Words aren't Necessary to Show Everything

In the film Rear Window, I felt that it was interesting how the director could convey the personality of a character without using dialogues, and simply through the different usage of shots, mise en scene, and editing. Not only that, the director has used several of the different forms of editing to create a sense of realism. There were some obvious motives for some shots, such as James’ point of view shots (which shows that he is a peeping tom), the sound effects (which creates suspense throughout the film), and the dark lighting (which shows danger), but along with these, there were some other shots that meant more than a simple: creating suspense etc… For example, through the use of lighting, and position in the scene, we could determine Lisa Carol Fremont (Grace Kelly)’s dominance. When she is with L.B ‘Jeff’ Jefferies (James Stewart), on the screen, she is always in the bright side; not only that, she is taller than James. Both of these provides with the idea of importance, and her bright, cheerful personality. But this isn’t all—the director also used this to compare and contrast the relationship of her to the dark-natured James. This may be used to show how James and Grace will be hard to get along, and perhaps, they shouldn’t be together. The most common shot I’ve seen is either the high angle shot or the crane shot, but the one that gave me the most impact was the crane shot of Grace and her helper. When both of them were on a mission to look at what was under the pot of plants, while they were walking up the stairs towards the plants, the director used a crane shot. Along with the dark surrounding, this creates a quiet, secretive mood. Not only that, the effect of this shot seem to be like there’s no one watching them except for us, which makes them look like they’re going to be in danger. One of the most interest editing I have seen in this film is crosscutting editing. They were used in several occasions when James looks out of his window, and the camera captures the image of what he’s looking at, then cut back to his reaction, and then back to the image. The function of this editing seemed to create a simultaneous time, which means that there is no cutting of time—everything is natural. Also, this editing has also provided us with James’ point of view shot of what he is looking at. With the constant use of dark lighting, and tight shots (neighbors portrayed within the frame), the director was successful in creating a secretive spirit throughout the entire film.