Jaws Storyboards by Joe Alves -- OUAN403, Telling Stories

A firm favourite in my family, and generally accepted as a classic, Jaws shows Stephen Spielberg flexing his directorial muscles and produced some of the most famous and most parodied scenes in cinema. The storyboard artist on Jaws was Joe Alves, who had this to say about storyboarding the film:

"For JAWS, the shots needed to be meticulously planned so that everyone knew which shark was to be used and how the shot would be achieved (sled, left to right & right to left). Since it took literally a day per shot each storyboard drawing had to be precise."

Alves was actually on set for a lot of the shoot, and he describes his storyboards almost like a technical guide for the crew rather than simply a visual aid for the director or  cinematographer. It may even be that such a smart and creative director as Spielberg needed someone like Alves to act as a communication aid between the director and technical teams.

I personally think his boards are visually attractive, and at the same time very descriptive of each shot. Alves doesn't bother to describe the type of shot or camera angles etc. as the drawings are very descriptive themselves, but he does add some notes about the action taking place in the shot.