North By North-West - Title Sequence Breakdown and Analysis

North By North West

With this film we focused solely on the title sequence, looking at the order in which it was presented. The first thing that we noticed was that the main production company appeared on the screen and lingered for around 15 seconds. After that the actors names appeared in order of how long they starred in the movie and how famous they where at the time of the movies release. The names appeared slanted on parallel lines that resembled the windows of a skyscraper. We thought that this foreshadowed some kind of corruption within multinational organisations. We thought this because a skyscraper represents rich and powerful people. This, compiled with the suspenseful soundtrack gives the impression that there is danger, and corruption going on in this building or its powerful founders. After this, the music changed. The music became much faster, increasing the suspenseful atmosphere of the title sequence. Next the title sequence fades into people walking in, out and around this big building. This is perhaps done to show the importance of the building, and to hint to the audience that what's going on inside could affect all of the city/civilians. Following this, the title sequence just contains a few establishing shots that shows a very busy and hectic city.