Opening Sequence: “Jaws”

Last week, I posted this question: What are the best opening scenes in movie history?

I was having this discussion with a writer the other day. So many fantastic opening scenes of all sorts. Some of them bombastic, some subtle, some of them funny, some brutal, all of them great. Tough to write, too, because it’s not only about being entertaining, it’s also about introducing the story universe and key characters, setting the mood and so forth.

And while we’re at it, let’s analyze the scenes as to why they’re so stellar, and hopefully get some takeaway as far as our own writing goes.

The list of suggestions was so great, I thought it would be a good idea to post some of them over the next week or two because here is the reality: A great opening scene or sequence can go a long way in how a reader perceives your script. In other words, they can be pivotal to the success of your screenplay.

On Monday, we featured Once Upon a Time in the West which focused primarily on visuals.

Tuesday we considered Pulp Fiction which was heavy with dialogue.

Wednesday we rememberedthe opening to Back to the Future,

Today let’s look at the classic opening sequence to the movie Jaws, suggested by Zyxpsilon.

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=jARM

As Zyxpsilon wrote:

Jaws… beneath the coastal waves at night, a shark takes a quick but fatal meal out of a swimming woman. Can you still hear her screams or see the floating sea beacon she held onto? How about that whole struggle that seemed to last hours when in fact it was barely a minute long or so? Fear the deep people, fishing season comin’ right up.

Why is this such a great opening sequence? What can we learn from this as screenwriters?

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