Rear Window Interpretive Claim

Rear Window Interpretive Claim

            Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film, Rear Window, is essentially about a magazine photographer who has been subjected to house arrest due to his broken leg, and takes to spying on his neighbors through his back window as a hobby. However, his spying turns quite serious when the main character, Jeffries, observes what could be a possible crime, and becomes obsessed with cracking the case. Through point of view shots out of the rear window, the viewer is given Jeffries’ perspective on his neighbors, and is therefore given his interpretation of their actions. The whole movie takes place in one setting, so the perspectives of any of the neighbors are never really taken into account, leaving the viewers to take on Jeffries’ perspective as their own. Hitchcock’s unique method of narrowing the viewer’s viewpoint, and creating suspense in the spying sequences creates an interesting commentary on voyeurism and the faults of perspective in regards to one man’s analysis of social action.

            Throughout the movie, it is learned through his encounters with Lisa that Jeffries is someone who is accustomed to thrill and an adventurous lifestyle due to his job. Putting him in a domestic setting on bed rest, with nothing to do, is then essentially placing Jeffries completely out of his element. So, Jeffries improvises the thrill he is missing from his every day life by spying on his neighbors through his rear window, and seeing things that would otherwise be considered forbidden. The still shot for analysis is a shot from Jeffries’ point of view, looking out that back window at the neighbors. The still perfectly demonstrates the main idea of the film, being from Jeffries’ perspective, and focusing on the different lives of the neighbors who are framed through their windows. By simply looking at the still, it immediately makes one want to interpret what is going on in the picture, and create a story of their own, which is what Jeffries does in the film. The heavy use of vertical lines and scale in the shot parallels the rest of the movie, showing that Jeffries has a large perspective on these people by making the image broader. There is a plethora of framing by windows in the shot showing the different lifestyles of people in the neighborhood as well as in the time period of the 1950’s in which the film is shot. Each frame shows a different story, which further emphasized the themes of voyeurism and perspective in the film. The still also moves the viewer’s eye from window to window, in a motion much like Jeffries would have been making in his own field of vision. There are the people kissing on the left side of the photo, which shows a sense of love and affection, the naked ballerina in the middle of the photo, which really emphasizes the theme of voyeurism by letting the viewer in on a seemingly intimate moment, and finally, Mr. Thorwald working in his garden in the bottom left of the still, which ends up being a main interest of Jeffries. The scene as a whole demonstrates what Jeffries is seeing and paying attention to, which in turn emphasizes the theme of perspective in the plot of the film.

Sound Activator

Write a blog post explaining what you have learned about audio recorded at different levels. 

What is the optimal level for sound recording?

The optimal level is -12dB

What can you do to fix audio?

To fix the audio at any level, I would first make sure that you are recording in the right settings (-12dB), otherwise it won't be the best audio. However, if you accidentally don't record at the optimal level, you can use the audio mixer to try and make the audio consistent.

What cannot be fixed?

When the sound is not recorded at the correct decibel level it cannot be fixed. It was very hard to get the sound recorded at -40dB up to the correct decibel level even moving the sliders in the audio mixer. It was still too quiet even when slid all the way up. The sound recorded at 0dB was way too loud to begin with and even pulling the audio mixer down almost all the way did not get rid of the gain. You can only adjust the volume to make it consistent, but it will not be at the optimal level of volume.

Critique Reflection

Design:

In the design category, I think the main thing I need to focus on next time is making sure I have smoother camera movements because some of the shots in our film were jerky, and it made it awkward, especially with the sad mood of the film. There was a good use of principles of design in my film. They could be found in every shot; however, there could have been more variety in principles of design, and we could have thought more about the meaning behind the principles rather than just throwing them in for aesthetics. There also could have been more of a variety of camera angles and shot types jut to make it more interesting, but overall, I think the design looked nice. Like I said before, there was a good use of principles of design, and every shot was compositionally sound. In addition, our shots using techniques like rack focus, selective focus, and bokeh all worked out very well and made for good visuals. Our dolly shots were also relatively smooth and well executed.

Technical:

For the technical aspects of the film, my biggest regret in making the film was not using more interesting editing. It was supposed to be an art film, but I kept it very standard, and after seeing Opiee's version of our film, I wish I would have done more in that aspect. We could have used a tripod more to get smoother shots like in the bokeh scene and the tilt up of Opiee, and in the opening shot that was supposed to have some panning, I should have kept the tripod completely still. There were also some moments in the film where the white balance could have been better, but that was more of my editing than the actual white balance on the camera. I thought the audio in my film was very fitting to what it was supposed to convey. It was a sad piano ballad that was cyclical, and that was perfect because it was sad, and I wanted to emphasize the cyclical nature of the character's rise and fall. I also did a very good job with controlling the lighting in the film. Especially with the scene in the PAC and the nail scenes, the lighting was interesting and very well done. Our camera use was very good as well as I knew my way around the camera after what we learned in class and the notes we took. Also I thought the way I edited, although it wasn't very interesting, was still clean and fitting for the story.

