RW Characters
What is Lisa's job?
Model.
Why does the policeman not want to investigate Thorwald?
Because he is rule-following and he doesn't have a warrant.
What are the themes in Rear Window that we are studying?
Voyeurism, privacy vs surveillance, gender roles, relationships, loneliness, powerlessness
When to use low-key lighting?
When it's night/evening and/or to create a sense of suspense/sadness/drama
How do you begin a body paragraph?
With a topic sentence.
What is the policeman's full name?
Tom/Thomas Doyle.
Why doesn't Jeff want to marry Lisa?
She's 'too perfect' - he assumes she wouldn't want to live his rough, dangerous life.
The practice of gaining pleasure from watching others.
When to use soft lighting?
To create a soft/gentle/romantic/warm/cosy atmosphere
When to use a ground-level shot?
To track the character's feet and hence their moving to different locations
What does Jeff take the most photos of?
Scenes full of action and danger.
How is the fire escape couple's dog killed?
Neck snapped.
How does Jeff's perception of Lisa not match her true self?
He believed that she wasn't adventurous and only occupied with 'feminine' matters when in reality she also wanted to discover if Thorwald killed his wife.
What are some examples of diegetic sound?
dialogue, sounds of nature, music within the scene (like a character playing an instrument)
What are the three shots in which you can see the subject's full body?
master shot, wide shot, full shot.
List all the neighbours in Jeff's apartment building.
The newlyweds, Ms Hearing Aid, Ms Torso, Ms Lonelyhearts, couple on the fire escape, the songwriter
What was Emma Thorwald doing in her one scene?
Laying in bed.
What were the purpose of the neighbours?
To represent the different outcomes of Jeff's future with Lisa.
What's the movement of swivelling the camera from a fixed position to gradually reveal information called?
Panning.
What shot builds a sense of unease, mania, terror, and/or bewilderment?
Dutch shot.
How does Lisa respond to Jeff's remark of "Is this the same Lisa Fremont who nevers wears the same dress twice?"
She says "only because it's expected of her."
Which came first - the scene where Lisa says that she won't see him 'for a long time...or at least, until tomorrow night' or where she enters Thorwald's apartment?
the scene where she says that she won't see him 'for a long time...or at least, until tomorrow night.'
What are some ways (mention minimum 3) in which Hitchcock highlights to us that we are also voyeurs? Explain how he achieves each one.
1. Use of only diegetic sound (as it puts us in the story as though we are watching the neighbours in real time, not through a screen)
2. Lets viewer see what Jeff sees through his binoculars (as though we are the ones looking through the binoculars)
3. Shots are always from Jeff's apartment (just like Jeff we are stuck in his apartment. And he is a voyeur so therefore we are voyeurs.)
4. Thorwald looks at the audience directly (as though he has caught us watching him)
What's the symbolism of Jeff often being in the dark? (literal darkness) mention minimum 2
1. Secrecy (mirrors unwillingness to be seen (fully open and honest) with Lisa)
2. Hypocrisy (Jeff says his neighbours can spy on him too but in reality the darkness in his apartment doesn't let them)
3. Suspense: the idea that scary things happen when its dark
When to use a cowboy shot?
To present a character as dangerous and/or powerful.