By allowing the characters of the film to be a part of the same ambiance and musical overtones as the audience, Hitchcock successfully draws the audience into the action even more than the camera.
The shots and viewpoint of the camera already make the audience voyeurs involuntarily, but also making the characters privy to the tone of the scene pulls the film further towards masterpiece. As mentioned in the other blog, the comparisons between "Read Window" and "Vertigo" are plentiful, especially with the involvement of Jimmy Stewart.
The sense of space is incredibly well defined with the diegetic music of the film. The piano man, the dinner party, and the ballerina music can all be heard by all of the characters in the film, effectively affecting the mood of all of them as well as the audience.
My favorite moment in which this technique is applied is when Thorwald comes for Jeff and all of the sound from the ally stops but the audience and Jeff don't realize it at first. The use of and absence of music and only lending more credit to Hitchcock's masterful storytelling.
Some potential here, but you could develop these observations a bit more. You might, for example, consider further what it might mean that we are drawn into the action, made to identify so closely with Stewart's character, how this reflects on our position as an audience.
ReplyDeletetrue, the conflict of the audience as a voyeur is one of the more interesting aspects of the entire film
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