Jaws Official Textual Analysis

3. JAWS

Mise en Scene

Chief Brody, Hooper and Quint are seen in Quint's boathouse, there are many shark fishing tools or supplies.  When the three of them leave the dock the shot is from inside of the boathouse looking out through the teeth of a shark that Quint has caught. The title creates dramatic tension as it establishes the viewer to become curious about what ‘Jaws’ could refer to.

Lighting and colour are used effectively in preparing the audience for the climactic scenes. This is evident at the start of the clip where the atmosphere on the beach is pleasant and sunny. Natural lighting is used to make the clip realistic to watch and feel involved in. As the clip progresses, the natural lighting seems to dim prior to the shark’s appearance to create a growing sense of danger and insecurity. The lighting is faded to illustrate the murk and vulnerability of swimming in the presence of extreme danger, the approaching shark.

The beauty of the film is how all of its structural and visual motifs and components interact with each other to form two worlds in the consciousness of the viewer.  Firstly, the innocent portrayal of Amity Island and, secondly, the bleak nightmare that lurks beneath the surface of its waters in the form of a 25-foot, three-ton shark.  The physical presence of the shark is only felt, at this point, in the first person through witnessing the shark’s hunt for it’s first victim. The viewer, in many ways, becomes the shark that they so desperately want to see.

In the very first scene of the clip, Spielberg uses a black background. This is used to target the fear within humans of being unable to see your attacker, and further to hint at the weakness of the viewer in that situation, alone in the dark and vulnerable.

Editing

When the Chief leaves his house in the beginning, you see him going out the door, getting in his car and driving away, then it cuts to a few shots of him driving and it cuts to him walking on the beach.

Editing shortened the scene and made it so you do not have to watch the whole drive from his house to the beach.  There are a combination of deliberately placed elements, like the use of different colour palettes, background and foreground stagings, visual thematic details, and also "accidental" effects, making it feel gritty and natural.

There are “one-shots” of characters to suggest reactions here and there, deliberately and sparingly placed to compliment the more important shots, featuring many characters, conversations, and events.  The compositional details of the clip build together to form a sense of the Amity Island community, Quint's creaking Orca, or the calmness of the ocean surface, sometimes, no dialogue is necessary at all.  There is a balance between quiet moments and intense moments, creating fluid movements and actions that complement each other forming a beautiful visual narrative.

Camera Angles and Movement

Camera movements are achieved by using several techniques. The use of lots of long shots help convey both isolation for the victims and make the shark seem to have incredible hunting abilities. This technique builds up anxiety by waiting for the dramatic part. Such as dolly shots, panning, tilting the camera, moving the camera side to side or up and down, zoom shots, aerial shots, hand held shots, and using a crane for over-head shots.  For example, when the shark is swimming under the boat, there is an aerial shot and your looking down from above the boat. This shot was chosen to show how big the shark is compared to the boat.

Spielberg uses a swimming motion with the camera; this gives the audience the impression of searching. The camera manages to move fast but with a certain amount of grace, this is an example of “intertextuality” and this kind of camera movement is known as "sweeping". The film is more interested in building the essence of its locations through long, wide shots, than the level of activity in them.

Sound

In Jaws there is a distinct sound that you hear when the shark in close. This sound has a deep tone which makes the viewer feel anxious and on edge. This sound lets the viewer know that the shark is close and there is danger. The music is introduced slowly and quietly but it carries a dangerous undertone to it. The build up of the slow tempo that eventually crashes into a louder pitch creating suspense and tension. As the music speeds up it mimics a heart beat pumping faster and faster, as if running or in fear of something.

The music that is played as the shark draws nearer the surface provides an increasingly tense atmosphere among the audience. The many differential contrasts in sound that are used also trigger the knowledge of something fatal and disastrous to happen.

The natural sounds of the locations, holiday goers playing on the beach, actual organic sounds like those of the sound of bubbles and swift water movement, are used at the same time to suggest the ordinary and also add tension, with the use of sea noises particularly to remind the viewer of the fact they are in danger.