The camera then shows a high level long shot looking down on the fire and everything around it. We now see and hear the ocean. The camera then cuts to a track shot following Chrissie and the drunken boy running along the beach. Here the boy (an islander) admits that he doesn’t know the girl’s name, this suggests that he is drunk and doesn’t really know what he is doing, he falls over reinforcing this.
As Chrissie is running she is quickly removing her clothes to go swimming. The girl was chosen intentionally to behave in a stereotypically blonde way-it isn’t very clever going swimming in the ocean at night on your own whilst drunk. For many reasons: there is a high risk of her getting hypothermia (especially whilst drunk); the current could pull her under; or she could hurt herself on rocks or she could drown.
The camera moves to a tilted long shot showing the girl dive into the sea. The camera then changes to a level wide shot. The mlse en scene is very calm; we see the ocean, the Buoy and Chrissie. Then there is a cut to a tilted wide shot of the boy falling asleep. The camera cuts to low level point of view shot as something in the water, looking up at the Chrissie above swimming. This creates suspense as we don’t know what it is in the water. A cut back to the level wide shot and as the camera changes a buzz track begins, this is a non-diegetic sound. However we can still hear the sound of the ocean, which is a diegetic sound. There is a cut back to a level close up then a cut back to a low level point of view shot.
The buzz track turns to the suspense soundtrack when another cut is used to show another level close up of Chrissie. This is where the master shot starts. The different camera angles give the feeling that something is about to happen to that one thing and so does the music as it gets faster and faster, louder and louder. Suddenly, she is dragged under! We hear the diegetic sound of splashing and screaming.
When she comes back above the water we are watching the attack, the camera moves to a level track shot showing the girl being dragged around. A quick cut to a close up of the girl is used. Here close ups are used to create tension. We are shown the reaction shot of the girl; her screaming and trying to fight back. We still hear the soundtrack. There is also an absence of blood in this scene.
A cut is used to show a level wide shot of the boy asleep, in this shot all we hear is the sound of the waves and the music. The audience then see a point of view shot acting as the shark. Even though the shark sees you, you will never see the shark until later. Not only is it unseen but also heartless. This is intentional because the scariest thing you will see is in your imagination.
Chrissie is pulled under and does not come back up; all goes back to calm and quiet, all we hear is the waves. The audience are shown a level long shot of the boy asleep then there is a cut to a level wide shot, showing only the ocean and the Buoy. This tells us that Chrissie is dead and changes the mood back to calm. When the drunken boy wakes he assumes Chrissie has gone home or even drowned. At this point no one assumes that it was a shark attack until morning.
The Lilo kid scene is all natural lighting and starts with a level wide shot, mlse en scene again is very realistic, relaxed and fun. The audience see a lot of people sunbathing, talking laughing, kids playing. General things you would incorporate with a beach etc. The audience hear the parallel sounds of chatter, laughing and the ocean.
The camera then cuts to a track shot of Alex (Jeffery Voorhees) going into a beach hut. The camera then moves to a close up of Chief Brody, Spielberg was trying to draw attention to Chief Broody as he is worried that there will be another shark attack.
The camera then changes to a track shot of a young man and his dog playing and running on the beach. We see the man throw a stick for his dog and the dog runs and fetches it back to him. We are also shown a young couple messing around together and there is a woman floating in the water.
There is a cut to show the boy running in the water with a yellow lilo, then a quick cut to the dog running with the stick. We get the impression of it being very busy. There are some more shots of the dog and the man, the woman floating, Alex playing and Chief Brody looking very worried.
We are shown a close up of a man talking to Chief Brody. Whilst this is happening the woman in the water screams, Chief Brody immediately thinks it is a shark attack but it turns out to be the woman’s boyfriend messing around. This is a false alarm and makes the audience relax when they find that out. This makes the next attack worse. We see a level medium shot of a bunch of kids swimming in the water then there is a quick cut to a level medium shot of the young man looking and shouting for his dog.
The camera then moves to a close up of the stick the dog had, floating in the water. This suggests that something bad has happened to the dog, the audience think it has been attacked by the shark.
There is a quick cut to a low level point of view shot acting as the shark, watching the kids swimming and splashing around, the suspense soundtrack immediately starts quite loud; this suggests that the shark is already quite closet creates a lot of tension and . As the music gets louder and faster the camera gets closer and closer to Alex on the lilo. This tells us the shark is going to attack.
The camera quickly cuts to a level wide shot showing Alex and the rest of the kids at the very moment the shark attacks. The camera then cuts to a reaction shot of someone who sees Alex getting attacked. It then cuts to a reaction shot of Alex. We see a lot of blood this time and the boy is very weak so therefore he doesn’t fight back.
