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https://youtu.be/plRMGRDXpJw

Duel, by Steven Spielberg

Clip: Road trouble

There is quite a lot of continuity within this particular clip from Duel. Many of which contain shots that are critical to telling the story and getting the point across. It starts out with a view from the back of the car (along the 180 degree line) where we can see him following the large truck and then proceeds to move around creating a sense of motion and helps with the fluidity of the scene. We then can see many various cut in shots of the exterior as well as the interior of the vehicle. This allows to highlight something important, such as a close-up that draws attention to a specific detail. Overall, these are just a few examples of the many clips in the film Duel that include and use continuity. Continuity helps create a realistic and immersive story that essentially keeps the viewer engaged!

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.

Blog: Post these screen grabs in sequential order to the blog. Then for each image provide a description for the kind of shot (long shot, medium shot, close up, shaky, pan, etc) it is. Use Class Notes- Framing for reference. Discuss how the scene is held together as a narrative whole through the camera framing and editing.

Framing and shot types are important in storytelling because it helps the audience set the scene, portrays feelings, and establishes characters throughout the story. In the next few photos, we will be going over a variety of shots in a scene from the Sweetest thing, a 2002 romantic comedy, and explain why its important.

In the scene above, we have a medium close-up shot, capturing her hands up to her chest as she animatedly describes her date to her friends. The director uses this shot to emphasize her exaggerated expressions, highlighting her excitement and joy.

The next scene shows all three friends sitting around a table at the restaurant, enjoying lunch together. The setting provides the perfect backdrop for their gossip session. This helps the audience establish the setting/environment of the story.

If you haven’t seen this movie before, this scene unexpectedly breaks out into song and dance, as hinted by the chicken wings above. The director uses a medium long shot, with two of the friends in the foreground, shown from the knees up, while the third friend is in the background, being held as she playfully walks across a table. If this doesn’t scream fun then I don’t know what will.

The director uses a close-up shot here to emphasize the character’s reaction as she says ‘eww,’ while someone nearby is in the middle of a handstand. The entire restaurant pauses when she speaks, amplifying the impact of her statement.

Lastly, this is an interesting shot as it captures the full body but intentionally excludes the heads. The director focuses on highlighting a specific dance move that primarily involves the legs, which is why the camera avoids showing any faces.

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.

The start of this scene sets up to the audience the line that the two characters will be on. They do this by showing in a POV shot that starts in the back of the Plymouth Valiant, that then follows up past the Valiant to the Peterbilt and then to the front of the Peterbilt truck. Showing us the audience the 180 degree line that this pseudo chase is going to be taking on. The shots that follow the Valiant as it passes makes sure to show through eye matching when we are no longer seeing the shot in a two dimensional space. It shows us the start, middle, and end of the pass by cutting between the main character driving the Valiant and where he is looking when it cuts away from him. Whenever the Peterbilt passes it is brought on the audience through surprise because how it it also a surprise to the character who was focused more on his dashboard and the road instead of the Peterbilt behind him. Once the Peterbilt passes we as the audience are given a mirrored shot from the opening to help establish the are and positioning that we are in. These sequence of shots are very useful and help make this sense easy to follow as the audience.

Within this scene of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Duel’, we see the use of many continuity edits. For one example, the 180 degree rule is followed the entire time to ensure that the main subjects (car and truck) are always seen being visibly pushed towards the left of the screen. This technique makes the action far easier to understand, rather than breaking the rule and risking the audience feeling as though the cars are moving in random directions. It even helps immerse you in the scene as you can imagine yourself slowly being pushed into a corner, rather than feeling danger coming from all sides.

At 0:36 in the scene, we get a motivated POV shot. This technique is effective at putting the viewer within the shoes of the character, especially for a tense situation like this scene. For this one in particular, it’s done to show the protagonist slamming the breaks, which is an effective and relatable perspective for most viewers. It’s far more effective than showing such high-stakes action in flat, disconnected shots.

As for another technique, throughout the scene we even additionally get plenty of shot-reverse-shots, such as when the camera reflects back and forth between the train/railroad and the car/protagonist. This technique establishes their positions for the incoming near-fatal incident, as well as contrasts the mighty train with the small passenger car. It’s just one additional way of upping the stakes of the action by visually representing the difference in size/power between our protagonist and this obstacle.

Name: Ammaar Akhtar
Date: 9-5-24
Class: DTC 208

Duel is such a unique film in that even with a relatively basic plot, it is able to truly keep people at the edge of their seat as the movie goes on. Of the 4 scenes listed, I chose the first clip, “Duel Remastered (1971) – Road Trouble | 4K UHD” (https://youtu.be/31n1H8PNXh4) because I believe it has quite a number of different continuity edits hidden in a short time frame. One of the most heavily used continuity edits here is the Match-on-Action shot(s) that are present throughout the scene. The constant switching from looking towards the main character to looking back through the rear view mirror makes the scene feel continuous; it is clear to the viewer what is going on and what they are looking at. Going along with this, another common edit used in this film is the POV shot. Throughout the scene, many of the shots are either looking back through the rear view mirror, or looking out of the protagonist’s car’s window up towards the truck in some way. This makes the audience feel like they are really there in the car, experiencing the events of the film. Another type of edit that is more or less used in this scene is the 180 degree rule. For most of this scene, anytime the camera is outside of the protagonist’s vehicle, it is somewhere on the right side of both vehicles (or left from the direction being driven). There are a few parts of the scene that seem to break this rule, however, for the most part the 180 degree rule is adhered to well. Some of the subtle parts of the sound design really intrigued me the more I watched this scene, for instance how as the camera slowly moves ahead of the protagonists car to reveal the truck, the sounds of the engine get louder and drown out the other sounds of the scene. Something that most people would say “of course, that makes sense, the truck would get louder as you get closer to it” but is just one of the small details that make this sequence great.

A visual representation of procrastination until the very last minute.

A framing video of my cats in their tree and Baymax(the big grey one coming to greet the camera).

A Health Journey

https://youtu.be/I5R7zGDoKTM

The scene I will be using as an example of continuity is the train scene from Duel. This scene uses a lot of continuity edits, but in particular mostly cut in/match on action shots and shot reverse shots.

In the beginning extreme long shots are used to showcase the setting (a train track). To start the action, a shot reverse shot is done to get the initial reaction of the main character when the truck hits his car for the first time. We see him being jolted by the hit, then a cut to the front of the truck against his car, and then back to the main character as he begins yelling.

From then on, there are a lot of cut-in shots, which are used in multiple different ways. For one, we get shots close to the car window so we can focus on the main character, and then cuts to longer shots that allow us to see the rest of the car. This allows us to see what is going on both with the main character and outside of the car, where the truck is hitting. It is also used to get a close up of the certain areas of the car being affected. For example, a long shot is done on the car, then a zoom in onto the wheels which are being pushed towards the train. This helps the viewer understand the truck’s intentions of pushing him into the moving train. 

We see a lot of shots of the main character also turning around, or looking outside his window, to then immediately cut to the truck hitting him, his car wheels struggling to move the car, or the train getting closer, and then back to his face (shot reverse shots). 

Overall these continuity shots help the viewer understand the intentions of the truck driver and the dangerous situation the main character is in.