Jaws

The opening of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) follows a somewhat familiar narrative trend in regards to its opening. It is linear and chronological in nature, meaning the events seem to happen in logical order for the audience. Furthermore the opening of Jawsappears to set the direction and tone that the film is going to take. Indeed, the aim of any filmmaker is to draw an audience into their work and Spielberg achieves such a feat by providing a ‘hook’ during the film’s opening scene. Specifically, this is achieved in two ways – through the sense of menace present in the opening titles as well as through the initial shark attack by the means of an unfortunate young student swimming at night. 

 

The opening titles begin with an underwater camera lurking underneath the water, indeed trying to take on the persona of a shark itself. This is complemented by John Williams eerie and now well-known Jaws theme, suggesting to the audience the deceptiveness and danger of what is beneath the surface. The titles end just before the music approaches it peak, creating suspense and anticipation for the audience as to what will appear later in the film.