There is then a cut to a point of view shot acting as the shark attacking Alex. The music is still playing loud, (non-diegetic) the diegetic sounds are: the screaming people; the talking of people and the waves of the ocean. There is a quick cut to a level close up reaction shot of Chief Brody. The music is getting louder and faster as people run into the water.
As the last few people run out of the water on the beach the music starts to soften and finally stops. This implies that the shark has left. The camera cuts to a level medium shot Alex’s mother( Mrs Kintner, Lee Fierro) then a cut to a close up reaction shot of her distraught and confused face screaming out for her son. A cut is then used now showing the waves brush the yellow lilo covered in stains of red on the shore. (The lilo is intentionally yellow so the amount of blood and the damage done to it is emphasised.) All is silent apart from the diegetic sound of the waves.
The second attack follows the first attack very closely but it is totally different! This time it is set in the middle of the day, therefore there are a lot of people about. Alex doesn’t fight back whereas Chrissie did. Also in the second attack we see a lot of blood however in the first attack there is an absence of blood!
The Director has built up the fear of the shark in many different ways. One way is music. Whenever we hear the suspense tune we always think of the shark and we always think he is about to attack! The music creates suspense, which automatically creates fear.
Another thing that builds up the fear for the shark is showing the damage it can do. Physically and emotionally. An example of this is the morning the half-eaten hand is found. This is showing us what the shark is capable of; eating an entire human girl, leaving nothing but a hand. This tells the audience that the shark is huge and because we have not yet seen the shark the audience is even more scared. Also showing us that entire families are affected by the shark attacks, an example of this is when we are shown Alex’s Mother after the second attack, on the beach and at the pier, she is distraught. We see that the attacks hurt other people too.
The reactions of characters builds up more fear, the expressions of the actors are so real and scared it affects the audience and they also feel the tension. The feelings that are shown by the actors rub off on the audience. An example is when we see the reaction of Chief Brody when he is on the boat, he appears shocked and petrified, the audience feel this as well and they also feel the tension.
The fact that the first two attacks follow each other closely clearly shows how indiscriminately, carelessly and haphazardly the shark kills, as if taking life away from them was his right. The camera enters the shark’s territory showing his point of view, giving him the power to decide the destiny of these victims. However we are still not shown the shark, we don’t yet know, what does it look like? How big is it? What kind of shark is it? We have to wait until later in the film but till then our minds are imagining things much worse than anything seen on screen.
Ironically the movie is partially set on the American Independence Day. The Director plays with this idea that the fourth of July is usually a day of celebration and enjoyment for the American nation but in this case a killing machine is there to make them prisoners of this island. They can neither get off the island as it is surrounded by sea nor can they enjoy themselves in the sea as if the shark was protecting what did not belong to them, the unexplored and impenetrable sea.
The third attack on the 4th July is very tense, at first there is the false alarm, however when the audience find out it is a false alarm the audience is relaxed, this only makes it worse for the next attack. When the girl is screaming “Shark! Shark in the pond!” at first Chief Brody thinks it is another wind up, but then Mrs Brody(Lorraine Grey) tells him that Michel, their son(Chris Rebello) is in the pond. Chief Brody begins to get more and more panicked and so does the audience. The suspense tune begins, loud and fast, this tells us the shark is close, as the music starts chief Brody begins to run, his wife running behind him. At this stage the audience are wondering whether it is a hoax or actually real. More fear is brought to the shark when we see the detached leg sink to the bottom; once again we are shown the damage the shark can do. This brings fear and tension. The music stops so we know the shark has gone away, but a zoom focusing on a certain point in the sea implies that the shark will be back!
Suddenly we see the shark in the water; this brings tension and fear because the audience now know that it’s not a hoax. The audience are now wondering whether Michel will be attacked. The reaction shot of Michel brings fear because he looks so terrified the audience feel terrified.
The film’s last sections out at sea are some of the tensest parts. There are several long periods of peace to create a calm atmosphere and to get the audience to relax, but then the music starts and the shark appears. This creates more fear. In the last sections the audience learn that Jaws is a very clever shark; he toys with the three men, circling them and teasing them.
They use a harpoon gun to try and slow the 25ft shark down, shooting air barrels into it trying to create drag so the shark is very uncomfortable. The plan fails, the shark manages to pull the air barrels down with him, this proves he is very strong. The men manage to get the shark with two barrels but he still pulls them under! It then goes back to calm.
The audience see the Quint and Hooper compares scares whilst drunk, we then hear Quint’s story about why he hates sharks. (We already know that Hooper studies sharks, that’s his motivation, and the attack on the fourth of July when Brody’s son is involved makes the struggle more personal and the character much more determined as at last he stands up to his fear of water so he can kill the shark.)
