Jaws is a spectacular motion picture! It's an adventure film in the
style of Moby Dick. It is also a film that still terrifies audiences
today. The set-up for the story is simple but it's the perfect sort of
simplicity. In Jaws, A shark is terrorizing the fictional town of Amity
Island. The sheriff, a scientist and a shark-fisherman must set sail to
track down the shark and destroy it. The film is a masterpiece.
The mechanical shark designed for the film didn't work most of the
time. Because of this technical difficulty, Spielberg made the
decision to show the shark approaching the victims from the point of
view of the shark for almost the entire first half of the film. It
turned out to be one of the scariest and most memorable aspects of the
film. The thought that something could be in the water with you, coming
to get you, and you won't see it coming is still unsettling to think of
and impossible to think of during a swim in the ocean while still
enjoying yourself.
The film, although horrific, somehow still seems fun unlike a Texas
Chainsaw movie or a horror film about demonic possession. It's
cinematography has the feel of an action adventure epic but it takes us
to places we don't want to go. The brilliant use of shots in which the
surface of the water is just above eye level, specifically during the
beach attack scenes, leaves you feeling like you are out there in the
ocean with the shark. The camera moves about the crowd of people
playing in the water as the shark attacks and so when they realize what
is happening and panic and run you feel you are caught in the chaos,
fleeing for your life.
The film uses reaction shots beautifully and effectively. Who could
forget that classic moment in JAWS when Sheriff Brody
is scooping chum over the side of the boat and the shark bursts out
from the background. The moment is shocking because the moment before
doesn't give us any warning about what's about to happen and, also, the
shark is just plain huge. The reaction shot of the sheriff popping up,
in an almost cartoon-like manner that reminded me of Wile E. Coyote
reacting to spotting The Roadrunner, was perfect and the look of shock
on his face matches our reaction to seeing the shark so close to our
unlikely hero.
Another fantastic moment in the film was the famous
"trombone" shot. The trombone shot effect is achieved when the camera
angle is pulled away from a subject while the lens zooms in, or
vice-versa. In the scene where Brody witnesses a vicious shark attack
on the beach, this effect is used to intensify his performance. First
we see a glimpse of the shark attacking the boy in the water. Then we
see the reaction shot of Brody. Because of the use of the trombone
effect, it appears the world around the sheriff is shifting rapidly in
a surreal, dreamlike fashion. It was a fantastically frightening effect.
I really enjoyed the film. It was full of phenomenal performances,
especially by Robert Shaw, whose portrayal of Quint, The "Captain Ahab"
of the story, feels honest and captures our attention. The story he
tells Hooper and Brody about his experience as a survivor of the World
War II USS Indianapolis disaster is as terrifying and disturbing as the
most graphic scenes of this film and that scene alone would be enough
to prove to anyone that Robert Shaw is a brilliant actor and perfect
fit for the role. I read that it was Shaw who wrote the monologue as
well.
No comments:
Post a Comment