Rear Window: Film Analysis and Audio Study

Rear Window Panning Scene:

Many parallels can be drawn between the ending of the movie and the opening pan shot. First, the dancer is preparing food in the opening shot; and in the closing shot she and the man who came into her home were about to have breakfast. Next, in both clips after the shot of the dancer, it pans over to L.B. Jeffries sitting in his wheelchair. In both clips, Jeffries is revealed to have a new broken leg. Music plays loudly over the dialogue in both scenes. Through this juxtaposition of the beginning and ending clips, Hitchcock is essentially saying that though bad things can and do happen, normalcy is often resumed without a second thought. Additionally, the shift in the mood/the characters can be seen between these two clips. In the beginning one, many people,including the dancer and Jeffries, are alone; it is incredibly hot and sweaty, which symbolizes tension; and the broken camera and the pictures of exploding cars illustrate the conflict that is about to ensue. However, in the ending clips, no one is alone, the music is objectively happier, and people are no longer bothered by the heat. Hitchcock is able to tell the plot of the film in just these two clips by showing how easily the characters can adapt, and juxtaposing conflict with relative peace.

Rear Window Analysis:

Video Analysis:

I like how direct and detailed this analysis is. It points out small cues that I never noticed, such as Lisa wearing cuffed jeans rather than her usual fancy dresses and reading about travel. It also opens a "window" into her and Jeffries' relationship, commenting that it has improved since earlier in the film, and that the characters are now more comfortable in each others' presence.

Personal Analysis:

I thought the use of perspective in this film was very interesting. We as viewers only saw the neighborhood through the eyes of Jeffries. This is logical, as Hitchcock likely wanted us to believe that a murder had in fact taken place. He wanted our only source of information to come from the perspective of Jeffries himself, so he kept it limited.