Duel – Textual Analysis

Marianna Savva

The product beings with no image, however, the

audience are represented with the gradual build

up of non-digetic sound, which they are able to

identify with (uses and gratification theory)

straight away. Furthermore, they are also

presented with an enigma as they will begin to

wonder where the sound is coming from and

why there is no image to coinside with the non-

digetic sound. The sound resembles a gust of

wind which gradually heightens to represent an echoing travelling object through a

tunnel. The audience are then represented with the sound intensifing and becoming

more distinguished by the heightened pitched, which is similar to the sound of harsh

breaking, further connoting a travelling object. The colour black is stereotypically

associated with mourning, evil, violence and the end, which further produces an enigma

to the audience.

A trasistion shot is then used to represent a solidersuddenly awkaening from a

wretched dream, which is portrayed to the

audience through the soliders heavy

breathing, connoting the audio to be

something he is startled by. The soldier is

portrayed with a dazed look in his eye,

connoting a head injury which is further

supported by the blood on the side of his

face, representing a fight and or war.

Furthermore, through the sound bridge,

the audience are left to wonder what it was that injured the soldier, as nothing in the

image portrays that and, therefore, are further enticed in the product due to the enigma

still upheld. The director has used an extreme close up of his face to represent the

devestating effects of the war, whichattracts the audience from the very start of the

product with an enigma as they wonder who he is and what has happened to him.

Although the scene has not been set by the

stereotypical establishing shot that is normally

associated with the beginning of a war time

period drama, representing the product to

challenge the codes and conventions of a war

time period drama, the audience are still able to

identify (uses and gratification) with the man

being a soldier, due to the conventional

camoflague helmet. Moreover, the use of lighting

portrays the binary opposition of soliders, the good vs the bad is challenged within this

image due to one side of his face having a harsher complexsion than the other. This

Duel – Textual Analysis

Marianna Savva

further challenges the role of a soldier as although they are seen as patriotic heros to

their country, they are still seen as immoral as of the murder they are inflicting on their

opposition. The audience are additionally represented with the long lasting effects the

war can have on soliders as of his sudden awakening from the sound and the heavy

breathing to coinside with it represents a form of ‘shell shock’.

The next image represents the soilder coughing, this has been represented through

continuity editing, leading from one scene to another and moreso, a zoom out shot in

order for the audience to be identified with the characters body. The chocking enables

the audience to identify (uses and gratification theory) with his sudden awakening. The

sound makes the audience more aware of what is going on and helps create the

atmoshpere needed to portray that the soldier has gone through some sort of pain.

Moreover, the weapons on his chest portray the violence that is connoted through war.

However, the white cloth covering his uniform could connote purity and goodness to

the audience, this has been further portrayed through the weather conditions as of the

white snow, though this could also be challenged due to the dark circles within it, which

could represent that although war may have good intentions some aspects of it are

immoral and evil. Furthermore, in order to fight a war properly the soliders need to

save themselves from becoming injured, which could represent the villian (8 props

characters) within the product as the cloth could be used to camoflague himself within

the snow, to distract the opposition from shooting at him.

Sound becomes considerably amplified in

volume during this scene, which allows the

audience to further identify (uses and

gratification theory) with where the soldier

is, although still not being able to see the

foreground he is on. The sound consists of

firing guns and bombs which further

represents war and fighting. The sound is

represented with a fair distance to the

solider as of the echoing of the gun shots,

which could portray him being lost and or

deserted by his fellow soldiers. Due to this

the audience are represented with the

information that each is to their own when

fighting a war and that no one is to look out

for others because of the fear of them

becoming hurt or injured. The soldier then

begins to look around as represented within

the image below. As the character observes

his surroundings a panning shot has been

Duel – Textual Analysis

Marianna Savva

establishing moving with the characters eye, portraying an establishing shot to the

audience and further representing the effects of war, with the burning dip on the left of

the image which represents the damage of the bombs. Moreover, the audience are also

gaining a perspective from the characters point of view, enabling them to feel a part of

the product and, therefore, allowing them to connect further with the character within

the product.

The close up shot enables the audience to

engage with what is happening to the soldier,

as the soldier reaches round to touch his

arm and reveals the blood on his fingers the

audience are witnessed with the potential

narrative of the product and the enigma has

been answered, for instance, the audience

may have wondered why he was lying on his

own in the field, the blood reinforces the idea of him being injured through the battle of

the war. The black glove, moreover, represents this as black is assosicaed with badness

and villians, these people are clearly identified (uses and gratifcation theory) through

the soldier being injuried, allowing the narrative to develop further by developing the

characters further. The music within this scene, is very melow and calming, however, is

contradicted through the use of the gun shots within the background of the music.

The character then gets up and walks away from where he has been lying, similar music

from the scene before is played to portray a soundbridge and the joining of both the

scenes, representing a flow within the product, furthermore, ambient sound has been

introudced with the blow of the wind and the crunching sound of stepping in snow, this

allows the audience to clearly idenitfy (uses

and gratifcation) with the sound,

representing that conditions at home are

featured with that at war creating a potential

bond between the character and the

audience as they are aware of the ceratin

conditions the character faces and is facing.

The character waslks away a mid shot is

represented so that the audience are able to

identify (uses and gratification theory) with the current surronding and the character.

He is then pictured pulling a gun out of his pocket, which has been evdiently portrayed

through the use of the close up to reinforced the stereotypical conventions of war and

fighting a guns were the main use of battle. The gun is black which in itself already

representes the badness and immorality of the use of one portraying the character as

the villian, however, this has been opposed through the use of the colour white which

represents purity, again portraying binary opposition between war.

