Jaws - short summary

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JAWS

Media Coursework Essay

Introduction

This essay that I am doing is about a film called Jaws, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. This film is about a killer shark that terrorised people on the Beach of Amity Island on the most popular day of the year, which causes mayhem in the city and between tourists on their summer holiday on the beach. The film is set on the 4th of July because that is Independence Day in America and that’s when families go out to the beach and have some fun.

Spielberg employs a range of techniques for building tension and fear in the film, some of these that will be discussed in the essay include: music, camera techniques and the shark it self and use of tension.

Music

The music played in the title sequence where the shark is swimming between the weeds is played whenever the shark is about to attack or near by a victim. The music is played to signify that the shark is near by and an attack is inevitable.

Music or silence is used to scare the audience and build up tension, for example silence is used after each attack how that a victim has died and to scare the audience. A second example of how music and silence are used together to build up tension, is the happy cheerful music that was played on the beach at the start of the film to show people having fun and as soon as the shark is nearby the title sequence music begins to play which the audience know that the shark is near. Straight after the attack the silence make’s people realise what has just happened. A third and final example of silence is when Robert Huber “the shark specialist” dives down to investigate the fishermen’s boat and then he looks through the hole seeing the man’s head falling in front of him.

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Camera Techniques

The second attack, which featured the boy on the yellow lilo, was swimming in the sea with no knowledge of the shark. A couple of minutes after he gets in the water the shark attack the boy leaving nothing behind except for blood and a shredded yellow lilo. Brody was sitting on the beach next to his wife looking at the sea with the knowledge that he is putting people’s lives in danger. The camera concentrated on Brody’s nervous face by using close-up shot’s of his face as well as using mid angle shot to show ...

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