This is most readily seen in the sunsets. Early on, when we were having problems, his tie would have green fringe on one side and magenta on the other. Based upon a faded scene, we could still calculate comparatively how much lighter or darker one scene is compared to the next. Using these same 1954 and 1962 materials, they judged just how far to shove Stewart into the darkness in his peeping-tom scenes. The few frenzied farragoes of growling and whimpering get fuzzier as they echo up and down the courtyards.
Closed windows mute or seal off noise.
And throughout, there's an artful array of audio graffiti and music emanating from streets and apartments. As in 'Porgy and Bess,' we had plenty o' nothin'. On 'Rear Window,' the inboard impulse was out of focus and narrow, which acted to mute and distort the sound. Therefore, all of the sound was taken from the outboard impulse of a number of different prints, all of which had wear. The fact that sound has survived, even after being digitized and cleaned, is a tribute to the superb recording that was done by Paramount in 1954.