How are windows present on screen which itself is a window frame into a new world?
Windows exist as a means to view the world on the other side of the wall, quite similar to a screen that allows the audience to view a narrative on the other side of a so-called frame we can describe as a television. Yet within the film genre frames and windows describe characters in narrative however it is presented to the audience through Mise en scene.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film Rear view is an example of how the window functions as a means to create narrative as the crippled protagonist is bound to a room overlooking the daily activities of his neighbors. The protagonist views neighbors and the people surround him through his glass window as a spectator encouraging the narrative to continue as the Mise en scene includes the first person view of the protagonist as a Peeping Tom through the window. It is as if each window in the scene offered a different narrative, for example you have the young girl half naked somewhat stretching seductively as she starts her day while present in another window is the married couple and so on.
The window also invites the neighbors and audience into the protagonist’s space, from the opening scene by looking through the protagonists from an outsiders perspective we gain knowledge of the character and the world around him. As the camera pans we gain knowledge of a heat wave in the city, the protagonist is crippled with a broken leg, the protagonist enjoys strong alcohol, we learn he has an interest in photography which can be determined as his line of work. All this information is determined by the cinematography as the audience (us) takes the role of a peeping tom peering into the protagonist’s window without any piece of dialogue spoken.
The window and frame is a two-way observatory tool as it can be used as a means to observe the outside world whilst letting outsiders observe the observer weather it may be characters or the audience of the film.
liammccosh 