Spielberg adds suspense into the film by moving from scene to scene at a fast and furious pace as Spielberg cuts from scene to scene with lots of jump cuts and straight cut shots but this is very effective especially from below the water to above the water, from the point of view of the shark, then to above the water showing the reaction of the unsuspecting victim. This creates suspense and keeps the audience nervous as they know that someone might die. The camera angles for these above and below water shots are well chosen. He also uses some great techniques like tracking shots and zooms in his scenes, the speed of these shots is quite fast and the audience is nervous but has to keep up with what’s going on in the film. He uses fade outs after shark attacks for maximum effect on the audience.
Spielberg also uses long shots in Jaws to emphasise that our three heroes are all alone by themselves on a tiny boat surrounded by water with a huge great white shark nearby.
Spielberg creates suspense by making things personal in Jaws as he uses close up shots to show the victims face and bits of dialogue to give the audience extra information about the victim, this makes the audience feel closer and somehow personal to the character on screen and suspense is created as they go into the water.
The natural lighting Spielberg uses is excellent it adds to the eerie mystery of the deep ocean, this helps to create suspense when the shark is coming from below and also helps to link in with the colour yellow when there is a sunset.
Spielberg cleverly chooses who is going to die in Jaws as he limits the number of people that is going to get eaten by the shark so that each death has more impact and suspense on the audience. This also limits the amount of blood shown on screen so each time blood or red is shown it creates more of a visual impact on the audience and suspense.
The special effects in 1975 weren’t as advanced as the modern technology we have today but Spielberg still manages to give the audience a fear of the shark by not letting the audience see the shark until the end. This creates so much apprehension for the audience because everyone has a fear of the unknown and the unseen and the audiences’ imagination imagines the shark to be much worse and vicious that it really is. This adds to the enigma of the film and tips in Spielberg’s favour as it is more effective visually and psychologically on the audience.
Spielberg plays on people’s nerves as he adds false alarms and shark attacks into film and the audience’s imagination runs wild as people scream, in this particular beach scene the terror is magnified as the audience sees people running in all directions screaming which creates confusion and a sense of worry, to see if anyone has been harmed by the shark. There are also scenes that keep the audience biting their nails because Spielberg makes fake alerts and real shark attacks seem unnerving and the fact that not a lot of people die in this movie makes it more terrifying to the audience as each character that gets killed by the shark will have more of an impact.
There is so much suspense created on the beach scene of the false shark attack because of the confusion and chaos, while all this is happening the audience will be wondering is anyone going to get killed by the shark? So they don’t notice that there is no theme tune of the shark and while their attention is diverted the real shark is swimming away towards Chief Brodys son. Suspense is created as the audience wonders when people are coming to get help to save the boys, and will Brodys son live or die? The theme tune also builds up suspense as it gets faster and faster and crescendos, the audience can feel the urgency and the speed of the shark as it comes closer and closer. More tension is created as the shark comes up behind a man in a tiny boat but the man doesn’t hear the girl yell “Shark” so he is blissfully unaware until the shark starts attacking his tiny boat.
Spielberg makes each attack seem more scary and alarming for the audience because he makes the audience care about the characters in the film. He plays on their sympathy and makes them care about the characters which makes them more interested in the film and the attacks more vivid as the audience watches to see if the characters live or die. Spielberg creates an attachment to the characters in the film and shows a tender side of Chief Brody as he is a family man, this makes the audience sympathise with him and makes each scene with the shark more horrifying to look at because his children will be fatherless if he is killed by the shark. Spielberg also shows a tender side to Quint in the conversation he has on the boat, this shows the audience why Quint hates sharks so much because he used to be in the Navy and when his submarine sank most of his crew were eaten alive by sharks. The audience understands Quints hatred of sharks and cares more about this character if he dies which creates more tension when Quint is near the shark.
The victims are made human, not just pieces of flesh and the attacks are not just sensationalised, they seem more as real people because there are grieving relatives and parents and the audience can sympathise with this and feel pity for the relatives.
