The Jaws Heart-beat music is used at times to fool the audience. With the music that the audience associate with a shark attack whenever played the audience assume there will be a shark attack. There is an individual occasion where the music is used but there is no threat from the shark. When Hooper is diving after finding the wreck of a fisherman’s boat. When he goes over to the bowl of the boat after seeing it bitten open, the jaws music starts playing. However, the quiet, slow pitched music is used to make the audience focus more. When the whole audience are focused on the movie, the music all of a sudden goes high pitched and screechy, scaring and shocking the audience; with help from a visual aid of a decapitated head.
During the second attack, various camera techniques are used to create tension in the build up to the attack. There are several shots of Brody looking and surveying the water. There are clear indications of this, not just by the acting but by how the camera angles are set out. The most noticeable is when someone is talking to Brody about parking problems. There is an Over the Shoulder shot and you see Brody peer over the mans shoulder to look at the water.
There are several medium close-ups of the children swimming, as to tell the audience anyone of these could fall victim to an attack.
The actual attack is witness in very long shot in the background of frolicking between the children in the water. This shows the audience how very close the children are to danger. The camera is cut to a medium shot of the victim being dragged under by the shark. Finally a Big close up of Brody summarises his anguish.
The shark is the single biggest device used by Spielberg to create suspense and frighten the audience. Firstly the shark has its own theme music; the heartbeat like music described near the start of this essay. When the music is playing in the title sequence the audience see the shark hunting so for the rest of the film they associate the music with the shark. Due to the lack of appearance of the shark until much later on in the movie, there needed to be some symbolisation of the shark being there. Using music was the easiest and most effective way of creating this. It is a classic method used to create fear in film making, as what the audience imagine can be far more shocking and scary then what any special effects of camera tricks can do.
The damage the shark can do is astronomical and the director has shown this in many ways. First of which is the autopsy of Christine Walkins, the first to fall victim to the sharks attack. When Hooper and Brody go to see the remains, the audience are shocked when a box is brought out onto the table. Hooper is also an indication of how shocking it would be to see the remains by his heavy breathing, request for water and his description of it. Again, not seeing all the remains has a bigger affect on the audience as their imagination can run wild during the description. No one in the audience would expect this to happen as many people would associate an autopsy with a body, not the remains which have been scooped up out of the water. This is an indication of the power and ferocity of the shark on a human
When the two fishermen go out on the jetty at night to try and catch the shark, another warning to the audience about the shark’s power is displayed. When the shark bites at the bait and the chain is being pulled one is prepared for the shark to come to a stop when there is no more slack. However, the shark just powers straight on pulling apart the jetty and then dragging it out to sea. The fisherman is swimming back to the jetty with the shark chasing him is a further display of the sharks power in this scene. After pulling the jetty part and dragging it out to sea, the shark still manages to drag the jetty back inland and chase the fisherman. This is also a display of the shark’s ferociousness as it will not stop at anything to hunt and kill.
Brody is worried about the shark and decides to research about them. The camera shows him flicking through a book and witnessing the size and after affects of an attack. The audience see the pictures too which then awakens them to what a great white shark is capable of. This puts the audience in a more sympathetic mood towards Brody, who has to deal with the aftermath of the sharks attack.
The final display of the shark’s power is near the end, when Brody, Hooper and Quint get attacked on the boat by the shark. A barrel comes into the frame where there is a very long shot of the boat, the barrel indicating the shark. On the boat Brody, Hooper and Quint are singing a lively song. At this point the director has built up enough suspense as the audience know an attack is about to take place. The boat is hit by the shark many times and the audience see that Brody and Hooper are having a hard time standing up and that things are falling out of cupboards and off of walls. The camera is then cut to the side of the boat where the shark is battering in the sides. When the power finally goes out, the shark stops hitting the side of the boat. All of this shows how powerful the shark is and also how smart it is, by managing to lure Brody, Hooper and Quint out onto the deck, which is where the shark wants them to be as there is more chance for the shark to get a kill.
Finally, the way character in the film react to the shark gives the audience an indication of the power of the shark. In the final section of the film where Brody, Hooper and Quint go out to sea to hunt for the shark, their reactions to the sharks power is shocking to the audience. The reason for this is that Hooper and Quint are shark experts and they have underestimated the power of the shark. Mixed with the stories told about how Hooper and Quint have received various injuries from sharks, the impact of heir shocked and maybe even scared reaction, to the audience would seem as though the shark is more of a fear then first thought.
The actual plot of the film “Jaws” is put together to build up tension and fear. The first two attacks are very close together, showing that the first attack was not a one off and that Brody was right to order the closer of the beaches. However, because they remain open, tension is built up as the audience are always anticipating an attack.
The forth of July attack was a pivotal point in the movie. There is an increase in security on the beach and in the water; Helicopters, boats and armed men surveying the water in case of the sharks presents. This causes the audience to feel scared as the extra security means that there is or could be something wrong. After the mayor asks someone to go into the water, saying it is safe and that the shark caught earlier was the one which killed the last two victims. Brody asks his son not to go into the water with the others, indicating to the audience that Brody still feels that there is a threat of an attack. The camera shots of legs kicking under the water will also help build up suspense as it has been these shots which have been the start of the two previous attacks. It may be quite obvious to a lot of the audience that there was not much danger when everyone was running out of the water after seeing a fin. The main reason for this is that no music was played in the build up. However, the incident with the hoax results to a more devastating attack due to all the procedures put in place to prevent a shark attack are recovering from the hoax. An alarm is raised that the shark is in the pond, but it is too late as the shark has already attacked by the time anyone is on the scene. The audience are scared by the leg in the water. Finally Brody looks out to sea, symbolising that it is now personal because his son was involved. This is a brilliant way to build up suspense to the final section of the film.
The final section of the film includes when Brody, Hooper and Quint set sail on the Orca to trace and kill the shark.
The first build up of tension in this section is not related to the shark. Quint makes it clear that he dislikes Hooper and his “Hi-Tech” way of doing things. He makes this clear by what he says to Brody, mentioning how “kids” bring a lot of special equipment when at sea; this is obviously a dig at Hooper who has brought lots of equipment with him. The tension between the two continues between the two until later, when Quint finally accepts that having Hooper onboard was good after trying his traditional methods of catching the shark did not work he asks Hooper what he could do with the equipment he brought along.
Tension is created in this section by many different things. Firstly, the first indications of the shark is displayed by it pulling on the line and the real creaking where the line is being taken out. Quint slowly and calmly puts on his harness and positions the rod. This definitely is done to create tension as the audience now have to wait for something big to happen. However, nothing happens and the line eventually snaps. This is a false climax purposely placed in the movie. Further tension is created when Brody is throwing bait into the water and the shark comes up. A device used to shock the audience.
After several more unsuccessful attempts of capturing the shark, Hooper goes into the water in a cage to try and poison it. There is a moment of silence when Hooper removes the protective cap of the spear which is followed by the shark hitting the back of the cage causing Hooper to drop the spear. Fear is made by the shark repeatedly battering the cage and almost getting to Hooper.
“Jaws” is a cinematic masterpiece, featuring everything a good movie needs. It manages to capture the audiences’ attention throughout and never has a dull moment.
Though I personally do not consider the film a scary one, I do think it is a tension filled adventure. The part which got me gripped the most was the end, where after Quint had been killed and Hooper not around, Brody left to fight off the shark on his own. With his last few shots from his gun, Brody mages to kill the shark and end the rain of terror.
