How does Hitchcock draw the audience into this scene? Refer to film form you consider important to the narrative.
How does Hitchcock draw the audience into this scene? Refer to film form you consider important to the narrative.
The film I am drawing on to get the scene is 'North by Northwest'. Described by Paul Duncan (biographer/critic) as "the last word in the light hearted chase romp ... 5 out of 5" it is definitely one of Hitchcock's most classic and highly thought of films. Made in 1959 in between 'Vertigo' and 'Psycho', this was most assuredly made at the highest points of Hitchcock's career, a time when he was at his most commercially successful, and a time that critics would hail as his 'Golden Age'. After making the practically silent 'Vertigo' he went back to an idea from one of his earlier films 'The Wrong Man'. This time, though, he had the heavyweight pulling power of Cary Grant and James Mason. While NBNW could have been called 'The Wrong Man', he approached the subject this time in a completely different way. The same concerns and themes stayed on board, but he ditched the documentary style, and the black and white of the previous, and made a much more commercially viable and no less interesting film. Because it was a commercial film, Hitchcock had to change tack to create meaning within it, and this produces something very special. The film moves effortlessly from classic scene to classic scene.
The film is about a man who is mistaken for an American spy by enemy spies. As the film progresses we discover that the unfortunate character has actually been mistaken for a persona created by the CIA who doesn't even exist. The persona is just a decoy, to draw the enemy agents away from real CIA agents. Our hero (played by Cary Grant) escapes and tries to find out who George Kaplan - this mystery agent - is. This is because he has been arrested by the police and charged with murder, and they wont believe his fantastical tale about being kidnapped by evil agents. As ever, identity is a big issue in this stalwart Hitchcockian production, and other classic traits - such as the over bearing mother and 'the train' make their appearance.
Roger Thornhill, Cary Grant's character goes to a road in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but cornfields, where he supposedly will meet the non-existent agent Kaplan. He has been sent there by the seemingly duplicitous character Eve, the blonde femme fatale. When the scene begins the audience has information that Thornhill, at this point, does not have. We know that George Kaplan doesn't exist, so we know Roger is not going to be meeting him. From the previous scenes, we suspect that Eve is trying to set Roger up.
We have seen her on the telephone to the enemy agents who are trying to kill him, and from our previous knowledge of film we assume almost immediately that she is a femme fatale stock character. This is because she is blonde and very attractive (always a bad sign), and also because almost immediately after meeting Roger she sleeps with him. This is not a normal occurrence, usually women have to be fought for in films, so we assume she has something to gain by sleeping with him. We assume that she is a bad character who uses her sexuality to gain control over our hero. As with many other assumptions that Hitchcock lets us have, we are wrong. Yet at this point all we know is that she is the one who has sent him to this field in the middle of nowhere. So, before the scene has even started, we already feel tense, because of our previous knowledge. This sets up the scene, along with expectations, anxieties and fears on behalf of Roger O. Thornhill
A typical version of this sort of scene would involve a dark alley at night. We prepare ourselves before the scene for that setting where the would be victim would be waiting under a streetlight. There would be shots of black cats, dark alleyways, large spots of darkness in general. If the victim wasn't a main character he/she would be stabbed from behind and left to die in the alley, having unwittingly fallen into their trap. Even if the hero was caught there he would be hard pressed to escape, and only due to a bungle by the ...
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A typical version of this sort of scene would involve a dark alley at night. We prepare ourselves before the scene for that setting where the would be victim would be waiting under a streetlight. There would be shots of black cats, dark alleyways, large spots of darkness in general. If the victim wasn't a main character he/she would be stabbed from behind and left to die in the alley, having unwittingly fallen into their trap. Even if the hero was caught there he would be hard pressed to escape, and only due to a bungle by the villain. We had all seen it before and prepared ourselves for the underhand confrontation
Yet Hitchcock himself puts it;
"It is a flat landscape, treeless, houseless, shelterless, parched, stretching away apparently to infinity on all sides." (Robin Wood, Hitchcock's Films Revisited) .Our hero is absolutely exposed and vulnerable. We now feel a different fear and anticipation for his safety. The scene is a master exercise in suspense, because we are more worried than we were before because of our lack of knowledge of the situation. We know more than the character, but we are still unsure as to what is going to happen next. Our world is thrown into uncertainty as we are no longer completely omniscient. It throws into a world of confusion. I think Alfred Hitchcock manages to describe it more concisely-
"Now, what was the antithesis of a scene like this? No darkness, no pool of light, no mysterious figures in windows. Just nothing. Just bright sunshine and a blank, open countryside with barely a house or tree in which any lurking menaces could hide."
