Jaws-opening sequence analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8SnZmUjhAA

The opening sequence is set in early morning or night. The scene starts off with a group of young people having a beach party. In the opening of Jaws the most of the scene is shot from the sharks view. This gives the audience the idea that she is not safe and it also shows which direction the danger is coming from. The editing when the two people running to the sea and when the girl is being hurt is shown in quick fast paced whereas in contrast to the calm, still shots of the boy sleeping on the beach.

Soundtrack in jaws helps to build the tension and fear. The music is very quiet and slow at the start and slowly it increases in pace when something bad about to happen. At the start of the film the screen is black. This helps to carp audience attention as black is a dark colour and it connected with danger. Start of the movie is quiet and then the in the middle part he tension parts happens, this is where the music becomes slowly louder and louder until the ending becomes silent again. The silence at the end shows death. The screaming and splashing when the girl is getting attracted is completely different to the boy sleeping on the sand. We as audience expect him to rescue her as she is screaming and making lot of noise but the shark successfully kill the girl.  

Editing is used to help the scene flow from one to another. There are cross cut between the lady being killed and the man is drunk on the beach. This makes the audience have a little hope that maybe the boy will rescue the girl. Early night shot is dissolved to late shot. This is done to show pass of time. This is call compares of time.

Lots of close up shots are used this is because it helps the audience to establish the surrounding and characters.  The most effective shot in the opening scene is the worm eye view which is shown as from the shark point of view. At the start the camera pans along the characters, this establishes the scene between the characters.

The characters are shown around a fire situated on the beach. They are drinking and smoking. The way the characters are acting we can tell they are young and carefree. Most often in a thriller we expect these kinds of teenagers to be targeted victims and happen to be dying one by one. Audience can tell there is something violence going to happen especially when the girl and boy running away from the group.