Constrained Space, Free Gaze
Jefferies (Jeff) is confined in a wheelchair with a cast on his leg, but he has the freedom to observe the actions of people in the neighborhood. Because he is a photographer, he has a camera with a long-focus lens, which allows him to see even detailed things from a far view.
The film uses certain cinematography to make the viewers identify themselves with the protagonist, more specifically, with his voyeuristic behaviors. But how exactly does it do that?
Frames
Framing throughout the film not only emphasizes the spatial separation between Jeff's apartment and the neighborhood but also implies the spectators' (including Jeff) limited understanding of the neighbors. First, in some shots of the neighbors, Jeff is not directly looking at them but looking through a pair of binoculars or a camera lens. This intentional looking-through-a-lens framing technique emphasizes the idea that he is peeping into people from a separate, distanced position. Also, even when he directly looks at the neighbors' windows without lens, the internal framing with their windows (frame within the frame; mise-en-abyme) indicates that the information from what Jeff and the viewers see is too limited to fully understand what is going on in the neighborhood's apartments. Those confined frames clearly represent the voyeuristic nature of the film, and it makes the viewers feel that they are engaging in the voyeuristic activity along with him and even that they are implicated in it.
Point of View
Most of the shots throughout the movie are either objective shots only in Jeff's apartment or subjective POV shots from mostly Jeff's perspective (There are subjective POV shots from the detective Doyle's and Lars Thorwald's perspectives as well, but it is only when they are in Jeff's apartment). However, there is only one moment when the camera is taken outside of Jeff's apartment: it is when a couple finds out that their little dog has been killed. In that particular moment, the whole sequence becomes entirely objective, so we see shots from new perspectives along with shots from Jeff's perspective.
This particular scene of the whole courtyard is the one and only full view shot before the climax where Jeff falls from the window, and it strengthens the dramatic sense at that moment, as Hitchcock believes that "the size of the image is used for dramatic purposes" and that particularly long shots can be useful at a dramatic moment.
Lighting
The lighting of the majority of the neighborโs apartments is often well lit as an example of high key lighting. Objects or people in the frame are often in bright light, with little or no shadows or contrast. On the other hand, low key lighting with lots of shadows signals suspense, fear, suspicion, and it even presents the image of voyeurism in that it serves as a tool of hiding (mainly) Jeff from the neighborhood's sight.
The low key lighting effect becomes more noticeable in the sequence where Lisa and Stella sneak into Thorwald's apartment to find some evidence that Lars Thorwald is a murderer. The low lighting used in the sequence adds a sense of suspense of the mystery of possible murder rather than a bright, comedic, or humorous sense.
In such a specific film setting like Rear Window, where Jeff's apartment is facing the rear windows of the apartments on the other side, lighting plays a significant role in the voyeuristic activity. Jeff often observes the neighborhood at night with the house lights off, which makes him almost invisible from the neighbors' perspective and helps Jeff avoid being caught by them. The character hiding in the darkness is another example of heightening the voyeuristic characteristic and theme of the film. Even though the low key lighting sort of creates a sense of "secure-ness" the character may feel in the darker setting by hiding, it interestingly also gives the viewers a sense of fear that they may be caught while snooping the neighborhood; for example, in the scene where Jeff and Stella watch Lisa sneaking into the Thorwald's house and looking for evidence, the lighting in the frame is low, which creates a "secure" space for the characters to hide and not to be caught but also creates suspense and fear that their voyeuristic activity may be caught after all.
Inevitably, the following scene is where the two characters get caught by the suspected killer, and it is too late when they hastily turn off the lights in the house. When Lars Thorwald comes to Jeff's apartment after finding out he has been watched by them, the audience sees the low key lighting with relatively high contrast in his face and even the Shatner lighting (as indicated as 23 in 24 Portrait Character Lighting Setups). These lighting techniques strengthen the dramatic effect both in narrative and aesthetic forms.
Editing
Hitchcock creates an outstanding cinematic effect by implementing pertinent editing techniques such as the Kuleshov effect (Here is the short clip of Hitchcock explaining the concept). The Kuleshov effect is a cognitive phenomenon that happens when the viewers themselves derive the meaning from the interaction of two shots in a sequence. It was a cinematic experiment conducted by a Soviet filmmaker, Lev Kuleshov, who believed that the edited sequence with multiple shots is more impactful than just showing a single shot. He conceived of the montage effect "as an expressive process whereby dissimilar images could be linked together to create nonliteral or symbolic meaning" (Britannica; "History of Film").
The series of montages throughout Rear Window represents the essential characteristic of the film, voyeurism, and it also gives the viewers an interesting cinematic experience of nearly participating in peeping into the neighborhood along with the protagonist.
#1 Newlywed couple - Pleasure
We see Jeff, a newlywed couple, and Jeff again with a subtle and nearly straight facial expression. It could be interpreted that he is inwardly pleased while seeing a couple hugging or kissing, or someone may interpret it that he is reminiscent, being reminded of his lover.
#2 Miss Lonelyhearts - Pity
It is a montage of Jeff and Miss Lonelyhearts, and the viewers may read him feeling pitiful about her even though he does not really show any dramatic emotions on his face.
#3 Couple with a dog - Fun
In this sequence, it starts to rain, so the couple sleeping outside of the balcony hastily goes inside of their house. Right after the shot of the couple, Jeff seems to slightly chuckle. It can be interpreted that he thinks of the situation as funny.
#4 Lars Thorwald - Suspicion
Unlike the previous scene of him seeing the couple with a dog, he seems to suddenly become rather serious while seeing Lars Thorwald. Here, his facial expression is a bit more obvious than other examples mentioned above, but it is still the viewers that interpret how he would feel in the sequence since there is no dialogue but just the shot of Thorwald and his facial expression.
While seeing the juxtaposition of different shots of Jeff and other characters in the neighborhood, the viewers are encouraged to derive the meaning of each scene. Jeff is peeping into what the couple is doing through the window, but it is "us," the viewers, who interpret what the protagonist would feel while seeing others. Through the active interpretation of a series of montages that consist of Jeff's face and the POV shots of what Jeff sees, the audience engages in sneaking a peek of the neighborhood just like Jeff, and they eventually cannot help but identify with the protagonist as a voyeur in the film.
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