Wednesday, March 2, 2016
REAR WINDOW Opening (Cinematography) - for student response before class & class discussion
Here's the opening of Rear Window. How is Hitchcock using the camera here? What types of shots, angles, and movement do you see here? How would you describe the editing -- continuity, montage, a little bit of each?
These are the elements of the language of cinema. Now also consider the language of literature (word, paragraph, description, dialogue, character, mood) How does Hitchcock use his camera to "translate" Woolwrich's story to the screen?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In the beginning scene Hitchcock is using the zoom in effect into the apartments and then the scene switches to the cat running up the stairs. Then the camera rises up to a medium angle. The camera is going around to show the different apartments. We then see a close up shot of James Stewart sweating. There is a lot of close up shots and zooming in and out. There is a little bit of montage and continuity.
ReplyDeleteGood points, Brigethia. What is gained by following that cat? (nice detail!)
DeleteThe first movement out of the window is a zoom, that moves into a panorama of the apartments and goes to our protagonist. Then the shot changes and we see a close up of the man shaving, a close up of the couple sleeping outside due to the heat, a close up of the ballet getting dressed. I would say these are closeups rather than medium shots, or a mixture of both, because in each frame it focuses on one "object" rather than several. I see the couple as one. After that, the camera moves back to the protagnist with a closeup of his face. The camera moves down and we see his broken leg in a cast. After we get his name, the camera zooms out and we have a medium shot. We have the entire body, and some of the apartment in the shot. I wouldn't say a full body shot because he isn't standing. The camera then pans over to several items of his to point to his job as a photographer. Then the shot of him shaving and answering the phone is a long shot because the camera is outside the window. I think the scene sets the stage in terms of translating the description in the short story to film. We can see the cramped apartments and how easily he was able to spy into the other apartments. We even get to know about some of the tenants lives, though Hitchcock cetinatly adds and takes away some of the characters. The mood seems cherry, due to the sunny day, and the music in the background. We learn the name of the character and his job as a photographer in this opening shot due to the pan of the camera, whereas in the literature we didn't have a specific job that he did. In the story, we knew less about the protagonist, whereas in the movie we know he's a photographer who has a girl in love with him that he thinks is too perfect for him. Overall, I think Hitchcock did a good job translating the short story to the screen.
ReplyDeleteNice details on how that camera is working!
DeleteIn the beginning scene Hitchcock moves the camera slowly while using a long shot to show the apartment buildings from what the viewer would assume to be the rear window of Jeff's apartment. There is an extreme close up when the camera focuses on the beads of sweat on Jeff's forehead. It then goes to a match cut to the thermometer on the wall that reads a high degree. Hitchcock also uses shots that tend to not have cuts in between. Like when the camera is going down the body of Jeffries. It slowly grazes down, like eyes. That relates to the theme, "Always watching". It focuses on his casted leg which reads, "Here lie the broken bones of L.B. Jefferies. Thats where the viewer notices the name change of the main character. I think overall, Hitchcock was able to take "It had to be Murder" and really bring it to life. He had a pretty modern way of handling the camera. I am not sure if those smooth grazing shots were moving with a camera in hand or on a dolly. But it really gave the impression of it being in the POV by having the camera look down and above characters. Also by the mid angle shots Jefferies experiences while watching his neighbors.
ReplyDeleteSome nice comments, Kortni. Your're definitely being more specific with details-- whose POV?
DeleteHitchcockHitchcock starts with close up of the outside of the window. Next, hand held camera follow the cat and then shows apartment buildings slowly. This scene is also shows Jeffires closed up face. This scene is quite long. Close up thermometer and full shot/long shot neighborhoods’ window. Hitchcock also adds noise of outside. It makes movie like reality. This scene translate the beginning of the book that Jeffries is watching neighborhoods while in the wheelchair.
ReplyDelete