The audience can sympathise with chief Brody as his children are in the water, especially the parents in the audience because they are overprotective of their children and this creates a connection between the audience and the characters in the film.
Hooper also creates a link with the audience as he is extremely annoyed at the attitudes of the Amity police when he is carrying out the autopsy on the first victim and the audience understands the anger and annoyance he feels when the police decide not to take any action because the 4th of July holidays coming up.
Spielberg subtly hints at the fact that Chief Brody is scared of the water which adds to the suspense of the film because he has to go into the water a lot; this factor adds more suspense into the last scene of the film.
Spielberg also limits the use of the colour red for visual effects, when there is a shark attack the blood seen on the screen will impact the audience visually more because there is hardly any red seen on screen except at shark attack scenes so blood will shock the audience more. The colour yellow is also linked with the shark, whenever there is a shark attack something yellow is always seen before or after it. This is especially noticeable when the little boy Andy gets killed by the shark, his blood washes up on the shore in a crimson hue and then his ripped yellow
The conclusion to this film is terrifying and builds up the most suspense as our three heroes set off to capture this colossal shark in a tiny rickety boat. Can Quint and Hooper overcome their problems to face this monster and kill it?
Spielberg uses an excellent well thought out framing technique to create tension, as our three heroes sail off on their tiny leaky boat the scene is framed by a shark jaw, tension is created as there are differences between Quint and Hooper but there is a hint at the oncoming disaster.
Spielberg also portrays Quint as a bit mad when he goes berserk and starts smashing up the radio, their only way to signal for help from the boat. This creates suspense and tension because now they are truly isolated and void of any contact or help from the shore, the audience is tense as they watch Quint smash up the radio while Chief Brody is trying to signal for help, the audience are more likely to think along the lines of why is he doing this?, While the realisation dawns on them that they are truly helpless against natures creations.
Spielberg creates tension and suspense as he makes the audience think that the three heroes are winning the struggle against this gigantic shark and while this is happening lively and adventurous music is being played throughout to help the audience think this and this lowers the tension but the tension rockets up the scale as the shark starts attacking the boat and the audience realises that all is not well for our heroes and that was just a false alert when in fact the shark is actually winning the fight. Spielberg leads the audience to believe that all three men will be killed and eaten because they are isolated from help and on their own. The tension is unbearable as the other resort they have is to plunge a needle full of sedatives into the sharks’ mouth, they planned to do this by putting Hooper in a shark proof cage. But this plan failed miserably as the shark tore up the cage and Hooper missed the shot. The audience are now very anxious to see if Hooper lives and wonders how are they going to kill this shark?
The suspense rockets sky high as the film reaches its climax as the shark starts to attack the boat while it is sinking, despite seeing the shark for the first time in all its rubber glory this shark still remains a terrifying horror icon for generations to come. Spielberg lets Quint die in the story to create suspense as there is only Brody left on the boat by himself; Brody is seen as helpless and doesn’t know what to do so the only thing he brought with him was a gun.
The sudden disappearance of Hooper also creates suspense and tension for the audience because they don’t know it he is alive or dead and how is he going to help Brody kill the shark?
When the shark races towards Brody we can hear him praying to god before he’s about to shoot the shark, this is a great suspense tactic because this is his only chance and if he misses the shark then he will be most likely to die. The audiences’ reaction would be wondering if he’s going to live or die as the tension here is so big. But the tension is soon relieved because of the fast pace of the film and the shark explodes leaving everything red, gory and blood spattered.
Then the music changed to a happy one as we see Hooper emerge from the water unharmed, together him and Brody swim home on a piece of drift wood.
This film will have your hair standing on end with the brilliant suspense tactics that Spielberg uses. The camera angles are skilled and very well thought out, the film creates a brand new level of fear towards the shark. The music is very dark and ominous our fear grows bigger with each crescendo.
