American Cinematographer - December 2000 - 77

and oil

lamps. I placed Chinese
gold reflec¬
tors to provide that bit of warmth
that comes from oil lamps, and I
used lots of tricky things to create
that effect. The lights were on
dimmers, so I could vary [the level]
by eye. Meanwhile, Gorton had built
a fireplace in the corner with a gas
lanterns out of shot with

line,

so

I could control the flames in

the brazier. When

we

could

see

the

fire in the shot, I'd turn the flames

down, and when we didn't see the
fire, I'd turn the flames up, so that

[served as] a light source as well."
Bogue often relied on
Polaroid

plan

a

check his

a

on a

number of Kubrick films.

-

Alcott

to

When

we

went

Too

preoccupied to
realize that
dawn has crept

from black-and-

up on

footage [simulating shots from
Nosferatu] to color in our film, I used
some

of Murnau's ideas and

and I also used

my own,
camera

to

a

some

him,

Schreck is
reduced to
ashes by the

white

of

morning

sun.

Polaroid

shoot black-and-white

stills so I could look at my black-and-

whites, too."

Together, Merhige and Bogue
images in Shadow of the
Vampire that are extremely evocative
of Murnau's silent classic
yet they
also managed to create their own
unique universe. "I always saw corre¬
created

-

lighting
technique pioneered by

camera

looking down on me, saying, 'Well,
here we go again! Another old trick!'
Stanley and John were good teachers.

"John would never do a film without
me, so I know all of his tricks," Bogue

"[While shooting
Vampire,] some days
I'd stand and look up in the sky, and
people would think, 'What is he
doing?' I knew Stanley and John were
says proudly.
Shadow of the

lations between Murnau's film and

Merhige observes. "In
Nosferatu, the death ship that arrives

felt like going out on a limb with no
time for any corrections. If we didn't
shoot something properly one day,

in Bremen is sort of like the cinema,

we

didn't have another

up

-

real life,"

in the

sense

corner

of the

that

export ideas,
philosophies and culture to every
more

we

globe, and

delicate cultures

shattered

some of the
sometimes

are

by that. Making this film

day to make it
it was out of the movie! But
this picture became a truly collabora¬
tive process, which is what I've
always dreamed that filmmaking
could be."

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American Cinematographer - December 2000

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