Duel – Textual Analysis

Marianna Savva

An empahsis has been placed on the

characters legs which could represent the

travel needed to be taken in order to get back

to base or the extent of his injuries that he has

been presented with. This gives the audience

an emotional attachment to the product as

they gain a sense of sympathy towards the

character. Fruthermore, it also enables the

equilibrium to develop as the product begins with the soldier lying injured and now

with him walking away, possible representing

the change of attitude and the way things will

get better for him. However,the aspect of

survival is once again challenged in the scene

that appears after, the sound changes to a deep

and harsh tone, representing a bad

atmosphere and further putting the characters

on edge as an enigma is built up again, this has

been further represented through the use of the character walking infront of the

camera, giving a fear of someone watching him as the camera begins to shake slighty

emphasizing the prospect of someone behind him. Throughout these two scenes a

match cut has been used in order to link the shots together to one another allowing the

audience to idenityf (uses and gratification theory) betwene the two scenes linking to

one another.

The character is then witnessed to have dropped from the floor, enabiling an enigma as

the audience wonder why he has fallen and

whether it is down to his injuries, however, as

the scene beings to develop the sound

heightens and emphasizes on sharp notes,

reinforcing the idea of cruelty as this is down

the camera angle changes and moves infront

of the character, the audience are then

witnessed with seeing things from the

characters perspective, which is when other soldiers are represented garding a building

which clerly represents the swastika

(stereotypical convention of a nazi soldier and

nazi during the time of the war), reinforcing

the idea of immorality due to what they had

done to various people during the 1940s. The

character is then represented turning and

running away from the scene, portraying that

he is not a soldier to the nazis. The sound

Duel – Textual Analysis

Marianna Savva

slightly changes as the character getsup to turn

away, a mixture of harsh and soft tones have

been used in order to represent the ‘unknown’

as to protray an enigma to the audience as they

wonder what will happen to the soldier.

A blank screen shot has been used to represent the changing of time and to portray the

elongated time the soldier has spent walking in order to find his base of his fellow

soldiers. The next scene has been represented through the use of a fade, something

which we would like to represent within our

product ‘venture’. The sound continues

throughout this process, portraying a sound

bridge and the following of the product as there

is not drastic change within the audio. However,

the sound does become sharper and heavy,

portraying an unsafe atmosphere and enabling

an enigma to develop with the audience as they

will wonder what is going to occur next. As the soldier continues to walk he is witnessed

with an other soldier in front of him, the character runs to hide from this other soldier,

who could be a potential enemy, reinforcing why the sound had heightened slowly

throughout the scenes leading up to this one.

The scenes that follow focus on the second character in order for the audience to

identify (uses and gratification theory) with who he is. He has been portrayed as a

dominant and uncaring character by the use of him calming lighting a cigarette and

having no fear as to whether there are people watching him, due to the lack of him

scanning the area which he is.the first character accedently makes a sound, which is

similar to that of a breaking of a stick,

causing the second character to become

alert of someones presence, as this is done

the character speaks in german which

represents that he is the opposed side as

previously we saw the first character run

from the nazi base. Sound begins to decrease

in volume and sharpness which emphasizes that the

character will hold a dominant role within the product

at this time, due to th sound decreasing once the

character begins to speak. The character is then

witnessed getting a shot gun out which reinforces the

stereotypical conventions of war and the immorality

that the war upholds.

Duel – Textual Analysis

Marianna Savva

Towards the end of the product, both characters end up firing shots at one another,

chasing eachother in order to save themselves from death, however, the product ends

with both the charcters dying as they had both been shot by one another, representing

that the war has no benefit to anyone and that each whether the villian or the hero end

up in the web of the immorality the war causes. The final shot was portrayed to the

audience with a match cut, representing the effects of the soldiers shots and the damage

it causes to ones life.

Within this product a variety of different editing techniques have been used, for

exampl,e match cut editing is used in order to join two scenes together, for instance, the

scene where the character got shot is joined with the scene of when he fell to the

ground. Moreover, trasition shots have been used in order to introduce new scenes and

moreso, fades have been used in order to build suspense as the scene gradual comes

onto the screen. This allows the audience tomove with the flow of the production.

Throughout the product and as the equilibrum developed the pace of the product

changed, for example, the equilibrium at the beginning of the product linked with the

slow pace of the movement of the production, however, this was challenged when the

dis-equilibrium appeared to be evident within the production as once the dis-

equilibrium began to establish itself the pace of the production fastened as more action

was being introduced, that stereotypical to a war film, moreover, once the new resolved

quilibrium appeared the production went back to the slow pace portrayed at the

beginning of the product, representing the equilibrium to change with the climax and

pace of the production.

Moreover, natural lighting has been used throughout this product as it was located

outside in the open air, this represents the contrast between dark and lightness that

was created through various props (mise-en-scene), for instance, in order to represent

the villians as the nazis a shack was built above the ground, iconic for a war time base

due to them being able to spot out opposition, however, the roof aided the darkness

which portrayed the nazi as the opposition. This portrays the signifcance that props

have within productions.

Furthermore, camera shots and movement are very signifcant in portraying the

product, for instance, the camera shots and movement need to flow together in order

for the audience to understand the narrative that they are being presented with. Within

this product ‘Duel’, the majority of the shots used have been close up/extreme close up

to represent the true emotion of the characters, moreover, a range of establishing shots

have also been used in order for the audience to gain persepective of location (uses and

gratifcation theory).

To conclude, the product uses a significant amount of close up shots in order to

represent true emotional content that the audience are able to identify with (uses and

gratification theory). This enables the audience to connect further with the character by

Duel – Textual Analysis

Marianna Savva

seeing things develop from their point of view, moreover, sound has been used in places

needed to emphasize cruelty and in order to create an enigma so that the audience stay

enticed throughout the product.