Quint's Use Of Suspense In The Film Jaws

568 Words2 Pages

Jaws is a great move to analyze suspense from because it has very distinct and easily identifiable elements of suspense. A few of the elements within the movie that causes this suspense is the setting, characters and sound. Jaws, the movie and the shark, force its characters to disregard their ego and fears to band together and kill Jaws, even though they did not initially like each other. This theme is applicable to people of all walks of life, for example if I am having trouble with math then I would need to let go of my ego and ask for help in order to move forward and excel.
The setting is actually much more important than I had initially thought. Amity is a beach town in the New England area. Because it is a beach town, it gets most …show more content…

One of the biggest example of this is the characterization of Quint, the old fisherman. While Brody and Hooper get to know him on his boat, the audience learns more about him too. During the scene where the three men are getting drunk on the boat and showing each other their scars, Quint begins to tell the story of his near death excursion with sharks. He explains that he was aboard the USS Indianapolis when it sunk. While him and the rest of the crew were swimming for shore many other men were picked off one by one at the hands of sharks. Since then he has a sort of death wish, he shows this by saying that after that terrible event that he would never wear a life jacket ever again. The most identifiable suspense inducing element of Jaws is the sound. Every time that Jaws is getting ready to attack the Jaws theme plays. The use of this song causes the viewer to wait for Jaws to appear in anticipation. This happens consistently throughout the movie except once. Brody is throwing chum off the back of Quint’s boat to attract the shark and suddenly, without warning, Jaws’s head comes out of the water. This completely throw everyone off guard. The Jaws theme is one of the most iconic sounds from a movie, and therefore must be discussed when talking about this

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Suspense In Cujo

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    Suspense is the build up of anxiety or excitement in a story. It is an incredibly useful literary element. People like to read suspenseful stories, and/or watch suspenseful shows and movies because suspense gets their hearts racing. Suspense in movies and books might keep the audience intrigued and make them wonder what will happen next. People also like suspense because they might like trying to figure out what will happen on their own. This will keep the audience intrigued because they want to know how close they were to the exact answer. There are many stories that display suspense and many different authors who wrote them. One book that used suspense was Cujo, by Stephen King. Cujo was a dog that was bitten by a bat. He then turns into

    Read More

  • How Does Alfred Hitchcock Create Suspense In Let Em Play God

    344 Words  | 1 Pages

    Suspense, something vital filmmakers, and authors need in their stories, but how does someone include suspense in their stories that gets the audience on the edge of their seats and begging for more? In the essay, “Let Em’ Play God” by Alfred Hitchcock, he states that letting the audience know everything while the characters don’t create suspense.

    Read More

  • Suspense In 'Let Em Play God'

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    Everyone at one point has been captivated and intrigued by the plot of a movie or a book. This captivation is generated by the one tool that authors and directors love the most, suspense. Authors want their audience and readers of their writing to be enthralled by creating tension and thrill in their plot. The usage of style, characterization, point of view, and foreshadowing allows authors and directors to create suspense in their work. Suspense is a very difficult approach to master but with the correct tools it can be as simple as a walk through the park.

    Read More

  • Suspense and Tension in the opening scene of 'Jaws'

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    ‘Jaws’ a thriller based on the novel by Peter Benchley, the film was directed by Steven Spielberg. In a beach resort of Amity Island, a young girl named Chrissie is the first victim of the shark’s vicious attack, when it strikes for the second time, the police refuse to put out warning about the shark. It then returns and kills again, the mayor orders the local fishermen to catch the great white shark before it kills even more victims. The fishermen are satisfied when they catch a Tiger shark the mayor reopens the beaches despite the warning from the ichthyologist when he suspects it was from a formidable great white shark. Brody and Hooper and the only fisherman willing to join them to catch the great white set out in the fisherman’s boat only coming face to teeth with the enemy. This film is rated as a 15, and has a running-time of 124 minutes. It was made in the USA, the soundtrack to ‘Jaws’ was a famous two-note piece composed by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.

