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Introduction

JAWS Media Coursework Essay Introduction This essay that I am doing is about a film called Jaws, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. This film is about a killer shark that terrorised people on the Beach of Amity Island on the most popular day of the year, which causes mayhem in the city and between tourists on their summer holiday on the beach. The film is set on the 4th of July because that is Independence Day in America and that's when families go out to the beach and have some fun. Spielberg employs a range of techniques for building tension and fear in the film, some of these that will be discussed in the essay include: music, camera techniques and the shark it self and use of tension. Music The music played in the title sequence where the shark is swimming between the weeds is played whenever the shark is about to attack or near by a victim. The music is played to signify that the shark is near by and an attack is inevitable. Music or silence is used to scare the audience and build up tension, for example silence is used after each attack how that a victim has died and to scare the audience. ...read more.

Middle

catch the shark for a reward, Two men decided to go down at night to the jetty and catch the shark using a tyre, metal chain and a chunk of meat. The shark ate the pate and pulled the chain that was attached to the jetty. The true power of the shark is revealed as it pulled the whole jetty out and demolished it and nearly killed one of the men. The second example that was used to build up fear and show how much damage was caused by the shark is the first victim autopsy that showed what damage it can do to humans. He also revealed the size of the shark through its bite mark. The shark book that Brody read revealed different images of the damage sharks can do to boats and humans. Catching the wrong shark and finding the fisherman's head also added tension and fear from the shark. Fear of the shark was build through the character's individual reaction by showing their fear. For example the man who did the autopsy was scared and sweating as a result of what he discovered. Brody was scared while he sat on the beach waiting for the shark to attack. ...read more.

Conclusion

He also increases the important of catching the shark. The last section of the film was out at sea on the small boat. The fear and tension was firstly built up by the paroles and how Quaint kept saying the biggest shark he caught took two paroles to kill, but this shark took a lot of paroles and that didn't kill. Secondly seeing the shark's mouth when Brody was dropping the fish in the water as well as watching the shark swimming past the boat and Brody shouting to Quaint "We need a bigger boat." All these factors build up the fear and tension until the shark get killed. My view The scariest moment in the film is the last section where Quaint and Robert where sharing stories while Brody was listening. In this section the tension and fear is dropped and cheerful music was used to calm the audience down a little. Suddenly the shark attacks the boat and makes a whole where water starts coming in, however none of the men heard the attack and kept on singing. It was scary because the tension is lowered and then suddenly the shark attacks unsuspected, but on this occasion it didn't. That scene was scary and surprising and made audience to jump out of their seat. ...read more.

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