"North by NorthWest" The Perfect Trhiller

                NORTH BY NORTHWEST

"NORTH BY NORTHWEST" IS IN MANY PEOPLES OPINION THE PERFECT THRILLER. 
NORTH BY NORTHWEST WAS RELEASED IN 1959, 
ALFRED HITCHCOCK DIRECTED THE MOVIE, 
THE WRITER OF THE MOVIE WAS ERNEST LEHMAN,
THE MAIN STARS OF THE MOVIE WERE; 

EVA MARIE SAINT

                    

CARY GRANT

JAMES MASON 

SUMMARY OF NORTH BY NORTHWEST:

A ‘innocent’ New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

                                                                   

HITCHCOCK'S WORKING METHODS 

Hitchcock always planned every scene visually in advance.

 Before shooting Hitchcock learns all the dialogue and rarely needs to look at the script.
When directing, Hitchcock never looked at the camera – he always imagined he was looking at a cinema screen.

                                                                   

"NORTH BY NORTHWEST" Triller Conventions

"Triller movies are characterised by fact pacing, frequent action".

An example of this could be the last scene at the end of the movie on the cliff top, when Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint are running away from the antagonists and they have to climb down the cliff.

"Thrillers have resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains". This is true in North by Northwest as Cary Grant is the resourceful hero who has to thwart the plans of James Mason who is the more powerful villain.

                                                                    

Hitchcock - Two clever techniques

SETTING --> Its very important. Mount Rushmore is a symbol of order - Hitchcock throws in disorder, so that the story contradicts the setting of the movie.

RELIEF FROM SUSPENSE -->  Hitchcock says that audiences often need it - a change of pace - possibly a laugh. 

                                                                    

"THE MCGUFFIN"

    Hitchcock said the McGuffin is the plot device that causes the action to happen. 

    The McGuffin usually comes in the first part of the film and sometimes returns at the end. 

    In Hitchcock thrillers the audience don't really care about the McGuffin. 

    In "North by Northwest" it is the Microfilm that is the McGuffin.

                                                                    

Use Of The Camera

WIDE SHOT

POINT OF VIEW SHOT 

CLOSE UP

                               

HIGH ANGLE

LOW ANGLE 

CAMERA SHOTS:

- long shot[LS]         
- wide shot[WS]       
- medium shot[MS]       

EXTREME CLOSE UP

- close up[CU]       
- extreme close up[ECU] 
- point of view[POV]    

- low angle           
- high angle 

TRACKING SHOT

CAMERA MOVEMENT

PANORAMA

STEADICAM

- Pan          
- Tilt             
- Crane shot   
- Tracking shot   
- Rolling shot 

ROLLING SHOT

- Steadicam

CRANE SHOT

PAN & TILT

Thriller Conventions (Prezi)

Genre & Narrative

GENRE AND NARRATIVE 

What is a Genre?
Genre is a style or category of movies, art, literature or music, the word genre comes from the French. 

Narrative:
Narrative is how a story or a movie is organised. Narrative Structure is the way those events are revealed to the viewers. Two types of Narrative Structure is Linear and Non-Linear. When a movie has a Linear structure it means that all the events are happening in chronological order, whereas if the movie has a Non-Linear structure the events are happening in non-chronological structure.

The Brief

Coursework Brief

I have been asked to produce the titles and opening sequence of a new fiction film in the thriller genre. The sequence should last a maximum of 2 minutes.

- i may work in a group of 2-4 classmates

- as the acting in this sequence wont be assessed i am free to use actors that are not part of my group

- the film is worth 60% of my coursework grade

- my accompanying blog is 40% of my coursework grade

- together my foundation portfolio is worth 50% of the overall AS Level.

Welcome

                                WELCOME

Hello my name is Gintare Tamosynaite, i enjoy media because we get to talk about all the TV shows, movies, and music that we like, some of the genres of movies and TV shows that are my favourite are horror, fiction, action, adventure and thriller. 

My favourite movie is "Pirates of the Caribbean" more specifically "On Stranger Tides".

Pirates of the Caribbean is a mixture of Action, Fantasy, Adventure and Swashbuckler.

All these genres make a movie very intense and mysterious, it makes the audience watch the movie on the edge of their seat, as it has various action and adventure conventions that make the movie exciting. 

Two of my favourite TV shows are American Horror Story and The Walking Dead. Both of these shows are Horror Fiction, i like this type of genre because it induces feelings of fear and terror onto the viewer, it also has the intention to scare the audience. Horror Fiction movies/TV shows have the capacity to scare, disgust, or startle their audience. In both series many of the episodes are non-linear and usually end with cliffhangers.