Rear Window - Atlee Watson

The music to rear window made elevated many of the films major moments to even greater heights. The opening shot of the film was shot how I believe that everyone would see a neighborhood at a glance. As the frame continues to pan each of the main apartments that Jeffries often spies into, the music is very bright and happy. The dancer/Ms. Torso, Lonely Heart, the musician, and even the apartment of the eventual crime scene, all of these apartments at a glance are the happiest places on earth, and the music does its job to emphasize that point. But because the music is diegetic, it can be heard by everyone in the film, as in the opening credits when the sound is coming from a radio. Even when Jeffries attempts to scratch inside his cast the music goes from a nervous pace to a soothing sound, while the sound is pressumably coming from a neighbors window. But not only does the music comment on the neighbors themselves, but you as the viewer apply different means to the music given which neighbor we are looking at. For instance, when a sad song is played towards the beginning of the film, when we look at Ms. Torso, Jeffries plants the idea that she is not in love with any of the current men in her apartment. While Miss Lonely Hearts is sad because she has prepared this fake/staged dinner with her imaginary dinner guest, and Thorwald arguing with his wife, who he later kills that same night. Even Jeffries has an quarrel with Ms. Fremont. Despite the same music as the camera pans throughout the complex gives different meaning to the audience when it is applied to each of the tenants of the surrounding apartments.

However, the music is also ironic. The entire story is told from the point of Jeffries, and even though we are only a spectator much like Ms. Fremont and Stella, the music is made to accompany the thoughts of Jeffries. Because we are the constant spectator with him and see what he sees, he interprets his own views to what we are both seeing. I doubt that we would assume that the actions we are seeing was murder, but because Jeffries believes it, we go along with him and the music, ironically, aids him in making his point of murder.

There was an odd moment that I noticed when we were watching. I do not recall if it was the first encounter with Lt. Doyle, but I believe that it is the first time that Doyle attempts to disprove Jeffires many accusations, and when he does this there appeared to be an odd edit that I noticed. It seemed as though that once Doyle had disproved what Jeffries was saying that all the sound was cut out of the scene because it could no longer aid in creating the tension of Jeffries's theories. I am not sure about this, but maybe we could take a closer look when we get back in class on Tuesday.