Jaws Film Write-Up

Justin Noddle

Period 6

Jaws Film Write-Up

Jaws is a thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg in 1975. It is based off of the novel, Jaws. This movie is 124 minutes long and was created by Universal Pictures. The movie had a budget of $7 million. The sequel, Jaws 2, and then two more after that followed this movie. The movie as about a man-eating shark and the terror it causes. Men try to capture and kill the shark.

1.     What did the angle at which shots were taken allow the viewer to feel more related to the people in the film?

When a swimmer was swimming in the water, the camera took a low angle shot looking up at the person and at their feet. This puts the camera at the perspective of the shark. This also shows us that the swimmer is oblivious to what is below him and about to attack. Martin Brody is reading a book about sharks to learn about them so he can save many peoples’ lives. The shot, however, is pointed towards Brody and the audience is able to see what Brody is reading because of the reflection on his glasses. This allowed the director to have the focus on Brody but still show exactly what he needed to.

2.     How did facial expressions add emotion for this film?

After the shark killed a woman, the audience does not know this yet. However, a police officer runs onto the beach and looks very frightened and upset at something. This allows the viewer to assume that the woman was attacked by the shark. As the shark is biting at the woman, she is screaming and makes herself looked very afraid and in pain. She sells the attack really well and makes the viewer afraid of the shark as well. At the beach, everyone looks very relaxed and this shows that they have not hear about the shark attacks, but when the shark comes everyone’s face turns to fear. When debating about what to do with the shark, all of the men’s faces are scrunched in anger and this shows the tension of their argument.