“Nosferatu the Vampire” depicts the tragic interaction between Jonathan and Lucy Harper with the vampire Dracula. In this film, we follow Jonathan Harper to the castle of Dracula, witness the two’s interactions, follow the pair’s return to Wismar, observe Dracula’s havoc rot on the town, and finally, witness Dracula’s eventual fall, death, and rebirth. In this artful reimagining of the classic vampire story, Werner Herzog employs various cinematic techniques to build up to a dramatic shift in the plot and supporting characters. In this paper, I will explain how Herzog employed music, camera motion, and light, to establish character types and build up to this dramatic shift in the supporting characters. I will then perform a mise-en-sence analysis …show more content…
The shift is finally made in the scene where Lucy is visited by Dracula. In this scene, Herzog intentional shoots the primary action in the mirror. This is done as to emphasize the myth that vampire cannot be seen in the mirror. In the mirror, we see Lucy dressed in a particularly wide necked nightgown to emphasize her neck. This is because we learned before that her neck and the prospect of drinking her blood attracted Dracula to her in the first place. In her fear from the shadow of Dracula, Hertzog directs Lucy to deliberately cover her neck. This allows the audience to forget her crucifix and the protection she already had so that we believe that she is in true danger. In their dialogue, Dracula admits that death is easier than life, foreshadowing his eventual death when Jonathan’s takes his place. Finally, as Lucy speaks of salvation, she reveals the cross, a clear symbol of where she believes her salvation rests. In doing so, Lucy relinquishes Dracula by her words and the cross she bares and assumes her role as the new primary supporting …show more content…
The first way that Herzog’s film could be considered good art is that it balances the mean between form and function. Without a doubt, the composition and mise-en-sence of this film has elegant form and beauty. Yet, unlike some artistic films I have seen, this the film’s mise-en-sence and filming techniques not only have beautiful form, but function to enhance the overall function of storytelling as well. The mise-en-sence is well ordered and follows the proportions as represented by the rule of thirds. Herzog elegantly balances beauty and form with a functional and interesting plot that keeps the audience engaged in the film. Furthermore, Hertzog’s film never forgets its purpose or aim that it is being directed to. The primary purpose of this film is to build empathy for the characters that we might ask ourselves, “what would we do in such a situation?” The subordinate arts of this film (lighting, scene composition, make-up, costuming etc.) do not detract from its definite purpose, but rather they elevate the chief theme and purpose of this film. Finally, this film is extremely symmetrical. Not only in the individual shots, but in symmetry can be found in the plot structure as discussed in my interpretive analysis
Many films, and sometimes film genres, are dismissed as being part of the cinema of escapism. This assumes that in times of particular social or economic hardship (often on a national or international level), people go to movies for the sole purpose of “getting away from it all.” While some films may follow this overall trend, it is important to note that it cannot be a generalization made for all films. During the Weimar era in Germany, the nation was in the midst of a national struggle on many fronts. As a people, Germans attempted to deal with their past (the problems during World War I as well as the consequences of their loss) and move toward the future (finding a solution for their economic struggles and defining themselves culturally and socially). This period saw a resurgence of the horror genre, this time adapted to the new medium of film. However, the way horror was portrayed via film is the interesting part: it drew specifically on the struggles of the nation to instill horror. This is an exact reversal of the idea of cinematic escapism, since many Weimar era horror films used relatable struggles in order to both entertain and terrify (in this case, existing concurrently as well as dependently on each other). One of the clearest examples of this is through the film Nosferatu, a cinematic retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula directed by F.W. Murnau. The budding horror genre of the Weimar era, as exemplified by Nosferatu, succeeded because it drew parallels to the German people’s collective post-World War I mindset, including references to the terrible nature of the war itself and the fearful prospect of how to move forward.
Indisputably, Tim Burton has one of the world’s most distinct styles when regarding film directing. His tone, mood, diction, imagery, organization, syntax, and point of view within his films sets him apart from other renowned directors. Burton’s style can be easily depicted in two of his most highly esteemed and critically acclaimed films, Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Burton ingeniously incorporates effective cinematic techniques to convey a poignant underlying message to the audience. Such cinematic techniques are in the lighting and editing technique categories. High key and low key relationships plus editing variations evinces the director’s elaborate style. He utilizes these cinematic techniques to establish tone mood, and imagery in the films.
Since the 19th Century, Bram Stoker’s Dracula has entertained its readers taking them to heights of excitement in the climax
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is not only a classic story of men and monsters, but a dramatic reactionary work to the perceived threats to Victorian society in nineteenth century England. In modern times there have been many film adaptations of the novel, each developing a unique analysis or criticism of the literary text within the framework of the society and time period in which it was created. The 1972 film Blacula is one of the most culturally specific variations on the story of Dracula, and highlights many of the themes and messages found in Stoker’s original text. Among the primary similarities between the novel and the film is the portrayal of race, sexuality, nationality, and culture, and the characterization in each work speaks to the fears and ideals of their respective dominant societies.
