Jaws

In this essay I am going to be analyzing how the sound and images in Jaws work together.
The scene is Hooper inside the shark cage in the middle of the ocean and they are trying to lure Jaws in so Hooper can stab the shark.

In this scene it starts off in silence which helps build suspense but as soon as Hooper is ready in the cage you hear the Leitmotif of Jaws - this non-diegetic sound lets the audience know that Jaws is about to enter the scene. They allow you to think nothing s going to happen as Jaws swims away and his Leitmotif fades away leaving the scene silent; Silence in a movie like Jaws is very key to building up tension because even though the audience knows what's coming they don't know when it is going to happen (It entices your imagination). As Hooper is looking around for Jaws we see him come from behind breaking through the cage, as this is happening we hear a clash of high and low pitch string instruments this is known as dissonance which is a common convention in horror movies because it helps with the dramatic effect and let's everyone know that what is happening on screen is bad.

During the cage attack you hear a thick texture of sound that is involved in the scene both diegetic and non-diegetic, you hear the dissonance the sound of the Jaws ramming the cage, Hooper trying to scream and of course the sound of the water. The amount of texture in the sound of the scene might seem unnecessary but it adds to the realism of it all in a way because in a situation like that you would hear all the diegetic sounds (the water, cage breaking etc.)

The purpose of the whole scene is to assert Jaws as the antagonist and show that he is not going to be easy to kill making the story a lot more interesting for the audience because you have ideas of your own running through your head on how they can kill Jaws but you never know if it could work because of how hard it is to keep track of Jaws and how destructive he is. I think the soundtrack really helps with the purpose of the scene because it makes Jaws seem even scarier than it really is, it puts you in the shoes of Hooper who is in the cage because just like you he doesn't know where the shark is or when it is going to strike until we as the viewer get to hear dissonance or Jaws Leitmotif.