We open with a woman and a man running on the beach gleefully toward the ocean, taking off every article of clothing. She dives into the ocean and wades there as she waits for her lover to join her. All of a sudden, the lights go out. The screen turns dark. Two notes sound: “duh-dum, duh-dum.”And at that instant, your pulse quickens. You can sense a bad thing is about to happen even before that bad thing appears on screen. That sound is more than just musical notes—it’s a warning that “the bad thing” is a shark, and it is circling nearby. As moments pass, the “duh-dum, duh-dum” notes intensify, and suddenly the woman feels a pull from inside the water. Before she can make sense of what’s happening, the shark has launched its full-scale attack. All that remains behind are the woman’s screams and the gut-wrenching two-note sound. It’s been 50 years, but John Williams’ two-note theme for Jaws (1975)—used today in everything from cartoons to sports arenas—still serves as a shorthand for danger. It’s universal. It’s recognizable.And yet, those notes barely made it through their initial run. When Williams first played the score, Steven Spielberg, then a young filmmaker working on his second theatrical film, assumed he was kidding.Imagine this: the sound that we know now as the epitome of cinematic danger was almost rejected as being too simple, even ridiculous.Why do you think a theme that was so appropriate for the movie was being overlooked? That’s the...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today