Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window
Submitted by Possum2000 on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
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Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window
I just finished watching Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window in my mass media class. I had seen it before, but I never "actively" viewed it. You've probably seen it, but just in case you haven't, it's about the brief experiences of a photojournalist who broke his leg. He's very bored and resorts to spying on people through his window. The plot thickens when the main character, L.B. Jeffries (Jimmy Stuart), witnesses a potential murder. Hitchcock is the master of suspense and he constantly adds intensity to the story by using pure film and no gimmicks.
We learned about three kinds of shots that Hitchcock used in this film, none of which I knew too much about before viewing Rear Window. An authorial shot is where the camera guides us, the views, where the director wants to go. The film opens with authorial shots in order to show the audience the characters and the setting. There are also point of view shots. These are used in order to see things as the character sees things. Point of view shots are used when L.B. Jeffries, "Jeff", looks out the window. When he uses his telephoto lens, the camera zooms in, as would the view of someone using a magnifying device. Shots like this were very effective in experiencing the story as Jeff does. There are also uses of neutral shots, which are neither the characters' nor the director's point of view. When Jeff's girlfriend, Lisa, is introduced, a neutral shot is used. Through this shot, both characters are shown, as well as how they interact with one another. After learning about the positioning of the camera, I found myself paying attention to what kind of shots were used and how they were successful in where they were used.
The crime on which the plot moves is only an underlying story to present two of the main themes of the movie: marriage and voyeurism. Almost all, if not all, of the characters in Rear Window are described at some point in terms of their relationship with the opposite sex or their marital...
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