Hitchcock explains about CUTTING and his philosophy behind the camera

Since we are talking about one of the best directors of all time. I felt that this video Hitchcock touches about his side of the cinematic approach to one of his hit makers "Psycho". Even though this is not Rear Window , I still feel like Hiotchcock uses cutting and other techniques as a way to convince viewers that it just like reading a famous novel

Literary words to Visual scenes

The movie, directed by Hitchcock, adapted Woolrich’s novella “It Had To Be Murder” from literary words to vivid cinematic scenes. Similar to the novella, most shots was from Jeff’s eyes, and the camera and binocular he used to view his neighbor’s daily life. In movie, slightly different from the novel, the window’s of Jeff’s neighbors’ acts as mirrors revealing neighbor’s personalities. For example, the ballerina sits in the middle of her large square window and brushes her hair showing she is confident and likes attention. Ms. Lonely Hearts sits off to one side of her window, a less confident and confused woman missing her other half. The pianist’s windows unlike the other normal windows are framed differently and resemble piano keys. I In the movie, besides Jeff’s careful observation, the little cute dog is an another clue to foreshadow Mr. Thorwald’s crime. The dog acts as an important character. The camera gives the dog lots of close-up to imply its emphasis. At the beginning, it is lovely and active, playing around in the garden. But one day, suddenly, it is found to be dead with its neck broken. Such great change arises Jeff’s curiosity that there may be something buried in the garden. Without the dog, the finding of Thorwald’s crime can not be so quick and natural. In the end, owing to Mr. Thorwald pushes Jeff to the balcony, and Jeff was forced to fall down from the balcony to the first floor. The camera zooms in Jeff’s two legs cast on plaster. It is a contrast compared with his former situation in which just one leg of him with plaster. Even though Jeff had to sit on the wheelchair for longer time. But his mood is even better than before because he is filled with accomplishment to find a murder via his own careful observation.

Viewing Response: Rear Window - "It Had to Murder" Film Adaptation

After viewing Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock I was once again made aware of a new craft in film- adaptations. The retelling of a short story, or novel through a visual platform. It seems fairly simple on the surface, but when studied further, noticing the actual craft of bringing words written for reading to life on screen requires a more elaborate ability to work details, camera shots and most importantly point of view.

Although Rear Window was based off of the lengthly short story "It Had to be Murder" written by Cornell Woolwich it became a new story all on its own with new themes, cinematic tropes & alternate plot points. These new changes were accomplished by adding new characters.

For example, in "It Had to be Murder", Sam was Mr. Jeff's friends who was depicted as the 'flunky' who would put his life in danger for his dear friends Jeff. On film that type of character dynamic would have to be backed up with tons of background information in order for the viewer to believe it. Why would a man be that adamant about his friend, what is their history in depth? In order to avoid those viewing questions and also ignite an emotional connection between the film and its viewer, Hitchcock took Sam's devotion and introduced Lisa to the story. Lisa's character works to bring the love story plot forward. Something that was absent in the original text.

Through film adaptation, viewers are afforded the ability to get to know the characters more in depth. You get a larger back story on who they are, & what are their little quirks. This shows strong character development.

The cinematic technique of POV was greatly accomplished in this film. Camera shots focused in on specific details in the viewing perspective of the main character. Long shots from Mr. Jefferies window where smoothly zoomed in for close up shots on intricate details that moved the film forward. An example of this is shown when Mr. Jefferies was writing the letter to Mr. Thorwald. The camera shot swiftly transitions from the viewers POV of the room then above Jefferies head using a high angle shot using an aerial dolly to show the action of writing and then a close up shot of the letter and Jefferies hand. These camera shot transitions add to the dramatic element of the film.

-Ci

Film vs Literature

Both the film and the literature of Rear Window were very good. Alfred Hitchcock did a good job translating the story but with a couple of changes to make the story more interesting. The film needed more more characters to attract more viewers and of course every movie needs a love interest and action and even suspense and mystery. It keeps the audience entertained throughout the whole movie and it is what makes people watch it over and over again. But with the literature, it gives off a different feeling and this is only in my perspective. As I read the story, it felt darker to me than the movie did. The story didn't say why the Jefferies was looking at his neighbors through his window until the very end. There were less characters too and it was a good idea since it does take awhile to remember people by name and description compared to seeing their face. You also didn't have to focus on so many people at once. But overall the translation of the story was accurate in a sense. The theme and plot didn't change as much and that is what everyone looks for when a book or story turns into a movie.

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?

ALFRED HITCHCOCK ON 3 THEORIES OF FILM EDITING - for student response before class

Here is a 7 minute interview with Alfred Hitchcock in which he talks about three types of editing.  He applies the first two to his very famous film, Psycho.  What type of editing techniques do you feel he uses in Rear Window, and why?

Rear Window

In my opinion the movie Rear Window works great as an translation of the original work that its based off of. Most of the core aspects of the work are kept in the movie, but Hitchcock also as adds his own spin to the story and gives it a better feeling of suspense as well as an actual visual of what Hal or L.B. is seeing, and what hes doing about it. The movie is able to create the darkness of the story outside of readers heads and the use of angles and shots also helps to compliment the story. Overall the movie does a great job translating the story from the page to the screen.

Necessary Changes

Cornell's short story saw a lot of changes when adapted to Alfred Hitchcock's film version. As it is common for film to create a love story to appeal to more viewers, the film version lost the character Sam. However, this changed much of what makes Jeffrey the character he is. In the story, the relationship between Jeffrey and Sam is strange and unclear. This is just one aspect that makes Jeffrey seem more creepy in the story. In the story he was read to be slightly creepy as he seemed to be obsessed with his neighbors rather than just be curious. In the movie, his career as a photographer makes it a lot more understandable as he is used to making stories out of what he sees. In order to create a believable love story, Jeffrey had to be an interesting person with a good motive for his spying. Therefore, the scrapping of the character Sam and making him a photographer was necessary.