An Analysis of Deep Blue Sea

An Analysis of Deep Blue Sea

I am doing an essay on the opening sequence of the film Deep Blue Sea,

I will be analyzing the way the director creates atmosphere and

suspense. The film is about killer sharks and is in the same genre as

Jaws. The opening scene starts of with four people on a boat, there is

hardly any dialogue in this scene as the audience does not need to

know who the characters are, as they are only there to introduce the

shark and play no further part in the film. Also in the opening scene,

there is lots of editing, and each shot is only a few seconds long

giving a feeling of disorientation. All the shots in the water are

shot from the perspective of something moving towards the boat using a

distorted lens, and there is not a shot of the creature in the water

until the very end of the scene. The director has filmed this scene at

night and used a long line of moonlight, this is because darkness is

associated with fear and I think if this scene was filmed in the day

it would be a lot less atmospheric.

The first shot starts of with a long distance aerial shot straight

down at the sea, at this point the sea looks almost black and

menacing, the camera slowly zooms in until a large sailing boat is

visible, there is very similar music to the jaws film with a

repetitive sequence played repeatedly, this gives a feeling of

uneasiness. The shot then skips past the boat and has an underwater

shot looking up at the boat this gives the sense that there is

something under the water and starts to prepare you for what is going

to happen later, the music then gets louder and ends with a dramatic

chord carrying on the feeling of uneasiness.

The next shot is on the boat, it has regular pop music and pans across

four young adults having fun. The shot then goes to another underwater

shot with dramatic music from the shark’s perspective which starts