Section 2: Research into examples of comparable media products- Jaws Screening Notes

Jaws begins with eerie sounds and under water noises, the sound of the theme music and iconic tune starts off with slow beats far apart, and builds to a fast paced piece of music that is thrilling and warning for the viewer, the music builds to a crescendo. The film starts underwater and cinematography is effective because it is from the shark’s point of view, it starts with him swimming through the sea, but at this point the audience doesn’t know what it is. This is an effective way of personifying Jaws and creating suspense because the ‘unknown’ is scary and makes the audience question what is going to happen.

Chrissy

The boy who chases her.

                The scene then changes from intense to peaceful, it shows a social gathering of young people on the beach, and the contrast in sounds is huge. There is a harmonica being played and the sound of the crashing waves in the background, I think is there as a reminder to the audience something is lurking. The camera tracks along all the people to show them all surrounded by the fire, friends meeting up smoking and drinking. This is clearly shown and I think is significant to the rest of the story because if they weren’t under any influence the events might not have happened. It has a hippy theme, as all the people are by the campfire, playing instruments and have the free feel, their hair is all long and wavy and clothes are informal and casual. This shows the time setting of the 70’s and where the film is based. It is dark on the beach I also think this is important because it’s a setting more suitable for the codes and conventions of thrillers and makes something more likely to happen than in the daylight.

A girl sat on her own away from the group and boy take the focus of the scene and the first characters are introduced. Chrissy I think is isolated from the group and needs to get away, the fact that she is on her own also makes people less likely to notice she is gone, as her and the boy begin to run away and go for a swim in the sea they run with exaggerated breathing noises. This adds to the suspense and fast panting makes people wary of what is about to happen and set them up for a major event. Chrissy is a blonde, attractive young girl- I think this is more effective than having a boy or brunette as she seems more venerable and looks young so something could easily happen to her. The shots of them falling and fast running are emphasised to again show their reaction times are not as fast as usual. The boy is shouting and looking as if he doesn’t know what he is doing, she is ahead and you can tell she will be the first in the water, as she jumps in he is far behind not being able to keep up, this means her again being on her own.

 

This is the camera shot from the sharks point of view looking up.

The long shot of her swimming shows her surroundings as she is on her own and in a calm peaceful setting but the equilibrium will soon be ruined. The sea is calm and there are only quiet non drastic noises. There is a sudden change again contrasting from calm to intense, when we are back under water with the dramatic music and tune building faster and louder once again. The camera is from a view of the sharks again as its gaining closer the music and suspense builds. Then a sudden stop and silence again to effect in a dramatic pause that may make the viewer jump or scared. When the shot changes again to the sharks eyes it gains in suspense once again when the sudden movement of her being dragged under happens.

This is the attack an shot of Chrissy being dragged.

The attack is then quite brutal and dramatic; the shot changes from her distressed face being dragged, to the point of view of the shark. This anchors into the audience that it is in fact the thing we had a brief encounter with before that is attacking her. The noises and screams are also dramatic, loud thrashing noises and the water is also heard. These are all to emphasise the attack and death of Chrissy. After a build of visual and sound there is again a dead stop and silence out in sea again. This has huge impact on the audience because it’s as if nobody will know what has happened to her, because nobody has heard or saw. The camera shots of her in the sea are gone and it shows the same long shot of where she was swimming except she is not there, and has in fact been killed.