What filmmaking techniques does North by Northwest use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in North by Northwest (1959): The MacGuffin, Ticking Clock Structure, The Bomb Under the Table and Tracking Shot Choreography.

Who directed North by Northwest?

Alfred Hitchcock directed North by Northwest, released in 1959. CineCode also covers The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

What films are similar to North by Northwest?

Films that share techniques with North by Northwest include Rope (1948), 1917 (2019), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Escape from New York (1981).

Action · Adventure · Mystery

North by Northwest

Alfred Hitchcock, 1959

An advertising executive gets mistaken for a government agent. Foreign spies chase him across the country, and he is pulled into a conspiracy that is never quite what it looks like. It's Hitchcock's most purely fun film, and it's the one that invented the modern action thriller.

3 Narrative 1 Cinematography

At a glance

North by Northwest is a 1959 action, adventure and mystery film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (3 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Rope uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

The MacGuffin

Giving the characters an object, secret or goal that everyone chases. What it actually is barely matters, because its job is to set the characters against each other.

How this film uses it

A MacGuffin is the thing everyone in the plot is chasing. Here, it is government secrets being smuggled out of the country, and the film never says what they are. What they are doesn't matter, as long as everyone believes they matter. The Professor openly admits that 'George Kaplan' doesn't exist. Hitchcock treats the MacGuffin with open contempt. The thing driving the plot is empty, and he wants you to notice.

Where to see it

The Professor's explanation. He admits that Kaplan is made up. The film owns up to how empty the MacGuffin is and doesn't apologize for it.

Narrative

Ticking Clock Structure

Building the story around a clear deadline the hero must beat. The time pressure and the obstacles grow with each scene until the climax.

How this film uses it

Every act of North by Northwest sets a new deadline: get to the UN, survive the crop duster, escape the auction house. Each location is a new trap with a new timer. This is where the film's breathless momentum comes from. Thornhill can't pause, because each place turns dangerous the moment he enters it.

Where to see it

The auction house sequence. Thornhill makes a scene to get himself arrested before Vandamm's men can reach him. The deadline is what forces him to find the solution.

Narrative

The Bomb Under the Table

Showing the audience a danger the characters can't see, like a bomb under a table. An ordinary conversation becomes unbearable suspense, where an unannounced blast would only be a surprise.

How this film uses it

You know Eve is working for Vandamm before Thornhill does. Every close scene between them (her help on the train, her directions to the cornfield) is weighed down by what you know and he doesn't. Hitchcock uses that extra knowledge 2 ways. Scenes that look safe feel dangerous, and scenes that look dangerous feel personal.

Where to see it

Eve giving Thornhill directions to meet Kaplan. You know she is sending him to his death, and that makes the warmth of the scene unbearable.

Cinematography

Tracking Shot Choreography

Moving the camera in 1 long, unbroken and carefully planned shot that follows the action through several spaces. You see how people fit into their world without a single cut.

How this film uses it

Hitchcock and cinematographer Robert Burks plan exact camera movements for the UN lobby sequence. The UN refused permission to film inside, so the lobby was rebuilt as a set at MGM. The planned movement makes the space feel real and stagey at once. The camera's path is so specific that you sense the shape of the space as well as its danger.

Where to see it

The UN lobby sequence. The camera moves with Thornhill through a lobby rebuilt on a studio set. The plot is hard to believe, and the tracking shot roots it in a convincing place.

Questions

North by Northwest: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does North by Northwest use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in North by Northwest (1959): The MacGuffin, Ticking Clock Structure, The Bomb Under the Table and Tracking Shot Choreography.
Who directed North by Northwest?: Alfred Hitchcock directed North by Northwest, released in 1959. CineCode also covers The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943).
What films are similar to North by Northwest?: Films that share techniques with North by Northwest include Rope (1948), 1917 (2019), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Escape from New York (1981).

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