How To Build Suspense In Jaws

The 1975 film Jaws is remembered as one of the best examples of suspense and horror in cinema. Composed by the legendary John Williams, the soundtrack captures the audience and incites fear whenever there are tense moments. Spielberg’s expertise in cinematography and William’s skill in composing couple together to produce a fantastic movie that still scares audiences today.

One of the most prominent features of the movie was the theme song. “Williams’s score perfectly communicates proximity and danger, rising in pace to a series of shrieks as the shark approaches. It must have seemed as if the simple oscillation of E and F would have been out-shined by more complicated and compelling scores, but in retrospect there is no doubt: Jaws probably loses much of its energy and suspense without it” (Jacobs, 2009). The entire score leads up to and embellishes the theme song to place emphasis on the relationship between the shark and those two notes. When the audience hears it, they instantly know that the shark

is present in the scene and is poised to strike. Williams uses this as a tool to build suspense and dread.
Another significant area of Jaws is the use of Foley – creating sounds that are not actually present on set, but disguised to fit with the scene.

“Spielberg repurposed a sound from one of his earliest films, Duel, about a malevolent truck. The sound the truck makes as it crashes down a cliff face also appears when the shark sinks to the bottom of the sea, after its final encounter with Chief Brody” (Park, 2015). Interestingly enough, the movie Duel (1971) shares a similar plot with Jaws. Basically the idea of a mysterious antagonist that stalks and preys upon people is carried in both films. Other creative uses of Foley are in scenes where there is not actually any music. In the first five minutes there is a shot of water lapping against a buoy that, for a few seconds, creates a feeling of isolation, which is enforced as the scene progresses. This contrasts with the bonfire that is then shown with several teens engaged in conversation, with acoustic music

playing.
Producing a believable setting for a movie to take place in is crucial in making your audience feel engaged and immersed. Spielberg does this by using sound “with remarkable sophistication and purpose. In fact, often in Jaws, the shark attacks are incidental to the movie’s portrait of life in a Northeastern tourist spot. The sound helps establish that reality” (Murray, 2014). The New England town setting of Amityville is reinforced by both the cinematography and the sounds. In the scene where Brody is typing up a report in the station, he “is surrounded by noise: the telephone ringing, his secretary Polly warning him that the 9-year-olds from the karate school have been ‘karate-ing the picket fences,’ and a local businessman coming in to complain about a parking issue” (Murray). A sense of ease forms and relaxes the viewer, which again, contrasts harshly with the shark attacks later on. Having this contrast is essential in a horror movie like Jaws.