Hollywood in known for making literary adaptations, and such adaptations will exploit context. Movies bring literary properties to the public that otherwise would not bother to read them. However the "marriage" of literature and film holds their own separate qualities. It is precisely the point that Hollywood distorts and corrupts serious literature for the entertainment pleasures of a mass audience. In the task of comparing and contrasting the novel of "Dracula" to film extracts of "Bram Stoker’s Dracula", values, meaning and context discovered lie between discrepancy and similarity.
script, the viewer needs another way to interpret the film. The 1922 silent film Nosferatu
A noticeable difference in the way movies have changed over the years is evident when comparing and contrasting two films of different eras which belong to the same genre and contain the same subject matter. Two vampire movies, Dracula and Bram Stoker's Dracula, present an interesting example of this type of study.
As of late, society has stolen the traditional idea of a vampire. These undead creatures are manipulated in countless genres and media, ranging from comedic reliefs and complex villains to sparkly heartthrobs. Songs, video games, movies, books, and TV shows all are guilty of this. Movies in particular have done the most with vampires, and clearly show their evolution in society’s eyes. In the earliest movies such as Nosferatu; directed by F. W. Murnau, and Dracula; directed by Todd Browning and Karl Freund, vampires are used as devices of horror. They are meant to be unhuman and terrifying. As time passes, they become portrayed in sympathetic lights and with more human traits. Emotions such as love, guilt, and fear were added to vampire vocabulary,
Suspense is a 1913 film that portrays the story of a tramp intruding into a family’s home, where a mother takes care of her child while her husband is away. The plot is a common one that had been used previous times before the film’s release, such as in The Lonely Villa (1909). However, through taking advantage of the single frame shot, the filmmakers were able to create a masterful aesthetic of two separate stories that turn a basic plot into a complex story. The film created an inventive way of illustrating stories within cinema by allowing the audience the chance to consume more narrative in less time within just one take.
to Bram Stokers story as myself to a chimp. If it was named 'Parody Of
Lucy is the Medusa archetype. She is physically attractive, and wins the heart of any man who comes near her (e.g. Arthur, Quincey, Jack, and Van Helsing). Her chief quality is sensual beauty, but her sexual desire is repressed and not allowed to communicate. And yet both the spiritual side and the sexual side are in her, and when the long repressed sexuality finds a vent, it explodes and takes over completely. In other words, she is transformed into the completely voluptuous female vampire precisely because her sexual side of personality had been completely buried by her Victorian education. Her repressed self needs such expression that when Dracula came along, she went out to greet him, and then invited him into the house (by opening her window to the bat). He is her vent for sexual expression.
Dracula, the most famous vampire of all time, which readers were first introduced to by Irish author Bram Stoker in 1897 with his novel Dracula, which tells the story of the mysterious person named Count Dracula (Stoker). The book is an outstanding masterpiece of work, which is why it has been a prototype for various movie releases over the decades. Whenever a film director decides to make a movie on behalf of a novel the hope is that the characters concur from the novel to the movie, which leads to the exploration of the resemblances and modifications between the characters in Dracula the novel by Bram Stoker and Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1992 movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Vampires, they have sharp teeth, black capes, perfect skin and black hair, one of the key inspirations to how we see the vampire today is Bram Stoker's book Dracula, written in 1897. Over time the idea of a vampire has evolved from the standard can't go out in the sun and can only drink human blood to sparkling in the sun and can live off of a animal's blood. Either the change occurred from the evolution of writing styles or just written in a way to make a book as popular as possible. This essay will explore the idea of a vampire before and after the book Dracula was made as well as the key inspirations for the book itself. Including comparisons of how we see vampires today versus how they were seen back when Dracula was originally written.
When Van Helsing figured out what was happening to Lucy he told Dr. Seward and after Lucy passed away the men went to where she was buried and it had been weeks and her body. The sight they saw was “more radiant and beautiful than ever; and I could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red maybe redder than before” (Stoker 171). This line should that Lucy turned into a vampire because Dracula had been sucking her blood. Jonathan Harker was also a victim of Dracula’s games but he fought through his mental trauma with the help of his Wife, Mina. The rein of Dracula’s evil ways came to an end and although Lucy lost her future, all of her friends were finally safe from
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a film which combines the fantastic with the realistic, and attempts to satisfy both people’s desire for the real story and an adventure. Opening with young Abraham Lincoln’s mother’s death, the audience becomes aware of the supernatural and the role vampires play in Antebellum America. Creatures of the night rule the South in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and manipulate politics to sate their hunger for human blood. The story follows the young Lincoln as he trains in the ways of vampire hunting and sets out on a quest to avenge his mother’s death and decide the fate of the nation. Like any good vampire movie, nearly every scene focuses on some epic fight or action to keep the audience riveted. The movie’s