The reason I chose to talk about this scene over the others is only because of the very first shot. Spielberg starts this scene with a fantastic single shot that is, in my opinion, the most important shot of the scene. In one single shot, Speilberg sets up the space of the scene and lets us know who the bad guy is. It begins on one side of the 180-degree line, behind our protagonist. The camera moves down the line to show us the truck is in front of the red car, and then it settles on the opposite side of the 180-degree line at a low angle to the truck, making it look large and menacing. Spielberg also uses sound to his advantage. In one shot we went from a small quiet red car to a big dirty loud truck, a perfectly executed juxtaposition.
Then we cut back to the small car, its quiet… tension is starting to rise. We get a POV shot as the David passes the truck. (a clever POV shot because we see through his eyes and at them at the same time). As David passes he shoots a few glanes at the truck, giving Speilberg and excuse to put some motivated POV shot of the truck in their and show the passing in its entirety.
Then we get a reverse shot of David and a key moment of tension where the truck barely peaks into the frame as if it’s going to pass again (something the audience is probably already anticipating). Then we cut to a reverse of the previous shot – an over-the-shoulder of David and the truck is a little louder but we can’t see it. Then Speilberg puts in a couple of close-ups to break up the tension a little (calm before the storm) and resests to another angle. He shifts to a side shot of David where the window is conveniently framing a big empty space… and of course, the truck passes through it. What’s interesting is that the audience surely is expecting it but it’s still very effective. As the truck passes we get another over the shoulder of David to see it better. Then it’s back to the passenger POV from earlier (with his eyes reflected in the rearview). This shot is used as a motif to show David stuck behind the truck again. The fact that almost the entire rest of the scene is reusing these angles is a testament to their effectiveness.