界尋求慰藉。他和所有愿意聽他訴說的人談?wù)撍睦硐搿蔀椤翱苹秒娪敖绲馁愇鳡枴·德米爾”，但糟糕的學(xué)習(xí)成績阻礙了他進一步實現(xiàn)自己的理想。高中最后一年，他申請了兩所全美最好的電影學(xué)院——南加州大學(xué)和加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校。雖然有十年拍攝電影的經(jīng)歷，但他還是被斷然拒絕了。

斯皮爾伯格不愿就此放棄，他進入了加州大學(xué)長灘分校。他選擇那所學(xué)校是因為那里頒發(fā)電視和廣播方面的學(xué)位，那可能會為他打開通往好萊塢的大門。但就他的經(jīng)歷來說，那所大學(xué)并不適合他。那里的一位講師回憶道：“斯皮爾伯格比系里任何人掌握的攝影知識都多，他都可以在那兒教書了?！痹诳戳吮藭r就讀于南加州大學(xué)的喬治·盧卡斯拍攝的一部短片之后，他再次嘗試轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)，希望學(xué)習(xí)更好的電影課程。但他整個大學(xué)時代都沒有擺脫逃學(xué)的習(xí)慣——因為逃學(xué)可以讓他整天泡在當(dāng)?shù)氐碾娪霸嚎措娪啊Ｔ愀獾膶W(xué)習(xí)成績成為他的絆腳石，一位教授對他說，“你最好去越南”，因為他因表現(xiàn)不佳曾一再被學(xué)校開除。

斯皮爾伯格沒有從大學(xué)教育中獲得任何啟發(fā)，于是他開始自己想辦法學(xué)習(xí)。他把夾克和公文包洗干凈，然后開始重新拜訪環(huán)球電影公司。無論是攝影棚、剪輯室還是聲音合成室，凡是他能設(shè)法進去的地方，他都要去拜訪一下。介紹自己時，他要么說自己是演員，要么說自己是導(dǎo)演，要么說自己是制片人，有時還邀請那兒的一些人吃飯。他會偷偷溜進電影外景拍攝地，一直待到有人發(fā)現(xiàn)他這位不速之客，勒令他離開為止。但他還會不聲不響地再回去。斯皮爾伯格說，他至少每天被趕出外景拍攝地一次。

學(xué)習(xí)期間，斯皮爾伯格曾試圖說服環(huán)球電影公司的主管觀看他拍攝的一部八毫米電影，但這些人說他們只對16毫米電影感興趣。于是，斯皮爾伯格在大學(xué)的自助餐廳找了一份工作，用賺來的薪水租來一部攝影機，花了一個星期的時間拍攝了一部16毫米電影。他的導(dǎo)師查克·西爾弗斯嚴(yán)厲地批評了他，說除非斯皮爾伯格拍攝一部35毫米電影，否則就不要去見他。于是斯皮爾伯格采用同樣的方法，幾個月后將一部35毫米電影拍攝完畢。他向西爾弗斯展示了自己的影片。對此，西爾弗斯后來回憶說：“我看到的是一部完美的電影?！?/p>

這部電影名為《安培林》，是一部無聲短片，講述了一對經(jīng)歷生存危機的年輕戀人的故事。這與斯皮爾伯格日后拍攝的科幻片和戰(zhàn)爭片有很大差別。但這部短片是一部令人驚嘆的電影作品，非常令人驚嘆，其分量足以呈遞給(環(huán)球電影公司)執(zhí)行委員會過目了。之后，斯皮爾伯格與環(huán)球電影公司簽署了一份為期七年的合約。其時，斯皮爾伯格只有21歲。在執(zhí)導(dǎo)了一些電視劇和小成本的電影后，斯皮爾伯格被委以重任，導(dǎo)演他人生中第一部好萊塢大片：一部鯊魚主演的恐怖片！

這部名為《大白鯊》的影片票房大賣，斯皮爾伯格也因此成為一名備受好評的導(dǎo)演。他繼續(xù)與環(huán)球電影公司合作，相繼拍攝了影片《外星人》、《侏羅紀(jì)公園》、《辛德勒的名單》等等。斯皮爾伯格的第一位制片人對他的評價恰如其分，“斯皮爾伯格獲得今天的成就絕非偶然。”斯皮爾伯格對拍攝電影滿懷熱情，正是這些熱情讓他在面對所有拒絕、偏見和懷疑時屹立不倒、毫不退縮，并使他執(zhí)著地相信自己的能力，也正是這執(zhí)著的信念激勵著他不斷前進。

這就是最終斯皮爾伯格取得成功的原因。雖然他曾被南加州大學(xué)拒絕，但現(xiàn)在他卻擁有這所大學(xué)頒發(fā)的名譽學(xué)位，并且是其管理委員會的成員之一。

1.Universal Studio：美國環(huán)球電影公司，成立于1912年，在20世紀(jì)30～40年代成為壟斷美國電影生產(chǎn)和發(fā)行的八家大公司之一。

2.shoot [#643;u#720;t] v. 拍攝

3.Davy Crockett：大衛(wèi)·克羅基特(David Crockett， 1786 ～1836)，19世紀(jì)著名的民間英雄、軍人和政治家

4.secure [s#618;#712;kj#650;#601;(r)] vt. 弄到，獲得

5.rather [#712;rɑ#720;eth;#601;(r)] adv. 更確切些

6.waspy：信仰基督教新教的傳統(tǒng)白人(White Anglo-Saxon Prostestant)

7.take refuge：避難，(以掩飾等手段)逃脫困境

8.Cecil B. DeMille：賽西爾·B·德米爾(1881～1959)，美國電影導(dǎo)演，好萊塢影業(yè)元老級人物

9.George Lucas：喬治·盧卡斯(1944～)，美國電影導(dǎo)演、制片人和編劇，其最著名的電影作品為《星球大戰(zhàn)》(Star Wars)系列(導(dǎo)演)和《奪寶奇兵》(Raiders of the Lost Ark)系列(編劇)。

10.play truant：逃學(xué)

11.reprimand [#712;repr#618;#716;mɑ#720;nd] vt. 譴責(zé)，嚴(yán)厲訓(xùn)斥

12.stand fast：不后退，不讓步

13.honoris causa：(=for the sake of honour)作為一種榮譽