North by northwest is about an advertising executive Roger.O Thornhill who gets kidnapped while having lunch he calls for a messenger while a page goes out for a George Kaplan. From the beginning Roger is shown as a pretty much ordinary person with some dishonest qualities to him (we see this when he lies in order to get a cab). After that he is kidnapped by armed men , who take him to a man who is confident that Roger is infect Goerge Kaplan , he interrogates him about how he has come to know information. When Mr Thornehill continues to insists he knows nothing they drunken him and put him in a car , heading for a cliff in order to make his death look like a drunken accident.Mr Thornhill escapes death at the last minutes and goes on a drunken car ride. This is an exciting scene as soon he is chased by police men. Alfred Hitchcock uses point of view shots to show how unstable Mr thronhill is while driving adding to the sense of thrill and danger. The whole narritive of North by North west is made up of very calm and ordinary scenes and then sudden action. This builds up anticipation and tension as the audience are expecting something to happen.
Mr Thornhill is taken in by the police. However when he tries to explain the events that occurred no one believes him , not even his own mother. When they re trace his steps everything at the house he was taken to has changed and they all claim that he was a guest and that he drank to much and went home after. Mr Thornhill decides to investigate for himself but then he ends up framed for murder. He runs away as a fugitive in search of George Kaplan which the audience now knows does not exist.
The crop duster scene in north by north west is an icon scene because of Alfred Hitchcocks unique and original nature. The first thing that we notice that is different about this is that there is no use of non diegetic sound , the scene is made so extremely realistic and mundane at the beginning in a way that builds up the audiences suspense and anticipation. The is a lot of red herrings in this scene , many potential threats are introduced by then we find out that they were not the threat. This is a very original technique that was never explored in cinema before Alfred Hitchcock.
The trailer for North By North West attracts target audience uses a range of different things. For example there are scenes of romance that would attract and appeal to a female audience on the other hand there are action scenes that attract a male audience. They use well known actors and actresses to appeal to their random as well. The music in the trailer is exciting and fast paced and it makes the scenes look more exciting. Cliff hangers are used to appeal to the audiences curiosity and make them want to watch so they can see what happens.
Macro Elements refer to the genre and narrative of film
A narrative is the way or order in which events are put together and presented to the audience.
There are two different types of narratives , linear and non-linear. In a linear narrative the sequence of events are shown in the order that they took place (beginning middle and end). This is the most popular form of narrative structure.
In a non- linear narrative the sequence of events are revealed out of expected order. A good example of this is the film pulp fiction.
A genre is the term used for categories of film.
There are certain conventions in every type of genre for example blood , knifes , masks , ghosts and abandoned houses would be associated with the horror genre.
Micro elements focus on analyzing a film closely. You would be looking a things like the camera shots , sound and mise-en-scene of a film.