Performance:

There was not much performance in the film to begin with, so I think one thing I could have improved on was making sure that there was more emotion and more performance in each shot rather than worrying so much about the aesthetic quality. Tessa was very somber throughout the whole thing, which was fitting for the story, but there could have been more variety in her emotions. Also in the bokeh scene, I wish you could see more of their faces and emotions and were able to see the apology. Overall however, I thought the performance in the film was about as good as it could be. Opiee did a very good job of looking stoic and hen looking like the one in power. Tessa did a fantastic job of making you feel her loneliness, guilt, and desire to fit back in with her friends. She really makes you feel how she is torn, especially in the scenes where she is picking off the nail polish. The extras in the film also did a good job of acting like they were ostracizing Tessa and laughing at her when she was in their group just a little while before.

"The Goal of Film Analysis: Articulating Meaning" Summary

     The excerpt we read from the book emphasized the goal of film analysis, which is to articulate and draw a meaning from a film. It said, "The purpose of film analysis is to make statements about a film's themes and meaning," and went on to describe the three different forms that those statements could take, with each form related to a different level of meaning. 
     The first form of statement is a descriptive one. A descriptive claim is a neutral account of the basic characteristics of the film, which usually involves plot events. An example of a descriptive claim would be a simple plot summary, or a sequential account of the important events in a film. Descriptive statements could also illustrate specific details about a film's visual or audio style, or go beyond events to refer to intertextual connections. Describing how a film or shot resembles or copies the style of another film is an example of this type of descriptive claim.
     The second form of statement, and arguably the most important, is an interpretive one. An interpretive claim presents an argument about a film's meaning and significance. It addresses a film's themes and abstract ideas, or makes an argument about what a film does with subject matter rather than just describing what that subject matter is. Interpretive claims make an argument about the careful orchestration of scenes in a film, and to support this argument it needs to construct a logical thread of more narrow interpretive claims about how individual scenes, motifs, parallels, turning points, sounds, etc. all cohere. Based on what different knowledge people have, there can be many different interpretive claims for a single film, however they can sometimes contradict. To be considered the more valid claim, you must have more evidence, and take all aspects of the film into thorough consideration. 
     The third form of statement is an evaluative claim. An evaluative claim expresses one's belief that a film is bad, good, or mediocre. They are usually expressed in measurements such as grades, thumbs up, or stars in popular media outlets; however, those would be basic examples. Stronger evaluative claims explain why an evaluation is positive or negative. Evaluative claims are based on the standards of the reviewer, and standards obviously differ, so it is up to the viewer to decide if they agree the reviewer's opinion. Good evaluative claims rely on rely on the speaker's ability to describe details from a film accurately and interpret what the film is trying to accomplish using these details. 

Avant Garde Final

Resolution and Aspect Ratio determine the size and quality of the video. Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of an image compared to the height. Resolution is the total number of pixels displayed in the image on the screen, and it is either progressive (p) or interlaced (i). Aspect ratio is important when resizing videos as to not avoid distorting them and Resolution is important because more or less resolution means more or less data and information, which would make a video higher or lower definition. For example this video was set in 1920x1080p (16:9) High definition. I think that we succeeded in this project at accurately depicting our story board and getting all of the camera techniques down like rack focus and in and out. I think I succeeded in the editing as well and making the film feel sad and kind of eery. I think we could have done better with some of the shots and just making them more technically good and more aesthetically pleasing to look at. Also some of the camera movements cold have been a bit better. Also I know some of our shots were not the right aspect ratio or resolution, so I would have liked to been able to fix that.

Montage Summary

Montage editing is film editing that is not necessarily in chronological order or in the same setting. It is film that transcends time to convey a new meaning and make film a unique language. Different visuals mixed around can draw different emotions and feelings from the audience, and that is the main goal of montage, in my eyes--to create feeling. Directors use different methods of montage like over-tonal montage, which includes the cutting of the shots or tempo, the rhythm of the action in a shot, and the tone of the shot, all of which create a new mood to the scene overall. There is also ideological montage, concerning the ideas in the shot rather than just the visual, and putting those ideas with opposing ideas to create something new.In other words, a thesis collides with an anti-thesis to create a synthesis. My clip from the pixar film "Up" uses montage in a more chronological way to show the course of the main character's life, and ultimately to explain why he lives the way he does in the rest of the movie. He is vey bitter, and this montage scene explains why with no dialogue needed. It also makes the explanation of his life much more artistic with the tempo of the music and the shots changing from a fast to a slow pace, and the rhythm of the action in each shot going from very energetic to much more calm and then even melancholy. This use of montage draws a sad reaction from the audience, and leaves them feeling sympathetic towards the character.

Resolution Map