The audience are then shown a view of the sea and are abruptly drawn to the attack that it happening in the distance, scaring the audience and create an atmosphere of suspense. At this point, Brody realises what is happening and general panic occupies everyone that is on the beach. Everyone starts shouting and pulling people out of the water, where the audience see and young boy like the one on the lilo being pulled to safety. The audience breath a sigh of relief as they believe that no one has become the next victim to the shark. In sequence to the first attack, everything goes calm except a mother calling her child’s name. Finally the camera concentrates on the yellow lilo that is being washed up onto the beach.
In the second attack, the director chooses to use different camera shots and angles to build suspense and scare the audience. The medium long shots (MLS) helps to establish a sense of place and time of the attack. The long shots (LS) and very long shots (VLS) help the audience to see the setting as well what is going on in the background. In the attack, they establish how far out the attack is taking place. The zoom shots help to show a person and the surroundings then zoom in on the person to see their emotions and facial expressions. The close-ups (CU), a big close-up (BCU) and medium close-ups (MCU) are the preferred shots to see characters’ facial expressions and emotions. In the second attack, these shots capture Brody’s emotions when he sees the attack and the frustration before, when he is wishing that the Mayor had let him close the beaches. The low angle (LA) shots are applied to make everything look bigger what they really are. In ‘Jaws’ the shots create tension and fear as the audience wonder who is going to be the next victim and they are also reminders of previous attacks. A convection and conformation shot are also used to help create fear and tension. The order in which the camera shot sizes and frames are applied and put together, are the main ways in which fear and tension is created.
The director uses different ways in building up the fear of the shark. The leading ways, in which he does this, is through the use of music, showing the damage that it can do and the characters’ reactions. The director uses opposite types of music to create fear. For example, before every attack, there is always joyful music, which creates a false sense of security. Furthermore, there was eerie music when Hooper is surveying the wrecked boat also creating a false sense of security. Additionally, there was no music while Chrissy was swimming in the sea, showing that everything is calm, there is nothing there and it is all normal and relaxed. Following the silence, the title music comes in quite quiet and then begins to increase the volume. This creates fear in the audience because they know that whoever’s in the water is going to be a victim of this foreboding creature and they can do nothing to warn the character. In conclusion, there is silence and all you can hear is the sound of the sea. This is to show the audience that the attack is over, the shark has left and everything is back to normal. It is also sinister there is no evidence of an attack.
The scariest moment in the film was with the half-sunken boat and the head suddenly appearing. I think this was the scariest moment in the film because the director used eerie music to create a false sense of security, whilst Hooper was surveying the wrecked boat. Also the choice of using a close up on the dead man’s head wit the scared expression and the suddenness of the appearance of the head.
The director’s decision of using dark colours during Hooper surveying the boat helped to create tension as it showed that the event was taking place at night. The final reason why I found this scene as the scariest was the use of the shots, which resembled a shark attack. This was because they constructed an atmosphere and tension, in which the audience had no clue whether there was going to be a shark attack or not.
The director also chooses to show the audience the damage that the shark can do and to increase tension and suspense. The event that shows this well, is when there are two unknown characters chain some meat to an old tyre and throw it into the sea, creating suspense as the audience do not know whether ‘Jaws’ will take the bait. ‘Jaws’ takes the bait but shows the audience how much damage and destruction that he can produce. The tyre abruptly, turns back towards the shore compelling the audience to fear another victim is about to die. Fortunately, for the audience; who have been on the edge of their seats with anticipation, no one is killed but this permits the audience to fear that someone will die in the not-to-distant future. Another example is, when Brody and Hooper go out on a boat at night, who discover one of the fisherman’s boats (many are out trying to catch the fish for the reward), floating out at sea and ‘abandoned’? The audience, are shocked to discover that the boat has a huge section missing, which looks as if it has been attacked by ‘Jaws’ and a head suddenly appears, frightening the audience. The director uses this event, to show the audience that the shark does not only go for humans swimming in the water, it will go for anything on or that has broken the water’s surface. This shows everyone watching that the shark is a huge threat and puts fear into the hearts of everyone.
