Another way the wonderful Steven Spielberg built up fear and tension was the camera techniques he used. During the second attack many different camera shots were used. The scene starts off with the camera following an old fat lady, then cuts to a young boy, Alex, who is walking up the beach to his mother. This automatically shows the importance of the boy. The boy’s mother tells him to come out of the water but is persuaded into letting him back in by his nagging. Next we have a shot of Brody, the chief of police, who is watching the water looking concerned. The audience is now wondering why he is concerned. We then see a man wearing yellow, the yellow showing that he is significant, throwing a stick for his dog into the water. This is followed by the Alex, who has a yellow Lilo, and the dog running into the sea at the same time. This could mean that there is a connection between the two, possible victims maybe? Next we see a man in a black hat swimming underwater. He looks like the shark and the audience recognise this and start to get nervous, he is not a shark. A swimmer then bumps into the dog; this is a comedic moment, releasing the tension in the audience. In Brody’s point of view we can see he is now talking to a local resident who is visiting the beach. The audience can see/feel Brody’s frustration as we can only see part of the suggested attack zone. Still in Brody’s point of view we see a woman in the sea scream. The audience automatically think it’s another shark attack and as does Brody. It is not and Brody slumps back in his chair. After that we see a small child singing innocently while a man is calling for his dog. The audience realises that the dog may have been eaten by the shark, even more tension is build up as we fear for the dog’s life. There is also a contrast between the panic of the man calling for the dog and the child singing. Next we are with the shark for the first time in the attack, as its point of view. The shark is swimming underneath people and we can only see the legs kicking. The audience even more fearful now as the attack is imminent and we are waiting for it to happen. There is a cut the attack and quick cuts between the attack and the reaction on the beach. Brody realises what is happening and is stunned. This is shown by the camera simultaneously tracking in and zooming out. After the attack there is calm, as the Lilo washed up in shore, there is a moment of reflection and the audience take in what happened. The audience now fearful of the shark but still unaware of its size and power as they only saw a small bit of the fin.
The shark it’s self and ways it is portrayed builds up fear and tension in many way. We do not see the shark its self until quite late in the film. We only see the power and strength of the shark at about half way. This happens when the two fishermen tie a piece of meat and to the jetty and throw it into the sea. The shark is obviously drawn the meat and tries to eat it, pulling the meat off the jetty, and destroying it completely. A bit later in the film people think the shark has been caught. But Hooper, an oceanographer, says it is not and wants to have an autopsy on the shark. During the autopsy we find out that the shark that has been caught is not the right one. The audience is now worried as the main shark is still out there! When Brody is reading the shark attack book, the audience also realise how damaging and dangerous a shark can be and start to fear for the safety of the towns people even more.
The use of ‘fake alerts’ in the film has a very dramatic effect. It is used in such a way that it builds on the audience’s expectations and then confounds them with the reality. This has a huge effect on the audience because they are built up to such a high point of tension or fear and then released from that point. Like in the second attack scene, the audience is made to believe that an attack on the girl in the water is about to happen, but then the girl is just playing around in the water. Now because the audience is not expecting an attack anymore the actual attack on the boy – Alex – is even more terrifying and shocking than the original attack would have been.
The plot/ storyline is used to build up tension and fear within the audience. The first two attacks are very close together, there is a so called ‘cooling down’ period for the audience. Sympathy for Brody and his family is gathered by the audience throughout this ‘cooling down’ time. This is because throughout the cooling down period the audience has become aware that Brody is worried not just for his family’s safety but for the town’s people’s safety. Brody’s son is involved in the third attack and the audience fears even more for Brody’s son’s safety. In the lat section of the film Brody, Hooper and the town’s shark fisherman goes out on a boat to try and catch the shark. This is the first time we see the shark properly and realise its actual size. The audience are still quite sceptical of the shark’s size until now. They start to wonder how Brody, Hooper and the shark-fisherman are going fare against the giant shark.
Steven Spielberg has created a masterpiece using many filmic techniques. He has used them successfully to not only entertain, but build fear, tension and horror at many parts throughout the film. I personally think that the high point of tension in the film was when the little fishing boat was being attacked by the monster shark.