Creative arts evening (Seven Nation Army- The White stripes)

http://scaifesounds.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/blog-post.html

Frankenstein & adaptations

Frankenstein (1931)

Director: James Whale          

Writers: John L. Balder ton (based upon the composition by), Mary Shelley (from the novel by) (as Mrs. Percy B. Shelley)   

Stars: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff | 

Bio: Henry Frankenstein is a doctor who is trying to discover a way to make the dead walk. He succeeds and creates a monster that has to deal with living again.

Budget: $291,000 (estimated)

Gross: $12,000,000 (USA)

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque but sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition of the novel was published anonymously in London in 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared on the second edition, published in France in 1823. From Shelly's story James Whale directed the film version Frankenstein, (1931) which closely follows the same story as I described above.

The reason I'm doing a blog on Frankenstein (1931) and it's adaptations is because I wish to create a similar look to the footage within the film. However, I'm mostly doing it for the purpose of the story. As my narrative is essentially just like that of Frankenstein with a slight twist at the end. So overall I feel this blog is up in order for me to understand the story of Frankenstein and how it was so effectively told.

The main thing I have taken from Frankenstein 1931 is the storyline is the way in which it's told. Seen by the video I have made below.

There were also several remakes of the film which is similar to what I'm doing however of course mine shall be heavily simplified as the narrative has to fit with a 3 minute song. Below you can see some films that have included the Frankenstein plot or the monster himself.

• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)- James Whale creates a companion to the Creature
• Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' (1994)- Kenneth Branagh's "modern" take on the novel, with a stronger Elizabeth; good rendition of the Creature by de Nero, including a proper conversation on the sea of ice.
• Frankenstein and Me (1996)- Robert Tinnell's fan film that re-interprets not only Shelley's novel and its film adaptations, but also other 'horror' classics such as The Wolf Man and Night of the Living Dead.

• Frankenstein: The True Story (1972 TV

• miniseries Jessie James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)

• The Colossus of New York (1958)

• The Revenge of Frankenstein (1957)

There are 66 Frankenstein films listed on IMDB this is because of the way in which the story is so set yet so easy to change as it's such a classic that no matter what twist you put on it, people will always see Frankenstein's monster and create a general understanding of the film or video. And that is part of the reason I decided to create a music video adaptation, so I was able to bring common cinema to the music video section of the film industry.

Copyright Enquiry

I have emailed the person who is incharge of the rights to JAWS's music in order to gather permission to create a music video with the song Bad Company, so I'm able to place it on YouTube. Below you are able to see the email I sent.

They replied shortly after with this email allowing me to use the song and publish it on YouTube. But first they have me to email the video to them before I publish it to YouTube.

To which I replied

Shooting Schedule

I have decided to film across 3 days in December from the 20th-23th. Where I film 1/3 each day this will ensure that if I miss anything on any of the days I will have the ability to reshoot on another. I created a calendar with some of these dates including locations, time and which shots from the shot list to which there is 30 which are explained in my blogpost with the shot list in.

What Inspiration Have I Taken From Murnau

Murnau's work is something I have taken great interest in, especially the way in which he is able to manipulate light to bring shadows into the visuals in order to give a sense of a certain mood. I wish to recreate some of the techniques he has used. Below we see some screenshot of the type of thing I'm talking about.

Intertitle

Intertitles

The thing I feel I will take most inspiration from will be his use of light to create the mood effectively. So I plan to inspect some shots within some of his film mainly Nosferatu. Here are some examples of some shots that I admire in terms of lighting.

Use of light to hit the peak of suspense

Beginning of suspense

Emphasis for suspense

I will recreate scenes like these in order to add to the narrative as I really value the use of lighting as we see with Nosferatu, which really does outline the story of Dracula in a detailed and effective way. You can see a separate blog on how I have learnt to do this and where from.