"Blood on the Beach" Jaws

Sound techniques used in this clip

In the beginning of this clip, there are ambient sounds of the waves crashing into the sand, in addition to groups of people talking and laughing in the background. This gives the setting of a normal, fun day at the beach. There are people everywhere and this is shown using pans.

The camera then follows the boy and leaves him when it reaches Martin Brody. He is looking out to sea and in the meantime you can hear people talking. There are still no non-diegetic sounds, every sound is natural which makes the audience feel as if they are there at the beach.

A man comes to talk to Martin Brody but the camera shots make sure that the audience don’t focus on what he says. This is an interesting technique as most people would decide to muff out what he is saying and make it not understandable, but here we can clearly hear what he is saying but out attention is taken away by Martin peeking over the man’s shoulder looking at the couple yelling and playing in the water.

Then we see a man floating on his back in the water alone. Martin Brody is looking out to see, so the audience know something is going to happen. The vulnerability of the man being alone suggests he will be the one in danger. However, this is not the case. When the shark is approaching the child in the water, we get a point of view shot from the shark’s perspective, and the first non-diegetic sound is introduced; the classic Jaws music. This suggests something bad is about to happen as the music sets the tone and atmosphere of the rest of the scene. The music then stops, and you can hear splashing of the water followed by children’s screams as they rush to get out of the water. This brings the audience back to reality and they feel like they are yet again at the beach witnessing what just happened. Then you hear sounds from underwater of the boy being dragged down and the Jaws music starts again. The rest of the clip is dramatic music which is parallel to the situation, along with the hysterics of the public.

The ending is just the boys raft ashore with the waves pulling it back and forth. This is a calming sound which is contrapuntal as the water is slightly red from his blood.