How Did Alfred Hitchcock Use Sound In Rear Window

Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, displays just how impactful the characteristics chosen within the film are. Each choice that is picked ultimately determines whether or not the film will be a success or not. When choosing which settings, sounds, and lighting that a film will use, one must take into consideration the emotions that are trying to be conveyed on the screen. In Rear Window, Hitchcock displays the emotions in the film through the use of setting, sound and lighting. These features allow the audience to see the film’s overall big picture.

The whole movie is spent in Jeff's small apartment somewhere placed in Greenwich Village, New York City. This makes the film appear to be as if you, the viewer, like Jeff, are

stuck in the apartment with him. I believe it was to be viewed this way intentionally, and it was actually quite clever. If Jeff can’t leave the apartment, neither will the camera. This allows for the audience to really connect with Jeff on a personal level because we too are viewing the world through his eyes. This lets us to also see inside of the lives of individuals hidden behind their windows, such as the dancing woman or the man with the purse. Also, by using this setting choice we are able to be more sympathetic to the main character, as for we too can not escape the room, which thus permits us to feel the loneliness in which Jeff displays.
Overall, the film has a great use of sound as well as music, Alfred Hitchcock, does an amazing job with the use of sound throughout the movie to set the tone for the film and to try to make us feel what the characters are feeling throughout the film.

I felt the use of the train horns in the distance, and the cars honking in the streets as the drive by, as well as the kids playing in the streets makes me think of the time period in which this movie was shot. Especially, with the neighbors having parties nextdoor or families talking to each other through open windows, with this use of sound it almost makes the viewer seem like they are in a little village in the heart of New York

City.
Throughout the film, as jeff is trying to figure out that thorwall killed his wife, there’s always that sense of an ominous tone throughout the film to give the viewers a sense of danger for the movie to make the action feel more dangerous and realistic. Towards the end if the film we can hear the struggle between the antagonist and protagonist in the dark to keep us imagining how the scene plays out and makes us want to sit on the edge of our seats. And at the end we see a change in the sound we are back to kids playing in the street with sunny skies and jeff with two broken legs and a smile on his face, knowing that thorwall has been caught, and that the movie is coming to a close and that all is good. With the uses of sounds throughout the film, it keeps us anticipated and throws us into the film and makes us admire Hitchcock’s work even more.
The lighting in Rear Window as a spectator looked amazing.

In the film I noticed low-key lighting as well as high-key lighting. I noticed a lot of low-key lighting that showed a lot of shadows. I think this is important in a film to get even the little things like a shadow in the scene. This also created the film to be more realistic and got me, the audience, starting to look at little details also going on in the scene. This makes it easier to notice the main character in less lighted scenes. This draws my attention to them and not the background, which is less lighted and harder to see. I noticed the high-key lighting parts of the scene more during the day or close ups on the characters. This allowed for clear visual of the characters and really focus on what they were saying. I wouldn’t say that shadows or lack of lighting added a feeling of danger but more of a feeling that something was about to happen. Overall I was very impressed with the lighting of this movie, especially for how old it

is.
In conclusion Rear Window was a very well set up and directed movie. They did a very good job with the setting of the movie of having it as a one stage scene. Even though it was only a one stage scene they did a very good job of not making the scenes seem crowded but making them have an open feeling to it. The sound of the film is very realistic, they really make the audio clear with arguments and fights. This allows the audience to feel really intune with the film. In the lighting part of the film they did a very good job with the high-key and low-key lighting. They knew when to show shadows and make the scene darker to make to film more intense. Overall Rear Window was a very good film and well set up.