Chief Brody enters the film after the first attack. Before now the audience is still uncertain of the current situation and the story behind the attack, and as Brody is a new character - A technique the director uses to help the storyline unfold - the audience will find out information when he does. At the start of the scene Brody’s wife indicates that they are from New York, this is an important detail to his character, as in Amity Island there are only two kinds of people; Tourists, who come every spring/summer holiday, and Islanders, who have lived there all their lives. Chief Brody’s a new type of person, he and his family are outsiders, wanting to earn an easy living on the Island that doesn’t even have a crime rate. But, because he is an outsider, he gets treated like one, in the sense that he gets bullied and pressured by the mayor and board of governors to do what they say. Also Brody is very overprotective, - a technique the director uses to show how much Brody cares for his family and this makes the audience feel emotionally attached to him - you see this mainly before the second attack but it is highlighted when Brody shouts at his son for cutting himself whilst playing on “dangerous swings” whereas, his wife just cleans up the wound and tells the boy not to worry.
Consequently, because Brody’s behaviour is very tense leading up to the second attack, there are various techniques the director uses to create tension as well. Running to his mother, a boy is singled out - the director does this to make him seem significant to the scene - By using tracking shot. As the boy talks with his mother the audience is captured, this helps to bring the two characters into the storyline. In turn, this makes the audience think of an introduction to a new character or that they are in grave peril. They use a close up shot on Brody’s face as he is watching the water, Spielberg does this to show the concern and worry on his face. There is also a mis-en-scene - Spielberg uses this to show the contrast between the people on the beach, and Brody - used to show the fine line between the happy Islanders who know nothing and Brody who knows there is a shark somewhere in the water. Afterwards, the boy from earlier runs into the water along with a dog, the boy is carrying a yellow lilo, the colour yellow is used to make him stand out. The camera angles used are long shots, jumping from boy to dog, this is done to show the victims enter the water and warn the audience to make them wary, and the tension increases even more. As Brody continues to watch the water the mis-en-scene has gone, this shows that Brody is alone and singled out to create suspense as there is only one worried and only one that knows. When people come up and speak to Brody, panic is felt amongst the audience because the camera angles are long, point of view shots, so they see the people as they block Brodys view of the beach, creating tension. As Brody begins to get more and more tense, he hears screams and quickly assumes a shark, or he would see a misterious figure in the water and restrain himself from running down the beach. This behaviour is used by the director to create tension and build suspense to get the audience exited, and to build everything up to the real attack.
When the panic increases it jumps to one of Chief Brody’s sons and a man calling for the dog, the camera angle is a long shot and this helps show the panic from the man as he frantically searches for his dog. This shot also shows the inoccence of the child as he represents all the people on the beach that haven’t noticed a life has been taken. As the tension builds and the shark approaches, the camera angle switches to show the sharks point of view as he chooses what person to eat, the camera ange is then a point of veiw, low angle shot, the director uses this to make the vicim seem smaller than the shark and insignificant, it also makes the audience feel uncomfortable because no one knows the shark is waiting there. As the shark attacks the boy there is a simultaneuos track and zoom shot straght to Brody’s face - the director uses this to create the spine tingling suspense and sudden realisation of what just happened - so the audience can feel the emotions of Brody and empathize with him. When the attack is seen by everyone else there is a general panic, as jump shots are used to increase the panic and make it seem like there are much more people to show their panic too. After the attack a yellow lilo washes up against the beach, the camera angle, a long shot, calms the situation to show the end of the attack. It also shows the realisation that the boy is really dead by relieving tension with the calm waves and silence.
Overall, there are many events that both relieve and increase the tension between the second attack and independance day; The grief of the boys mother, catching wrong shark, autopsy and the drunken boat trip. Firlstly, when the boys mother confronts Brody she is all in black as she is mourning her son. There is no noise and the tension starts to build, after she wrongly accuses Brody and slaps him, the audience feels sorry for Brody and they feel injustice, as he had no control over the previous situation. When the wrong shark is caught there is a very happy atmosphere, created by the saiors and the photographers who want to claim the money and make it national news. The tension is relieved as the audience thinks it is the real shark. But, as the autopsy is unraveled, it is found that there is still a shark on the loose, a killer shark, that still needs to be dealt with, this information increases the tension as the audience think about what this means for Amity Island. Therefore, when hooper and Brody go on a drunken boat trip, the side effects to drinking are shown at its worse - Spielberg uses this factor to make the audience wary and builds the tension as they know a shark is still out there and can attack Brody or Hooper at any time. when Hooper is searching through the boat remains he stumbles across a skull, this part of the movie scares the audience because non-diagetic sound is used as a scream - a technique the director used, as special effects were not advanced enough to create the same effect, so this shows dramatic devices at their best - this shows the directors talent, because he puts it in there to spook the audience and make them jump.
The atmosphere in the Independence day scene is very tense, as the people on the beach all seem frightend of the water and no one is going in. The first few shots show the surroundings and how the Islanders have been imprisoned by over-the-top protection; the navy boats, machine guns, police and hellicopters all setting the scene for war. The director uses Independence day, because it is a holiday where Americans celebrate their freedom, rights and indopendance, but the mood and atmosphere on Amity Isle suggests that the shark has taken away their freedom, symbolically trapping them. As the tourists arrive, there is jolly music playing in the background- used as a masquarade to show the falcities that the Mayor would use in desperate measures- to keep the tourists calm and happy. Eventualy, as the atmosphere grew tenser and tenser whilst the water remained calm and serene, the Mayor forced some people to go into the water. The family went into the water as if they were going to there exicution, using humour- a trick the director is known for- Speilburg brings funny character quirks and behaviors amongst the characters to relax the audience. Cosequently,once everyone ran into the sea after them, there was a lot of splashing. This is known to attract shark attention, so as dramatic irony is created, the tension builds in the audience atmosphere.
All in all, I think Jaws was extremely succesful in using dramatic devices to scare the audience, and this film shows these devices to their full standard and ability. The techniques used to create and relieve suspense and tension were used proffesionally- by the proffesional Steven Speilburg- by using the camera angles, colours and non-diagetic sounds. The music used for the movie- a simple, mindless two-note progression used to represent the shark- was effectively applied to the score by its speed or even by its absence to create, and relieve suspense. Above all, the quality of a film is held together by the way the director engages the audience and how the director plays with their emotions, Steven Speilburg created an amazing piece of work with that goal, his highest priorety.