JAWS 50th Anniversary Contest Film
After visiting Martha’s Vineyard for the Jaws 50th celebration back in June, I was inspired to create a backyard BBQ themed Jaws sketch—partly to enter the Jaws Finatics contest aaannnd for fun too. We shot the whole thing in just over three hours with three amazing actors I found through a local Facebook group. I had to move fast—I wrapped just in time to make it to a friend’s rehearsal dinner that evening.
Watch in 4K! I added film grain to mimic the original film shot in 1974. I used Google’s Veo 3 AI model for the crowd around the pool as well as the shark.
When I found my three picks for Chief Brody, Quint, and Hooper—played by Jacob, James, and Jack. Coincidentally, the three cast in Jaws were Roy, Robert, and Richard—it was meant to be!
In the weeks prior, I ran numerous tests with lighting and shot composition to make sure no time was wasted on the day of shooting.
The shark and crowd were completely AI
The shots of the crowd and shark were made with Google’s Veo 3 AI video generator. Using a still taken the day of production, it took over a hundred prompts to get the results I wanted—but in the end, they came out a lot better than I originally anticipated. It’s truly amazing how fast AI has become a valuable tool for a lot of my work.
I sourced all the costumes from eBay and Amazon. I ironed on Chief Brody’s patches and dirtied Quint’s clothes for natural wear and tear.
Even though the final cut ended up being a little less than two minutes long, it was still a lot of work for me and Dad to constantly move gear while maintaining consistency sticking with the script, even how short it was.
The set (my dad’s backyard) was prepped days before. I rehoused a fog machine with a stronger pump and custom fog fluid for thicker, longer-lasting clouds. I cut a hole in the boat to mount Ben Gardiner’s head—cast from the original mold used in the movie.
Shot on the Blackmagic Ursa mini pro 4.6K Gen 1 camera with a Rode NTG booming overhead.
Over the years, my dad and I have added props, lighting, and figures—including an actual boat with Ben Gardner’s head inside. We built a custom server and audio setup to remotely control 10 separate zones that can play sound effects and music independent from one another. This summer, we added a small-scale replica of the billboard from the movie, which doubles as a projector screen on summer nights.
Prior to production, I made a hole and mounted Ben Gardner’s head inside.
Huge thanks to my sister Erica for makeup, my Dad for booming sound and working bounce boards, my fiancée for getting chomped, Jacob, James, Jack, and Michael Fulcher for putting together both the contest and the entire 50th celebration. It’s been an awesome summer. Fun fact: my cast’s names—Jacob, Jack, and James—are a funny flip from the real film’s Robert, Richard, and Roy. Hope you enjoy!