Noseferatu (1922, Silent): Short Visual Literacy Analysis

In Act I, Transylvania was a very sparse land in the middle scene between where Hutter first leaves Ellen and when he arrives at the inn. There may be gorgeous mountains in the background, but there are not very many trees. This looks like a way to say that the land is desolate and full of desperation. Once there, I thought it was interesting that when people spoke of the werewolf that the old women would do the Catholic sign of the cross, then prayed. Today, this would be less “politically correct,” so it probably would not show as popular, depending on the nature and/or genre of the film.

The way that they showed the difference between day and night was both one of great dedication and quite impressive for the time. They had to dye each negative at a time just right in order for it to turn out right. It was quite inventive that they had the vampire be the cause of the Black Death in England. That is not a theme that is very popular nowadays, and that appealed to me because movies really were original back in those days. But the lack of technology did hurt the composition, of the work. Music did not help much either. It just really dated it, making it impossible to be classic or timeless. But the kind of effects used appear ancient to today's, but were legendary when it was made.

Although the skips were purely by accident from cutting the negatives, the skips actually make it seem a little scarier than if they were not there. This is because the jumps make things seem more disoriented than they already are, along with everything else. Another way that things were shown as disoriented is that the camera was at a canted angle whenever Count Orloc was on-screen. This shows that he was odd and abnormal in every way, because every angle on his was similar to this if not exact. The perceptual transformation that this old camera gave made every scene all the more disorienting by having more of a vignette framing to the screen. New cameras now do not have that unique quality naturally put into the camera. This kind of thing has to be done in editing now, which is both helpful and limiting. However, the older cameras, like used in this silent film, were also limited by other things, such as color, definition, and weight. These are just a few of the visual observations in this film.