Film Analysis Of Mise En Scene Of Jaws

Jaws is a well equipped film of mise-en-scene, sound, editing, and cinematographic techniques. Without all of these elements, Jaws would not have as respected of a reputation that it does. The film would lack suspense and would not be able to involve the audience as efficiently. It puts fear and anticipation to the viewer in various aspects. The two and a half minutes of the Kintner boy scene in which I did a breakdown for, was, alone, packed with all of these incredible characteristics tied together quite perfectly.

In order for the central question of the film to be answered; “What is this creature that is attacking people?”, there needs to be a good, suspenseful build up that keeps the audience on the toes-figuratively. Without the contribution of mise en scene, the film would lack stylization and/or authenticity. Mise en scene makes up the setting, actors, costume, makeup, and lighting. For Jaws, it seems that the visual choices of setting, costume and makeup was based off of the current era in which it was being filmed circa 1975. The scene in which I examined begins at about 14 minutes into the film, however, I examined the film for the part 1 breakdown from 15:16-17:49. Starting at about 14:04 minutes, there is a medium shot as the camera pans to an overweight woman wearing a striped swimsuit, and is walking into the ocean. I believe that Spielberg purposely chose this woman to begin the scene in order to allow for the audience to make assumptions as the scene develops. This round woman is wearing a white bathing cap, a green and white vertically striped bathing suit top, and black bottoms. It is important for a film to be aware of the clothing, which contributes to the mise en scene. As someone who has a working knowled...

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...whether or not they should enter into water the next time. His techniques are done in memorable ways that allow for the audience to be “haunted”, in a sense. This film is arguably one of the most influential thrillers ever made. It sets the standards for movies to come. It created a building block of technique uses that was not previously displayed throughout films. It surely set the standards by which others are measured. Spielberg changed the way movies were made and marketed. Just like a good joke, timing is crucial. Spielberg’s timing through a mixture of horror and comedy created amazing effects in this film. The special effects are properly balanced between the story and character, which is extremely important and done gracefully. Holistically, Jaws succeeds on almost every level. It is fearful without being outlandish, and incredible without being improbable.