Summary

• Spielberg requested that the production designer limit the use of red in the sets of Jaws to avoid overpowering the color of blood and to enhance foreshadowing.
• The omission of red in the film's sets makes sense because Jaws builds suspense through suggestion and imagination rather than explicit visuals.
• By subtly sprinkling red throughout the film, Spielberg leaves room for the shock and impact of the bloodiest scenes, solidifying Jaws as a lasting horror-suspense masterpiece.

Steven Spielberg recounts the surprising request he had of the production designed for Jaws. Originally released in 1975, Jaws remains one Spielberg's most popular films, and one of the most iconic suspense films of all time. Jaws continues to get theatrical play at theaters who play classics, and even received an IMAX re-release in 2022.

As recounted to making his shark movie: don’t use too much red. Spielberg told his production designer that he “didn’t want red to be dominant on any of the sets.” Instead, Spielberg opted for a tasteful amount of red that would create “foreshadowing” without inundating sets. Check out the full quote from Spielberg below:

"Yes, for Jaws, I didn’t want red to be dominant on any of the sets. I told Joe [Alves], 'Please . . . when you’re deg the picture and finding your colors, don’t use too much red, allowing for the blood.' And in general, we pretty much stuck to that. The Kintner boy had a red bathing suit, and we did have red wine in the scene with Hooper and Brody at the dinner table, but there was a bit of symbolism and foreshadowing in that."

Why Spielberg’s Red Request Makes Sense

There’s an irony in this request given Jaws is a film about a massive shark massacring the population of a quiet beach town. Whether Alves speckled it on the sets or not, red is an essential color to Jaws. Red is the color of the blood in the water—the color of death—and the result of the sharp-toothed monster at the center of Jaws’ horror.

Looking further into the mechanics of Jaws, however, the red omission makes a lot of sense. Jaws iconically builds suspense through suggestion and imagination of the audience. That is, Jaws more often implies a shark rather than shows it. Take the opening scene of Jaws, for example, when a night swimmer is shown from below and viewers are first introduced to a threat. The iconic John Williams score accelerates, and the audience is forced to imagine a shark that lurks in the unknown, just as an Amity Island swimmer would.

As such, an overuse of crimson hues would have risked overtaking the horror of the most important red: blood. Spielberg has opted instead for a subtle sprinkling of red so that it infiltrates the audience's mind but does not overpower, leaving room for the shock of Jaws’s bloodiest scenes. Thinking about this production design choice only further cements Jaws as a lasting horror-suspense masterpiece.

Source: Vanity Fair