Hitchcock was known to storyboard meticulously. This seems in line with his persona that included his keen eye for detail. My choice of North By Northwest (1959), as the film to introduce storyboarding to my young audience, only seems natural. For a film made almost 50 years ago, the sequence of Cary Grant's character, Thornhill, being mowed down by an airplane still does not fail to grip audiences from this century.
We begin with the Extreme Long Shot, Thornhill getting off the bus, camera a good 100 feet up in the sky, a wide lens, the bus and the alighting figure little ants set against a vast landscape. We work our way through, the Long Shots of Thornhill and the farmer standing on either side of the camera, this time the camera low down on the asphalt. The POV shots as Thornhill and farmer size one another and the tracking POV as Thornhill approaches the farmer - sheer genius. I check with my students, "Do you get the Point of View (POV)?" They nod. Its when the camera becomes a person in the film looking on at happenings as a participant witness. Among all the performing arts, the POV shot is cinema’s unique gift to the audience that screams - “Come! Be in this movie.”
The zooming Close-up comes in when Thornhill is staring at the oncoming truck. He must absolutely stop the truck if he is to save himself! Its counter shot is the Close-up of the radiator grill of the truck headed straight at Thornhill's face. Another astoundingly gripping POV achieved by slowing down the camera’s frame rate. The dramatic end, oil tanker and plane collide and go up in flames.
Our kids sit through this, their jaws dropped, as we watch the sequence over and over, peeling off the layers. Questions come flying at me. How was the first shot achieved, high up in the sky? Was it a helicopter? How are the tracking shots done? How did they do the collision of the airplane and oil tanker. The answer to the last required a review. It's a special effect using miniatures. They can see when we pause on the shot and look at it closely. Salona says, “It (the truck) looks too clean.” Siddarth points out, “And the man under the truck is a dummy. He doesn’t move.” I’m happy. They get it.
Meera asks the final question, "So what happens next?" Well, that's exactly what Hitchcock wants us to ask. The only way to find out is to stay and watch his movie. All made possible, thanks to the storyboard.
We break up to do the storyboard for 5-6 films we will be shooting on April 17th, 2008. Exciting!
Children in the Junior FIlmCamp watching Hitchcocks’ film
North By Northwest understanding storyboard.
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