Textual Analysis of 'Jaws (1975)

Textual analysis of 'Jaws':

During the opening of 'Jaws' the stock setting is filmed from a POV (Point Of View) shot, or filmed on the beach. Having the setting as the beach is very important to the opening as it helps create a sate of equilibrium. This is because the beach has very positive connotations, for example people having fun and playing around. By having the stock setting as a place with positive connotations it help build up suspense and an expectation for the disruption from the state of equilibrium. AS well as that in the opening of 'Jaws' we, the audience, are introduced to a group of teenagers that are surrounding afire on the beach, playing guitars, drinking and smoking. The camera is panning along the group and then stops at a close up shot of a young man. Because the camera's movement stop and pauses when it reaches him this suggest that he is an important character to the opening. The frame is the cut to a young girl who is sitting across from each other to the young man. The camera then pauses on her we see her smiling, this is followed by close ups of the two teenagers smiling at one another. This would also imply that the girl is very important to the opening. As well as that i find it very interesting that the audience isn't introduced to the 'monster' in the opening at all, however the opening does start with a POV shot from within he water, the audience would assume it was from the POV of the 'monster'. But by not seeing the the 'monster'  the producers create a build up of suspense and gets the audience engaged with the opening. The opening of 'Jaws' follows quite a simple narrative. There is a large group of teens chilling out and having fun on a beach. Two of the teens, a boy and a girl, are smiling at each other across the group. The boys then gets up and goes to talk to her, the girl gets up and starts walking away from the group and the boy follows her. She then starts running towards the sea and he follows, she strips of her clothes and dives into the sea and swims out into the deep water without the boy, the boy is left in the shallows and is unable to get keep up with the girl and lies down and looks up at the sky. The girl is the grabbed by something in the water ad starts getting shaken around violently. At this point the audience still don't know what it is that's attacking her because the producers hasn't let the audience see the 'monster'.  The mise en scene, editing and camera shots are very important  in the opening. For example the camera shot at the end of the opening when the girl who left the group, Chrissie, is swimming alone in the deep water and there is use on a POV shot coming from the point of view of the 'monster'. This is important as it lets the audience know that the monster is focusing on Chrissie and this suggests something bad is going to happen to her. As well as that the use of the POV shot help build suspense and keep the audience wondering what the monster therefor keep them on the edge on their seat. Next I looked at the  mise en scene.The are of mise en scene I looked at was the characters,the characters in the opening is a group of teens. I thought it's interesting the the director chose to use teenagers, this might have been because the the target audience is of people between the ages of  12-19. So the target audience will be able to connect opening because it has people of their age feature in it. Finally the editing, the editing was very important in the was the opening was strung together. For example at the end of the opening, just before the first attack is seen. The editing used was a series if quick cuts to make the shark attack seem more violent and realistic.    

Themes:
Iconography:
Creation of enigma:
Introduction to characters:
Setting up Plot:
Editing-Mise en Scene-Camera shot:
 Mood and Tone: