Week 1: Assignment - Sound and Nosferatu Miguel Garcia Arts-125-45 11/06/22 Nosferatu was a very interesting movie to say the least. A golden gem in the “silent era” of motion pictures, it’s a cult classic among horror buffs being the first vampire movie. “Nosferatu has made its mark on history, not only as the first vampire film, but also as a telling artifact from a turbulent socio-political time, a prominent example of the German Expressionism artistic movement, and an achievement in early filmmaking, especially for special effects.” (Dacumos, 2015) I can only speak for myself but I enjoyed the absence of sound from the movie, I think it forces the director to really tell the story through his actors. The actors in turn really have to tell the story through dramatic acting, mannerisms, facial expressions and limited dialogue between the actors. The music that plays throughout the movie is a great replacement for the actual words/dialogue the actors would normally be saying. To me it really brought the scenes to life and set the tone/mood for each scene, especially for the suspenseful scenes featuring Nosferatu. I found myself giving the characters my own colorful dialogue in the scenes where you’re supposed to interpret what the actors are saying to each other. With the limited dialogue there are a lot of scenes where you have to imagine what they are saying to each other, or what the character is thinking at that moment. It was kind of fun to give it my own colorful, modern spin to what I thought the actors were saying. Besides having a little fun with the movie in my honest opinion, if Nosferatu was made as a regular movie instead of silent it wouldn’t have been as good. You wouldn’t of had the movie score that really delivered for each scene, I think the story wouldn’t have been as good because of the actual dialogue between actors. The unique camera angles and score during dramatic scenes work beautifully together, innovative for that time period. Definitely considered a classic “ Nosferatu is memorable for many reasons, but the most enduring include several innovative in-camera effects and startlingly images they create. Some of these visual effects, such as the primitive form of stop motion used throughout the film, no longer have the ability to impress that they once did. Others, like the use of undeveloped negative spliced into the film to give the appearance of Count Orlok’s coach driving through a ghostly white forest, still carry an eerie effectiveness. Variations on this technique have been used to by no less than Stanley Kubrick in the stargate sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Martin Scorsese for the opening and closing of his remake of Cape Fear (1991). Several images remain as fresh and unsettling as they were a hundred years ago: Orlok’s unearthly rise from his coffin, rats spilling from the hold of the ship, the shadows of the vampire’s clawed fingers creeping up Ellen’s bedclothes and grasping her heart. These images all serve the film’s themes which remain frightening and shockingly relevant even to this day.” ( Keiper, 2022) I think Keiper really hits it on the head with his analysis of the movie, even all the way up to the end of the movie when Ellen sacrifices herself in order to kill Nosferatu. References: Keiper, B. (2022, April 18). Creeping shadows: Why 'nosferatu' still holds up 100 years later. Bloody Disgusting! Retrieved November 2022, from https://bloodydisgusting.com/editorials/3711334/nosferatu-horror-classic-100- years/#:~:text=Nosferatu%20is%20memorable%20for%20many,impress%20that%20they %20once%20did. Dacumos, K. (2018, October 15). Nosferatu: A study of german expressionism. a gibelwho production. Retrieved November 2022, from https://www.gibelwho.com/home/nosferatu-astudy-of-german-expressionism
