Research and Planning Jaws

Jaws Analysis

Camera Shot, Movement and Angle

There are very limited shots in the opening sequence to jaws, only two are really featured, its starts off a dark screen with only credits appearing then a long point-of-view shot which is set under water travelling through the sea weed and coral is shown, this shot creates mystery because the shot is in the point of view of someone or something else, it leaves the audience in suspense as to what that thing could be giving the sequence a dark atmosphere, indicating clearly the genre of the film.  The next camera movement is a slow track along a beach, crowded with young adults playing harmonicas, smoking, kissing and just generally talking, easing off the suspense of the previous shot. The slow track allows the audience to focus on the things the teenagers are doing taking our mind off the dark atmosphere created beforehand although there still is a feeling that something could go wrong at any moment, a convention associated with the thriller genre. 

Sound 

There is a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in th

is sequence. To begin with there is only non-diegetic sound in the form of an erratic, jumpy piece of music, starting off slowly and speeding up, this makes the audience tense, because the way the music begins slow and starts to speed up coming to a climatic end with a bang creating the feeling of a pursuit, like one between predator and prey.  Later on in the sequence after the jumpy pursuit like music, there is just diegetic sound of things such as harmonicas, the crackling of fire and general chatter,  seeming too normal after the dramatic music before leaves the audience anxious. 

Locations

Half of the sequence is set in murky waters in the sea it’s possibly dark because it is set at night, the other half is set at night/ early hours of the morning, on a secluded beach. The clothes worn suggest that the film is set 20 to 30 years ago because the fashion was very different its easy to tell when it is set.

Narrative/Plot

The title ‘Jaws’ mixed with the opening scene underwater could suggest that the film is about a dangerous creature that lives in the water, possibly a shark or a strange monster that could possibly terrorise the set of teenagers that we see on the beach. 

Genre

Conventions such as the tension building music could suggest that the film could be in the thriller genre and again the title leaves you wondering what “jaws” could be.

Editing

The sequence starts off black with only credits rolling on the screen, then there is a sharp cut to the point-of- view shot not much editing feature during that only the names of the actors and director appearing on the screen then another sharp cut on the bang of the music switching to the beach scene with all the teenagers, one could assume the director has done this so that you can focus more on the things that are going on rather than getting confused by fact cutting or switching back and forward between shots. 

Mise-en-Scene

The scene generally is quite dark which gives the audience the feeling of something lurking the shadows, also the sequence in part is set in the evening/early hours of the morning with only the light of the fire illuminating the faces of the teenagers, but also this casts eerie shadows around on the faces of the teenagers and on the ground making the scene very dark even though the teenagers seem to be enjoying themselves.