Rear Window (1954)
15:00
In my one to one with Ross this week he suggested that I watch Rear window, a Hitchcock film which focuses on the theme of voyeursim and looking though windows similarly to my project. The storyline follows protagonist Jeff, who is wheelchair bound after breaking his leg. He has no means of leaving his apartment and he has spent his 6 weeks entertaining himself in the heatwave by spying on his neighbours out of the window. Each neighbour he has given a name to and has studied them in some depth. He becomes increasingly aware of a couple living opposite him; an invalid woman and her husband who cares for her 24/7. Jeff believes the man has murdered his wife and calls upon his girlfriend and nurse to help him prove him right.
Quotes from the film which stood out to me as relating to my work;
“thats a secret private world you're looking into over there- people do a lot of things they cant explain in public.”
“I wonder if it is ethical to watch a man with binoculars and a long focus lens?”
“watching me like a bug under a glass”
A Camera was described as a portable key hole. This brought me to consider weather i could shoot my subject through a keyhole or similar such as a peep hole cut into a wall; or less invasively could use post production techniques to create the look of doing just that.
I found this film was valuable to me in terms of research as it explored voyeurism in a manner I hadn't considered and give me ideas into thought processes and presentation methods which can contribute to my work.
A couple of stills from the movie:
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