The same angle repeats later in the sequence, again to clearly establish the geography and the relationships between the characters. This is how directors like Spielberg help the audience understand the action and never get spatially confused.
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Now, you might be asking yourself “How did Indy and his dad get in the box? How did they close the box? Why did they close the box instead if just driving away? Why didn’t they wait until the bad guys were cruising down the river?” Because it’s a movie, that’s why.
Goofy speculation - *maybe* this was designed as one big long shot, with Indy & dad emerging/running off camera/bad guys emerge/camera reveals the box/Indy drives out. (Would also qualify as a Texas Switch). Maybe the timing/choreography didn't work out, and the middle shot was required.
My speculation - we don't see what Indy saw to make his choice before sending the boat away, then you get the Nazis running in, and the reveal from the box - it's kind of a classic almost "hard cut comedy beat" set-up. I think it was supposed to be done exactly as it appears in the final edit. Maybe
Oh a fun thing I noticed in the bluray vs 4k versions, the goon who gets flagpole'd off the bike later on in the scene was yanked with a wire, it was removed for the bluray but visibly so. Lots of smearing. It's completely perfectly removed in the 4k. Well done to the restoration team. Subtle touch
Ehhhhhhhhhh I'm 50/50 on this stuff personally. I get the preservation aspect but I'm fine with cleaning stuff up.
Any restoration from the camera negatives is already gonna look better than any screening, print film has pretty crap latitude so just that alone is already better
It’s like asking “where was the goat standing in Jurassic Park when they fall off a cliff there later”? The answer is, “it doesn’t matter if it ruled.”
The same angle is also repeated for a practical reason; the scene was filmed at the back of Elstree studios, with very limited set & dressing. There physically wasn't much space to move the camera, without giving away the location. It's very efficiently shot, in addition to all of your other points.
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now you will not unsee it muhhhahahhahhaa
Any restoration from the camera negatives is already gonna look better than any screening, print film has pretty crap latitude so just that alone is already better
I've spotted quite a few things like this in Spielberg movies, Close Encounters has one nobody else seems to have noticed