EXAM Q:

Watch the following ‘Jaws’ clip and evaluate how effective the meaning, situation and mood is communicated through the cinematography.

in this question, refer to the aspects of FRAMING and MOVEMENT only.

In the ‘Jaws’ clip, cinematography is significant in portraying the meaning and themes that the director’s vision aims to convey through the guidance of the Director of Photography, alongside the camera and rigging crew.

The theme of paranoia and anxiety is featured throughout the clip from the protagonist, Chief Brody. The camera angle of over the shoulder in the beginning makes the two-shot dialogue between the middle aged man and Brody convey as an obstacle in his job, with the man positioned more center and larger in frame, and Brody pushed towards the far right to suggest lack of power, instability and a sense of uncomfortability. This is once again featured where the old man is positioned more center and larger over Brody’s smaller figure, and is also exposed to a medium long shot of his legs- showing his entire body in a grasp of coming danger. At the diegetic scream of the girl, the camera quickly tilts up with Brody’s head to emphasize the change of interest to the sea and people, which is framed in a long wide shot in over the shoulder of the man. This wide shot may convey the helplessness and distance the audience and Brody’s POV has on the people at sea, building a sense of tension, before revealing as a false alarm.

The cinematographic aspect of framing serves as a message and metaphoric emphasis on Brody’s insecurity in his job as a lifeguard. Seen again at the far right corner in an eye level shot, this takes away the power Brody has -as the ideal heroic protagonist- down to the same level of the audience. This only puts the audience in the same position as him, where the threats and tension becomes more personal and engaging. The children then run towards the sea and away from Brody, before disappearing out of frame to the left, suggesting that they are out of his hands and highlighting an insecurity that may pose as a threat. The sequence employs the rules of third, which presents an absence of stimuli in the middle of the frame, having Brody to the far right and the children retreating to the left, which may convey a sense of loneliness and vulnerability in its pairing of mise en scene and framing.

The tension is risen when the camera movement of a point of view is complemented with shaky camera to hide the physical identity of the antagonist, being the shark. The gloomy and dark lighting in the water presents the track-in approach to the floating victim as vulnerable and threatening. With the camera being shaken, the stability which the audience possesses when watching a stationary shot and its stability, is taken away in this build-up, that threatens the life of the victim, but also the viewership and comfort the consumer potentially holds on to.

The climatic realisation of present danger is portrayed dramatically by the non-diegetic music, and the diegetic scream of the victim. The cinematography captures this horrific scene from an eye level of a slightly high angle shot, looking down onto the wide big long shot of the centered shark mauling the child. The long distance created now provides helplessness for the audience, and the high angle shot looking down on the murder only solidifies them as a tied and useless bystander. The centering of the shark provides all attention and importance to the killing, which dramatizes the shocking discovery, and intensifies the dramatic irony of the audience knowing what exactly happened before everyone else. Moreover, the use of a dolly zoom in the first time we see Brody centered, is when he is most vulnerable, unstable, and threatened. The zoom, arguably being the cinematographic heart of the clip, accentuates the shocking discovery Brody is experienced with. The slow movement of the zoom’s track-in only intensifies the danger by prolonging screen time without cutting to a reveal of the shark from Brody’s reaction shot.