"How does the director of jaws create tension in the opening scene of "Jaws"?".
In this essay, I am going to discuss the opening question. .
Steven Spielberg directed the film in 1975, at the location of Martha's Vineyard, America.
Having to build a fake, mechanical shark, the filmmakers also wanted live footage. An important aspect of the location was being able to travel many miles out to sea.
The first scene starts with a group of young people having a social event on the beach. This scene opens with a birds-eye view, being able to focus on the whole scene. .
Two of the people are particularly focused on, a boy and a girl. The boy follows the girl down to a secluded area of the beach, the camera using a tracking medium shot, and the boy hoping for an intimate swim with the girl. The dark lighting creates eerie silhouettes of the couple, which adds to the suspicion that something bad could happen, as the stereotypical view of dark is evil, or scary.
The girl silhouette strips off and plunges into the water, while the boy passes out on the beach.
The dark lighting and silence of the splashing water raises the audiences" tension level just a little bit - they know something is going to happen - with the girl possibly representing purity and innocence, mixes well with the suspected danger.
The camera then suddenly switches to an in the water scene, and focuses on the girls legs. Immediately, the audience links that with the shark - it's a sharks-eye view of the girl. The audience will then have a higher tension level - they know the shark is there, they know the girl doesn't know that - they want to warn the girl the shark is there, they know it will attack her, so they are on the edge of their seats, waiting, wondering, when the shark will attack.
The signature comes in during this scene, using the notes E and F, the well-known "shark" tune, and the Jaws theme tune - the tune that is generally associated with sharks.