Quint was in the marines and his job was to deliver the US atom bomb to Hiroshima. On the way back their ship was hit and sank. 1100 men were in the water for 5 days. Sharks discovered the men, the first sharks to come were 13ft Tiger sharks, hundreds of them maybe thousands. Six men were killed per hour! No distress signal had been sent off! Quint described the sharks as “lifeless,”, their eyes black and motionless. He tells Hooper and Brody that when he was in the water he bumped into a friend of his. At first he thought he was asleep so Quint tapped his friend on the shoulder. His friend started to bob, and then he tipped over, showing what remained of his body; he had been ripped in half!
When someone finally came to rescue them Quint said those last three hours waiting for his turn was the scariest moments of his life! 1100 men went into the water, but only 316 came out. From that day Quint swore never to wear a life jacket ever again, I think he said this because he would rather drown then have to go through the terror of waiting again. This story has a big impact on Hooper, Brody and the audience. We are told the damage sharks can do and we try to imagine what Quint must have felt. Although the story was quite gory, the audience can imagine even worse! This story creates more fear of sharks. We learn that Quint’s motive is revenge! He wants to honour the men he lost all those years ago; he wants revenge for his friends and fellow soldiers!
Now the mood has completely changed. The shark catches them off guard and they immediately sober up! Jaws crashes into the boat over and over again, damaging the boat and letting water seep through. Jaws is very clever here because everything he does seems planned and seems like it is all building up to something. Music starts but this time it is not the suspense music, then it stops again and it is calm again.
Morning comes and the men are trying to repair the damage Jaws did to the boat. Suddenly, then an air barrel floats to the surface, the music then plays for a short space of time then stops again. This creates tension because the audience aren’t sure if Jaws is coming or going. Another soundtrack starts, creating more tension. Unexpectedly Jaws jumps out of the water, we see a close up reaction shot of Hooper and Quint. Chief Brody immediately goes to call for help but the radio isn’t working, this creates fear and tension.
Once again a different soundtrack is playing as Jaws circles the boat. Jaws is hit twice with the harpoon gun and the music is now victorious! This creates a false climax, making the audience think that there is a happy ending when actually the film still continues. Jaws is totally underestimated by the three men, Jaws is so strong he can take two air barrels under the water.
Now we are back to calm. Hooper and Brody tie the barrels to the boat, not realising they are attached to Jaws, Jaws manages to turn the whole boat around, this is another example of showing us the damage the shark can do. Jaws is finished playing with the men, now he is deliberately trying to kill them! The boat gains a lot of water so Quint steers the boat towards shore, Jaws chases them but Quint puts too much pressure on the engine so it blows up. They know that they are running out of time so they assemble the shark cage. Hooper needs to get close enough to the shark so he can tranquilize him. Hooper is lowered; this is quite brave of Hooper but also quite stupid. To Jaws’ advantage the water is very murky; this would make it harder for Hooper to see the shark. Jaws swims past Hooper and the suspense music is at its loudest and it softens as Jaws swims away then stops, this makes the audience think Jaws has gone. Unexpectedly Jaws crashes into the cage behind Hooper, shocking him and causing him to drop the tranquilizer! This creates a lot of tension because at that moment and time the tranquilizer is the only thing that can save them from the shark.
Jaws destroys the shark cage after hitting it again and again, this is another example of showing us the damage Jaws can do; destroying something that is designed to withstand any shark, this creates tension and fear for the shark. The music is now getting faster and higher. It then stops. Jaws pounces onto the boat, tipping it, letting more water on the boat. Quint slides towards Jaws, he is attacked, Jaws bites through Quint’s spinal cord killing him! This is creating more tension because we think Hooper is dead and Quint is dead so Brody, the person with the least knowledge about sharks, is left on his own! Jaws is picking them off one by one! The boat is sinking fast! Jaws tries to attack Brody, this gives the audience a shock because there is no music or anything to suggest that Jaws is coming, this creates more tension. Brody throws an oxygen tank into Jaws’ mouth. He then climbs onto the crow’s nest to buy himself some more time. Brody doesn’t know much about sharks but he knows a lot about weapons so he uses that knowledge to try and kill Jaws. Brody shoots at Jaws as he is swiftly swimming towards him and just at the right moment Brody shoots the oxygen tank, blowing it and Jaws up! Chief Brody is over the moon. It is calm again and we can hear the diegetic sound of birds and the water. Amazingly Hooper is not dead and appears, untouched! The two laugh together and swim away back to shore to the sound of victorious music. A happy ending!
In my opinion the scariest part of the movie is the part when Jaws unexpectedly tries to attack Brody. I think the silence makes it scarier because the audience don’t know that anything is coming. The camera quickly cuts to an extreme close up of Jaws as he attacks and I think it is quite a tense and scary moment in the film. My favourite part of the film is the scene Quint is attacked, I like the gore and I think that it is quite funny that even though Quint wanted revenge for the sharks killing his friends it was l was the shark getting revenge over Quint for him killing the sharks he has. Overall I think it is a good film and I think that tension and fear has been enforced throughout the film very well.
