Continuity in Duel

Video clip: Road trouble

Most of the shots in this scene portray a good sense of continuity. We are almost always looking at David Mann from the right side, as if we are in the passenger seat. It makes us, the viewer, easier to keep track of where the car is going because we’re always at the same angle, and we see the trees and outside view moving past him. The only time the camera looks the other way is when David passes the psychotic truck driver and we see them fall behind us.

An example of a Match on Action Shot (I believe in this case it’s in reverse) would be the shot of the truck in the side mirror when he honks and the camera zooms out when David Mann turns around to look. Now I’m not actually 100% sure if this is a Match On Action as it’s only technically one shot that goes from zoomed in to out, but I do find it cool how this zoom out was used. The scenes after this follow the same thing I mentioned in the beginning, we’re still in the passenger seat and it helps us understand the car is moving the same direction.

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