The music in Jaws is extremely good at building tension during the course of the film. In the title sequence the shark is connected to the music because it is a point of view shot of the shark swimming through the reef. The low deep noise of the music makes it very mysterious and quite spooky. You can feel that you are looking through the eyes of something evil. In the opening scene when they are on the beach with the radio playing they all seem so innocent and the music playing is very calming so you have no idea there is about to be an attack. Then when she first goes into the water there is silence, which creates more tension and makes you think what is going to happen now? And makes you keep asking questions on what is going to happen to her? And is anyone going to help her? Then you hear the music starting and you instantly know something is happening. After the attack the music stops and there is silence.
The second attack happened on the beach when everyone was out having a good time sunbathing and swimming. There are a few occasions when Brodie thinks there is about to be an attack like when the old man is swimming towards the women but he is wrong. The camera techniques used in this scene are very good in raising the tension. When Brodie has seen that there has been an attack the camera technique used is simultaneous track and zoom. This makes it look like the background of the image is shooting away from Brodie. This makes it seem like he is isolated from the rest of the world. There were a lot of different camera techniques used, the one that is used most would be the long shot which is used to show the scenery or in this case everyone on the beach and the sea.
Spielberg uses the music to create a sense of fear and mysteriousness of the shark. He manages to do this without even showing the shark for the first few attacks, the music he uses is very deep, this makes people more scared because high pitched music is happy, but when you hear low deep sounds they seem more sinister, spooky and evil. When you hear the music of the shark you know that something bad is going to happen and you prepare for the worst. When you see the damage that the shark can do to people you really feel fear of the shark. In the first attack with the girl, this is the first time that you see what the shark can do, and straight away you know that it is something very big and powerful. The characters reactions to the shark are normally to scream and run away, but sometimes they just can’t move because they are petrified with fear.
Spielberg creates tension in the plot by; every time that there is going to be an attack he plays the music, so you know that something bad is going to happen. If you pay attention to the fake attack when the boys are messing around with a fake sharks fin, you will notice that the music doesn’t play, this is a giveaway that there isn’t really going to be an attack. However I never noticed this the first time I watched it, but I think it is a very clever thing to do. This is a good way to do it because you would always know when there is really going to be an attack.
The scariest moment for me in the film has to be when the girl is swimming in the water at the beginning. The use of camera techniques in this scene was very clever. The main shot that was used would be the close up which is used to get the facial expressions of the characters. This is a good choice because you can see the fear in her face and eyes. When she first goes into the water it’s just silent, all you can hear is the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, but then the music starts and you know it’s the end of her.