Jaws
Released 1975. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Edited by Verna Fields.
If The Godfather was the film that made me want to make films, then Jaws was the one that turned be into an editor.
The reason comes down to something as simple as a black frame.
When I'm in front of a class, this is the scene I show over and again. It takes place on the beach after the first shark attack that opens the film. Chief Brody is nervous about all the people in the water. No one else is concerned, because they have no idea what is in the water.
Now, unlike many films today, where set-up is a foreign concept, this scene takes it time. It builds the tension. We see a Mom and her son; he takes a water mattress and runs into the surf. There's a young man playing with his dog. He throws a stick into the water and the dog retrieves it. There are adults and kids frolicking.
Watching all this is Chief Brody. Never taking his eyes off the water. A young girl screams and Brody tenses, expecting the worst. The girl screams again as her boyfriend picks her up and tosses her into the water. Brody allows himself to relax, slightly.
No music, just natural sound.
This is where the collaboration between Director and Editor is demonstrated in the best way.
It's a holiday weekend and the beach is crowded, so naturally there are people walking infront of Chief Brody. What does a Director do? Do you make sure no one walks in front of your actor and ruin the shot? Or do you use this to make your editing seamless?
Verna Fields knew what to do. She used the split second of black, when someone walked in front of the camera, to make her cut.
W.S Brody watching the water.
Wipe-cut to his view of the water.
Wipe-cut to a closer shot of Brody, still watching.
Wipe-cut to closer cropping of his view.
Wipe-cut back to a closer shot of Brody.
This is done quickly and smoothly, and the viewer does not notice.
The scene, and particularly that part of the scene, is the best editing ever put on film. Because it was so simple. Not simplistic, but simple in how it was shot and cut. No frenetic chop cuts. No lighting speed crash zooms. The build-up was purposeful and the payoff as tense as anything seen since.
Through those series of cuts, we move closer to Chief Brody, not only physically, but emotionally and psychologically. We feel what he feels. We are as tense as he is. And that was all achieved through a series of shots. And when a series of shots are strung together, that is called editing.
Now we are in Brody's mind-set, and the attack happens. First we are hinted at it, when a stick comes floating to shore, but no dog is seen. Then in the distance, the water mattress is raised out of the water and people realize something is happening.
A push-zoom into Brody brings us face-face with his horror.
The scene ends with a deflated, torn water mattress floating to shore.
Watch this scene. Watch this film. Learn from it. This was a young Spielberg who made the film, and the producers surrounded him with the best people in their disciplines. Verna Fields was one of them, and film history is the better for it.
About The Editor
Verna Fields (21 March 1918–30 November 1982)
Film and television editor and sound editor, educator, and entertainment industry executive.
From 1954 through to about 1970, Fields mostly worked on smaller projects and as a sound editor for several television shows in the 1950s as well as independent films, including The Savage Eye(1959). She worked on government-supported documentaries in the 1960s, and on some minor studio films such as Peter Bogdanovich's first film, Targets(1968).
For several years in the late 1960s, she was a film instructor at the University of Southern California. Her one major studio film at that time, El Cid, led to the 1962 Golden Reel award for sound editing.
Fields came into prominence as a film editor and industry executive during the 'New Hollywood' era (1968–1982). She established close ties with Peter Bogdanovich, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg early in their careers, and became known as their "mother cutter".
Then came a string of critical and commercial successes with What's up, Doc? (1972), American Graffiti (1973), and Jaws (1975).
For Jaws she received an Academy Award and an American Cinema Editors Award for best editing, and she was then appointed as Vice-President for Feature Production at Universal Studios. One of the first women to be in upper-level management in the entertainment industry.
She remained an executive at Universal until her death in 1982 at age 64.
