Jaws

In a small beach town, Amity Island, a creature is prowling the waters. Sheriff Broody a city man just started right before the busy time of the year. When a girl is found dead on the beach signs of a shark attack seem likely. But the mayor of the town does not want to scare tourist and hides it under the carpet, until a small boy becomes a victim in front of all the locals. Brody then calls in a shark specialist Hooper to come help them out. When the shark attacks again the pair hire local shark hunter Quint to go hunt the deadly beast in his turf.

                It was not till I watched it most recently that I noticed all the foreshadowing techniques used in the film. One of them being the oxygen tank. When Brody is flipping through the pages of the shark book there is a picture of a great white with an oxygen tank in its mouth. Later, while on the boat, Hooper tells Brody how explosive the tanks are if they bust open. Which in reality they are not. These two put together foreshadow the climax of the film when Brody shoots the oxygen tank and causing the shark to explode.  The camera work in this film showed some impressive techniques. One of them is the iconic shot of Brody’s reaction when the shark attacks the little boy. When you zoom in and dolly away the result is beautiful. Another iconic and very effective technique in this films was the score of the film. The music was composed by the popular John Williams.  The simple two powerful notes bring out the primitive and aggressive mind of the shark. Also the suspense it brings as it starts out slow and slowly gets faster and faster. It brings out how patient the shark is on selecting its prey as it slowly builds speed to catch its victim.

                Spielberg really utilize these techniques to really communicate to me. He was to turn a simple shark attack movie and give it real meaning. That the shark represent the fear and the unknown that man must face. That not allow our fears to consume our lives like it did to Quint, a man who was scared by sharks and spent his life to final days hunting them. I know a lot of shark going rampages movies out there but none of them can copy the complexity of Jaws. Overall this movie was very well put together and shows the beginning of Spielberg’s career.