Rear Window Narrative

The film Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hithcock, follows the days of main character Jeff (James Jefferies) as he stares out his apartment windows into the lives of the people across the way. The film utilizes framing and blocking to convey the limited world in which this character is engrossed in, which directly corresponds with Sergei Eisenstein’s idea that framing creates intentional conflict between what an audience can see and what an audience can conclude from a collection of shots, just like that of an actual window. Rear Window, utilizes the literal framing of the window to convey Jeff’s limited perspective. By using the window as a frame, the film visually limited the perspective of the audience as well. The film easily could have did shot reverse shot sequences between what was going on in Jeff’s apartment and the apartments across the street to convey that Jeff was in one place and the story was taking place in another therefore there should be discrepancies between both narratives. But, by using the window frame the film was able to give the audience the ability deduct and conclude the narrative along with Jeff by also giving them the same limited perspective therefore using the film as a literal window into another world. This can be conveyed in the scene where Jeff is watching the couples through the windows while Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) is preparing dinner him. Jeff gazes through the window and sees multiple shots in which he analyzes to create a narrative. For example in one shot he sees a couple that appears …show more content…
Rear Window uses literal windows as frames to convey this concept, but a film can easily just decide to pick and choose certain shots and utilize blocking and masking to convey the same concept. Using film as a frame allows it to be seen relatively like a piece of art in which the narrative or meaning is in the eye of the