At this point the audience don’t see the shark and don’t yet really know if it is a shark. The director wants the audience to imagine how big and bloodcurdling the shark or creature is this creates much more anticipation and keeps the audience interested.
The first attack happens and it shows the girl is unsafe, as she gets dragged about and then safe when she hangs on to the buoy but then insecure again the director did this because he wanted to make the attack horrific. There are pauses in the attacks because Spielberg wants to emphasise where the danger is and where the safety is. The girl is getting dragged about like a rag doll and the attack happened unexpectedly.
At the end of the attack there is a sudden silence until all we can hear is the sea. The director chose this to show how calm and peaceful the sea is after an attack. He did this also to show that no one would suspect that a shark attack happened here.
Before the second attack the camera tracks a young boy as he is walking towards his mother. The boy is asking his mother if he can go back in the water. The camera tracks the boy to indirectly tell the audience that he is going to be attacked. Note that the boy is also wearing red shorts, which is a colour that represents danger.
The mother then lets the boy stay in the water for another ten minutes and by allowing this, the audience know that it is going to be the last ten minutes of his life. The mother is wearing a yellow hat, which a colour used in this scene as and indicator of warning. The audience now are in shock because the mother doesn’t have a clue of what is going to happen and the audience do.
Meanwhile, Brody is watching the water because he is fear of another attack. He is not aware of anything around him the only thing he is concentrating on is the water.
There is a man that throws a stick in the water for his dog to fetch. The first time he throws it the dog comes back but the second time he throws it the dog has disappeared. No one realises that the dog goes missing.
Again, the colour yellow is present in this shot the man is wearing a yellow t-shirt and the dog goes missing, which indicates there is a link between the colour yellow and the attack. When the dog goes in the water the second time, the camera focuses on a medium shot which shows the boy and the dog together to point out something is going to happen to both of them.
The boy is swimming with a yellow lilo so the constant colour of yellow shows warning. Brody continues to stare at the water and now the camera angle is from his viewpoint. Brody sees something swimming in the water and suspects that it is the shark. When he finds out that it is a man swimming and not the shark he is relieved. The man that talks to Brody is getting in the way of Brody’s sight so Brody does not pay any attention to him and looks over his shoulder and continues to focus on the water.
The woman in the water screams and this makes Brody anxious this is because the woman was first dragged under like a shark attack. All these false attacks builds up more suspense towards the second attack.
Happy children then rush into the water splashing. This splashing movement will draw the shark to as they are attracted to movement. Next the camera shows a small child singing, while the man is looking for his dog. The child singing is showing that the environment on the beach is safe and happy. The dog has gone missing and the audience are led to believe it is the shark.
The second attack starts by cutting to an underwater shot and filming the shark’s viewpoint, and during which this the music starts, which creates alarm amongst the audience while the shark appears moving faster the music gets louder.
The attack is seen in the distance, the music suddenly stops and the shark’s fin is seen. Brody realises what has just happened and the camera zooms to an extreme close up on Brody with music of panic. Brody is shaken; he jumps out of his seat. Now the general public start to panic. They hurry into the sea to get their children out. The mother of the boy that got attacked isn’t aware of what happened.
The scene ends with the yellow lilo, which is washed up on the shore; it is torn and ripped with blood around it, at this point the mother realises what has happened. The sea then becomes calm telling the audience that the attack is over and emphasizing that the boy is dead.
The second attack is far worse than the first because the attack happened to a little boy who wouldn’t be as strong as a grown woman. It was broad daylight so many people, including Brody witnessed it would catch more people’s attention. It also shows the blood and when the boy is dragged under the water it is filmed from the shark’s viewpoint.
The colour yellow is shown constantly during the build up of the second attack and this colour is a key sign in the attack. The mother of the boy is wearing a yellow hat, the boy goes into the water with a yellow lilo, and the man whose dog went missing is wearing a yellow t-shirt and the old man who Brody thought was the shark uses a yellow towel. All these objects make the colour yellow a key symbol of danger in this attack.
The music in both attacks is a key factor in the movie. The music is used to create a scary effect and by the music going together with the shark attacks makes the audience literally jump out of their seats. When tan attack happens the camera goes into the shark’s viewpoint and as the shark is moving faster the music gets louder, which creates terror and suspense among the audience, it makes the hair on the back of the audiences neck prick up.
When the music is played the audience instantly know that there is going to be and attack. After the attack the music stops. This is to show that nobody would suspect anything has happened previously, knowing that there was an attack here. The music is carefully used to make the audience jump out of their seats, this is similar to how music is used in the Hitchcock film ‘Psycho’.
In the movie Jaws it shows very interesting scenes. The director Steven Spielberg made two scary attacks that would keep the audience interested in the movie by placing the attacks happen in the first ten minutes.
In the first ten minutes there are two attacks and due to these attacks the audience want to watch on. The first attack shows a woman getting attacked screaming for her life and the second attack is more vicious, these attacks tell the audience there are more attacks to come. To make it even scarier the action takes place on Independence Day.
In conclusion I think the first two attacks were fairly scary due to the range of techniques Steven Spielberg used. The first attack wasn’t as scary because the attack happens at night where no one would have seen it but the second attack happened in daylight and several people witnessed it.
This film is not as scary as movies that are made in the 21st century due to new and enhanced technology. The new technology makes things more realistic. The film ‘Deep Blue Sea’ is much scarier because the film had more horrific attacks and the shark looked more realistic. The characters in it were more famous and well known such as Samuel L. Jackson
