Innovative engagement of the audience

Rating: 9/10 (25 September 2018)

Rear Window is a fantastic mystery and suspense film utilizing unique techniques to captivate the audience. Alfred Hitchcock uses phenomenal camera placement and carefully positioned shots to connect the audience to the main character in a special way. The eyes of the main character, Jefferies, are almost directly tied to what the audience sees. The entire setting for the movie is within Jeff's apartment and the view outside of the window, yet the camera placement is so effective that this setting constraint goes practically unnoticed. With added elements of suspense and such a limited camera viewpoint, the audience is left on the edge of their seats wanting to see what simply can't be seen.
For a vast majority of the film, the camera is fixated in the apartment of Jefferies and never shows anything beyond the perspective of Jeff himself. Jeff was injured trying to take an action shot on a racetrack, leaving him immobile in a wheelchair next to his apartment window. He spends hours gazing out the window, watching his neighbors, to pass the time. The camera positioning resembles Jeff's view outside the window, panning across the windows just as if Jeff's head was turning. Whenever Jeff leans in to try and get a better view, the next shot is zoomed in a little closer to reflect it. This makes the audience feel extremely connected with Jeff, what he sees is what the audience sees. As Jeff looks around at his neighbors, the audience gets to know the characters, but only from the point of view from which Jeff can see. Conversations can be seen in windows between couples, yet Jeff is too far away to hear and therefore the audience can't hear. The curiosity of Jeff is almost directly passed onto the audience, who struggles to understand the surroundings just as much as he does. This is proven to be very effective once Jeff notices strange behaviours from his neighbor Mr. Thorwald. Jeff can only see snippets of Thorwald's suspicious actions, and they suggest that Thorwald has murdered his wife. He spends hours stalking the man from the window, trying to uncover the mystery as best he can from his viewpoint. The audience is left completely in the dark, only able to see what Jeff can see, escalating the mystery of the murder. The connection of the camera to Jeff's viewpoint captivates the audience in such a unique way.
With the camera being tied to Jeff, the setting for the film almost never changes. Jeff is stuck with a cast on his leg, leaving him in a wheelchair in his apartment. He can't leave the apartment and struggles to move around the room. As a result, the entire setting of the film is limited to the main room of the apartment and its window view. Despite this, the setting limitation goes almost unnoticed. Jeff constantly has visitors or phone calls that give the audience insight into the outside world, never truly limiting the plot to the setting. It is quite impressive how a long film can be so engaging and interesting to the audience, despite taking place in a single room.
While using thoughtful camera placement to engage the audience, Alfred Hitchcock takes it one step further with suspense. The most noticeable suspense scene takes place right at the climax of the film, when Thorwald breaks into Jeff's apartment. The scene begins with a phone call that Jeff answers, thinking it's his friend. He starts talking immediately, only to be met with cold silence followed by the click of the line ending. Footsteps are then heard in the distance, slowly approaching the door of the apartment. With the lights in the apartment off, the shadow of a man can clearly be seen stop directly in front of the door and pause. Throughout this scene, Jeff is frantically trying to move about the room in his wheelchair, but with little success. With the camera stuck in the room, the audience feels trapped with nowhere to go just watching the main character panic. Once Thorwald breaks into the apartment, it is almost as if he broke into the audience's personal space. The audience has safely watched the story unfold up in Jeff's apartment, only to find the murderer directly in their viewpoint. This suspense and shock grabs the audience for the duration of the climax, making it one of the most engaging parts of the film. By using innovative camera positioning and implementing suspenseful scenes, Alfred Hitchcock creates one of the most engaging and suspenseful films to watch.