Write Like You Mean It: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window
By: Julia H. Jackson
“I believe in putting the horror in the mind of the audience and not necessarily on the screen.” – Alfred Hitchcock, in an interview with BBC reporter Huw Wheldon, May 5, 1965.
In 1954, notable director Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter John Michael Hayes sat down to adapt the Cornell Woolrich short story “It Had to Be Murder” into Rear Window, what later became one of the most renowned films in American history. The original story featured only three characters: injured journalist L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, his girlfriend Stella, and Lars Thorwald, Jeff’s neighbor, who he suspects has murdered his wife. Hitchcock and Hayes expanded Woolrich’s world to include a star-studded cast (featuring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly), a complete Greenwich-style apartment complex, and a minimal score by Franz Waxman. Somehow, Hitchcock and his team created a suspense-driven universe that played on themes of isolation, voyeurism, and romance. Just how did they do it? In today’s Write Like You Mean It, we’ll share some of Hitchcock’s own personal philosophies for creating a Window of your own.
First, one of the first trailers for Hitchcock’s “masterpiece thriller:”
Hitchcock was known for his signature cinematography—the montages, wide panning shots, close-ups on characters, and dramatic angles for effect. Rear Window works as the perfect example for Hitchcock’s use of character, perspective, and setting to create suspense.
CHARACTER
Jeff, the film’s main character, is defined by his inability to move. The audience learns a lot about Jeff in the first introductory shots of his apartment; he camera slinks along Jeff’s bookshelf, where there are photos of an auto accident, and then focuses on his broken leg. He zooms in on a broken camera, copies of Jeff’s magazine, and draws in very close to a picture of Stella. Already, viewers can sense an innate conflict, and the possibility of romance.
Because Jeff can’t walk, he avoids his feelings of inadequacy by instead focusing on other people’s lives. The entirety of Rear Window is shot from a spectator’s perspective, which gives the film its nosey, dangerous feel, as if Hitchcock is letting the audience in on a secret. Perhaps he is suggesting a reality that most people wouldn’t care to admit: that in times of trouble, it is always easier to focus on other people’s problems.
PERSPECTIVE
Hitchcock got his start in silent films, a medium that required a strong visual sensibility to create narrative. He understood that the people can demonstrate a lot about themselves in the way they observe and react to their surroundings. Rear Window epitomizes this first-person perspective because the viewers are simultaneously observing Jeff’s neighbors while they see Jeff’s reaction to his outside world. When his neighbors discover that their dog has been killed, the camera jumps from an image of the dog being raised to the couple’s balcony in a basket to a shot of Jeff’s face. Jeff doesn’t say anything; instead, Hitchcock focused on the juxtaposition of Jeff’s physical reaction to the dog’s death.
One of Hitchcock’s methods for establishing drama is when he breaks from Jeff’s perspective. Because the majority of the film is seen through his eyes, the few moments when the camera turns and focuses its lens on Jeff itself are often the most thrilling. One could interpret this as sudden personal scrutiny: in watching a film, we too have become voyeurs, and when the camera turns, we are forced to recognize ourselves. In one scene, Jeff has fallen asleep in front of his open window. The camera turns outside, where viewers can witness the drama going on across the courtyard. Hitchcock is revealing a part of the story to the viewers that his own protagonist can’t see. He referred to this as revealing “information.” In his 1964 interview with BBC reporter Huw Wheldon, he says:
“One’s challenged by the audience. They’re saying to me ‘show us’ and ‘I know what’s coming next’… and I say, ‘do you?’ And therefore, that’s the avoidance of the cliché automatically.”
SETTING
Rear Window is set in an apartment complex in Greenwich 
Village with buildings that face each other across a courtyard. The entire set was constructed in Paramount Studios, where the apartments were carefully designed so the lights and sound would reflect back to Jeff’s view. Hitchcock had decided against a huge Hollywood music score, and although Waxman’s score was important, he supplemented it with background sounds that were heard across the courtyard. Miss Torso’s dance routines and the pianist’s daily practicing become important dramatic elements.
The script had originally included a scene with Jeff and his boss in his office, but Hitchcock later scrapped it because the drama was so defined by the apartment complex setting. The story is cemented in place, much like Jeff, which furthers the film’s sense of isolation.
TIPS, A LA HITCHCOCK
Few writers or directors have influenced visual storytelling as much as Alfred Hitchcock. Are you a budding cinematographer? Aspiring screenwriter? Here are some tips to get you started:
1) Onscreen, storytelling is visual. It is important to have strong dialogue, but remember to let your characters speak without words. Take a note from Jimmy Stewart and let the characters pause, react, and think before acting.
2) Trust your audience. Invite them in to the life of the story, even (or especially) if the protagonist doesn’t know.
3) Humor is key. Many writers maintain that there is an important relationship between humor and suspense—both trigger physical, emotional responses.
What is your favorite Hitchcock Film?
