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How Does Hitchcock Create Tension In Rear Window

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Rear Window is perhaps one greatest films in history. Directed by legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window is a mystery thriller based on the short story “It Had to Be Murder.” Rear Window tells of a photographer, Jeff, who had broken his leg in an accident. Confined to his apartment, he passes the time by looking out his window. During this time, he became obsessed with the theory that one of his neighbours, Thorwald, murdered his wife. By using brilliant film techniques and tactics, it turns what seems to be an ordinary movie talking about relationship problems to a thriller with twists and turns all around the place.
Possibly the most interesting and thrilling scene in Rear Window is Thorwald’s visit to Jeff at the end of …show more content…

The sounds, camera shots and lighting used as Jeff waits for Thorwald to eventually reach his apartment is wonderful. His room is completely dark and lack and any sounds symbolised how alone he is and that he will have to face Thorwald, a murderer, alone. Jeff glancing around the room and watching the door completely terrified also adds to the tense atmosphere. When Thorwald arrives and opens the door, he is completely silhouetted, symbolising how evil and threating he is. On the other hand, Jeff, who is also silhouetted, is small and not as threating as Thorwald, showing how weak and defenceless he is compared to Thorwald. Hitchcock further increases the tense atmosphere by delaying the inevitable fight thorough a short conversation Thorwald and Jeff have. Instead of Thorwald running towards Jeff, he marches slowly at Jeff, showing how helpless Jeff is. Jeff, using camera flashes to delay Thorwald was another tactic Hitchcock used to increase the tense atmosphere and create suspense. Once Thorwald reaches Jeff, Jeff calls out to Lisa and Doyle (one of Jeff’s friend and detective) making the audience think that Jeff is now safe since he as backup from both the police and his friends. But Thorwald decides to throw Jeff out the window, renewing the tense atmosphere and suspense from before. After Thorwald was captured and Jeff is holding on to the ledge of the window, Hitchcock decides to go for one final twist and make Jeff fall

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This just scratches the surface of what quintessential scenes and moments Mike Lupica is so adroit at describing. He already developed Jeff as a character throughout the story many times, but in this scene, it was like I could see how he was

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Hitchcock utilizes sound, camera work, MacGuffins, and plot twists to tell the storylines of the movies. Hitchcock understood the importance of camera work and sound because he began his career making silent films.12 It is why he uses many close up shots so the audience can pay attention to specific details and the emotions on the character’s face. He does not rely on dialogue to tell the story. He uses sound to help convey the message of a scene.

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Through viewing the film Rear Window and reading the Short story It had to be murder I saw various ways in which suspense was created both in the short story and film. In the film, Jeff was trying to work out his problems with Lisa as well as being a voyeur and peeping into his neighbor's rear windows. He mainly focuses on Thorwald's window but we have several scenes where Jeff addresses his problems with Lisa. The most climatic scenes happened towards the end of the movie when Lisa decided to enter Thorwald’s apartment without Jeff's approval. While the plot is very similar in the short story, we didn’t have a Lisa in that version so the plot was completely centered around Thorwald and Jeff’s obsession on solving the murder.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window has several themes. One major theme is relationships. The lead character, Jeff Jeffries, a photographer and committed bachelor, is involved in a relationship with Lisa Fremont, a model, although the relationship has some tension due to Jeff’s lack of commitment. When Jeff is confined to his apartment recovering from a broken leg, he begins spying through his rear window on his neighbors in a nearby apartment. Through her frequent visits, Lisa is drawn into this spying as well.

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Rear Window Argues that people should mind their own business. Do you agree? Rear Window, a 1954 romance/murder-mystery by the renowned golden age director Alfred Hitchcock, is a film that explores a multitude of themes and genres through the voyeuristic gaze of protagonist L.B. Jefferies. Jefferies, or ‘Jeff’ as he commonly known throughout the film, is a middle-aged bachelor recently hospitalised due to his high-risk career as a photojournalist. This hindered condition serves as an important foundation on which the movie is built upon as Jeff’s forced lifestyle being in a wheelchair causes an abrupt stop in his usual high intensity way of life and causes him to quench his boredom in other ways, predominantly watching the other residents in his apartment complex through the ‘rear window’ of his apartment.

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The idea of similarities among all people, an underlying connection, is expressed by Hitchcock when Lisa in Rear Window argues with Jefferies, saying, “There can't be that much difference between people and the way they live! We all eat, talk, drink, laugh, sleep, wear clothes --“. When she says this, Lisa has a lamp light shining from the upper right side of the screen to indicate the truth of her argument. There is also an instance in Rear Window where the ability to understand a person sprouts empathy. Jefferies is sitting in the dark, after Lisa leaves angry, when the piano man comes home.

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Alfred Hitchcock successfully performs suspense and shock in a number of ways. One way was when he reveals that the cop is following her, making us think that he found out concerning the money she stole. Another way is when we see Norman staring through the hole, examining her as if he is waiting to make his move. The last technique that Hitchcock constructed suspense is when we identify a shadowy character gazing at her take a shower, making us wonder who it could

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