Visual Language - Jaws

J.R. Hudson

J.R. Hudson

Spirit Animal
For those of you that are interested, I made a new article on a scene from JAWS.

CINEOBSCURE

There's also a Schindler's List for those that may have missed it ! (Scroll down !)

I hope you like it and feel free to register and comment ! As usual, I didn't think there'd be much in this and as always, noticed several areas of note !

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:D
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Great breakdown.

I don't see what you mean though about "out of perspective" shot (shot 6) of the line going into the water.
 
Thanks guys (always)

In my skew, Drew, I see that shot as way out of the perspective of Quint's viewpoint. To me, it feels like an insert, a third person view of the action. I am huge fan of keeping within the actors P.O.V.'s and from Quint's vantage, I'm not seeing it.

Part observation, part subjectivity and commentary.
 
I see your point now, but it wasn't necessarily a POV. I realize it plays like a POV but it might not be intentionally a POV.

Well, since I'm just seeing stills I can't really tell. Usually hand held makes me think of POV and I can't tell what kind of shot that was.
 
I should have included the look from Quint

He looks out, towards the sea ....

The pole is on his LEFT

We see the insert from a 3rd person and very close.

I don;t know. It bugged me.

I'll tell Steve one day at the Oscars.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
I should have included the look from Quint

He looks out, towards the sea ....

The pole is on his LEFT

We see the insert from a 3rd person and very close.

I don;t know. It bugged me.

I'll tell Steve one day at the Oscars.
Click to expand...

I totally see that. I think if Quint had stood up before cutting to that shot it would have looked a little more fluid.
 
Nice breakdown and visual analysis.
Very important to mention though that your interpretation of the actions i.e Quints's eyes telling the story and the reel being our shark etc... Are all derived from the context the scene is in. We know that there is a monster lurking bellow and we know each of the men's motivations to pursue it. We also feel fear from the monster because of what we have witnessed it do. Knowledge of the politics that went into catching it, closing the sea side resorts and Brody's family raise the stakes. The combination of this knowledge and the fear is where an audience has an emotional experience combined with insight McKee calls this aesthetic emotion Aristotle wrote about it in regards to his mimesis theory.

Point is that unless justified by the scene's context coverage styles and shots we have seen many times before become pointless and cliche'.
 
Spielberg was a master w/ Jaws in employing old Hitchcock methods:

We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"
 
Good analogy yes he does master his suspense scenes, something that becomes obvious in other movies as well such as E.T. There is a scene towards the end of act 2 in which a NASA operative is in Elliott's room scanning around with a beeping device. This device is connected via a long electric cable to a socket in the wall out side of Elliott's room. There is a chair placed between the cable and the wall, as the operative walks further into Elliott's room the cable stretches and eventually forces the chair against the wall. Spielberg added tension with a musical track to this otherwise meaningless scene. But the scene does gain a meaning from the placement of knowledge in the viewer's mind. A big scary man with intimidating equipment is threatening to break up Elliott and E.T's friendship.
Simple but oh so effective...
 
Hey Jr. I'm pretty tanked on wine at the moment and enjoying your series as usual, and ofcourse, I have a dilema. Probably a dumb ass one but here goes, what the hell, I'm having fun.

In the following, I just copied & pasted so I got the whole thing, but in shots 5-6-7 I disagree with you. I think the cut shot in 6 allows the camera to move from 5 to 7 with 30 degrees angle shift as per usual, even without a cut scene. Either way I don't see the line broken.

I'm still learning, and hey, the wines going down good, so if I'm off, please help.

Good stuff JR.
-Thanks.

J1.jpg
 
Hey Raptor man

I'm sipping on some Lil Penguin Cabby right now.

I should have (and may add it to my blog) included Quints eyeline when he looks off camera into the ocean (towards the stern and open water). That may be a better illustration of the shot of the line in the water

The 30 degrees is there, but it's the cross over the line itself (The fishing line) that gets me. Not only is it the perspective that seems off (and I don;t mean a POV per se) but it's also the crossing of the fishing line as well as the camera being on the left of Quint in this shot. It's close, but it's crossed over the established line.

IMO of course; making sense ?
 
J.R. Hudson said:
Hey Raptor man

I'm sipping on some Lil Penguin Cabby right now.

I should have (and may add it to my blog) included Quints eyeline when he looks off camera into the ocean (towards the stern and open water). That may be a better illustration of the shot of the line in the water

The 30 degrees is there, but it's the cross over the line itself (The fishing line) that gets me. Not only is it the perspective that seems off (and I don;t mean a POV per se) but it's also the crossing of the fishing line as well as the camera being on the left of Quint in this shot. It's close, but it's crossed over the established line.

IMO of course; making sense ?
Click to expand...

Edit: Let me try this again.

The part I don't understand is, if 30 degrees is okay, then we are allowed to cross the line within that?
The cut shot may have been an editing choice? So without the fish line cut, would that be okay?
I guess that's where I'm stuck.

//I'll check your site for updates again and see if I can see what your pointing out.
-Thanks.

//I see it now, it's pretty subtle. I still have the other question though, are we allowed to cross the line if it's withn 30 degress, or is that taboo in general?
 
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I see what you are saying

The 30 degrees should always be on the side of the line, not 30 degrees over the line

IN the shot of Quint, it is soooooooooo close that I'm calling it a cross; especially with his shoulders turned

Now I'm mostly making a big deal bout it as it isn't that drastic or distracting. But when breaking it down, it becomes apparent as I'm scrutinizing the hell out of it.

Imagine the same shot, but squared on his shoulders more ? That's be tight on the line. With his shoulders turned, and us crossing onto his left, too me, it becomes a violation. (Pointing out again, not a big deal in the grand context)
 
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