Narrative theories in opening sequences - by rose spencer

Narrative theories in an opening sequence:  JAWS

From the opening sequence in jaws it suggests that the film is based around the enigma theory because the audience assumes everything is peaceful, the music emphasises this creating an illusion that nothing is wrong. However, the climax’s during the music throughout suggests something is going to happen. The opening of Jaws intrigue’s the audience, gripping them into wanting to watch more. The dark gloomy setting contrasts with the peaceful relaxing music also suggesting not everything within the opening is as it seems.   

This first still from Jaws is a long shot and is the first indication that everything is not as it seems. The woman is running excitedly into the sea, everything appears to be normal but the audience notice that the sea is empty as no one else is in the sea but the woman. This automatically makes the audience ask questions as to why this is, suggesting something is not quite right and also leaving the audience wondering why there is no people in the sea on a hot day. This will make the audience continue to watch to find out why this is.

This second still taken from jaws is an underwater low angled shot from beneath the girl this suggests to the audience that something may be watching the girl from beneath creating a sense of mystery. The dark gloomy sea is also an indication that something is wrong from the fact the girl blends in becoming almost invisible, appearing just as a figure in the water this creates more questions for the audience as they want to know is there is something lurking beneath the waves.

This shot from the opening of Jaws is a close up of the girl, her facial expressions suggest that she is struggling to keep herself above water the audience are fascinated to find out what could be causing her to react this way in the water because they cannot see what is causing her to struggle, leaving the audience drawn to the film to find out more so they can make sense of what they have seen.

The fact that the girl all of a sudden starts to splash around in the water and the waves pick up make the audience wonder why. It allows the audience to think two different things: the girl is fine and she is messing around or something very bad will happen but neither her or the audience know why yet. This created the feeling of the unknown and makes the reader want to watch more. Linking to the enigma theory.

This final image from towards the end of the Jaws opening shows the girl gripping onto something floating, suggesting she has realised something is not right the dark setting also suggests something is not right and the audience question whether the girl is ok or not. This makes that want to watch more and they want the question is “is she ok” to be answered.