Setting
In the movie Rear Window, there is basically only one setting. The entire movie is filmed in Jeffries’ apartment looking out into the courtyard and into his neighbor’s apartments. Hitchcock did a wonderful job filming like this, because after a while of watching, the audience starts to feel as if they are in Jeffries’ apartment watching the neighbors with him. It also kind of feels like you are watching a movie within a movie. Jeffries’ apartment is the theater, and everything beyond the window is the show.
Cinematography
The thing that stuck out to me most was the way Hitchcock filmed the character Lisa, played by Grace Kelly. Every time Lisa was in the room, the camera would always be on her. It would capture her glow and her gracefulness as she moved around the apartment. The way the camera filmed her, portrays the way Jeffries sees her.
Another thing that is noticeable in the movie is that Jeffries is used to being in control over everything such as his life, job, Lisa etc. But now that he is confined to a wheelchair and to his apartment, everyone else is calling the shots for him. The way everyone else towers over him because they can stand and he’s always sitting, is showing how the roles have become reversed. At the end of the movie when Thorwald comes into Jeffries apartment and his shadow creeps up on Jeffries and then his body appears towering over him, is when I really noticed that this has been going on throughout the whole movie.