    Read More

  • Suspense in the Film Jaws

    1152 Words  | 3 Pages

    tension, but, then there is a jump shot to a party on the beach where

    Read More

  • Jaws

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    First I will highlight the brief journey through the horror genre and the conventions that have developed. Second, I will then show how these conventions are used in the film Jaws. Let’s start with the silent era, an era based on monsters, Frakingstien 1910, Dracula 1912, The Phantom Of The Opera 1925. Without sound, there was a heavy emphasis on make – up, adding to the horror and preparing the first convention, which is the reveal of the monster. Facial expressions and body language played big part in early horror movies as it provided the tension. A second convention was the ‘dark property in the middle of nowhere,’ using isolation as a way to build up tension.

    Read More

  • Steven Spielberg's Use Of Sound In Jaws

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    The films musical score alerts the viewer to an approaching attack of the shark and they automatically build this association with the music in their mind. Horror films often make use of high string instrument notes that irritate viewers and increase tension. Music plays an important role in film editing and the editor must choose its placement wisely to ensure its intended effect on the viewer’s mind and

    Read More

  • How To Create Suspense In Steven Spielberg's Jaws

    480 Words  | 1 Pages

    Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) is an effective adaption of Peter Benchley’s 1974 by making a few changes to the story, it enhances the fear factor.

    Read More

  • Analyse the ways that the director builds suspense and scares the audience in the film JAWS.

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the title sequence the music starts of very quiet and slow and as the music speeds up it builds anxiety within the audience because they want to know what going to happen. It also builds a horrific tension within the audience; also it shows the camera from the shark’s point of view in the sea which is an effective way to build tension because the audience...

    Read More

  • Horror Movie Conventions

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    As an audience, we can see bad guys sneaking up behind the characters in the movie before they realize what is happening. In the movie, Halloween, the audience is able to see the character Michael Myers when he is sneaking up on his victims before they notice him. This gives us the element of suspense in waiting for him to attack. In a situation like this, something bad is obviously going to happen so it is only a matter of time until it does. When something finally does happen, the audience is often startled even if it was predictable. The suspense builds up over time but what exactly is going to happen at that peak moment is never actually known till it

    Read More

  • Quotes From Shatter Me

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    A prime example of this is the character of Warner. Warner is the presumed antagonist of the story. At first glance he seems like a malevolent being who doesn’t understand the concept of family and love. After the initial meeting, Warner opens up with every encounter. During the final moments when Juliette is about to escape his grasp, Warner starts to beg Juliette to stay with him.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Peter Benchley's Jaws

    1665 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jaws will forever be a thrilling ride through the annuls of time. Whether you are watching for the first or fiftieth time, when the shark comes up from the deep dark bottom of the sea, that little chill down your spine will follow. If it weren’t for the book, the move would not have been created and the world would have missed out a spectacular and terrifying journey. However, this is one of the only times it can be said, the movie exceeded the book in every

    Read More

  • Jaws Film Scene Analysis

    1588 Words  | 4 Pages

    Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws (Spielberg, 1975) figures into one of the most iconic films in the history of Hollywood filmmaking most notably for the visual experience that is created with the creative use of various tools of filmmaking that allow its impact to be felt even now. The classic Amity Island beach scene shown in the clip artfully uses editing techniques like long takes, wipes, split diopter, point of view shots, the zolly, and background score to intensify the suspense ridden impending shark attack without actually showing the shark.

    Read More

  • Fear Of The Horror Suspense Analysis

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the film Jaws produced by directed Steven Spielberg the fear of the unknown is a prominent occurrence.

    Read More

  • The Magic of Music in Film

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are thousands of movie composers in the music industry, a few who triumph and whose work is well known to almost half of the world. One example of that can be the famous Maestro John Williams. John Williams is the musician for Jaws, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, E.T and lots more. But there is a piece which everyone recognizes, and that is the theme from the movie Jaws. Imagine Jaws without the music. People would not feel scared; they would laugh at the plastic shark. And that is why music is one of the most important elements in cinema. John Williams in a late interview said this: “The music is part of a whole, which if I try as a composer to take that part of the whole, like in a concerto. I would not succeed, because the attention would go only for the music and not for the picture” (John Williams Interview). In Jaws, the music blends with the picture and acting; there are no imbalances. The picture and the music need to be in perfect harmony. Therefore, in Jaws, every time the daring melody comes out; the audience knows something bad is going to happen, and the music may anticipate a particular situation, but without the music overpowering the actors and sound effects.

    Read More

More about Quint's Use Of Suspense In The Film Jaws

Open Document