Jaws Essay
The film Jaws is based on the best-selling novel by Peter Benchley, and is directed by Steven Spielberg. It was released in the summer of ’76, and it instantly became recognised as a must see film. The chart-topper was noted by many for its staggering SFX and the lasting effects on the audience. The film was so disturbing that sea-phobias became wide-spread, and beach tourism suffered for years after. It is also widely known to being responsible for the incorrect stereotypes about the vicious nature of sharks. Jaws is regarded as the start of the summer blockbuster movies, and one of the first ‘high concept’ films. The motion picture won numerous awards, including 3 Oscars, the people’s choice Favourite Film and Outstanding Film of 1975. It was created on a relatively large $7 million, and managed to rake in a stunning $470.7 million gross profit. The film was so successful, 3 attempts at sequels were made. None involved Spielberg or Benchley, nor were they as successful.
In this essay, I will be thoroughly analysing the first two attack scenes of the film. I will look at many aspects of the film, to discover how tension was created using various directing techniques. Many features will take some effect, including camera angles, non-diegetic sound and camera cuts.
Scene 1 opens after a cut from the title credits, which takes the Point Of View of something in the water. The camera then takes a panning shot of a group of young adults, who are drinking and smoking around a fire. There is an instrument playing a cheerful tune in the background, and many people are laughing. It is a light, playful atmosphere. The camera stops on a boy, who looks a bit ‘out of it’. He is watching a girl who is sitting apart from the group. He goes over to her and the girl bounds up, pronouncing she is going swimming, in a high, jovial voice. She runs up the nearby mound, with the boy following, forcing the camera to take a tracking shot as they run along, with the dark sea in the background. As they move away from the fire, the cheerful music dies away, and the warmth of the fire visibly is lost. The sound of the waves calmly washing up the beach takes over, and the pair becomes detached from the group. Gone with the group, was the feeling of safety in numbers, light and warmth, as the darkness falls in on them. The girl begins stripping, and at this point the male is clearly drunk, as he falls down the slope. The girl begins wading into the ocean, as the boy complains about not being drunk, just unable to undress. The camera takes a low, wide shot, showing off the incredible vastness of the sea, this is a contrast to the comparably small female moving into it, defenceless. The girl begins to swim into the distance, as the young man collapses on the sand, obviously incapable of such an activity. The camera continues on the wide shots, as the girl gleefully engages in a little aqua aerobics practice. The camera briefly takes the P.O.V. of something under the water, looking up at body silhouetted against the moon light. A sinister piece of music is started, which first indicates the possibility of something untoward happening. The camera shows another wide shot, and then closes in for a close up of the girl’s elated face. It then cuts back to the P.O.V. of the unknown creature, and the music enters a new phase, featuring the now well known pre-attack melody. The P.O.V. closes right up underneath the girl, before finally switching back to the surface view. There is a short delay before a flash of panic crosses the unfortunate victims face, as she is tugged slightly under the water. The delay creates a last, intense moment of tension, before jumping into the attack scene. She is dragged about screaming in pain and shock, before grabbing onto a nearby buoy, setting it ringing, like sounding a death knell. She is grabbed again and cries out one last plea for help before she is dragged under, gurgling. The scene instantly becomes quiet, only the sound of the waves, and the deathly rings of the buoy piercing the quiet night. There is one last wide shot of the ocean, showing the hopelessness of any sort of rescue.
