North by Northwest Critical Review

North by Northwest is a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock. The film is about mistaken identity. Our protagonist is mistaken for a secret agent named George Caplin by a smuggler of political information named Philip Vandamm. Vandamm is after Caplin, who's identity is thrust upon the protagonist Roger Thornhill, because of his connections to an undisclosed government agency. Vandamm wants Caplin's information regarding possible government investigations. Soon Thornhill is caught in a murder rap and must find the elusive Caplin before the police or Vandamm's men find him. The script writing of this film is phenomenal, watching the film multiple times leaves you in awe of the forshadowing that Hitchcock and writer Ernest Lehman work into this film. This film is a great example of rising tension. As in the scenes when Thornhill has to escape the city, around every corner there seems to be a policemen or Vandamm cronies. Hitchcock employs long held shots for these scenes effectively conveying a sense of urgency to the audience. An enjoyable aspect of this film was the occasional wise cracks that come from Thornhill, as in the scene during the auction where after invoking a fight with cops to escape Vandamm's thugs he looks one in the eye as he is escorted out and says something to the effect of "better luck next time old boy." This wit and many others like it make this film a good roller coaster of emotions. When the love interest, in the form of Eve Kendall, is introduced there is even an aspect of romance that can be explored in the film. There are also some amazing shots in the film, I have always felt that Hitchcock has a wonderful sense of graphic awareness within his compositions and this film is a testament to that. I'll include some of my favorite screen shots from the film bellow.

The last two stills I included because they were representational of classical innuendoes in older films I would say. It pretty awesome that these two characters talk around having sex and kiss for less than a few seconds at a time because of film codes but at least the train gets to enter that mountain so smoothly.

Impacting Films

There are two main films that I would say have influenced me and my work. The first is Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. This film is on my list be cause I distinctly remember really like the score when I first watched it. I was probably four or five but its such a vivid memory, I would always hope that my parents would watch the movie because of the first scene where the dinosaurs are shown. The trumpets and strings make the whole scene so epic, especially for a young jorge soto. I guess that experience stuck with me. The second film that really got me interested in the deeper meaning of a film was Pink Floyd's The Wall. This was probably the first movie that made me question the film critically. The film includes a few Film Collages that were interesting to consider in context of the story. The use of lighting and camera angles also made for an interesting view. I enjoy it still today although I do have to admit that it has become a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Mies-En-Scen

As inspiration for my horror film I referenced three films aesthetic style that I enjoy. I used The Last Circus, Hesher, and Che Part II. These three films handle lighting in a way that creates a lot of contrasts and I think that is how I want my short to look. Che is a great film that I love. I love the feeling that is given in the jungle scenes. A lot of my film will deal with mans relationship with nature and the sublime beauty of it. I want the sublime aspects of nature and the impotence of man to be the one of the obstacles in my short and I feel that Steve Soderburge did a good job of that in Che. 

Reference Video

This video is pretty great. I enjoy the strait forward aproach with the lighting. Keeping lights hard and from one or maybe two sources. I also enjoy the campfire shots, mostly because they add an extra feel of strangeness. I know that humans are not used to seeing light coming up on what we see from underneath, giving the subject matter an extra surrealist feel. I think this is pretty strait forward in terms of horror/thriller. The twist at the end is good as well.

Technical Issues to Tackle

This semester I have been asked to list a techniques that I wish to work on and better understand. The list is bellow, I have chosen these based on my personal experience with them and some that I have never really fully grasped.
-Depth of Field/ Rack Focusing
-3 Point Lighting
-The Effect of Frame Rate and Different Light Temps on the Mies-en-scene
-Image Distortion by Free Lensing
-Manipulation of Lighting to Effect Mood/Tone
-Color Correction
-Utilizing Compositing Software Effectively
-Vertigo Shot
-Adobe Primer pro?
-Color Correction/ Color Coding