In Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, the beginning of the movie shows a focus on how the narrative encourages the viewer to fill in gaps about the past and anticipate the future of events in the story with foreshadowing and plants. The first scenes of the movie show events happening outside of Jeff’s window that give the viewer information they need to follow along as the story plays out.

It starts out by showing the temperature being very hot outside and what is happening in the windows of all the neighbors that live around Jeff. You then see Jeff sitting in his wheelchair with a broken leg; He is also covered in sweat. This tells the viewer that it must be summer time and that everyone will be out and about enjoying the weather; this is also a reason for all the people having their windows open and curtains drawn. All the people that you see outside the window give the viewer some kind of information to interpret through their actions. For example, the people in their apartments are doing and displaying something that is either foreshadowed or planted by Hitchcock to develop the plot of the movie.

The couple that is newly-weds shows both past and foreshadowing information for Jeff and Lisa’s characters. If you have seen the movie, you know that Jeff isn’t sure that Lisa is right for him because of his line of work. He thinks that she is not cut out for it because of her lavish lifestyle and that she would be miserable when they would be in harsh conditions. However, when viewing it for the first time, your just picking up bits and pieces at a time that eventually lead you to an understanding of the concept that Jeff does not think they are right for each other. The viewer can tell by the way Jeff looks at the couple that he is nervous and hesitant about getting married himself. He can see that they look happy at first, but later on in the movie, the wife seems to be knaggy towards the husband. From watching this myself, I could tell that Jeff was currently in a relationship with a women from the planted information telling about the past, and that he was hesitant about getting married, which is a foreshadow of Jeff and Lisa’s conversation about getting married later on in the story.

Another window that gives great detail on planting and foreshadowing is the murderers window. When the viewer first looks in the window of the murderer and his wife, the viewer can tell that something is odd about the way the couple is behaving. You can see what seems to be arguing and strange behavior from both spouses. You can see that Jeff has a confused look about himself when he sees the couple arguing, which is a plant the Hitchcock intends for the viewer to notice. Later,