Production Nosferatu

the studio behind nosferatu, prana film, short-lived silent-era german film studio founded in 1921 enrico dieckmann , occultist-artist albin grau, named hindu concept of prana. although studio s intent produce occult- , supernatural-themed films, nosferatu production, declared bankruptcy in order dodge copyright infringement suits bram stoker s widow florence balcombe.

grau had had idea shoot vampire film, inspiration of had risen war experience: in winter of 1916, serbian farmer told him father vampire , 1 of undead.

hutter s departure wisborg filmed in heiligen-geist-kirche s yard in wismar; photograph 1970.

diekmann , grau gave henrik galeen, disciple of hanns heinz ewers, task write screenplay inspired bram stoker s 1897 novel dracula, despite prana film not having obtained film rights. galeen experienced specialist in dark romanticism; had worked on der student von prag (the student of prague) in 1913, , screenplay der golem, wie er in die welt kam (the golem: how came world) (1920). galeen set story in fictional north german harbour town of wisborg. changed character s names , added idea of vampire bringing plague wisborg via rats on ship, , left out van helsing vampire hunter character. galeen s expressionist style screenplay poetically rhythmic, without being dismembered other books influenced literary expressionism, such carl mayer. lotte eisner described galeen s screenplay voll poesie, voll rhythmus ( full of poetry, full of rhythm ).

filming began in july 1921, exterior shots in wismar. take marienkirche s tower on wismar marketplace wasserkunst wismar served establishing shot wisborg scene. other locations wassertor, heiligen-geist-kirche yard , harbour. in lübeck, abandoned salzspeicher served nosferatu s new wisborg house, 1 of churchyard of aegidienkirche served hutter s, , down depenau procession of coffin bearers bore coffins of supposed plague victims. many scenes of lübeck appear in hunt knock, ordered hutter in yard of füchting meet count orlok. further exterior shots followed in lauenburg, rostock , on sylt. exteriors of film set in transylvania shot on location in northern slovakia, including high tatras, vrátna valley, orava castle, váh river, , starhrad. team filmed interior shots @ jofa studio in berlin s johannisthal locality , further exteriors in tegel forest.

the salzspeicher in lübeck served set orlok s house in wisborg.

for cost reasons, cameraman fritz arno wagner had 1 camera available, , therefore there 1 original negative. director followed galeen s screenplay carefully, following handwritten instructions on camera positioning, lighting, , related matters. nevertheless, murnau rewrote 12 pages of script, galeen s text missing director s working script. concerned last scene of film, in ellen sacrifices herself , vampire dies in first rays of sun. murnau prepared carefully; there sketches correspond each filmed scene, , used metronome control pace of acting.