Match Point

The first scene ends with a shot of the ocean. The water once again glitters invitingly under the moonlight and the buoy has already resumed its regular toll in response to the tide. The image lightens as the texture of the sea changes - the mass of water before us seems appreciably greater, the waves are choppier and there is a light mist upon them. The dark low mass of land and the tilted metal structure of the buoy have faded imperceptibly away, and we realise that we are looking at a different section of the ocean in the early morning light. This dissolve is one of two such transitions in the movie (the other anticipates the bloody end to the shark hunt by overlaying a close-up of a chum slick on the Orca's departure from dock). Unlike the startling match cut that indicates the passage of millions of years of evolution in Kubrick's 2001, Spielberg's 'match fade' (with the horizon aligned in both shots) suggests that only a few hours have passed.

Our view of the ocean is obscured by the out-of-focus silhouette of a man's head seen from behind. Although film critic Stephen Heath misremembered this transition in his 1996 re-evaluation of the film (believing the blurred figure to be that of the boy on the beach), there is enough visual and auditory information - a more distant sound to the ocean coupled with the background chatter of a radio announcer - to establish that there has been a change of location. The frame crops the man's head at about eye level as he looks out at the ocean. He is seeing what we are seeing and so immediately establishes himself as the eyes of the audience - the character through whom we will experience the action of the film.

In the light of the scene that has just occured, there is a grim irony attached to the first words from the radio announcer ('...with local fishing reported good.') whilst his next statement ('Amity boat rental yards opening early to prepare for the annual season rush') provides an early indication of what the Mayor will later state explicitly ('This is going to be one of the best summers we've ever had.'). Although this information is unlikely to be processed on a first viewing of the film, it must clearly have been designed as a kind of early subliminal message. After the announcer gives the station's call sign ('This is WISS'), the volume of his chatter (which continues to play under the scene) is dialled down on the soundtrack until it becomes just another background sound - like the waves on the beach. Occasional words (visitor) and phrases (ten year high) can just about be distinguished and the perky upbeat tone further suggests a mood of community optimism.