Chloé Kent - OUTSIDE READINGS #3 – Nosferatu

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, is a German Expressionist horror film from 1922 directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. This iconic film introduced the fundamental concepts of what makes a successful horror movie that are still being used in films today. Author Dennis L. White wrote in his article for the Cinema Journal, “The Poetics of Horror: More than Meets the Eye”, that “Any filmmaker must turn a concept or script into a series of images and sounds that expresses the essence, as well as the surface, of the source. To make a successful horror film a film-maker must decide what is primary to the production horror (White 3)”. Murnau does this throughout the film using various techniques that were revolutionary at this early stage in film development.

The nature of silent films requires a heavy reliance on music to suggest the mood from scene to scene. Murnau uses the score in Nosferatu especially to describe the nature of the relationship between the characters on screen. One example of this can be found in the opening of the film, where the viewer is introduced to the concept of the Nosferatu. The music scored underneath the opening text is dark and threatening which gives the viewer a sense that the Nosferatu are evil creatures. Once the legend of the Nosferatu is established, the story opens with a scene of the protagonists Hutter and Ellen. This causes the music to change drastically from the dark, ominous tones in the previous scene to light and airy flutes that represent the happiness and love between Hutter and Ellen. By using the score to help explain the action in the film, Murnau follows White's description of a successful horror film by utilizing the sound of the film to describe the essence of the scene.

 Another technique that Murnau used in the film to communicate a particular mood was through tight close up shots to show things in greater detail, such as the horror of Count Orlok or the terror in the faces of his victims. White explains that in horror films, “No matter how many or how few shots compose a work, each shot and each instant of each shot must communicate the motivations and relationships of the whole of which they are part (White 6)”. This concept can be found in one particular scene where Hutter has dinner with Count Orlok and he accidentally cuts his hand on a bread knife. Just after Hutter cuts his hand, the scene zeros in on a tight shot of his shocked expression. The camera then pans to a shot of Count Orlok, who looks at Hutter devilishly from above his newspaper at the presence of the blood. The camera pans back to a tight shot of Hutter, whose face is now filled with fear over the evil look he received from Count Orlok. The next shot shows a clock ticking to symbolize the threat that exposing his blood to Count Orlok had on Hutter's life. The clock's design is of a skeleton that forces the seconds to tick by with a hammer. This is significant because it reinforces Count Orlok's status as being undead as well as adding to the symbolism of Hutter's life being in danger. This scene that exchanges back and forth between these three close-up shots comes together to communicate Count Orlok's evil motivations and the danger that Hutter is in as a result of cutting his hand.