My write up of notes on the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest.
The sequence starts with a screen flooded in green. The colour green has conitations of envy, greed, guilt and even nature. These all show aspects of the film, even nature, only this makes an appearance in the form of human nature and how we would rather have someone else take the blame than ourselves.
The green is interrupted by lines cutting through the green. This could represent life in that some people run parallel to others never meeting, never knowing of each others existence yet they live a parallel life. These same lines are then interrupted by lines from the top and from the bottom. This could be showing how people intercept each others lives. It could also be that the lines are representing a metaphor of life cut short. The converging lines also give a feeling of entrapment.
The music (mainly consisting of violins) follows the lines that intercept the green. As a new set of lines comes in so does a new set of cords from the violins.
Dissolving from the green to a city skyline it becomes apparent that the lines were following the edges of the window frames on the side of a building. The iconic setting and props allow the viewer to get a quick idea of the location the film is set.
Another dissolve this time to a long shot a street at rush hour. The people and the clothes they are wearing establish the time period that the film is set.
The high angle of the camera, used for most of the shots in the title sequence gives the viewer a feeling of power and superiority over the people seen crowding into subway tunnels and onto buses.
The people are dehumanized as they are seen violently striking at people just to get taxi.
The titles and credits themselves could be said to be simple with the only striking thing about them being the angles they are placed at.
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