The director uses the characters’ reactions also to show the fear of the shark. Brody’s reactions to the shark are key as he is the key character in the film. For example, when the audience sees Brody’s son in the boat, Brody reacts angrily in seeing this, as he knows that everyone in or visiting Amity is at great danger of becoming the next victim. Additionally, when Brody and Hooper argue with the Mayor in the build up to 4th of July, the camera focuses on all three characters especially the Mayor, who does not fear the shark, in this sequence. The director does this, to show that not everyone is convinced that the shark is a main threat at this stage and that there is no reason, strong enough, to close the beaches. Another time when Brody’s reactions are key, is the third seen attack. The audience sees that in this attack it is personal, as Brody’s son is connected as he was in the water at the time. They then know that even though, Brody fears the shark, he will have to be the character to overcome the fear and kill the shark.
In the film, there is a lot of tension created throughout the film but particularly in the ending. One example for this, is, that the first two attacks so close together. Fear and tension is constructed to show that the shark is dangerous and a big threat to everyone and anyone as well as the first attack not being a one-off. Furthermore, it gives the audience no time to recover from the first attack at the beginning of the film, to stop them from getting bored and to show that there is going to be a chain of events and attacks.
When the audience sees the third attack, it is more fearful because it is the first time that you get to see the shark. In the previous attacks the camera has acted as the shark but in this assault, the shark is seen moving through the water, making it more fearful and creating a tense atmosphere. There are also no underwater shots like in earlier attacks but instead there are birds-eye-view shots. Prior to this attack, no one was seen swimming in the sea until the Mayor persuades a family to go then everyone else on the beach follows. Subsequently a false attack happened (included the underwater shots as if it was a real attack), creating fear all around the beach. Whilst this was happening, in the audience there had become an tense atmosphere, as the audience wondered whether this was a real attack and if so, who was going to be the next victim. When the audience have got over the false alarm, someone shouted ‘Shark!’ Previously the spectators had seen Brody all relaxed and calm but this suddenly changed as his son was in the enclosed area. The shark was seen attacking and killing an unknown character in a red boat whilst Brody’s son and his friends watched helplessly. The title music was heard just before the attack creating tension in the audience. There was a sense of fear when Brody’s son was seen being removed form the water as no-one know whether he was alive but the fear was soon put to rest as the child was seen breathing. These sequences made the shark attacks now personal to Brody, as his son was involved.
The ending contains many events that create fear and tension in the audience, which helps to make it dramatic. This film accommodated many misfortunes and accidents including the end, which helped the audience stay sitting on the end of the seats with anticipation, until the credits. The occurrences that assist this, are when Brody, Hooper and the fisherman have gone out on the boat to finally catch and kill ‘Jaws’. The beginning event in the ending sequence is when the audience see the fishing line attached to a piece of meat abruptly move out into the ocean. This creates tension as no one can tell what will occur immediately after. The event following is the fisherman shooting ‘Jaws’, and attaching barrels to him, so they are able to track and see where the shark is. The event continues when the characters are all off-guard showing each other their ‘battle wounds’ when the barrel is seen coming back towards the boat: because the characters have relaxed, the audience relaxes along with them. ‘Jaws’ ‘attacks’ the boat by bashing into it causing the whole boat to start vibrating, inducing water into the vessel, which begins a fire on board. This proceeds through the remainder of the film when tension is needed. When it becomes light, the barrel again is seen heading back towards the boat. However this time, it is seen and Brody and Hooper attempt to hook it in and the shark is seen, creating fear and tension. The immediate occurrence was when Hooper went down in the shark cage, to try and shoot the great white with a drug. When the shark went for the cage, there is a tense and fearful atmosphere, as the audience could not tell if Hooper would manage to get away from the cage. The perspective of the camera changes back to the surface where the audience sees Brody trying vigorously to pull up the cage. Another way that tension is created in the ending is the V.L.Shots showing how far out the boat is and if something happened to them, no one would be able to help.
Fear is also created when ‘Jaws’ attacks the boat with Brody and the fisherman on board. This is followed by tension as ‘Jaws’ starts eating the boat and the fisherman begins to slide in the direction of ‘Jaws’. An atmosphere of fear takes over the audience, when the fisherman does finally slip into the jaws of ‘‘Jaws’’. This atmosphere continues for the duration of the film. Brody is left all alone to single-handedly ‘fight’ against the shark whilst the vessel is sinking. He throws an air canister in ‘Jaws’’ mouth. Brody attempts several times to shot the air canister but misses. Finally and fortunately with his last shot, the audience see the air container being shot and exploding causing ‘Jaws’ to explode as well, propelling millions of pieces of shark and human into the air. The last shot show Brody’s desperation for killing the shark to help Amity go back to normal and enjoy what is left of the summer and they also increase the tension and anxiety for wanting the shark dead. Hooper unexpectedly appears and both remaining characters use a raft to swim back to the shore.
