Raiders and the Golden Idol

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Raiders and the Golden Idol Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest works of cinematography in the past forty years. The greatness came from the cinematographer’s experience and collaboration with the movie’s director. The results of their work created one of the best adventure movies of all time. An early scene of the movie in which Indiana Jones tries to retrieve a golden idol is a cinematography masterpiece. George Lucas put together an all-start team of staff to produce Raiders of the Lost Ark. Raiders was directed by Steven Spielberg in 1981. Lucas had thought of the idea years earlier but had been sidelined in directing other movies. Producers were Frank Marshall and Howard Kazanjian. Writers were George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan responsible for the screenplay. Meetings between Lucas and Kasdan began in 1979 to write the script. Lucas and Kasdan played around with different ideas of character names, personalities, and lifestyles. Eventually they settled on the script after five consecutive nine hour days of writing (Making of, n.d.). Douglas Slocombe was in charge of the cinematography. He used his experience from Blue Max, The Lion in Winter, and forty-five other films to direct the cinematography. Eventually, Slocombe would be receive an academy award nomination and Spielberg for his work as director. Art and set directors were Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, and Michael Ford. These three would win an Academy award for their work in Raiders of the Lost Ark. All of these artists added their artistic value to the mise en scène. Raiders of the Lost Ark would be nominated for nine academy awards and winning four (Making of, n.d.). This report will focus on an early scene in the movie in which Indiana Jones enters a temple to search for a golden idol (Spielberg, 1981). Lighting was key to this South American archeological

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