~*~::{Reading Blog #44: Duel}::~*~

This week in English, we watched the first movie Steven Spielberg ever directed, “Duel.”  This movie is about a crazed trucker that frantically tries to drive a man, David Mann, off of a highway for no apparent reason.  This whole movie follows after David Mann as he is on his way to a business meeting.  At a random point, a trucker decides “Hey.  I’m gonna run this guy off the highway.” And throughout the whole movie, David is chased after this truck for no apparent reason.  I think this movie was actually really good because of how it was directed.  Mr. Spielberg knew what it took to make a scary movie.  By not showing the audience what the driver looked like, it made it so the audience could imagine what he looked like.  Everyone was a suspect in this movie.  To make the truck look like it was going faster than it actually was and to make it look bigger, low shots on the road were taken.  These low shots made the truck look larger and faster.  Also, the truck was made to look old and worn.  By making it look old and gross, it made it look scarier…like an actual monster; not just a truck.  Spielberg also created tension and stress during the movie by making cuts shorter and faster with intense music.  This helped to speed up everyone’s heart rate and make them more excited like they were living the stress and torture along with David Mann.  In short, Steven Spielberg is an amazing director that can create stress and tension in a movie in many different ways.  By making the movie “Duel” as successfully as he did, he demonstrated  his potential as a famous director.