THRILLER ANALYSIS - Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) Psychological Thriller

1. What is revealed to the audience?
Behind the titles, a large window is seen, with blinds that slowly roll up one at a time, and then the camera zooms through the window and into the courtyard beneath. Following this, a single tracking shot follows a cat up a set of stairs, then all around the courtyard, before finally coming back through the window and into a close up of the protagonist's face, sweating and clearly in pain.

2. What is conventional?
- Titles: Although rather old fashioned nowadays, the titles are a simple red and white
- Sound: upbeat, almost comedic music with cymbals throughout, yet reminiscent of old detectives etc with a hint of urgency to it.

- The main character is introduced, albeit briefly

- The setting is introduced also - an apartment block in what we assume is America

3. What is unconventional?
- Camerawork: only two shots are used in the entire opening sequence, and one of these is a highly unconventional track
- Sound: no diegetic sound is used, only the music is heard throughout the opening

- The main character is only introduced right at the very end of the introduction, and even then, only for a second.

4. How has it inspired me?
The use of very few shots has confirmed that it doesn't take a lot of different shots to set up the scene and to introduce the characters. The lack of dialogue is also good, as it is something else to bear in mind for our own thriller.