Analysis of Jaws

Jaws is known to be one of Spielberg's greatest films. It won him the admiration of others and studies soon saw the potential in him. It became the first blockbuster.
Yet with this said, the first seen to his opening classic is overlooked. Its dark tone, threatening music and riveting performance from actors all make up a superb opening to a film.

The first thing to point out is its john Williams score. Towards the ending of the scene we have a point of view shot of the shark, thus prompting the music to arrive. An incidental music score that surrounds the the scene through tension and trills. It is done purely to build up tension, it stars with a slow frequency, building up to the final moment, soon its frequency picks up and overshadows the ambient sound of the water to emphasize the arrival of the shark. It is a slow build up of music to sync in to the scene which in itself is a slow build up to the death of the girl by the great white.

Another notable scene is through the shark, or lack of it. The mise en scene use of props is little, the shark is not seen, or very little of it. This is Spielberg's use of contrast to Hitchcock's theme of not seeing adds fear to the audience. For we can not see the shark at the beginning (but we see more throughout) thus adding to the anticipation as to if we will ever see the shark and making that moment all the more spectacular for the audience. However, during interviews from Spielberg himself, we soon learn his intention was to use the shark, but it was fortunate that most times it broke within water, thus prompting him to use a technique of not showing the shark which paid off well to the audience and critics.

Throughout the scene, a constant use of wide shots to show the character in the environment is used. It suggest that Spielberg wants the audience to see the open water and making the audience think as to where the shark is adding this tension and fear to them, but also a slight anticipation as to when the shark will strike. It is only when the shark does strike a use of both point of view shot and low angle shot is used simultaneously. Giving the point of view to the sharks perspective may seem unusual, but makes the victim all the more weaker. The use of a close up is used to emphasize the expression of the victim. This build up of tension from sound and mise en scene all comes together to this moment, and Spielberg increases the speed to all these factors to portray a fast moving end scene in which the audience feel tension throughout. The frequency is increased to emphasize the screams of the victim all the more scaring the audience. The movement of the character suggests a wild struggle indicting tension and drama. Yet Spielberg keeps the camera still, never panning, tracking or zooming.