Author: Roy A Sites
First published: 2014
First published: 2014
The blurb: Nosferatu -- Does this word not sound like the Deathbird calling for you at midnight? Beware of it, otherwise you will fade away and images of your life will be shattered, nightmares will quickly rise in your heart and feed upon your blood.
From the mist shrouded ruins of Transylvania to the deserted manse in Wisborg……
He is coming!
-- Vermin, plague, misery, insanity, death –
...hide in the shadow of the Vampire...
The great 1922 silent horror film classic presented in story-board form with a shot-by-shot presentation. Every shot in the film is represented with a frame enlargement, narrative comments and a fresh translation of every original German intertitle card. In addition, brief comments are provided relating to cinematic devices used by Murnau in his seminal film, as well as backstories, then-and-now photos, sources for viewing the film, and more. This is F. W. Murnau's horror masterpiece presented as never before. This is where the cinematic legend of Dracula begins. With over 600 photos and illustrations!!!
The review: Murnau’s Nosferatu was a seminal moment in cinema history, never mind horror cinema generally and vampire cinema specifically. This book is a useful tool for the student of the film, recreating the film in a storyboard format. However, its weakness is here too. Each page has 2 columns of three rows, on a row we then get a text descriptor and a still from the film. Unfortunately, whilst some stills are iconic others are not so – sometimes too small for the detail within (a distant shot of the hyena, for example, is too small, lacking in detail, whilst the close up is iconic). Part of the problem might be the fact that this is self-published and therefore the print quality and paper quality is lower than a dedicated publishing house might have provided, part of the problem might have been the source. The pictures are black and white, not tinted.
You might then ask of the point but, as I say it is a useful tool for the student of the film. Firstly, because there are times that flicking through pages is more convenient than firing up a DVD/Blu-Ray, but also the move to a paper format changes the viewer lens and it is possible that a different thought may hit the reader than if they were using the film format.
There are appendices that go through filming techniques, brief biographies of those involved in the film (or at least the primary persons) and a listing of various releases of the film (US market orientated). Useful if the details contain something new for you, though nothing that hasn’t been offered elsewhere. Most useful in the appendices is the shooting script for the film (in English, the author does not have details of the translator but is convinced of its authenticity having compared to fragments of the German script – so whilst useful do take account of the caveat).
This is only really going to be of interest to students of the film/director/genre. For those, an interesting tool gets 7 out of 10. My thanks to Ian, who got me the book for Christmas.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
From the mist shrouded ruins of Transylvania to the deserted manse in Wisborg……
He is coming!
-- Vermin, plague, misery, insanity, death –
...hide in the shadow of the Vampire...
The great 1922 silent horror film classic presented in story-board form with a shot-by-shot presentation. Every shot in the film is represented with a frame enlargement, narrative comments and a fresh translation of every original German intertitle card. In addition, brief comments are provided relating to cinematic devices used by Murnau in his seminal film, as well as backstories, then-and-now photos, sources for viewing the film, and more. This is F. W. Murnau's horror masterpiece presented as never before. This is where the cinematic legend of Dracula begins. With over 600 photos and illustrations!!!
The review: Murnau’s Nosferatu was a seminal moment in cinema history, never mind horror cinema generally and vampire cinema specifically. This book is a useful tool for the student of the film, recreating the film in a storyboard format. However, its weakness is here too. Each page has 2 columns of three rows, on a row we then get a text descriptor and a still from the film. Unfortunately, whilst some stills are iconic others are not so – sometimes too small for the detail within (a distant shot of the hyena, for example, is too small, lacking in detail, whilst the close up is iconic). Part of the problem might be the fact that this is self-published and therefore the print quality and paper quality is lower than a dedicated publishing house might have provided, part of the problem might have been the source. The pictures are black and white, not tinted.
You might then ask of the point but, as I say it is a useful tool for the student of the film. Firstly, because there are times that flicking through pages is more convenient than firing up a DVD/Blu-Ray, but also the move to a paper format changes the viewer lens and it is possible that a different thought may hit the reader than if they were using the film format.
There are appendices that go through filming techniques, brief biographies of those involved in the film (or at least the primary persons) and a listing of various releases of the film (US market orientated). Useful if the details contain something new for you, though nothing that hasn’t been offered elsewhere. Most useful in the appendices is the shooting script for the film (in English, the author does not have details of the translator but is convinced of its authenticity having compared to fragments of the German script – so whilst useful do take account of the caveat).
This is only really going to be of interest to students of the film/director/genre. For those, an interesting tool gets 7 out of 10. My thanks to Ian, who got me the book for Christmas.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
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