Projector scene
There are lots of different cinematic techniques used in this scene, there is;
Lighting- there is only a lamp that is switched on in the room but then Maxim turns it off and switches the projector on. There is only light on the characters faces; this creates shadows on their faces that show the feelings of unhappiness in their marriage. In this scene we find out that they have an unhappy marriage. They have an unhappy marriage because Mrs Dewinter feels like she is always in the way, Maxim is always unhappy with her or he is always shouting at her. The darkness in this scene creates tension.
Characters Positioning-Maxim is stood up throughout this scene, he is in control of the projector but it is also showing that he is in control of their marriage. Mrs Dewinter is sat down throughout the scene. Maxim stands up in front of the projector, he is blocking their happiness. As he looks down on her you can see that she is feeling uncomfortable with what is happening.
Props- there aren’t many different props used in this scene but one of them is the projector, which stands in-between Maxim and Mrs Dewinter. Another prop is the chair that stands in-between Mrs Dewinter Mrs Danvers. Alfred Hitchcock is trying to make the audience feel like Rebecca’s Presence is in the house and it keeps getting in Mrs Dewinters way.
Music/Sound- there is no sound in this scene except for the constant clicking of the projector that is also telling the audience that Rebecca’s presence is there, getting in the way of maxim and Mrs Dewinters happiness. No sound in the scene also creates tension.
Near Suicide Scene
In this scene Mrs Danvers is trying to make Mrs Dewinter kill herself. Mrs Danvers is the house cleaner, she was very close to Rebecca. In this scene Mrs Dewinter goes from being very happy to being very sad.
The camera angles in this scene show her walking down the stairs, she is very confident and happy and she is stood up straight for once. Then the camera turns around quickly to see a furious Maxim stood at the bottom of the stairs. At this point we don’t know why he is angry. The camera angle then changes again, following Mrs Dewinter upstairs, she is running upstairs again because she can see that Maxim is angry with her and she is too scared to confront him about it. She goes in to Rebecca’s room where we see a wide angled shot of the whole room, the room is massive and it is showing Mrs Dewinter to be very small once again. This tells us that she is unhappy and has lost all confidence. When Mrs Danvers is trying to get Mrs Dewinter to kill herself the camera changes to close ups on the characters faces, showing the despair in Mrs Dewinters face.
The lighting in this scene is very dark creating lots of shadows on the characters faces and on the rest of the room. The shadows on Mrs Danvers make her look like she is evil.
However the sound in this scene is very dramatic building up to the climax. But the music playing when Mrs Dewinter is going to jump out of the window sounds almost hypnotic, as if it is making her jump. Then all of a sudden all you can hear is fireworks; they seem to stop her from jumping. The fireworks tell us that they have found Rebecca’s body in the water.
I think that Alfred Hitchcock has used the cinematic techniques in the film very well, the way that he makes the props look big so that Mrs Dewinter looks small I think was a really good idea. And the way he positions the characters was also done very well, showing that Mrs Dewinter was scared by making her sit down. I also think that the way he used the cinematic techniques did build up suspense, especially the way that he used the lighting, the sound and the music.
