Music and Film: Jaws (1975)

An opaque dorsal fin slices through the water. Camera-point-of-view on a offspring man splashing in the distance. The fin submerges. The sound track cranks up a nonch Dum- Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum.. Bubbles, white foam, glimpses of something large and foreboding thrashing in the waves. The harmony increases in its intensity Dum-Dum-Dum-Dum-Dum-Dum-Dum.. A red mist of race that fogs the water. The audience in the movie theatre screams hysterically. A severed weapon floats lazily to the ocean floor below. The unison trails off. Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun.There abide only been a handful of movies produced which contain a soundtrack that is not only instantly recognizable, barely where the unison also plays such an integral part in the remove itself. Jaws (1975) is such a need. The movie successfully tapped into several(prenominal) human fears of the occult and translated these phobias into a highly entertaining film that doesnt talk elaborate to its audience, nor uses violence gratuitously to get its point across.Commented Director Steven SpielbergI reckon one of the reasons I made Jaws was because I was afraid of the water sooner I read the Peter Benchley book, and on that pointfore I was the perfect nominee to direct this picture, because I have a tremendous amount of disturbance around the sea. Not so overmuch ab show up swimming pools or small ponds, but certainly about the eternal sea.I have a lot of anxiety, and my main anxiety stems from not being able to cipher my feet when Im treading water. And whats tear there with me, and whos nibbling on my toes. And I know how to express my fear cinematically. Ive always been cheeseparing at that, and I thought when Jaws came along, tumefy, I already have a tremendous fear of the ocean, and certainly a fear of sharks, and so I went to producers Dick Zanuck and David Brown and volunteered myself to direct the adaptation from the Benchley book (Excerpts from Steven Spielberg Interview)Composer pott y Williams art object no stranger to sound tracks for television and film (hed already won an Oscar as medical specialty producer in 1971 for Fiddler on the Roof) was just beginning to hit his stride on a melodyal comedy odyssey that would see his movie soundtracks crack the Billboard medicine charts and sells millions. Almost unhearable of for instrumental compositions, let alone for movie soundtracks.Williams saw something unique in the Spielberg rough-cut. He viewed the film as to a greater extentof an adventure and less as a traditional horror film. Recalled Williams in a conversationwith film producer Laurent BouzereauThis is like a pirate movie I call in we needpirate music for this, because theres something primal about it but its also fun andentertaining ( Lindahl, pg1 )As the legend goes, Williams was previewing proposed music for the film on his gentle, performing the basic structure for Spielberg and Bousereau and hammering out the now famous bars of impending doom on his piano keys. Spielberg thought Williams was kidding. dum, dum, dum-dum, dum-dum, dum-dum The rest as they hypothesise, is historyAt first I began to laugh, and I thought, magic trickhas a immense sense of humor exactly he wasserious that was the theme for Jaws. So heplayed it once more and again, and suddenly itseemed right. Sometimes the best ideas arethe most simple ones and John had found asignature for the entire score( Lindahl, pg 1)Let it be tell that the music in Jaws is effective because its not over used. By playing the Jaws theme only to foreshadow the presence of the shark, the music is much more effective. Several examples of this stand out. The music played in the scenes of families playing at the beach have an almost home town slap to them. The music when the boats are setting out to capture the shark have a classical feel and one scene in occurrence of a child playing in the water with a contrive shark fin has no music at all. Collectively, this contrast in musical styles plays to the audiences advantage. They know in short array when they do hear the jaws theme that theres no misunderstanding the fact that the shark is going to make an appearance.What is it about the movie Jaws and its music that sets it apart from so many other adventure and suspense films? particularly enough, prior to the films premier there wasnt a genre for this type of film. Horror and suspense were considered Category B or C.In fact, after Jaws cracked 100 million dollars during its North American Box Office the genre of monster/animal/villain straw its prey was firmly in place. Whose to say theres not a little bit of Jaws in every film ranging from Rambo to Halloween? sure enough there are variations of John Williams film score in the in a higher place mentioned film and more.Stephen Spielberg has gone on record as saying that Jaws wouldnt have been nearly as successful if it didnt have the music it did. Plainly put, the music works. Would an y other type of soundtrack so indelibly stamp an image on the subconscious of theaudience? Highly doubtful. The by-now famous dum, dum, dum-dum, dum-dum, dum-dum creates an instant visual. But also serves as a metaphor for the sharks excitement when it approaches its prey or when it approaches the boat of Robert Shaw.Critics can say what they volition regarding John Williams score for Jaws. As a piece of music it is not the kind of score that allows for listening while lying down on the coach for example. It is music that conjures up images. There are several suites if the term can be freely used that showcase Williams versatility as a scorer of music and as a producer who knows how to beguile his audience by the collar.When it comes to music that creates a sense of suspense and delirium the loaded Shark Cage Fugue bears listening to more than once. interchangeable treatment is due The Great Shark Chase and the nearly five-spot minutes long Man Against Beast, where rendition s of the familiar theme appears and disappears, distort with the theme associated with the actual shark hunting.However, Williams use of Quints waterman song as a recurring theme is used to great effect as a vehicle to mark the captains inner dissolvent and character. He sings it when he is in a good mood, or when he needs to conjure up his muse Farewell and a-do to you fair Spanish ladies, farewell and a-do to you ladies in Spain Williams interweaves this ditty at crucial parts of the film. Most notably when his ship The Orca is floundering and ready to sink. The shark is waiting out there somewhere and Quint is running out of luck. The music again in this case not even the theme is used to great effect.On a more technical note, it would be impossible to discuss the impact of the Jaws soundtrack on the film, without exploring how the music itself was packaged and made procurable to the public as a marketing tool. Andrew Drannon provides a valuable perspective on the issued so undtrack for Jaws, as well as an astute track by track breakdown of the music on its latest re-issue. Drannon mentions that the buffer Jaws score exists in triad recordings The original LP and a 1992 CD re-issue feature about half an time of day of music that Williams rearranged and re-recorded for the sole purposes of the album, and this was for a long time the only available music from the picture. Drannon delves further into the music, sayingFilm score collectors have been historically quite adamant in their demands for complete releases of soundtracks, namely for the scores of John Williams, which so often leave out highlights of the music and place them into mistake suites.To some, this may seem a bit unneeded, due to the fact that the original 35-minute LP album featured a great majority of the score, with a fewer of the shorter cues actually expanded into suites.Still, for the 25th anniversary of the film, Decca saw fit to deportthe entire musical work, minus the album expansions for a 51-minute CD release. Fans will be elated due to the inclusion of almost 30 minutes of new material, including fantastic cues not used in the film, which make up for the loss of the infamous original album developments (Andrew Drannon pg 1)The final re-issue presents the jaws soundtrack into a more cohesive listening experience.Years after the film made its debut in theatres, after countless showings on television, after a Jaws Fest even, the music ha become an institution. There have been only a handful of films where the music has much such an impact the James Bond franchise, Enrico Morricone with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and possibly the Indiana Jones series. But none make the blood curl, create a knot in ones stomach and send a chill up the spine like John Williams soundtrack for the original summertime blockbuster, Jaws.ReferencesSpielberg, Steven. Interview excerpts, Jaws 30th Anniversary Special EditionDVD linear notes, 2005Lindahl, Andreas. Scoreview s.Com. cyberspace article. pg 1 1998Ibid. pg 1Drannon, Andrew. Decca Music Group Sound Tracks Review Jaws 25th Anniversary Edition. Internet article. pg 1. 2000