-Alfred Hitchcock
In other words, he took what could have been a cliched, predictable scene and created the antithesis. This is the genius of Hitchcock. You can rarely say anything is typical of him as he never created and a single way of doing anything. He could have seen this antithesis as a challenge for both himself and his audience, to see whether he could effectively create this sort of opposite.
The scene begins with a long shot of the bus coming down the road, and the fields around it. This shot makes us realise how barren and open the place is. There is nowhere to run. We almost know what to expect, but we are in an unfamiliar setting. This satisfies both needs of a mainstream audience, to be surprised and yet to be secure in the knowledge of what's happening next. It is also a high angle shot, which gives a lot of information. It makes us feel as if we are in a precarious place, which heightens our anticipation. Also, because we feel more knowledgeable from this vantage point we feel as if something bad is going to happen, because we feel detached from the scene. It also gives us a clue as to where the threat is going to come from, the sky, but at this point it is hard to pick up on that. There is no sound, other than that of the bus, this also adds to the vulnerability of the setting. This shot is on screen for several seconds - the length of the shot indicates the distance that Roger would have to run for cover. The bus stops and Roger gets off. The shot remains the same, as his last link to civilisation is severed. The silence is deafening. It says more than any other noise in the film. The bus roars off into the distance, leaving us alone. We can feel the emptiness by the lack of sound, as when the bus has gone there is no sound left. After the thunderous sound of the bus, a huge chasm of silence is left. Here is a man who is an urban tiger. In hectic bustle of the city he is on sure ground, and king of his castle. Here he is just a defenceless man.
What follows is a medium shot of Roger; he is holding his hands together looking around. Behind him are just fields. So far we have had three shots after the bus - Roger, Rogers POV and Roger again. All these three have emphasised how alone Roger is, by showing the background, how desolate and barren it is. The fourth shot supports this - again it is Rogers POV - we have now seen four different angles, all 360 degrees around Roger. Here, it is the editing that is drawing us in, through its emphasis on Roger's isolation, he is completely alone with nowhere to go. It is emphasised through the editing, but clearly stated through the mise-en-scene. Roger is completely surrounded by nothing, accentuating his vulnerability. To put it another way, the nothingness engulfs him. The is all clearly shown by his POV shots, all that surrounds him is desert, the land of the free and wild men. A sight that completely conflicts traditional mise en scene for thrillers and would be far more at home in a Western. It helps to feel what he is feeling, it makes us feel alone and defenceless. The previous shots established that information, these shots help us to empathise.
We cut back to the medium shot of Roger, who is growing increasingly anxious. We settle into a pattern of shot - POV shot, as Roger looks around him. Then we hear a car. We readily expect this to be the killer, as we have already suffered so much tension. We, once again, take Rogers POV as he watches the car move toward him. Seeing the car set against such a desolate background heightens the feeling of solitude. We are again placed in Roger's position, and we are meant to experience the trepidation that he feels. In fact, because of the knowledge that we, the audience, have, this shot purports to be a much scarier situation. This car could hold his killers, and as we feel to be in his shoes, we are frightened for ourselves as we are for the killer. He is anticipating Kaplan's arrival. Placed in his point of view adds tension and our involvement with this scene.
One of Hitchcock's greatest tools is the red herring, as Phillip Noyce confirms;
"Usually in movies, the threat comes not from where you think it is going to come, but from somewhere else. One of the great tricks is to expose the character and audience to a threat and then eliminate that threat, so they think "Ah, everything's OK," but then to bring in the real shock moment."
-Phillip Noyce, director of Dead Calm
Often films deliver this safe predictability, so the audience feels in control, yet Hitchcock refuses to do this and heightens the tension.
When the characters are shown a threat, the audience becomes tense because they identify with the character.
