The dark lighting was used to show the evil side of Dracula when he found out that Elizabeta died. It clearly establishes the horror genre in the movie but it doesn’t support the vampire genre of the movie because he was shown more as a devil than a vampire. This is because he was turning against god which is contrast to what the devil is. Another reason is that he wasn’t shown as a vampire is that he wasn’t drinking blood or sucking blood of a human which the modern audience know of.
The mise-en-scene was used to set up the characters personality and to make them complicated to understand what role they are playing in the prologue. It was also used make the locations more lively by the use of props. Dracula was shown in red armour which showed him as a brave warrior but the colour of the armour showed him inhumane and devilish. Elizabeta was shown wearing a dark green dress with a gold tiara which shows she is wealthy and highlights her beauty, she was shown as a kind and beautiful character in the prologue.The costumes helped to show the audience that the movie was set in medieval times. Narrative device was used to tell the story of what was happening in the movie and to show when and where it was set. It was also used to explain about the war and how is it related to Dracula. It also supported to show the relationship between Elizabeta and Dracula. Props were used to build up the environment of the locations; candles were used instead of lights because of the time period and to have a gothic feel. Map of Eastern Europe appear which showed where the movie was located. This was a good mise-en-scene because it clearly sets up the location which was Transylvania. Crosses were the most used props in the opening scene; it builds and supports the location which was the church or chapel. The main cross is an important part of the scene because Dracula stabs the cross to show that he turned against god. Its importance was highlighted by the size of the cross and the location of it in the chapel. Lots of candles were around that cross and it was the centre of attention in the chapel. The blood that came from the cross after it was stabbed established the horror theme and idea of the movie and showed Dracula as vampire because he drank the blood. The use of mise-en-scene in the prologue was effective in attracting the modern audience because they clearly set out the theme and genre of the movie. Narrative device were used to support what was happening in the movie before Dracula turned evil. The prologue device gave the background information about Dracula and what he was and gave an excellent exposition of the opening scene.
Sound wasn’t as effective as the other element of films in attracting the modern audience and setting the theme of the movie, it was used to support the mood of the scene. Most of the music that was used was church music which was used mostly throughout the opening scene but it was effective when it was used in the chapel. This gives the viewers the idea that the whole movie is going to be related to church and God. Coppola used the music to set the good versus evil theme of the movie and give the audience the idea what the film is about. High pitch gospel music was used when Dracula turned evil and he started to renounce God, the volume of the music slowly increases which showed how evil he was getting. This had a impact on that scene and clearly illustrates what was happening to Dracula at that point.
Cinematography and camerawork were used to have a dramatic effect in the scene. This was done by different type of camera shots and how Coppola used then to change from one shot to another shot. I am going to discuss two shots from the opening scene of Dracula and what effect it had.
In the second shot from the opening scene, Coppola used a medium shot to show Elizabeta’s state (dead). It was Dracula’s point of view shot, in shot 1 he was looking at her from a distance. The camera focussed on her who illustrate Dracula innocent, helpless and sad and the audience start to expect that he turned evil because of her death which was the aim of this shot. The letter was introduced in the third shot, Coppola panned right and pull focus to go to the third shot.
In the 23rd shot Coppola shot a close up shot of the cross after it got stabbed. This shot focused on the cross and was trying to show to the audience that blood was coming out. This shot was trying to get the audience to focus on the cross and was trying to show that something bad is going to happen. The audience couldn’t expect what was going to happen next because they never saw a cross bleed which was appealing to the modern audience because it was fiction and it was something new for the viewers . In the 22nd shot Dracula stabs the cross and it was a medium long shot which shows how big the cross is. Coppola cuts and pan up in the 24th shot to show the angel statue bleeding from the eye. The shot was a close up shot. This shot was contrasting to the 23rd shot of the prologue because stone made structure were bleeding which made it more appealing to the audience and made them eager to see what was going to happen next.
I came to the conclusion that Coppola has achieved his aims to attract modern audience to the vampire genre by adding a prologue to the Dracula story which is not from the Bram Stoker’s novel. Coppola got creative with the prologue and added background information about Dracula which was effective to attract the modern audience to go and watch this film. Elements used in the opening scene were very effective to establish the prologue of the movie. The mise en scene builds up the structure of the opening scene but it doesn’t clearly attract the modern audience. Cinematography was used effectively and attracted the modern audience because it built a dramatic structure to the movie and it made the audience eager to see what was going to happen after the blood and the cross incident. The other elements of film built the genre of the movie and set the vampire theme of the movie and made the viewers think about what was going to happen next which is what the modern audience want to see in a movie
Mohammad Fawad Yousuf
11U
