Suspense in Spielberg's Jaws
The second attack starts with the boy, who is about to get attacked
walking up to the beach to talk to his mother. In this very first
tracking shot of the scene we see all the main characters: the boy who
is attacked (Alex Kintner), his mother, the dog and its owner. All of
these main characters and a one other who meet a bit later all have
something on them which is yellow. I think that Spielberg has done
this for three reasons firstly to make them stick out from the other
people on the beach, secondly because we usually signify the colour
red with danger, so, as they are wearing yellow they obviously don’t
feel that there is any danger, this is a form of dramatic irony, and
thirdly because July 4th is approaching and this day represents
independence and new life for the Americans, the color yellow it’s
often used to signify Easter and new life.
The use of the tracking shot on Alex immediately makes us think that
he is going to get attacked, and so right from the beginning of the
scene tension starts to build in the audience. We then see the boy
holding hands with his mother for what is going to be the last time.
He asks his mum if he can get his raft and go back in the water,
because the audience has thought that he is going to be attacked his
mum agreeing to let him go back in for 10 minutes will help to
increase the level of suspense and tension.
Later on with use of mid/close-up shots the camera focuses on Chief
Brody’s face staring into the water, as he thinks that something is
going to happen, and every time someone walks past the camera the shot
moves further in on his face. After this...
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...al panic as the blood starts
squirting everywhere; at this point the tension in the audience has
reached its summit. During the panic Brody still refuses to go into
the water and jumps back at the slightest wave.
After the panic of getting the children out of the water is over the
music suddenly stops whilst Alex’s mother cries out for Alex. At this
stage the tension in the audience has died down completely but instead
would be replaced with an emotional atmosphere as the audience
realises what has happened.
Throughout the whole film the background music dynamics generally
represents the amount of tension and suspense present in the audience.
For example during the whole of this scene music is present and there
is a gradual crescendo as we get nearer to the attack, as does the
amount of tension in the audience.