Hitchcock and The Camera

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2018)

The film Rear Window from the great mind of Alfred Hitchcock follows a photographer of the name L.B. Jefferies as he observes his neighbors and sees things that maybe he shouldn't have seen. Throughout the film Hitchcock took many artistic strides with the camera. Some of these skills included representing the audience's eyes in terms of the camera as well as setting the stage with Mise en Scene. Hitchcock really applied the art of Mise en Scene with the arrangement of the set of the film as well as the way he portrayed the main characters point of view through the film.
Hitchcock takes the camera to film the set in the eyes of the main character. This is known as a point of view shot. Hitchcock uses this to represent how the character is feeling depending on what he is seeing through the other windows of his neighbors. One example of this and how is applies to the Mise en Scene is when Jefferies first notices Thorwald and his wife. Hitchcock takes the actions that are occurring in the other apartment and films the events. He then cuts back to Jeffries to show his reaction. After his reaction is recorded, Hitchcock goes back to the events to help proceed the scene. Mise en Scene is shown in the arrangement of the shots and how the stage/set is filmed. Hitchcock uses the small apartment corner and the point of view shots to help describe the scenery without having to explain it. In some instances, the scenery or set can show how the character is feeling.
One scene where Thorwald is smoking in a dark room describes the feelings of the main character Jefferies. The darkness surrounding Thorwald shows that the main character is nervous or even scared of what has happened and even what could occur if Thorwald would have spotted him snooping. Mise en scene is also represented by the way Hitchcock captures the scenery. Hitchcock uses the ability to have the camera pan the entire scene with the way the set is made. With this Hitchcock really uses a slow movement pan to represent the eyes of a character or the eyes of audience. Hitchcock used this slow movement to set the stage for the film as well as make the audience believe they are they. This will lead the audience to see other things in the eyes of the main character and believe in them not just see it as a film.
Hitchcock also uses Mise en Scene to develop environmental feelings as well. One scene takes the audio, set, camera, and use of the point of view of the main character to make the audience feel as though they are experiencing the same uncomfortable suspense that the main character is feeling. This scene consists of Thorwald coming up to Jefferies room after seeing him snooping from his apartment. From this point we can hear Thorwald coming up the stairs and that's all we can hear. Hitchcock takes this opportunity to show the rest of the room from the eyes of Jefferies to show of nervous he is by trying to find a place to hide. This builds suspense for the audience as well by not knowing what will happen to the character once Thorwald gets to the door was well as now knowing when Thorwald will get to the door.
Hitchcock also uses the opportunity when Jefferies almost believes that he is wrong to show the rest of the apartment. This happens towards the end of the movie. This is very interesting because Hitchcock only shows the outside setting of the apartments never the inside of Jefferies unless it's a shot of the character. However, once Jefferies finalize realizes his snooping is illegal and plainly not right the camera angles shown of Jefferies are different. Instead of showing Jefferies with the rear windows of his apartment behind him, Hitchcock takes the opportunity to show Jefferies with the rest of his apartment behind him such as the bathroom and fireplace that has not been seen until this time. Hitchcock uses Mise en Scene throughout this film whether to describe the feelings of the character to help apply to the audience or just setting the scene for the film itself.