Hitchcockian Style in Rear Window

Hitchcockian Style in Rear Window Alfred Hitchcock was renowned for making films in a distinct manner, especially when considering his more recent motion pictures. Whereas he initially employed a series of styles during his early years as a film director, he gradually came to develop his own technique. Terms such as suspense, emotion, and simplicity are likely to spring into mind when considering Hitchcockian style. The director's 1954 film Rear Window makes no exception from the rule and puts across a storyline and a filming process that are characteristic to Hitchcock.

The motion picture presents viewers with an account involving a morbid attitude in regard to voyeurism and to human curiosity in general. Hitchcock was convinced that it is essential for audiences to identify with particular characters in his films from time to time. Moreover, he considered that one should not perceive the camera as being a simple object, as it can presumably take on human qualities and can behave similar to a pair of eyes that follow characters and objects with an air of suspicion (Fawell).

This technique encourages viewers to get actively involved in the film's story, as they feel that some scenes provide them with the opportunity to uncover the motion picture's hidden elements. The director learnt a great deal about using cameras with the purpose of telling stories during the era that he spent making silent films, given that camera movement was very important in assisting viewers in understanding more regarding certain moments in film.

Viewers are influenced by the camera in identifying with the central character, but they also come to judge him and his behavior. This is typical to Hitchcock, as he introduces a feeling of ambiguity in order to have people think that they are unable to tell what happens next (Fawell). Viewers fell that they are accomplices in this story but they also tend to criticize the main character for his actions.

The fact that Hitchcock uses far shots to depict other neighbors and their behavior appears to have audiences make fun of these people, but it is also likely to trigger feelings related to compassion in viewers, as they come to feel that some people's lives are empty.

The apartment complex where the action in Rear Window takes place is not only described through the way that it is filmed, as Hitchcock also used sound with the purpose of having audiences feel that they become familiar with the overall context of the film.

Hitchcock's work with sound provided him with even more resources that he could involve into his films, as "the silent cinema becomes a touchstone in rethinking the possibilities of the close-up for the sound era, both in terms of the face and of the face's relationship to the object" (Mcelhaney 67). Hitchcock was especially concerned about scenes where he could employ three-cornered arrangements involving sight, sound, and observers. This can be seen at the time when the protagonist in Rear Window, L.B.

"Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart), speaks over the phone with a detective friend and watches the antagonist, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr). Rear Window had a strong effect on film communities at the time when it appeared, considering that it presented them with matters that were virtually amazing. The fact that the film was produced at a moment when Hitchcock was experiencing his apogee most likely contributed to its overall character. One of the surprising facts regarding the film is that it puts across a feeling of warmth uncharacteristic to Hitchcock.

This is because of the motion picture's screenwriter, John Michael Hayes, who managed to introduce a series of elements meant to compensate for the depressing feelings that Hitchcock apparently wanted the film to put across. Hitchcock generally wanted audiences to focus more on the emotions that his characters felt than on the characters themselves (Fawell 3). Hitchcock worked closely with several actors that he considered to be very important for the overall feelings that his films put across.

Grace Kelly, the actor playing Lisa Fremont, was one of them, and, similar to Hayes, she contributed to bringing elements that the motion picture generally lacked with the purpose of presenting viewers with diversity (Fawell 3). The actor brings glamour into the film, but does not detach herself from the general image that Hitchcock used in order to depict women in his films. Although she manages to have viewers understand that she is not as predictable as.