Continuity mistake: When Quint stops cranking to hoist up the cage, in the first shot the large canister is below the deck rail, but in the next shot the canister is well above the rail, right beside Brody. (01:56:30)
Continuity mistake: There are long poles and large hooks clipped to both the starboard and port side of Orca. In quite a few shots all three poles are gone from either side, and in other shots the amount of poles and hooks and their positions change repeatedly over and over again, in consecutive shots throughout their hunt! (01:41:15)
Continuity mistake: The man speaking to Brody on the beach, while Brody is preoccupied with staring at the water, has salt and pepper colored hair, but in the close-up shots facing Brody the man's hair very noticeably differs, as well as his upper body structure and tan. (00:15:40)
Continuity mistake: The chunk of dock that floats in the water, as the shark pulls it, differs from the piece of dock that broke off in the previous shots. (00:26:30)
Continuity mistake: When Quint finishes off his beer and squeezes the can with his hand, Hooper's equipment is visible just behind Quint. Then Brody accidentally unties the cage bars. When he falls back into Hooper's equipment, now it is closer to the door and the lines securing them are entirely different. (01:13:25)
Audio problem: As the shark is towing the Orca, Hooper, Brody and Quint are at the stern cleats with the water splashing up in their faces. Their shouting does not match their mouth movements. Particularly when Hooper shouts, "It's impossible! It's impossible!" he is sticking his tongue way out, making it rather difficult to shout anything at all. (01:44:35)
Continuity mistake: As the tanks of compressed air roll towards Hooper, the large silver cage canisters near the ladder are visible. When Hooper carries a tank to the cabin saying, "You screw around with these tanks and they're gonna blow up," there is a long grey cloth (scarf?) lying on one of the canisters. (01:13:40)
Factual error: When Hooper examines the remains of the swimmer he lifts up what is left of the woman's left hand and forearm. The blood and flesh are a bright colour. Blood and flesh discolour very quickly on a dead body - these bits should be a lot darker and the flesh a lot paler and dark bluish in colour.
Continuity mistake: When the camera is zooming in on Quint as he gives his speech at the town meeting, there is a woman in black and another in blue, seated in the room. In the next shot of people in the room listening to Quint, the woman in blue is in the foreground, but the woman in black who was sitting right next to her, has vanished. (00:20:00 - 00:20:35)
Continuity mistake: As the shark bursts through the port side windows, the remaining port side wall and window frame around it keeps changing between shots - from an entirely broken frame to a partial intact frame, and so forth. (01:57:50)
Continuity mistake: While Quint slides towards the shark and subsequently munches on him, then leaves, the articles and debris on the deck noticeably change between shots, regardless of the water splashing about. (01:57:05)
Continuity mistake: As the Mayor walks over to the couple on the beach, to persuade them to go into the water, the back of the woman's lounge chair is visible. In the following shot from behind, as they stand up, suddenly a yellow towel is leaning over the back of her chair. (00:56:05)
Continuity mistake: After Brody says, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," he and Quint step out on deck and stare beyond the port side. However, in the next shot from behind them, they face starboard side as the shark swims nearer, but when Quint says, "Shut off that engine," they face port side again, with a close-up of Hooper looking port side as well. Then finally Quint follows as the shark passes from starboard to port side. (01:21:30)
Continuity mistake: When Sean mimics his father, Brody's glasses are lying upright on the table. However, when Hooper sits down the glasses are upside down and other things on the table change position, etc. (00:38:10 - 00:39:50)
Continuity mistake: While Quint makes his offer at the town meeting, when he says, "I don't want no volunteers, no mates...," the chalkboard is beside him in this close-up. The doodle of the shark on the board, and the actual wood grain of the chalkboard frame all differ from the previous shots. (00:21:40)
Continuity mistake: When Michael and his two friends are sitting in their boat, in the pond, in the first close-up they sit on the white wrinkled up sail, but in the next wideshot two of them sit on the spread out blue tarp. (01:02:00)
Continuity mistake: As Quint and Hooper drink to their legs, Brody lifts his sweater to see his own scar. Beside the portable stove, to Brody's left, there are four canned goods behind the green canisters of gas. Just after the shark starts to ram into the boat, there is a close-up of the stove, but now there are only two canned goods, a cup appears, and other changes in position, eg the liquor. (01:28:20)
Continuity mistake: While Hooper and Brody speak with Quint at his place, Quint tosses a large duffel at Hooper. In the shot looking up, the opening of the bag faces Quint, when it is inches away from Hooper's hands. However, in the next overhead shot as Hooper catches it, the duffel now faces the opposite direction. (01:07:25)
Continuity mistake: As Orca heads out, first there is an interior shot that pans in through the large shark jaw framed window, showing the Orca a good distance away from Quint's place. However, in the next close-up of Brody, the Orca is just pulling away from shore. (01:11:55)
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene after the shark has pulled out the stern cleats and the three men are kneeling down in the boat; look at the window of the cabin door of the Orca, and you can see the crew on a separate boat being reflected in the glass. (01:45:10)
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