I feel like I lead a boring life. And as a writer, that can be hard on inspiration. So I've decided to put together this blog for my random musings (in the hopes to squeeze those creative juices out of my brain) and possibly slight exaggerations when the day proves fruitless in producing anything "tantalizing." Hence the "silliness." And while Missoula (Griz Country) has more of a beating pulse than my hometown/retirement community Carlsbad, I still feel as though I'm in a funk. Nothing seems to excite me anymore. So we'll see how this Internet thing goes. I might include a movie review here and there, my journey through cooking in an apartment kitchen, and possibly a few entries on whatever I happen to be reading at the time (I'm in search for a good book, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!).
One of the projects I had completed at the end of the school year was a short script adaptation of a scene from Bram Stoker's Dracula for my Gothic Literature and Film class. Although freckled with flaws, I was damn proud of my first attempt at using the program Celtx and writing a screenplay. I also drew a storyboard. It was put together quickly, but I still have some stellar moments in some of my frames (a killer wolf howling into the night sky, an extreme close-up of Dracula's mouth stretching open to reveal his pointy fangs....). I had taken some pictures of my storyboard before turning it in and had been meaning to post it on Facebook. Since I have quite a few pictures, I decided to put them in a slide-show. Enjoy my art!
I also wrote up a commentary on my inspiration. Not necessary to read, but it's there. Kind of like Twilight:
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, although a timeless classic, becomes problematic when adapting it to the silver screen. Stoker’s conception is fascinating and chilling, yet his execution could be described as a bit clunky. One of the issues I encountered while reading the novel was the lack of development of the title character. Count Dracula starts out as a concrete character, one whose mysterious background and frighteningly diabolical plans establish the plot’s suspense in the isolated Carpathian Mountains. Yet Dracula’s character development seems to drop off once he makes Jonathan Harker a prisoner and then sets off to terrorize England. From there on out, the rest of the story finds a voice through the scribbling journal entries of Lucy, Mina, Dr. Seward, and the rest of the gang while Dracula disappears into the background where his presence emerges mostly through the conversations of others. While designating Dracula as the novel’s faceless terror might contribute more to the suspense, I felt Dracula’s character would benefit more (and particularly on film) if audiences were to see him transform into more of a monster upon arriving in England.
I decided to adapt the scene where Dracula attacks Lucy, but instead of taking it from Mina’s perspective, I chose to expand it and show Lucy’s encounter with Dracula during one of her sleepwalking ventures. Initially, I thought about exploring the tortured soul of Dracula—a creature condemned by his damnable fate who can never love without causing physical harm. But then I realized how that route has been poorly abused (such as in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series). The most appropriate action would be to develop Dracula’s evil nature and make it comparable to the threatening presence of serial killers.
In my scene, I illustrate Dracula escorting Lucy back to her home after rescuing her from walking off the boardwalk into the bay. This seemed like the best place for them to meet, as the novel explains that Dracula, in wolf form, escapes the wreckage of a ship. We see Dracula about to attack Lucy, but upon noticing a galleon moving into the docks, he instead pulls Lucy to safety—he saves her so he can use her later. Lucy’s skeptical of Dracula at first, but she relents to his charming nature after he introduces himself as Prince (I took the name “Prince Orlock” in homage to F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu, a Symphony of Terror”). As they continue their journey, I have Dracula tell a brief tale about his overbearing mother to Lucy. I chose to do this because of two things. One, it brings in the thematic and vampiric idea of “leeching,” and two, it creates a transition for when Dracula threatens Lucy not to tell anyone she has seen him or else he will come after her mother. It also produces the most tension in the scene because Lucy suddenly realizes that Dracula has the potential to harm her. The innocent heroin/evil oppressor dichotomy also serves to add a Gothic layer to the scene.
I finished the scene with Mina’s interruption. Although she sees Dracula, she is unable to recognize his features just as in the novel. If I were to further develop this script, I would continue to develop Dracula’s character through careful pacing. His character would be similar to that of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs; he has a dominant presence, yet he doesn’t dominate every scene. The most terrifying aspect of Dracula to me is the pleasure he gets out of his horrible deeds. And by getting this across on paper, and film, Dracula can be more widely accepted as a terrible villain by audiences.
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