North by Northwest, Prairie Croners Essay
...gas tanker down the road he runs it front of it and desperately tries to slow it down. The Truck stops but almost runs Thornhill over in the process of doing so. As the Truck does come to a stop the plane crashes into the side of it. Cars stop on the road to se what has happened and when the go to see it Thornhill jumps in a mans truck with a fridge in back and drives off. In this seen there are several views of how you can see he used space and made it seem like he was all alone in this huge barren area with nobody to help him. When there is an Arial shot of the opening part of the seen just shows the vastness of the area and how alone and in danger he is. The scans around the land as he is standing next to road all lone waiting for Kaplan. The time in this seen is always being delayed over and over to raise the suspense of the seen. As each car drives by the viewer expects it to be Kaplan. When the man gets dropped off across from him you expect it to be Kaplan but again it is not and time is delayed even longer through out the scene. This is like the rest of the movie time is always delayed you always think you no what’s coming but it never happens that way it always delayed to raise the suspense. Thornhill’s facial exprecians and the way he lis looking around and acting are a huge part of the action because it gives the viewer a sense of what is going on and the mood of the scene. Also the other big part of the action is him trying to survive the plane attacking him. Thornhill’s action is seen lets you no that he will survive to make it to the next seen and that he know knows there is no Kaplan. From this point on he assumes the identity of Kaplan in the movie. The use space, time and action is what makes this scene at prairie corners so suspenseful and so effective. The use of space in the scene of prairie corners starts out by showing how huge and vast this barren crop land is out in the middle of know where. A bus comes into the scene by a aerial shot you see Thornhill get off of the bus and the aerial view continues until the bus leaves the screen. It gives the viewer the sense that he is out there all by himself, all alone with no one to help. The next shot were Roger looking around the vast landscape of barren land also shows how he is in danger and that he is all alone. When the plane attacks him and there is no place to go there is the same affect with the use of space. Hitchcock’s use of space in this whole seen give you the effect of when your reading the seen that Roger is in danger and that he has no place to go which makes it more suspenseful. This use of space in the prairie corners scene links to other scenes in NXNW like when he’s trying to escape from Vandamn and his henchmen at his lair and up on the mountain. There should be plenty of places to hide and plenty places to run and not get caught but again there is the affect that there is no place to go no place to hide. The way that Hitchcock used space wouldn’t have been possible or as affective as it was, but the way the he used time in the scene made it affective and possible. The way that Hitchcock used time with in this scene is one of most suspenseful part to the it. Its was in the way that he did it, he delayed the time and delayed each part of the scene allow the suspense of the scene to keep growing and growing. It starts out in the beginning when Thornhill see’s the cars coming from a L.S. then back to a M.S. of him then back to the car at a L.S. again. Each time a car goes by he’s think is it Kaplan but the viewer knows it’s not going to be Kaplan it is going to be someone trying to kill him. So as each car does go by your wondering if it is going to be someone bad. Each time this happens Hitchcock is delaying the time more and more as each car goes by the suspense builds. Then a you see a car driving down the dirt road in front of Thornhill, viewing threw an eye-level shot. A man gets out of the car and stands across form Roger. Hitchcock again delaying the time to ad suspense by showing Roger looking at this man and wondering who he is. He then shows a low angle L.S. of the two men standing on each side of the road ,which delays time even more. Thornhill finally walks over and talks to the man. He finds out he is not Kaplan and not of and importance, just waiting for the bus. In one way the suspense is dropped a little because he is a nobody but then again Hitchcock as delayed time even more, something is going to happen and it hasn’t yet which adds more suspense. The Man looks up and say’s “that plane is dustin’ crop...