Roy Armes said about Hitchcock that
"He is careful to make us identify with his innocent heroes, so that we share emotionally the danger he places them in"
All the car does, though, is drive by. We have been built up to expect something and let down. The audience gets drawn further and further in, as the more tense and anxious we get, the more involved we become with the characters, and the scene.
The first threat is eliminated as we see the car pull away.
Then we hear another engine, and are expectations are raised again. But no, again, the car drives straight past Roger. Once again we have been set up, and let down, but every time we are let down, our expectations and tension is higher, further drawing us in.
A lorry comes by, and the audience is still thinking, "This must be it," but again it drives by, making Roger invisible in a cloud of dust, which in a way relates to his situation, this image is symbolic in that Roger cannot see/understand what is going on around him. When Roger re-appears through the dust, we are once again let down, and still left waiting. Roger once again looks around him. This time, a car is coming through the roads across the field, not where we expected, but surely this must be it? As the car pulls up, we are waiting, the audience is at it's most tense. Each red herring has been seen with an establishing shot, which gives us the information of what is coming (and knowledge is often frightening). We have then had to sit through them in a POV shot, so that we empathise . We have become tense and then relieved, then tense again because we are anticipating what is to happen next. Hitchcock himself said
"In all suspense, the most important thing is to give an audience information. You cannot expect an audience to get anxieties without information."
He lets us have the knowledge, then create our own anxieties. We wonder what this car holds in store for Roger, and what it holds for us, as we are in his shoes.
A man gets out of the car and stands on the other side of the road. The car drives away, and the man looks at Roger. They are facing each other, and as we get a shot of both of them together, it is so reminiscent of a Western face off that the threat seems immense. The surrounding desert and the uneasy stance with which they face each other makes it look like it is going to be a classic confrontation. The shot also shows us how alone Roger is. He has got nowhere to run.
Roger begins to walk toward him, believing him to be George Kaplan. While we, the audience, believe him to be the assassin. We feel like shouting at Roger not to cross the road as he does so, and the tension is increased again.
Roger: Hot day.
Man: Seen worse.
Roger: Are you supposed to be meeting anyone here?
Man: Waiting for the bus. Due any minute.
Roger: Oh.
Man: Some of those crop duster pilots get rich.
Our tension is deflated immediately by the mans casual tones, and we realise this is not the assassin, or has anything to do with it. At the same time we are alerted to another place where the danger might be coming from, the fields.
We then take Rogers POV as he sees the crop dusting plane on the horizon.
Roger realises through the conversation that this is not his man. This means he has to continue waiting. The threat comes from another place, the approaching bus. As the scene reverts to the silence again which has been making us so tense, we contemplate whether the plane was another red herring and whether this is the real danger.
Man: That's funny.
Roger: What?
Man: That plane's dusting crops where there ain't no crops.
Immediately the crop-dusting plane has become the centre of our attention as we realise that would be the best way to get him out in the country. Just because of that sentence our anxieties are raised and we know. The man gets on the bus, no-one gets off, and it drives away, leaving Roger alone with the plane. Roger is yet to realise that this will be the threat, which makes us more anxious.
"It's necessary to show the approaching plane, even before Cary Grant spots it, because if the shot is too fast, the plane is in and out of the frame too quickly for the viewer to realise what 's happening."
-Alfred Hitchcock
As the plane moves further toward him, he begins to realise this, though he does not move. As we watch it fly towards us from a POV shot from Roger's position, our anxiety is increased again, as we are placed in his shoes again. A reaction shot shows him only just grasping what is about to happen, and the speed of the editing as it cuts from POV to reaction shot increases as the plane gets closer. The POV shot is always from the same position, which worries us because the plane is getting closer and we are going nowhere. Our anxiety is increased by our helplessness. Roger manages to finally get out of the way just as plane flies over him. The suspension of the scene gives way to action.
Hitchcock draws us into this scene in a number of ways. He uses the audience's previous knowledge to turn every red herring into a likely suspect. He uses POV shots to make us empathise with the character, and reaction shots to give us information. We feel things and use our imagination because of our knowledge. He uses false alarms, editing and the subversion of conventions. He creates tension masterfully, and tension is not just a part of fear that can be played upon to create anxiety, but it is also a great way to create suspense, to make people want to find out more. To draw them in.
