Point Of View In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

In cinema today we hear the phrase P.O.V being thrown around quite often. The use of this phrase confuses people who don’t know too much of the technical jargon of film, P.O.V. stands for Point of View and is a camera angle that is used fairly commonly in films both of the past and the present. A P.O.V or a point of view shot in a scene is when the camera’s field of view represents that of the subject or character’s field of vision. In most conventional cinema this shot is usually followed up by a reaction shot of the same subject in relation to what they have “seen”. A P.O.V. can be both static or have movement; the shot does not necessarily have to have the subject out of frame as sometimes over the shoulder shots or dirty shots can serve

Here Hitchcock uses point of view shots for the protagonists Jeff, Lisa and Stella, while they look into the windows of Jeff’s neighbors, primarily that of Raymond Burr’s character Lars Thorwald. There is also a reverse shot which is also a P.O.V. from Lars’s perspective. One of the most iconic shots in this film is in fact a point of view shot wherein Jeff blasts light through the flash of his camera, which is intended to blind and impede Lars. This is in the point of view of Jeff and what it does is blind the audience for the few seconds that the flash goes off and contributes towards building both fear and tension as Lars gets closer and closer to

The picture is filmed mostly handheld which gives it a shaky war footage feel and aides the authenticity of the film, even though it is just fiction. The very first P.O.V. shot of the film is in the opening sequence, through the camera mounted on the bomb diffuser robot en route to diffusing an IED (improvised explosive devise), which then cuts to the controller’s face and his reaction. Right of the bat this gives the viewer a basic idea of the setting and the general mood of the film. The fact that the initial stage of the bomb disposal, that is carried out from the point of view of a robot generates so much tension and anxiety actually foreshadows the real drama and trauma that ensues in the film. In this sequence there are also some over the shoulder P.O.V.’s of the soldier who is standing behind the controller. Another P.O.V., which is used for the first time in the opening sequence and several times after, is the shot through the scope of a gun. This is also the first use of the point of view angle from inside the bomb disposal suit. The shot is also used multiple times henceforth in the film, but what it does initially is isolates the audience in the universe of the bomb diffuser as he walks towards the explosive. The effect is made even greater through the sound of heavy breathing while the soldier scans his surroundings and