Rear Window (1954)

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Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (1954) is a tour de force in the art of cinema and of crafting a scene. Virtually every shot combines lighting, mise-en-scène, blocking, costume design, thirds and quadrant theory, or any assortment of visual craftsmanship to depict what’s happening in the minds of the characters through images rather than words. One of the essential storylines of the movie is how Doyle, played by Wendell Corey, is wary of Jeff’s assertion that something malicious has happened across from his apartment. Jeff, an immobilized detective played by James Stewart, is perturbed that he must resign himself to the chair while a former associate proceeds with a case he wishes could be his own to investigate. Through the combination of many cinematic tricks, Hitchcock presents this dynamic in but a single shot.
The shot under deliberation is a wide shot of two characters. The elements of note are the foreground and middle ground, which in this case, combine quite beautifully with lighting. The foreground consists of Jeff’s cluttered desk; some objects are nearly invisible due to low light, whereas others, through lighting and placement, grab our attention. The nearest item, looming in the foreground, is a barely visible, turned off lamp. As light-producing objects, lamps are the symbolic harbingers of information. By presenting a lamp in such a focal part of the frame, one which would ordinarily be turned on, Hitchcock signals to us that there is some correlation between Jeff’s psyche and the lamp. Jeff is very much the lamp in this scene; he is an incredible investigative journalist who, due to unusual circumstances, is turned off and left in the dark. To further emphasize this point, the objects on the desk are arranged and lit in a certain way. Jeff’s photography equipment is pushed to the rear of the desk, obscured by the lamp, whereas Doyle’s hat is nearer to the characters and in better lighting, symbolizing his appropriation of the apartment and Jeff’s usual role.
The middle ground displays two of the main characters, Jeff and Doyle, who are, at this moment, at odds. Jeff faces us while Doyle looks away. Jeff sits and Doyle stands. Doyle peers through the windows at the apartments across the way, a job usually done by Jeff, while Jeff peers unhappily at Doyle. The two characters are temporarily complete foils of each other and Hitchcock understood one of the first meetings between the two as the opportune time to present this dynamic. Jeff is the suspicious, inquisitive type whereas Doyle is hesitant and wary of Jeff’s assertions. The look on Jeff’s face says it all: he is not happy to be unwillingly handing over the case to a friend.
The rule of thirds further intensifies this divide. Jeff is on the far left, as far as the rule of thirds will allow in the window-divided frame. Moreover, he's nearer to the dimly lit desk. His face is half-lit, symbolizing a knowing character but one who is resigned to his position and can’t do anything with that knowledge. Additionally, the half-lit face symbolizes a state of inner turmoil and disarray, qualities Jeff is very much feeling. The middle frame, a frame usually reserved for bridging the gap between two characters, is instead wholly occupied by the apartment building in the background, intimating that the only way these two characters could unite is if Doyle accepts Jeff’s theories. A building separates them but a belief and trust of the situation in the building could bring them together. Doyle, unaware of Jeff’s seething gaze, and standing in the third to the far right, looks not at his friend but through binoculars at the building, betokening his initial mistrust in his friend's theories and a preference for his own investigative skills. Additionally, Doyle is obscuring our view of the building. What matters in this scene is not what Doyle sees, or even any clues the audience would be able to discern on their own in the apartment building, but how this case will affect the friendship and trust between these two people.
Lastly, to hammer in this symbolic divide, Hitchcock masterfully presents both characters in the frame using the quadrant rule. In cinematic language, the lower half of the screen can be seen as the inferior, less powerful half, and the upper half the more dominant, superior one. In this shot, Jeff occupies the lower left half of the quadrant and Jeff the upper right; they couldn’t be further apart. Jeff, immobilized in his wheelchair, has no control over the situation in the scene. He is resigned to his chair and his inferior position and besides the words he speaks and the arguments he makes, there is nothing he can visually do to assert his dominance. The audience knows that he won’t rise from his wheelchair to make a point and we, therefore, associate him as the unmoving, inferior character in the scene. In contrast, Doyle occupies the upper right of the quadrant, nearer the light, and stays there unmoving. He is the one in control in the scene and Hitchcock makes this visually clear.
Hitchcock is able to demonstrate the divide between the wishful investigative journalist and his detective friend through mere cinematic prowess. Dialogue is unnecessary as everything we need to know can be picked up in a glance. By combining lighting, blocking, the rule of thirds, and the quadrant, Hitchcock grants us an insight into the minds of the characters and their feelings towards one another in a matter of seconds. A picture is worth a thousand words but with Hitchcock, it's worth a million.