North By North West

Director:

 Alfred Hitchcock

Writer:

 Ernest Lehman

Stars:

Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, 

James Mason Eva

North by North west is an action thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In the film advertising executive Roger Thornhill gets kidnapped by a group of armed men and is taken to a strange house where he is interrogated. The kidnappers believe that Thornhill is a spy who goes by the name of George Caplin. Thornhill is completely unaware who Caplin is. This case of mistaken identity is the first sign of one of the ingredients of a typical thriller. 

When Thornhill keeps denying that he is George Caplin, the kidnappers  force him to consume a large quantity of alcohol and then place him in a car thats heading for a cliff so that his death would look like an accident. However just before he reaches the cliff Thornhill manages to take control of the vehicle and save himself. He then continued on a drunken car ride which resulted in him being arrested. This scene created large amounts of suspense as it was very fast paced and the audience had no idea if he would survive or not. Alfred Hitchcock uses many point of view shots throughout this scene to show how unstable and intoxicated Thornhill is. This also made the danger of driving under the influence of alcohol apparent.

Once in police custody Thornhill explains what happens but because he is intoxicated noone believes him. Even when he is sober and he takes the police to the kidnappers house the kidnappers claim he was a guest who simply drank to much and insisted on driving home. A rather frustrated Thornhill decides to investigate the real George Caplin. During his investigation he gets framed for murder and becomes a fugitive on the run. He doesn't give up his investigation though. He carries on searching for George Caplin. But by now the audience have discovered that George Caplin does not exists. By giving the audience information that the character is not aware of builds up tension and suspense. This is known as dramatic irony.

There are many maguffins used throughout North by north west. Examples are the micro film which was hidden inside a statue and George Caplin.

About half way through the film Thornhill meets a seductive blonde on a train whilst on his way to find out more about Caplin. At first it seems that she has a genuine attraction to him and is just being flirty. She even hides him in her room when the police are searching for him. However this was just a ploy to get him to trust her. We soon discover that she is actually working for the people who kidnapped Thornhill at the beginning of the film. This is one of the main red herrings used in this film. Hitchcock used red herrings to keep the audience in a constant state of confusion in regards to where her loyalties actually lie. We then discover that she is actually a spy herself on a secret missing to get information from the foreign spies and that George Caplin was invented to distract the foreign spies from uncovering her true identity.

One of the key scenes in North By North West is the crop duster scene. Thornhill arrives at this deserted road where he is expecting to meet with George Caplin. As the audience know that he does not exists it is expected that he will be killed in some sort of drive by shooting however this was not the case. A crop duster appears and tries to kill him. Thornhill desperately runs and dives for his life. His quick reactions result in the plane crashing into a gasoline filled truck causing a massive explosion. The explosion causes a big enough distraction allowing Thornhill to steal a car and escape. Alfred Hitchcock decided to use a crop duster as he wanted to avoid cliche's. 

As Thornhill's feelings towards her grows he puts both their lives in danger. The foreign spies begin to suspect that she isn't loyal when one of them takes a closer look at the gun that she supposedly shot Thornhill with. It was full of blanks. The scene where she shoots Thornhill is also another example of a red herring. 

The film draws to a dramatic end when Thornhill saves her life as well as his own when both are left hanging from Mount Rushmore after being chased by the foreign spies.

The film ends on a high point as they both proclaim their love for eachother and kiss.

Mood Board

Macroelements

MACROELEMENTS

During the creation of a film the genre and narrative are considered as one of the most important aspects of the creative process.  these are called the macro elements.

Genre

The genre of a film refers to the category. There are a wide variety of genres used throughout the film industry. A genre creates the basic theme for  a film. For example A typical romantic comedy has the typical story of boy meets girl. There is always a problem that makes a relationship between the two seem rather impossible but by the end of the film it is usually solved. 

The main genres used in the film industry are:

Science Fiction

Science fiction is a genre that is mostly based around futuristic settings, technology, extra terrestrials and science. In a large percentage of science fiction films the hero usually possesses some sort of paranormal ability. The highest grossing science fiction film of all time was James Cameron's "Avatar" which was released in 2009. Although it took around 500 million dollars to make, worldwide it managed to gross almost quadruple the cost of production. Out of all the genres used in the film industry science fiction remains the most popular and highest grossing genre to date.

Horror

The main aim of a horror film is to create a fear within the audience. A typical horror film usually uses fears, phobias, nightmares, or psychotic and neurotic tendencies to evoke certain emotive responses such as: disgust, terror, fright and panic. Most horror films tend to have a rather dark and creepy atmosphere. Sound effects have a major role in maintaining the creepiness throughout the film.  A large percentage of horror films use the technique of having a dead silence leading up to a loud noise such as a door squeaking or an object dropping. This technique creates an eerie suspense and tension during the silence . When the sudden loud noise happens the audience is left startled and scared. One of the most successful horror films ever made was Martin Scorsese's Shutter island. Shutter island grossed over 128 million dollars.

Action

In a typical action film the hero/heroes are thrown in to a series of psychical and emotional challenges. Usually the hero is against all odds and experiences life threatening situations usually created by the villain. An action film contains many fast pace action packed scenes that usually involve violence and some sort of criminal activity. At the end of the vast majority of action films the hero almost always wins. A good example of an action film is Jack Reacher. 

Thriller

A thriller is a film with a generally fast paced plot that keeps the audience in suspense; its aim is to keep them on the edge of their seats. Common plots used in thrillers are: ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge and kidnappings. The hero is usually caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and is involved in the plot mainly by coincidence. Some of the most successful examples of thrillers are those created by Alfred Hitchcock. One of his most famous thrillers is vertigo.

Western

Western is considered one of the most important genres as it has contributed to the creation of all the genres that exist today. Although western is considered out of date by today's generation many films released are influenced by old western films.For example James Mangold's " the wolverine" was heavily influenced by George Stevens 1953 classic "Shane". Western films are generally set in the later half of the 19th century and are set in the American old west.  In a typical western film the protagonist is usually a male and is often viewed as a loner ( in some cases he may even be an outlaw). The story line usually consists of  a threat within their town/ranch (either from outlaws/Indians or from within the main powers such as sheriffs or bankers). This threat is usually overcome by the protagonist when the film reaches the resolution. One of the most popular western films is Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West".

Narrative

The Narrative is the way in which the events are put together when shown to the audience. The narrative of a film is often confused with the plot (which is the sequence of events which can also be known as the story). There are two types of narrative: linear and non linear.

Linear

A film with a linear narrative shows the events of the plot in the order in which the events occurred. So it would would start at the the equilibrium, follow through to the disequilibrium and end with a new equilibrium. This is the most popular out of the two types of narrative. A good example of a linear film is Tim Burton's "Edward scissor hands". 

Non Linear

A non linear film is the opposite of a linear film. A non linear film shows the events of the film in a different order to which the events occur. The most popular use of non linear is when the ending is shown at the beginning of the film. This is good as it makes the audience want to continue watching the film to find out how the protagonist ended up in this situation. A good example of non linear narrative is in Marc Webb's "500 days of summer"

       

Coursework Brief

Our coursework brief is to create an opening to a thriller. This opening must be approximately two and a half minutes long and must contain conventions that are typically found in a thriller. We have to use a large variety of camera shots and sound as well as using effective editing techniques.

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