Analyse the ways that the director, Stephen Spielberg, uses filmic techniques to build suspense, tension and scare the audience in Jaws

Analyse the ways that the director, Stephen Spielberg, uses filmic techniques to build suspense, tension and scare the audience in the opening to the film Jaws.

The film Jaws is based upon a popular novel by Peter Benchley, published in 1975. Jaws is one of Stephen Spielberg’s earliest films and was such a success he is renowned for thrillers 30 years later. This illustrious film tells the story of a small coastal town, ironically named Amity, being victimised by a menacing shark, and the motion picture still terrifies audiences years on. Spielberg cleverly creates enthralling tension in the opening scenes using a both diegetic and non-diegetic sound and a range of camera angles.

The opening scene is incredibly visual and terrifying. The music begins with echoing sounds of the sea, and very quietly and slowly the well known “shark theme” begins. The mise-en-scene of a sea bed and weeds fades in, telling the audience that we are under the sea, whilst the music increases speed building suspense. The audience follow a path through the weeds on a track shot, so we are at the point of view of the shark, but a first time audience may not know what this was, making us more tense because we have to imagine what it is. Once the title: “JAWS” fades into the screen, the music builds to a crescendo, getting louder and faster, then it is suddenly interrupted by a harmonica playing and the non-diegetic music stops. This catches us off guard as we are expecting action and danger. The music builds up to an attack, and when nothing happens, instead of being relaxed the audienceis very tense, waiting for the attack to happen.

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However our minds are soon distracted; the mise-en-scene of happy teenagers around a fire, symbolising safety and warmth, and the camera pans across, as though we are there watching, making us bond more with the group. The camera then pauses and does a close up of a young boy, and a young girl sitting away from the group. Moving into a long shot, we can see the sea looking huge and overpowering, and hear the sounds of the sea, reminding us of the danger in the ocean, and how close the group are. We then see the girl jump up and walk off, the boy following her and the scene suddenly turns darker into an eerie surrounding of the sea, signifying danger. Once she reaches the sea, a long shot of the horizon is taken of sunrise, usually connoting a new day however this is a contrast as the girl does not get to see the new day. Spielberg continues to use the contrast in lighting, as well as using silhouettes as they are dark and threatening, making us feel on edge.

Spielberg isolates the girl, making the boy useless and drunk, so we understand she is totally alone. As she runs into the sea, we are aware that she is running towards the unknown danger we observed in the credits, and this creates dramatic irony because we know something is going to happen.

As the camera follows her into the sea, we can see her silhouette getting further away from the shore, and therefore further away from safety, and the view of the new dawn, a new day, disappears. It is silent except for the sounds of the sea and the boy’s drunken shouts. We then switch to a long shot of her swimming, she looks totally isolated and she dives under the water for a few seconds, which makes the audience think she is not going to come back, building tension. The camera then switches to a close up of her smiling face, showing how happy and beautiful she is, making us like her character and anticipate her fate even more. Again the camera switches back to the boy, making the audience impatient as we don’t care about him because we know he is safe, while we want to find out if the girl is out of harm's way, as well as showing that the boy can be of no help, and reinforcing that Chrissie is isolated.

The scene then switches to the shark looking up at the girl kicking, and the diegetic music starts again, fairly calm and serene but also quite spooky. As we get closer to the girl we know that the danger is coming closer to her and anticipate the attack, and we still don’t see the shark so we don’t know what it is, making us imagine the worst. The sun above the girl shines down making her into a silhouette, dehumanising her, making her seem like prey, and that the killer has no compassion.

Throughout the scene, the camera switches between the top and bottom of the water, continually building then breaking tension, as we know under the water is the danger, but above the water she is blissfully unaware, creating dramatic irony, making us want to shout to Chrissie to get out of the water.

After a close up of Chrissie’s smiling face, we go back under the water, for a low angle shot zooming into her posed in a crucifix shape, representing her beauty and holiness, making us sympathise with her even more and also connoting sacrifice. Parallel to this the ‘shark music’ starts, like a fast paced heart rate, letting us know she is about to be attacked. Just as we get really close to her, the camera suddenly switches back to Chrissie, giving us a split second to relax and watch her expression; still smiling, then suddenly changing to confusion, as she is dragged under water.

We can hear the diegetic sounds of her being dragged around in the sea, and also high pitched violins, which remind me of screams. As she is being dragged around the sea, it seems as though she is being played with, making the predator seem even more cruel, and the pauses in the attack make us keep thinking it has stopped, making us relax, then it suddenly starts again, sharply bringing all the tension back. As we view the whole attack from above the water, we cannot see when the shark is coming; making us jump when she is dragged under, scaring us and her coughing and spluttering show how much pain she is in. In the middle of the attack, the scene switches back to the boy on the beach, going almost silent except for the high pitched eerie sound of the violins, highlighting that the boy is still useless, and also dragging us away from the action, leaving us unaware of what is happening. For a few moments, the beast leaves her, allowing her to clutch on to the buoy, making us think she is safe, so we relax.

However the killer comes back for more, dragging her towards the camera, her face disfigured with pain, screaming, until the camera is at an extreme close up, then she is dragged underwater suddenly, and this time, she does not resurface, even though the audience expect her to.

After the attack is silence, the audience know the girl is dead, but nothing can be done about it. This builds tension as the shark is still in the water but remains but nobody is aware of it, so it could strike again and at any time. The silence also signifies death, and the only sound of bell of the buoy sounds like a toll bell, rung at funerals. The silence also gives us time to contemplate what has happened, and the scene of the attack gently fades into a scene of a lucious blue sea and a beautiful day, with the sound of Brody’s radio, showing that it is just a normal day and no-one is aware of what has taken place.

As Spielberg did not have the benefit of using the special effects like we do today, tension in Jaws is mainly built up through the soundtrack and the audiences imagination. The technique of not showing the shark until the last quarter of the film, makes us imagine the killer to be much more terrifying than if we had seen it as a shark from the start. The theme music is associated with an attack and the character of the atacker, this technique is known as a leitmoif and puts the audience on edge whenever they hear it, in fact the theme music was so successful it is still famous now. As the film is loosely based on true facts, shark attacks are occurances, even though they are not common, Spielberg uses fantastic techniques making Jaws really live up to its tagline : “You’ll be afraid to go back in the water”

Jade Hicks