Nosferatu - Report on German Expressionism in Film

4.6

4.7

4.8 Hutter finds Ellen and the sick no longer died

Orlac's castle

THE END - closing credits

Plot Segmentation

Nosferatu

The film directed by F.W. Murnau in 1922, Nosferatu was a significant film created during the German Expressionist period and reflected many of the different attributes at the time in terms of the larger cultural, technological, political and economic developments. Throughout this essay, the main topics discussed will be how the film form and film style techniques used in Nosferatu can be understood in terms of its culture; being the idea of fantasy genres, utilisation of Expressionistic attributes and its influence on other countries and forms of popular culture in the present day. Technology; discussing how industrial advancement expanded and improved the production of filmmaking and also how Germany was seen as innovators and pioneers of technology who set the benchmarks for filmmaking during the period. Political; in terms of the rapid movement towards right wing parties after the first world war, the uprising of the Nazis and the support for the filming industry from the government in terms of the import ban and economical developments; which caused hyperinflation to the country and substantial positive demands to the domestic filming industry.

Cultural

During 1919, Expressionist films began to emerge and explore the use of various film style and film form techniques. One of the main styles which defined German Expressionist films was the manipulation of mis-en-scene; this included creating twisted and distorted sets, actors using strange and dance-like movements and costumes and appearances tending to be over-exaggerated and outrageous (Horak, 2010, Moran, 2010, Read, 2010, Thompson and Bordwell, 2008). During this time, the culture of German Expressionism boomed as cinema-goers were excited and interested in the strange plots and film techniques which contrasted classical Hollywood films which were popular and increasingly emerging at the time (Thompson and Bordwell, 2009). Genres like fantasy, horror and science-fiction were prominent in Germany throughout the period of the import ban because it protected film producers from competition; giving writers and directors the opportunity to express their creativity and in the future, influencing on French poetic realism and Hollywood film noir (Read, 2010 and Thompson and Bordwell, 2009).

The main characteristics of German Expressionism were the inventive and creative set designs, abnormal characters and the interesting uses of cinematography; utilising strange film angles and techniques (Read, 2010, Thompson and Bordwell, 2008). It blurred and crossed boundaries of contemporary film-making and developed an unusual film noir feel which engaged viewers with the occasionally confusing plots and framed stories, nevertheless this style also created an art form which was innovative and exciting compared to the Classical Hollywood films of that period (Rampage, 2007).

Nosferatu was a significant film of its time as it was one of the 6 main Expressionist films and can still be seen as a cult film in the present day because of the association with vampires and intriguing uses of film form and film style (Cook, 2010). Nosferatu was a horror based off Bram Stroker's Dracula (Lucas, 2008) which in itself supported the craze and culture of the fantasy world, supernatural beings and the popular culture of vampires; audiences were also extremely startled by Expressionist films and found them to be very weird and crazy.

The power of Nosferatu stems mainly from the way in which Murnau subverts the normal world of daily existence and gradually draws the spectator into a fantasy world of gruesome dreams and irrational phobias.

Nosferatu incorporated many aspects of the German Expressionist theme at the time with its use of motifs, mis-en-scene and interesting cinematography etc; Act 2 - 2.1 Count Orlac for example has an arched back and throughout the film arches are presented multiple times, so are the bloodsucking references like the 'mosquito bite' Hutter gets on his neck (Meranda, 2001). The movements of Count Orlac were very chilling and unnatural, he moves slowly and in suspenseful ways, he is also portrayed with large hands and claws, has pointy ears, an arched back and fangs, he is also very pale as he cannot go outside in the sun because he is a vampire (Meranda, 2001). The interesting use of cinematography is also evident through the use of shadows and unusual angles like in Act 4 - 4.5 when Count Orlac creeps up the stairway about to feed on Ellen, audiences can only see Count Orlac's grotesque figure shadowed on the wall (Meranda, 2001).

Through all these aspects combined, Murnau was able to effectively convey the characteristics of German Expressionism to audiences and contribute to the culture of fiction, fantasy and supernatural worlds in the past and the present. With no gore, no computer generated graphics, and very little makeup, Nosferatu is said to stand as one of the most powerful horror films ever made (Cook, 2010).

Technological

Throughout the time of German Expressionism, film making was still in the silent period and shot in black and white, however due to the inflation after the war the film industry expanded quite rapidly with greater technological developments and industrial advancements occurring (Moran, 2010). This hyperinflation encouraged film companies to invest excess capital into facilities like land, studios, theatre buildings and expansions (Thompson and Bordwell, 2009).

As well as expansions in studios and theatres etc, filmmakers also incorporated the use of advanced lighting techniques from America in order to export there; this included backlighting and artificial illumination. These new style techniques forced producers to build better studios with darker rooms containing the latest lighting equipment and by the mid 1920's most major German films had the option of shooting entirely with artificial light (Thompson and Bordwell, 2009).

After the 1st world war, Germany was seen as pioneers of filmmaking as they always utilised the latest equipment and techniques of the time and were often setting the benchmarks for other countries within the filmmaking industry. For example, throughout the early 1920's German filmmakers started to experiment with complex camera movements and innovated the estfesselte camera (unfastened camera) which was internationally influential and further inspired directors to utilise and explore