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Tension In Jaws Suspense

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Tension In Jaws Suspense
How does Steven Spielberg create tension in the film “JAWS”?
‘JAWS’ is a horror/thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg in 1975; it is based on the novel by Peter Benchley. Steven Spielberg is a master of suspense and has created tension all the way through the film ‘JAWS’. A great white shark attacks the summer resort Town of Amity Island; on the 4th July, Independence Day, a declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. The police chief tries to close the beach but the town council overrule him and keep the beaches open; who want to keep them open to make money for the town. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of shark hunter Robert Schneider and marine biologist Richard Dreyfuss.
First of all,
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Then Spielberg uses a medium shot to show the young boys rushing into the water and this gets Brody even more agitated as there are more potential victims. Then you see a boy calling for his dog and this is shot in a two/medium shot, and then all you see is a stick floating in the water but no dog so this gives of a sense that something is going on. Then you see the boy on the lilo in a low angle shot and a point of view shot of the shark makes the victim look helpless. The next camera shot is a long shot from the beach of the boy on the lilo getting attacked by the shark and this shows the scale of the predator. Chief body realises what is happening and this is expressed in a “dolly zoom” as it zooms in on Brodys face but the cameras on a track and the camera moves backwards while it’s zooming on his face. Then the general panic of what’s going on is put into a long shot and you just see crowded panic and screaming. And then all of a sudden it goes quiet and all you can hear is the calming noise of water lapping against the sand and then shows a close up of the yellow lilo which confirms that the …show more content…
Another way Spielberg’s built up this figure of fear is by showing the damage it can do like at the end when Quints boat got sunk by the shark. And another thing is that Spielberg uses camera techniques to show the fear of the shark for example when Quints boat (Orca) goes out to sea it starts off as a big boat, but through the film it gets smaller and smaller and the way Spielberg does this is by using high angle shots. Another point is how big the shark is and the enormous power it has, like at the beginning the girl gets pulled around the water and makes it look effortless as the girl has no power over her own movements; another part of the film where this is show is when chief Brody is throwing fish in the water and he sees the shark when it comes up to feed; Brody turns speechless and backs away into the cabin where Quint is and says “we’re gonna’ need a bigger

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