Rear Window- Jessica S.

One of the few things that I noticed about the significance of the sound techniques featured in Rear Window was the interesting connection at the beginning scenes of the film with Lisa Fremont and the cityscape noises. For instance, there is constant background music leading up to the scene where Stella and Jeff begin to talk about Lisa Fremont. At the first mention of Lisa, however, the music we can hear in the background is almost immediately dissolved into nothing while the noises of the city life around the characters start to filter into and behind their discussion. I took this to be a symbolic representation of Lisa’s materialism and love for the “city life”, as it were. When the conversation about her is over between Stella and Jeff, the music we heard before once again takes the forefront.

                Another of the things I noticed was the careful balance of the way the sound was so heavily-but smoothly- layered. When we are focused on a scene like the one mentioned above with Stella and Jeff, we are able to concentrate on all aspects of the scene very well, even down to the melodic music coming from outside Jeff’s apartment. While we can hear their dialogue without interruption, if we focus hard enough on what we are able to hear we can still follow the music, or even the sounds of the cars and street life below. There is no point where one facet of sound seems muddled or gets lost beneath something else that’s going on in the scene, even if something is meant to be barely audible but still present.

                When Lisa first shows up to Jeff’s apartment, the only thing we are able to hear are cityscape sounds up until she begins to talk “nonsense” about securing a job for Jeff. At this point, however, the background music is not intended for the two of them necessarily, but for Miss Lonelyhearts at her dinner with her imaginary date. Through Lisa and Jeff’s peeping in on the other tenants, we are finally focused on the Thorwalds’ apartment, where the music is overrun with the sounds of sirens and train whistles, foreshadowing the danger that surrounds Lars Thorwald himself.

                As the movie progresses through all the characters’ heartbreaks and final happy endings, (except for the Thorwalds’, anyway) we are shown that the daytime soundscape provides a busy interaction, whereas save for a few instances, the nighttime’s soundscape is more rightfully calm and laid back as each day is drawing to a close. The scenes comfortably switch from city sounds to music and back again, while the very last scene is one of a triumphant sort of satisfied resolution as we listen to the diegetic  sounds of “Lisa” while the scene closes.