North by north west.

How does north by north west  meet a convention of a thriller.

 

Characterises of a thriller are they are normally fast past with frequent action. The hero tends to be resourceful who must thwart the plan of more powerful and better equipped villains. How can you prepare a dish without adding any spices? In this case the spices that am talking about are suspense, red herrings and cliff hangers. These spices accomplish more than adding flavour it takes the movie to a different extent. A thriller is a villain driven plot was the hero must overcome them. So your probably wondering how does North by north west fit and meet the thriller convention.

Back ground knowledge.

North by Northwest is a suspenseful film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1959.  The film stars Cary Grant as Roger Thorn hill, an advertising executive who finds himself mistaken as a United States spy and must out manoeuvre both the police and criminals in attempt to uncover the hidden truth.  Overall, North by Northwest offers suspense in nearly every scene as we follow Roger Thorn hill in his adventure.  Director Alfred Hitchcock captures the suspense perfectly, utilising continuity editing techniques including establishing shots, reverse shots, and match editing, as well as discontinuity technique.

Characters

So how exactly does Alfred Hitchcock meet the thriller convention with north by north west?

For starts let’s start with characters;   Phillip Vandamm is the main antagonist in north by north along side with two of his subordinate Hench men’s. Its then followed by the protagonist Roger Thronhill an innocent advertising executive who accidently get mistaken for “George Calpine”.  There’s thriller without dangle in distress eve Kendall in this film she gets herself tangled up between roger thorn hills which she was supposed to set him up with Phillip vandamm by making roger thorn hill fall in love with him. Witch she successfully archive however her cover gets discovered.

Sound

A wide variety of sound was used throughout North by North West. Starting from

A slow establishing shot of where George Kaplan is at the crop duster scene emphasis's his vulnerability. The off screen sound of the crop duster coming down is first shown as an off screen sound as it gradually gets louder and louder then it becomes an on screen sound  where the bus is also coming on the road at the same time. The off screen sound fits the conventions of a thriller because we don’t know what’s coming so it brings suspense. Then when the duster gets closer it makes the audience go to the edge of their seats because it builds a tense atmosphere for us but for roger it is quite threatening as it is a parallel sound.

Setting 

The setting creates both a sense of place and a mood and it also reflects Thornhills emotional state of mind as we as an audience can tell how confused and isolated he feels. The crop duster setting in north by north west isn't a typical setting for a thriller. Stereotypical thrillers are usually set in places like the city or when meeting someone in an underground car park. Somewhere unknown dark and sinister, that creates a tense atmosphere for the audience to watch. In north by north west Thornhill is meeting someone in the middle of nowhere in a crop field in broad daylight which goes against the stereotypes of a thriller. Hitchcock has said that this scene is based around a nightmare which he had made real. Which crazy things happen in .He has said the audience is not meant to understand as it is a narrative because dreams are not narratives they are disjointed. This scene is something out of the unexpected because it isn't ordinary. It’s a fantasy scene.

Red Herrings

This is something that mislead and distracts from the relevant or important issue.

One of the most significant red herring used in North by Northwest was when Eve shot Roger. This scene would have shocked the audience as he was the main character, and as expected audience would've be thought he would survived longer. If he died then the film narrative would've had no motive as he didn't solve the misunderstanding between him and the villains. Another example of red herring used in the film was the use of black limousine coming in the crop duster scene, which would've made the audience feel something dreadful will happen. It builds the tension as it was something mysterious and out of the blue. Another one was a man coming into the scene which may have seemed that the villains had sent him, but in fact the was just waiting for the bus. So Alfred has added these elements to scare the audience and make them ask questions and keep them intrigued in the film.