Jaws, directed by Stephen Spielberg
Jaws is one of the most infamous American horror movies of all time which follows sheriff Martin Brody as a giant great white shark terrorizes the waters of his coastline town. This quickly became a classic horror movie because of the mass panic it produced, for the films depiction of the shark scared people from open bodies of water for a long period of time after this movie was released.
One of the many things that made this movie so scary to most people was the presentation of the shark, or the lack there of. You rarely caught a glimpse of the shark for the majority of the film. Only until the do you see the entire shark, and even then, only for a moment. This aspect of the film inspired modern horror movie making as it is today, less is more. Originally when Spielberg was directing the film, he wanted to show as much of the shark as possible; but due to technical difficulties with the mechanical shark with which they were filming the movie, he wound up with less footage then desired. He then took it to his editor, Verna Fields, who used even less. When approached by Spielberg, Fields claimed that the less of the shark that you saw, the better. She wound up being spot on, for all the audience really wants to see is the shark, and saving it for the end keeps the watcher at bay and much more vulnerable.
This movie is most famous for its theme music. The "Jaws tune" is well known to every person in America, and was one of the key things that made this movie truly scary. The low pitch, tortuously slow theme gradually picks up pace as the shark approaches it's victim. Escalating into a fast pace the music suddenly stops as the shark attacks his victim. This tune quickly becomes a warning sign to the viewer about what is about to happen. The track almost sounds like a heart beat, the slow going at first, the acceleration as the suspense heightens and its sudden stop as the person is killed.
This film was also very influential to film making in itself. In the memorable scene "Blood on the Beach" (the beach attack scene where the young boy is killed) Spielberg employs the use of something called the "Truck Shot" or "Tracking Zoom" when showing Brody's reaction to witnessing the shark attack. This type of shot was invented by Alfred Hitchcock while filming Vertigo and is done by zooming in while pulling back (moving the camera backwards) at and equal speed, or the opposite (zooming out while dollying in) and results in distorting the background around a character while the character stays unaltered. Although Spielberg did not invent it, its inclusion in Jaws was one of the first modern uses of it since Vertigo, thus Jaws is often given credit for the invention of said shot.
Another aspect of this film that became a horror icon was the movie poster. This relatively simple poster has stayed in the minds of thousands of American's after seeing this movie and is one of the most easily recognized posters of modern film making. Besides the magnificent representation of the shark approaching the woman, this poster employs many more subtle Easter eggs that make this poster even more disturbing to your subconscious. Other than simply the massive scale of the shark, the word JAWS are just as disturbing.
First, the disturbing diagonal line seems to slash between the A and W. Diagonal lines are often used by directors to make something disturbing. Psychologists have confirmed that the human subconscious by nature, "wants" to straighten out the lines and make the horizontal. This was a tool frequently used by Alfred Hitchcock, namely in his infamous "Hitchcock Staircases," in which he would strongly emphasize diagonal shadows and such. Also, the negative space around the W almost looks like gnashing teeth, perhaps those of a Great White Shark. And finally, the end of the J is cut to resemble a fish hook, hinting at the plot of the movie.
Personally, I loved this movie. I thought it did a great job of capturing the viewers attention and really stuck in your mind even long after the movie was over. I would give Jaws a 9.3 on the SMS, and would highly recommend it to anyone who asks.
This has been a movie analysis by Severin: the somewhat informed movie critic. Stay safe America, and keep watching movies.
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