Editing is one of the most unappreciated aspects of films. Many people don’t know who the editors are on their favorite movies. Even though editing is the glue that holds a movie together. Editing possesses the ability to make a movie good or bad. In cases like Batman vs Superman for instance, editing can be a major flaw, whereas in Mad Max:Fury Road it can be a major strength. In North By Northwest, the editing is a major strength of the film. Hitchcock uses editing to manipulate the viewer’s mind and show off a variety of different shots to build character relationships and tension. The greatness of the editing in North By Northwest can be seen in two scenes, the dining car scene and the crop duster scene, in these two scenes Hitchcock uses
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It starts as stated previously, slowly. Hitchcock shows the viewer a long establishing shot of barren crop land and a bus approaching the camera and coming to a stop, leaving behind Roger. Now, the viewer knows that Roger is waiting for the real George Kaplan and is expecting some sort of reveal. Hitchcock knows this and plays with the viewer’s expectations from this point on. First, Hitchcock reminds the viewer of how barren the landscape is, as he has Roger survey his surroundings. The viewer is given two of what seems to be POV shots from Roger’s perspective as he gazes upon the landscape. Next, the sound of a car can be heard, and the camera cuts to a similar shot of the road, what seems to be a POV shot from Roger’s point of view. The viewer as Roger, sees a speck of a car make its way down the road. Cut to Roger, craning his head,hoping the car is George Kaplan, only to see it whiz by as the camera cuts back to his POV shot of the road. This repeats two more times, each time, the viewer and Roger thinking that one of the passing cars is Kaplan, only for them to just by. By now the tension in the scene is palpable and the viewer has questions, where is Kaplan? Is he going to show up? By showing those cars whiz by, Hitchcock ratchets up the suspense. The next shot is a car emerging from the country road connected to a farm. Surely, this must be Kaplan, right? The car stops and an older looking man exits, walks to the edge of the road and waits. Now this is again a POV long shot, but interspersed are medium long shots of Roger inspecting the man. What comes next is a great long shot of the two men separated by the road. Hitchcock then cuts between series of shots: medium close up of Roger- long shot of man. Roger moves across the road, the camera tracks him in a medium shot. By withholding the identity of the man,
It starts as stated previously, slowly. Hitchcock shows the viewer a long establishing shot of barren crop land and a bus approaching the camera and coming to a stop, leaving behind Roger. Now, the viewer knows that Roger is waiting for the real George Kaplan and is expecting some sort of reveal. Hitchcock knows this and plays with the viewer’s expectations from this point on. First, Hitchcock reminds the viewer of how barren the landscape is, as he has Roger survey his surroundings. The viewer is given two of what seems to be POV shots from Roger’s perspective as he gazes upon the landscape. Next, the sound of a car can be heard, and the camera cuts to a similar shot of the road, what seems to be a POV shot from Roger’s point of view. The viewer as Roger, sees a speck of a car make its way down the road. Cut to Roger, craning his head,hoping the car is George Kaplan, only to see it whiz by as the camera cuts back to his POV shot of the road. This repeats two more times, each time, the viewer and Roger thinking that one of the passing cars is Kaplan, only for them to just by. By now the tension in the scene is palpable and the viewer has questions, where is Kaplan? Is he going to show up? By showing those cars whiz by, Hitchcock ratchets up the suspense. The next shot is a car emerging from the country road connected to a farm. Surely, this must be Kaplan, right? The car stops and an older looking man exits, walks to the edge of the road and waits. Now this is again a POV long shot, but interspersed are medium long shots of Roger inspecting the man. What comes next is a great long shot of the two men separated by the road. Hitchcock then cuts between series of shots: medium close up of Roger- long shot of man. Roger moves across the road, the camera tracks him in a medium shot. By withholding the identity of the man,