Author: Jackson

For the scene from Dual I decided to cover the framing/continuity is this scene below, the ending of the movie:

Duel (1971) ending (with roar) – YouTube

The main shots that I want to cover and break down is the first few scenes, cutting between the two cars accelerating towards each other until they crash.

Majority of the shots are comprised of close-ups or medium close-ups, focusing on the main character’s face along with his car with clashing shots of the Truck. While the shots on our protagonists are mostly level with him, the shots of the Truck are taken from a much lower angle. To show just how bigger of a threat and imposing the Truck is. It’s something to be afraid of and show how unfair of a confrontation this is.

There is also more wide shots cut between the close-ups as we get closer to the crash, showing the entire vehicles as they close in. To show their speed and direction, along that 180-degree line. With the shots closing in on the cars when they get closer, more medium close-ups and close-ups. Until they finally do crash and it cuts to a wide shot again. To really show the destruction and fireball caused by their clashing.

As the two flaming cars fly off the cliff it takes much wider shots and long shots to really show the slow chaos of it falling off the cliff. With similar shots to before to really show the destruction and brutality of the scene. Medium close-ups to show the cars breaking and bending and even full close-up shots to show specific details of things breaking.

The scene I decided to deconstruct and examine was the opening scene from the first Pirates of The Caribbean movie. Where the main character, Captain Jack Sparrow, is first introduced on screen.

I’ll first post all shots with a description of what they are then delve into the structure of them.

Here are the shots in order:

The entire opening scene of the movie is a great introduction to the character we will follow throughout the course of the movie and franchise. Without a single word, we understand this character well simply due to the way it is shot and carried out.

Starting with a slow reveal from behind, a low-angled long shot that slowly transitions into a medium close-up shot from behind. Showing us what he sees or what his goal is in the distance.

After that, the same shots are almost repeated, a long/medium shot, this time from the front to a more medium close up shot to show the face of our hero. Here it then quickly cuts to another low angle medium shot of him carrying out a sudden action and into a close-up of him bucketing water out of his boat. This then cuts to a wide shot to show his entire ship, which is rather small, and his frantic actions to keep the water out.

It then abrublty slows down in action to a somber shot of him reacting to some hung pirates, a medium close up shot to show his reaction to this. From here, it carries onto an iconic scene of him once again the top of the mast in an extremely long shot to show this boat is now sinking entirely. Slowly zooming further out to a wider shot to capture the environment he is in and exactly what he will be walking into.

The scene ends up a close-up, not of his face, however. Instead, it is a low-angle close-up of his first steps onto the dock from his now-sunken ship.