Jaws

Jaws

The film ‘Jaws’ hooks you from the very beginning and won’t let go. When it was unleashed upon the public, people all around the world were amazed at the perfect blend of acting, music and directing.
First of all you notice that the shark is not actually in shot most of the film, which originally I had thought to be a flaw in the film, but later I noticed that less of the shark actually heightened the tension in many parts of the film. For instance in the opening scene of the film that first victim of the shark flails desperately in view of the camera without ever actually having a shot of the shark. This is used to build tension and fear as the audience is usually more afraid of what they don’t see. The mood is executed excellently and John Williams’s memorable soundtrack is used to enhance this state of fear.
Camera techniques are being used less and less these days in films and pushed out into the water to be replaced by special effects and expensive props. So clever and intuitive techniques are increasingly rare, which makes it even exciting to see these simple, yet effective movements and points of view. For example, the opening camera shot is a point of view…from the shark! This was amazingly creative and lent the film a unique sense of fear and primeval belonging. The camera slowly moves through the water while combined with the background music that flows alongside the film perfectly. It then increases in pace, faster, and faster. The scene ends when the shark-cam is directly underneath an unsuspecting civilian. Another famous camera shot is of the shark’s looming black dorsal fin above the water moving like a quick, deadly, silent predator. This induces the fear of death and insinuates that the aquatic creature has arrived. The director knew this, by cruelly having a swimmer in the ocean look exactly like the infamous fish paranoid Brody was terrified of.
Good acting, something that I am worried is being neglected in recent films I’ve...