Alfred Hitchcock 'North by Northwest'

Alfred Hitchcock's 'north by Northwest', (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIlqatMQSgI) starts off with an animation of some lines shooting across the screen, the credits are on the the lines, the lines finally stop to form what looks like the bars of a prison, this makes the viewer feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic.


      The animation eventually ends up with a fixed pattern, it is at this piont that the animation stops and changes into a film, even though it is only  a small part of the building it is quite clearly a sky scraper, because of the glass and the amount of windows. soon the reflection reveals more by showing the reflection of the traffic below, at this point the viewer is able to locate the buildings location,  because of new Yorks iconic yellow cabs. Then the camera pans down slowly and changes the shot to the bottom of the skyscraper, where we see a crowd of people scurrying around. The choice of music is very clever as it is a very fast piece and it is in a major key, this almost sounds like scurrying which matches the scene we can see.


         The viewer can tell what time of the day it is by the amount of people rushing around. It seems as if it is the evening because of the way all the people are exiting the buildings instead of entering them. we are shown two middle class women fighting over a taxi, this adds to the chaotic surrounding and makes the viewer feel even more uncomfortable, and claustrophobic.