Minutes, August 22, 2001. 

Nosferatu 1920 Directed by F.W. Murnau.

Nosferatu is a German version of Dracula.

The topics of discussion for this class include: Distance and Movement.

How is the mood of horror set in this film with the use of distance and movement?

1. In the first scene the audience is given a close up shot of a man named Thomas who is in bed.  The character Thomas is haloed with light while the rest of the background is shrouded in darkness, as if the viewer is looking through a tunnel.  This first shot is to establish the point of view for the next shot because the camera takes a static position in what is assumed to be Thomas's point of view from the bed.  Now the audience has the knowledge that they are seeing what Thomas is seeing:  That being a long shot across the room and through a vaulted door with a backlit Dracula looming in the doorway.  The distance between Thomas and Dracula can be seen as the distance between predator and prey and through the use of mise en scene movement of the character Dracula towards Thomas, the director is able to create tension and a sense of impending doom.

2. The second way in which distance is used in Nosferatu is the elimination of physical distance between the character Thomas and the character Ellen.  Murnau is able to dissolve the physical distance between Thomas who is in Romania and Ellen who is in Germany by cutting from Thomas's point of view to various shots of the sleeping or sleep walking Ellen.  The audience is given the impression that Ellen is also seeing through the eyes of Thomas.  This is symbolized by the tunnel, or dream like frame work used in shots of Thomas or through Thomas.  Now Murnau is able to build suspense and horror by cutting back and forth between the two physically distant but time coinciding scenes. 

3. The use of distance and movement bring about a climatic and symbolic editing sequence in which Dracula gets closer and closer to Thomas and Ellen gets more and more upset until the final sequence of shots in which the grotesque hands of Dracula are seen as shadows on the wall behind Thomas at which point the camera cuts to Ellen who abruptly sits up in bed and screams.  The following shot is a medium to close up shot of Dracula turning his pale face towards the camera as if he has lost interest in Thomas and is now coming for Ellen.

The Lost Honor Of Katharina Blum 1975, Directed by: Volker Schlondorff.

This film is about a woman who has a one night stand with a terrorist and the consequences of that event.  Katharina did not know the man was a terrorist so she helped him escape but she was caught.  The basic theme behind this film is that the press, the cops, and society as a whole can also be seen as terrorists.  In the first scene Katharina is seen in a bar wearing a white scarf over her head.  She is sitting quietly but the crowd harasses her so much that she is forced to leave.  There is a lot of movement in this shot as the crowd scowls about and throws things at her.  The next shot is of Katharina walking down a street in bright daylight.  I believe the next scene is of Katharina in her apartment rummaging through a dresser to find a gun which she hides in her purse.  The next shot uses distance in terms of time as it cuts to a photo of Cologne circa 1945 after WWII.  In this shot Everything is in ruins, the building is falling down and the landscape is completely obliterated.  Next the camera cuts to an establishing shot of a high rise.  It is a dark landscape and everything is still except a newspaper which is blowing in the wind in front of the building..  The camera cuts to the Katharina's apartment which is also trashed like the WWII shot and the outside of the high rise.  The camera pans through the messy apartment and then fixates on Katharina who is sitting perfectly still in a chair.  The next shot is a long shot of the corridor which Katharina is facing.  At this point a man begins to walk down the corridor towards Katharina.  This man is a reporter and the closing of distance between him and Katharina is similar to the shot in Nosferatu in that it creates suspense.  The man walks in to her apartment talking about how she is famous and he wants to publish the story while it is still hot.  As he is walking in the camera pans to a wall on which blood is splattered.  no explanation is given to the origin of this blood but I feel it foreshadows death.  The man keeps talking to her as he comes closer and closer.  It is obvious that Katharina does not trust him, she just sits silently in her chair.  Finally the man is face to face with Katharina and he makes the wrong move and makes an indecent remark to her, asking her if she wants to fuck.  At this point she silently stands up and shoots the reporter/terrorist.  In this film editing does not eliminate distance of space but distance of time.

Lily Marleen 1980, Directed by: R.W. Fassbinder.

This is the story of Lale Anderson, a one hit wonder who sang and recorded a song during the nazi campaign.  The song is about the women and the life left behind by the men on the front line. 

In this scene from the film the director dissolves the distance between the battle going on at the front line and the home front where society still exists.  In short Fassbinder is trying to explain how the social elite and their pompous, nationalistic attitudes are guilty for prolonging the war and bringing death to the ordinary men who are on the front line obeying orders.  The entire clip is back and forth cutting between the battle field and a social gathering.  The battle field is dark and depressing, lit only by the red hues of explosions and the blue smoke of artillery fire.  This type of scene is shown several times with intervals of the home front in juxtaposition.  When the character begins to sing Lily Marleen the battle field becomes silent.  The red hue is replaced with a calm blue light as the smoke clears the battle field.  The soldiers faces are shown in a panning shot that emphasizes the complacency of the soldiers hearts as they hear this song.  The back and forth cutting continues during all this until the end of the song which brings about the climax.  As roses are thrown to Lily Marleen on stage the bombs and rifles of the battle field go back into action.  The arched flights of the roses are juxtaposed with the hurling bodies of the battle field.  There are many other elements in this film but the essence of the story is founded in the enter twined montage editing that displays the coinciding and mutually parasitic relationship between the city's social culture and the war which it feeds.