North by Northwest

          In "North by Northwest", the mise-en-scene, lightning and framing play the important roles in producing interesting and suspicious scenes. One example of mise-se-scene appears at the beginning of the film. Thornhill is walking and talking with his assistant, everything on the street reflects the face of New York, crowded, hurry and busy. Also, when Eve told him taking the bus to the countryside to meet Kaplan, he is standing at the bus station by himself. An extreme long shot is used to indicate how small he is versus the nature or the situation he is. The wide field and the empty street indicates how alone he is because nobody believes him including his mother. Train is again used in Hitchcock's movie to help someone to escape from danger. The last scene is made on the Mount Rushmore where there are many status of US president because the movie is about the power of US government and the political and economic issues.

          When Thornhill meets Vandamm in the Townsend, the first thing Vandamm does is closing the curtain. Both of the men's faces are in dark because one doesn't know what is happening and the other one is carrying a secret. Then Vandamm turns on the light, but his face is still in dark whereas Thornhill's face is in light. At this point, Hitchcock wants to use lighting to show the contrast between good and evil.    

          Angle of framing is used to indicate the dominant character of the scene. In the same scene, when Leonard is walking to the room, the three characters are talking and the camera is placed above them especially the two men to signify their power over Thornhill (11:03). Also, only half of Thornhill's face is shown in this scene indicates that he is weaker and will be defeated.