Continuity mistake: After Alex's attack, there is a close-up of the $3,000 reward sign pinned to the board, as the woman complains, "We won't have any of our regular customers..." in the next shot as she continues to say, "We don't even know that there's a shark around here..." the reward sign on the board has different handwriting and is positioned differently on the board. (00:18:10)
Continuity mistake: When Brody starts chumming, the stern of the Orca is bloody and the white container is dirty and bloody. When he and Quint watch the shark coming towards them, the container is much cleaner and the pattern of blood on the boat, at the stern, differs. (01:20:45)
Revealing mistake: As the shark pushes his face into Hooper's cage, in a very nice close-up of the underside of his pectoral fin the large amount of peeled paint is quite visible, as it is in other shots of other areas of his body. Then in another shot at the same angle, just before Hooper escapes the cage, the paint job is perfect. In some other close-ups the shark's outer flesh creases deeply, because of its hollow interior, when pushed up against other surfaces. (01:55:00)
Continuity mistake: At Orca's bow, the hole in the steel hull beside its number, is oval shape. However, after Quint is gone, when the ship begins to sink, and later when Hooper surfaces beside the wreckage of the bow, the shape of the hole in the steel hull is completely different! The white water stain lines change throughout the shots as well. (01:25:00 - 02:01:10)
Factual error: In the scene when Brody and his deputy, Hendricks, are at the boat dock watching all the fishermen get into their boats, there are many shots when you see the town behind them. If you'll notice, there are no leaves on any of the trees, suggesting that it may be autumn. The events in the movie are supposed to occur during the 4th of July holiday. This mistake is also repeated when the mother of the boy comes to the dock and slaps Brody. (00:28:40 - 00:36:00)
Continuity mistake: The positions of the harpoons - two at the dorsal fin and one under the mouth - change on the shark's body and are actually gone in quite a few shots. (01:43:50 - 01:56:45)
Revealing mistake: After Hooper's comment, "He's working his way up to us," Quint rushes to the stern and shoots another line into the shark. In a very tight close-up of the shark's gills it is very apparent that they are just wide carved ridges, with no slits whatsoever, to even attempt to give the illusion that they are real, like in other great shots of Bruce. (01:43:50)
Continuity mistake: At Quint's, when he holds the two steaming shark jaws, assorted dry goods on the shelves above the stove are seen, particularly the cans of Del Monte vegetables. When Quint gives Hooper the rope to tie the knot, some of the goods on the bottom shelf and every can of veggies on the top shelf are entirely different. (01:07:00)
Visible crew/equipment: When the three guys first see the shark, it shows a shot of the shark swimming past and there are shadows of equipment and about three crew members just watching the action. It's not eqiupment from the Orca because nothing is there that looks similar to this shadow. (01:22:00)
Continuity mistake: The damage to Orca's stern changes back and forth, between shots. For instance, when the shark first comes aboard the entire transom is torn off, splitting the deck and side rails. Yet, just before the air tank rolls onto Quint's hands, part of the transom is back and the deck rail is whole again. (01:56:50)
Continuity mistake: When Hooper runs below deck to get the homing device, life jackets hang on top of the rope, to the left of the machete. When Quint gets the machete there are no life jackets near it and when the engine hatch blows up, life jackets hang against the wall where the machete was. The life jackets near the fire extinguishers change position as well. (01:23:55 - 01:44:45)
Continuity mistake: There are two buttons on each of Quint's shirt cuffs. When Quint pokes his head out as he works in the engine room, one button is closed on his right cuff. When he gathers the rope in hands, just as the shark surprises him, he has two buttons closed, then as the rope is pulled from his hands only one button closed. (01:36:50)
Continuity mistake: When Chief Brody and Hooper tie the ropes to the stern cleats, Quint shoots a harpoon under the shark's mouth. When Hooper is in the shark cage, look at the shark's mouth when it passes by. There is no harpoon there. (01:53:35)
Continuity mistake: When Quint comes out the cabin with the life jackets the boat is listing to our left as we look at it from the back. When he asks Hooper about the injection and the cage the boat has levelled off, and stays that way until they try and lift the cage back up.
Continuity mistake: When Hooper is lowered into the water in the shark cage, in the following shots the ring he is wearing on his left hand vanishes and reappears in a few shots, such as when he drops the poison shark dart. (01:53:50)
Continuity mistake: When the fishing reel clicks, Quint readies himself in his chair and Brody is finally successful with the knot. The knot in the rope, and the way he holds it, differs between the close-up and wideshot. (01:15:50)
Continuity mistake: When Brody and Hooper first arrive at Quint's place, Quint goes to pour the drinks, and beside him are windows with shades. There is a fish that hangs over the window beside Brody and the window upstairs, above Quint, is open. In the following shots positions of the roll shades, towels, etc., differ. Then when Quint climbs the ladder a bunch of rope now hangs beside the mirror, there is a small net that hangs with the fish above the window, and the window upstairs is now closed. (01:06:15)
Visible crew/equipment: Just after the two barrels pop up, Hooper comes down from the bridge deck and quips, "Now what?" In the next shot as the two barrels bob up and down, Orca is in the distance with Quint still up on the bridge deck, and Hooper and Brody standing on deck at the stern, but we can see there's someone else aboard who's moving around inside the cabin, beside the hanging net. (01:41:50)
Continuity mistake: When Ellen speaks with Brody at the beach, while worrying about the shark, Michael and other kids get up, and head toward the water. In the next shot, Michael, who wears very distinctive green and orange swimming trunks, jumps into the water (holding a football), and gets his hair and body entirely soaked. Next three shots Harry (and his 'bad hat') sits down and speaks with Brody. In the next shot Michael, with dry hair, passes Mrs. Kintner and is still running towards the water with Sean. (00:15:40)
Continuity mistake: Just after Brody flips through the pages of the graphic shark book, Ellen tells him that Michael is sitting in his boat and outside their window the sun is just above the horizon, showing a pretty sunset. Then when Brody rushes to the door to shout for Michael to get out of the boat, amusingly enough the sun is now much, much higher in the sky. (00:23:00)
Answer: Although the 1995 documentary "The Making of Jaws" claims that the shooting star was real, the fact is that the shooting-star background effect is a Steven Spielberg trademark in most of his films (first noticed in "Jaws," but also appearing in "Close Encounters," "E.T. The Extraterrestrial," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Saving Private Ryan" and others). Spielberg has always had a fascination with shooting stars, dating back to his childhood, and he works them into almost every film. Http://americanprofile.com/articles/steven-spielberg-shooting-stars-movies/.
Charles Austin Miller