Techniques Used in Alfred Hitchcock's The Rear Window
Marta
Alfred Hitchcock was an amazing director and his films have lived on and are still thriving today due to the techniques he used in his films and the way he created them. He was known for taking the least probable scenarios and turning them into a masterpiece just by playing with light and form or angles. Some of these films are Psycho, Perfect Crime, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Rear Window. At first it was quite difficult to pinpoint a particular film to choose as he used brilliant techniques in all of them. However, I have chosen to talk about Rear Window. This is because the fact that the whole film occurs in the same setting and still holds our interest is very hard to do but he was able to by using diverse camera angles and playing with lighting.
The film Rear Window is about a man called Jeffries who breaks his leg on one of his many photographing expeditions and is confined to his bed, he starts observing his neighbors and suspects that the man across the courtyard has murdered his wife. Jeff then asks his girlfriend, friend and nurse to help him solve the mystery. Hitchcock used the fact that Jeff is in a wheelchair to shape his whole film since everything occurs from one setting. Hitchcock also used the fact that Jeff is a photographer to make it seem like through the film they are looking through a camera. He uses panning with a slight jolt as the camera moves to make it seem like the audience is the camera while Jeff is holding it.
As the film progresses there are many fades as he falls asleep.The audience also sees his facial expressions before they see what he’s looking at which creates suspense. Many mid shots are used when looking at the neighbors which is a good camera angle to use since all they see is what the shot lets them, even though there are other sounds in the background which makes the audience want to see everything. He also plays with light. For example, there is a scene when Jeff wakes up and all is quiet and he looks
Alfred Hitchcock was an amazing director and his films have lived on and are still thriving today due to the techniques he used in his films and the way he created them. He was known for taking the least probable scenarios and turning them into a masterpiece just by playing with light and form or angles. Some of these films are Psycho, Perfect Crime, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Rear Window. At first it was quite difficult to pinpoint a particular film to choose as he used brilliant techniques in all of them. However, I have chosen to talk about Rear Window. This is because the fact that the whole film occurs in the same setting and still holds our interest is very hard to do but he was able to by using diverse camera angles and playing with lighting.
The film Rear Window is about a man called Jeffries who breaks his leg on one of his many photographing expeditions and is confined to his bed, he starts observing his neighbors and suspects that the man across the courtyard has murdered his wife. Jeff then asks his girlfriend, friend and nurse to help him solve the mystery. Hitchcock used the fact that Jeff is in a wheelchair to shape his whole film since everything occurs from one setting. Hitchcock also used the fact that Jeff is a photographer to make it seem like through the film they are looking through a camera. He uses panning with a slight jolt as the camera moves to make it seem like the audience is the camera while Jeff is holding it.
As the film progresses there are many fades as he falls asleep.The audience also sees his facial expressions before they see what he’s looking at which creates suspense. Many mid shots are used when looking at the neighbors which is a good camera angle to use since all they see is what the shot lets them, even though there are other sounds in the background which makes the audience want to see everything. He also plays with light. For example, there is a scene when Jeff wakes up and all is quiet and he looks
Cited: Sharff, Stefan. The Art of Looking in Hitchcock 's Rear Window. New York: Limelight Editions, 1997. Print. Hitchcock, Alfred. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock Presents )New York,1954. 23 May 1014.