Jaws Scene Soundtrack Analysis
I will be discussing soundtrack and effectiveness
thereof of the ‘Hooper In the Cage’
scene from the film Jaws (1975). The
scene involves the film’s character Hooper
trying to put a tracking device on Jaws
while inside a protective underwater cage.
The
leitmotif in the scene (beginning from 00:17 onwards, as Hooper Is being attacked by Jaws)
is the theme song and leitmotif of the titular Jaws
and acts accordingly, only being heard when Jaws
himself is actually onscreen. The leitmotif in the scene works well to
manipulate the audience’s feelings as, from the theme alone, you can tell that Jaws is a dark, ominous and (in certain
situations) universally scary force of nature, much like the ocean itself. The
audience recognises Jaws’ presence
within the scene and immediately knows that bad things are in store when the
leitmotif plays. The leitmotif works hand in hand with the amplitude and the
dissonance that occur within the soundtrack also.
The
amplitude in the scene (beginning at same time as the leitmotif) is the varying
volume of the soundtrack and it works to make the audience empathise with Hooper and his experience. We only hear
the leitmotif when Hooper sees Jaws
and the amplitude affects the leitmotif and the other music surrounding Jaws is totally dependent on when Hooper can see Jaws and how he feels. When Jaws
far away from Hooper, the music
is very quiet and only gets louder as Jaws
gets closer to Hooper. When Hooper can’t see Jaws, the music is not audible, only becoming so when Hooper knows that Jaws is present. This helps the audience experience what Hooper is experiencing, manipulating
their feelings and feeling scared, initiating the audiences ‘fight-or-flight’
responses.
The
dissonance in the scene (beginning at the same time as the leitmotif and variations in
amplitude) would be the clash of high and low pitches and notes that make up
the melody of the soundtrack. This works in the scene to make the audience feel
uneasy and add an element of horror to the scene, incorporating the
aforementioned ‘fight-or-flight’ response (The fight or flight response being the instinctual reaction to certain 'dangerous' situations, these reactions either being fight - to attack and try to defeat the danger, or flight - to run away and try to escape the danger). Dissonance, by its very nature, is
unpleasant to the ear and even if it’s on a subconscious level, makes the
person listening to the dissonant melody feel uncomfortable. This works into
the soundtrack’s favour as the way it [dissonance] works its way into the
soundtrack of the scene, helps the audience feel scared for both Hooper and themselves.
The
use of melody in the scene (starting at 01:31 onwards) is how the notes and
pitches in the music work together as a cohesive whole. In the scene, the
melody works into forming a dissonant melody (see dissonance). This melody, in turn, works to make the scene even
scarier for the audience as it keeps them on edge, waiting for Jaws to come in and be scary. The melody
is the base for the rest of the soundtrack’s effectiveness to help the film be
a scary film.
The
‘L Cut’ in the scene (starting and ending at 01:54 to 01:57 respectively) is
when the audio from the previous cut is continued into the next one. It is used
to make cuts less jarring to the audience and help them ease into the next cut
as it were and it is also useful for seeing different characters’ reactions to
what’s being focused on the scene. In this context, the ‘L Cut’ is used to see
both Hooper’s facial expression while
screaming and to see why Hooper is
screaming in the first place (this reason being Jaws ramming the cage). This helps the audience identify with Hooper as we can not only see why he is
screaming, but we can also see that he is screaming for a suitable reason and
we may scream also.
