Rear Window: The Use of Angle and Selective Shoots Guides Audiences

     In Rear Window, the psychological activities of Jefferies in It Had to Be Murder is presented by various facial expressions and body gestures, his conversations with Stella and Lisa, and especially the selective long shot of his neighbors. The scenes of the ballet dancer, the Miss. Lonelyheart and the newly married couples, are all apparently biased and created sense of chaos and cynicism in this middle-class community. Then the focus of the camera has shifted to the Thorwalds which is the main line of the movie. In the novel, the stereotyped thoughts and imprudent judges of readers are guided by the thoughts and judgement of Jefferies; however, in the movie, the judges of audiences are directed by the swing of camera, the selective shoots and editing.

     Alfred Hitchcock has adapted It Had to be Murder to film Rear Window. In the movie, except the setting and the plot were kept, Alfred changed the name of characters, added new roles and story lines and established a new love story. In the original script, the story is straight and clear, it happens continuously in an inductive path; while in Alfred’s version, the story has more extents that filled by the lives of other neighbors and Jefferies’ s observation has expanded to the whole neighborhood. In both version, if at the end Jefferies has found his prediction is stereotyped and conspiratorial and Mr. Thorwald is innocent, the story will be an absurd.

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.

In comparison to the text, Alfred Hitchock did a wonderful jon of creating the film in a way that would capture the attention of its audience the way the text did. They were a few changes that Hitchcock did to make this possible. One of the first things I noticed he changed was the names of the characters. In the text, the main character's name was Hal. Jeffries and was changed to L. B. Jefferies. Inspector Boyle was changed to Lieutenant Doyle. Camera angles and shots also played a major role in the product of translating the text to film. There was a consistent "watching" them of the main character analyzing the other characters to create the story. To help create Jefferies, would have several POV shots in the film for the audience to feel like they're seeing from his apartment. Shots used in this were Pan shots, which we really important to also follow what Jeffries appeared to be looking at.

Literature to Film [Translation]

Both the book and the film found a way to be suspenseful and how the attention of a viewer in different ways. The book makes us think that Jefferies is just sitting in window being noisy by watching the lives of his neighbors, until the end when the let us know he's been in a cask. In the film Alfred Hitchcock added more characters to make it more interesting and added a beautiful young actor at the time Grace Kelly to catch the eye of the viewers. The structure of the translation from the book to the film was very good I think, did didnt alter as much

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?

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.

Being Noisy isn't always the best solution and other movies that fit this movie

As I read the story along with Yasminda this story is very interesting. This movie does remind me of other movies such as Disturbia with Shia LeBeouf or even Sliver with Sharon Stone. we get a glimpse of our main character and what he is thinking and what is his next move. With the film I feel like even though it is a translation of the literature there is so much a director or a writer could do to make it an adaptation  of the literature. However I'm enjoying the film as much as the story. In my view I feel like certain books need to be performed in order for people to understand what the story/ message  is really about.

Cornell Woolwrich's It Had To Be Murder

I think the story “It Had to be Murder” is very suspenseful throughout it because you never know what’s going to happen next. This man was temporally cripple and was only able to access two spots of his room. He could go from his bed to the window and back so the only thing he could do was to stare out the window. He began to watch this guy in another apartment by looking through his window. I personally think he was wrong for looking through the man’s window because the guy was in his house. Watching someone in the streets or walking around outside I think is one thing but when there in there house I feel like your invading on their privacy. Why should someone feel scared to walk around there house thinking oh someone’s watching me through my windows? From him watching this man through his window he assumes this man has committed a murder. This story reminds me of this movie called Disturbia where this boy is on house arrest and he can’t leave his house so he watches the guy next door through his binoculars and witnesses a murder. 

"It Had to be Murder"

"It Had to be Murder" is a great suspense story, its almost as if the reader goes on the investigation with the main character Jeff. The author made Jeff use logical thinking in order to try to put the pieces of the murder puzzle together. Though most of it was assumptions, he grows pretty convincing throughout the story as he goes on with his "1, 2.3", scenarios. It was almost as if you were right there with him, as his suspension grew, so did yours. I felt that there was a stream of consciousness because most of what he says he is thinking about in his own head. He is alone most of the time, only visited every once in awhile by Sam and Boyne. This is a perfect movie to adapt to film because these are the classic movies that made cinema so wonderful. Who doesn't love a good crime/mystery movie?

Woolrich's story is a chilling and suspenseful tale of one mans witness of a murder committed by a man in a neighboring apartment. The story follows through Hal's first person perspective of the events and gives readers an inside look on his thoughts, actions, and drawn conclusions. The story works as a piece of literature as it features a plot, protagonist, antagonist, and a central problem that must be solved.

I think this story is perfect for a movie adaptation because it is the classic murder mystery that a film noir would be a based on. It creates drama, and suspense, and adapting it to film would heighten its darker elements with the usage of lighting, and camera angles/movements as well as giving the characters even more life through portrayal from actors.