Jaws. A film all about a true phobia or terror. It all starts as a group of adolescents first encounter the beast on the beach. The big suspense creator is that we never see the beast! Something truly unique about this film is throughout the film the shots of the beast are minimal and as it terrorizes, the shark is truly hidden to the viewer and those being attacked. Jaws is one of those films that will remain one of the greatest ever made. It creates the core of suspense people hope to get every time they encounter a scary movie. During the process of creating this particular suspense film, it is safe to say Spielberg coined, while not necessarily inventing, several creative techniques to making sure the thrill was maximized throughout. Spielberg has many themes in his film, but one I find interesting is his personal theme of going back to his favorite filmmakers, treating them as mentors and guides in his creative process. Hitchcock played an important role in creating the suspense scenes in Jaws. In particular, those scenes where you focus directly on the character, torment on their face, the camera jerks in a very fluid way. The first kill of the movie with the woman nude in the ocean was just one of those shots. She is focused on fully and her movement, while treacherous, is also very rhythmic and sickening to watch. The scene where the head floats out of the boat, mimics Hitchcock in the POV shot. A shot like that seemed to add so much more than the other possibilities where the audience is an innocent bystander or we witness the action from above the water. No, we were 3 feet from the head and that made all the difference. I thought it was brilliant and inspirational for Spielberg to turn to this "mentor" kind of outlet rather than giving up when failure was more than immanent. His mentors, Hitchcock in this case, never let him down and with the exception of the latest Indianian Jones, never will.
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