The film was produced by Richard Zanuck and David Brown, who had purchased the film rights to Peter Benchley's novel in 1973. $175,000 was paid for the movie rights and Benchley’s script on his best selling novel. Benchley's novel was based on a true event that took place in the summer of 1916 in New Jersey coast, where a shark killed four people. “Jaws” was originally going to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock with Charlton Heston as Police Chief Brody however In 1973 they assigned Spielberg to direct. Spielberg was a perfect director for this nail biting film. He was known to be very successful at suspense in his films. We saw this clearly in a one television film called Duel, which certainly showed off his skills for keeping the audiences right on the edge of their seats. Spielberg however was a fairy new director and with only one theatrical film called The Sugarland Express, released in 1974 under his belt, he lacked experience and was a risk the board were willing to take. "Jaws" could have easily been sleeping with the fishes through many problems.
The film had many troubled shoots, which led the film to go over budget. There were problems with location filming at sea, it led to many delays. Then on top of that the shark frequently malfunctioned. This caused many obstacles, as the film board were willing to pull the plug very soon. In total the were three model sharks that just wouldn't work properly, all of them named Bruce, after Spielberg‘s lawyer Bruce Ramer. Today we can see this idea put in the famous animated Finding Nemo film, who also had their shark called Bruce. Pressure on Spielberg was immense. Due to the model shark not in the best condition, they had to delay showing the shark to the audience for most of the film. Spielberg did himself justice by doing this, I mean who wants to see the shark in the opening credits. Why show the film's main character in the blink of an eye.
This film even had a real shark in it during Hooper's cage dive at the climax of the film. When the shark attacks the cage you are now looking at the real deal people, shot by Ron and Valerie Taylor in waters off South Australia. In this scene, to make the shark look bigger, a midget diver was hired for Hooper’s cage sequence. When Jaws finally made its debut in 1975, “Jaws” with a modest film budget of $12million, produced a staggering 100 million at the box office, an amazing achievement not matched until Star Wars. The previous record held was the exorcist at 89 million. Jaws was backed up with a huge budget of 700,000 dollars to advertise and promote the film. This film was PG certificate. We know its bloody and has got people screaming in pain but unless your going to get in the water and become a killer shark and kill people, it was PG because none of the violence in the film could be copied. Jaws had a sudden impact on people. On June 20th 1975, when it came out, there were 15% reduction of people holidaying at the beach and reported lifeguard staff that didn’t want to work after viewing this film. Jackpot. I would say that’s a success, wouldn't you?
“Jaws” nowadays as a film, still achieves its main goals of keeping you gripped and horrified of the events taking place, however with no Vietnam war, it’s a lot harder to grip the American audience because they have recovered from their defeat and are a lot harder to scare and break down and don’t easily recognise the subliminal messages hidden in the storyline. With 9/11 which was a recent catastrophe within American society, “Jaws” today even without Vietnam, would still deliver to an 2005 audience. As a film, “Jaws” will always be a masterpiece, and with events such as wars and 9/11, it adds to the depth and meaning of this shark and what it symbolizes.
Jaws has some very key scenes in the film. The first one is obviously the classic girl in the water at night. This is probably the most important scene in the film, because it starts the film off, it tries to hook the audience and set the standard for the whole film. It will persuade the audience to watch all the film intensely and take notice of every detail. This scene is a shock to the system, and a good one technically. With Spielberg Combining the P.O.V (point of view) shot and slow sneaky tracking shot with that daunting non diegetic sound in the form of the soundtrack, which denotes the shark’s presence, as it skims along the reef, searching for prey in the opening credits. This shot manages to create a vulnerable feeling to it. It manages to make you feel very small and very unaware of things you cannot see. It gives the effect that there is something out there and very much alive, an unseen creature. It gives us a sense of fear and horror because we know what is going to happen, with the pounding of the soundtrack it combines with your heart getting faster and faster, showing your fear in that moment of climax. Another point in this scene, is where Spielberg uses extreme long shot and blue lens over the camera. This is when the girl Chrissie is swimming way out in the sea by the buoy, in the early hours of morning. This shot gives the effect of a sense of being helpless and alone, very isolated by this different terrain. It contrasts a small person with the huge vast ocean. The blue lens makes everything seem dark, like night and makes the water look black. This is highly effective because, lets face it folks, it utilises our fear of the dark and fear of not being able to see, a form of absolute vulnerability. This is very effective, because it really shows the audience the scale of a small woman and the ocean. It lets the audience conjure up in their own imagination what could be lurking beneath the silent still surface. The Mise en Scene in this scene captures everything they wanted to get out of this scene to the lighting, the blue filter, the deserted location in the ocean and of course the one single actor on her own, all alone without any extras to interfere with the shark attack. Spielberg used a blue filter to make the scene appear as though it was at night. This now adds fear of the dark along with isolation. Another key point is the actual attack itself. He uses few slow cuts which was used in great effect during the actual attack. It happens during the attack scene because it shows the victim much more graphically and for longer periods of time so you can see most of Chrissie and her horrid death. This is smart because instead of cutting away quick, it stays and lets that pain on her face really go through you. It gives a feeling of such agony and no mercy from the shark.
The second scene would have to be of Alex Kintner and the yellow lilo. There are a few key points in this scene, like the false alarms. Spielberg captures this sense of panic by using point of view shot and then a mid close up one after the other. This happens during the false alarm with the girl and the man with the swimming hat. One of the main scenes has to be the obvious push and pull shot. Spielberg expertly joined simultaneous track and zoom shot as chief Brody actually comes to reality that the very thing he was watching out for happened right before his eyes. By taking this push and pull shot technique from Hitchcock's Vertigo, he made the audience see and feel just as Brody did in that minute of sheer disbelief. It reflects how Brody was frozen, in absolute isolation, as the very thing happened right before him. It emphasized his fear, isolation and temporary inertia. Another key part of this scene is the P.O.V shot used with the non diegetic sound as the shark goes through looking for its pray, picking out the easiest victim. This is a very effective piece of clever directing. It manages to catch the shark toying with us, choosing its victim as though it is superior. It also tells us that we are silently being hunted and picked off. It gives the shark a feel of intelligence and common sense, that makes the audience now, in despair. As if they weren't already. The main Mise en Scene of this key scene, is that there are plenty of extras to view the shark in all its horror, with that in mind the audience can now see all the extras in sheer panic, which in turn causes them to panic.
The third scene is very important. The 4th of July scene uses a lot of contrast between happiness, joy and tradition and the fear of a shark hungry for humans. It is a very effective scene, because it also shows the shark with having a great sense of intelligence once again and the ability to ruin one of the happiest festivals on American soil. Spielberg utilises medium long shot as the first few people get in the water, after the mayor talks to them. The good parts of this scene, is that he uses a camera angle at eye level to show how the water is moving in contrast to the still camera. It’s also very effective when you see the family go into the water and you see their faces, they look petrified to put it quite honestly they look like shark bait. It’s very effective when the family draws nearer to the camera and their expressions become more visible. It really shows the fear everyone possesses on the beach, not a type of fear you would want on the 4th July. This part of the scene shows a good supply of Mise en Scene. As you can clearly see this scene was well catered for using many extras, many props, gestures made by actors, the actors in the scene used many worried expressions when entering the water. Another scene Captures medium long shot and under the water, when the man in the boat gets his leg taken off. It's very gut wrenching when you see the leg drop from the top of the screen to the sea bed and you can vividly see the strands of skin where it was attached. Bingo, now that’s gore and death only Stevie could produce. This is very powerful, because it sends the audience a message that this shark is actually causing bodily harm, that this shark is real and so is the pain that it inflicts on its victims. Of course today that type of violence would be basic, but in that time it was terrible. It truly showed the power and menace of “Jaws” in all its work.
The fourth scene is the most important scene about the U.S.S Indianapolis. It really builds the Quint’s character up and also gives a slight depth to Hooper’s character. The Indianapolis was the ship that delivered " Little boy" the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. It was torpedoed on its return trip by the Japanese submarines. With it being a stealth mission there was no help for the sailors that were in the sea for over a week. 1,199 crewmen who went into the water died of drowning, the cold, dehydration but most of them were killed by sharks, only 316 were found alive. This was such a key scene, because it went into Quint's character and it gives him a motive for killing the sharks through sheer determination and revenge. Spielberg decided to deploy minimal editing during Quint's speech and had many close ups on Quint, while back and forth to Brody the main character with a mid shot. This was absolutely top class filming from Spielberg, he captured the tension and experience from Quint, while keeping Brody's expressions of all that had been said. The filming oozed with top class quality that only Spielberg could produce. It kept going from one person to the other and as it did this it added to the speech and its effect on everyone. It was so intense when Quint was telling the tale you could taste that silence, It was all excellent and right into the climax of the speech you could see Brody trying to wipe the condensation from his specs. This really gave the audience the same feeling as Brody, Spielberg did it absolutely amazingly, he actually made the audience become the character, share that understanding of Quint's experiences and horrid past.
This film is in one word a classic and for that fact it will always be a horror classic. It's always going to be that type of film that you would put in the golden section of the video shelf, Everyone should love this film because unlike many other films its a full package, it delivers what it promised and a whole lot more. It delivers, horror, bravery, belief, joy, death and victory at a high cost. It would be easy to say what the film hasn't got. The ending was average at most, okay, okay a little farfetched I know but still its much better than the version done by Peter Benchley. For any one that doesn't know that ending it basically ends with the shark keeling over and dying through tiredness. I say this for all the world, Boring. Jaw’s ending was an improvement however maybe slightly farfetched.
Jaws 30 years on however is a different story. As I said earlier, there is no Vietnam now and so takes away that prime fear we had back in 1975. This really spoils it, that the war has ended and people are feeling back to normal and very secure and safe, and well America has built back up its pride and morale. Parts in the film that wouldn't be effective is the general shark attacking the audience as well as the victim, in terms of what the shark symbolizes. Nowadays it would still be very intense, especially after 9/11 it would definitely send those shockwaves into America's hearts and with the John Williams soundtrack skipping away to the rhythm of your heart the general fear of Jaws and mass panic wouldn't die off as quick as you would have thought. However there is still that key primal fear humans have of the oceans and other predators that are bigger than us and that can cause us bodily harm, resulting that “Jaws” will always be a hit, and with shark attacks rising every year and more people interested in the topic of killer sharks, Jaws will always be there to show the reality of the shark, the predator in the sea.
