Nosferatu, directed by F. W. Murnau Nosferatu, is a 1922 silent German film adapted from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The film provides us an understanding of silent cinema as the ideas of German expressionism and gothic horror were prominent during this time. Numerous adaptations followed after Nosferatu, but none held the same genuine themes and techniques in a gothic, German expressionism film.
The opening effectively sets the mood by implementing the unique font title cards carrying horror, medieval, and holiness themes. A title card is one of the few privileges silent films utilize as sometimes, few words speak more than a couple of scenes. The music supported the creepiness and subtle disturbance seen in Count Dracula’s entrance as the actor, Max Schreck, portrayed the vampire characteristics without flaw. Few moments in the film that were timed were music timings and tinting. Tinting is used to dye the tape for greater contrast between day and night. The lighting that was used throughout the film was natural sunlight causing a more natural difference in some scenes where the lighting was a necessity. One example of lighting is when Hutter follows Count Dracula into the tunnel where it’s pitch black compared to the outside area where daylight still shined. This indicated the grim future as the darkness implemented a scarier tone than before. Camera zooms were frequently used in both extremes of close-ups and zoom-outs and wide-angle shots giving more depth and accessibility to some of the required scenes. Hand gestures acted out by the characters in this film served as a medium between the audience and the title cards written on the screen. The scene where Count Dracula dramatically reaches out to Hutter as he cut his finger created more suspense and thrill as opposed to a scene where an actor takes no expression or dramatic actions.
The effective usage of intercutting and montage was implemented to produce a revolutionary horror film that stood the trial of time. The powerful plot and its themes similarly found in Stoker’s Dracula were one of its kind and a huge development in cinema. As such, this film deserves a recommendation to those who’ve yet to watch any silent film or a Dracula adaptation film.
