Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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the scene, he is coming for Hutter. However, before the first shot of the doorway,
Hutter looks away, and before the second shot of the doorway, Hutter covers his
head with a sheet. There is no possible way for these to be direct eye/camera shots,
but we become aware of perspective. We are seeing this from Hutter’s point of
view, if indirectly. Although Hutter may not be looking, he knows Count Orlock is
coming for him slowly and steadily. The striking image is made more powerful
because we see what Hutter feels. We understand this image from Hutter’s
perspective. He is terrified of this unavoidable encounter and by filming this as an
eye/camera shot, the viewer fears it as well. So while this sequence does not contain
visually direct representations of the eye/camera, we are presented with a first person
perspective, the viewer eye shares space with the camera lens and the volatile
character eye.
The example from Nosferatu is emblematic of a clever creation of an
eye/camera shot which exploits the limitations of the apparatus for a greater benefit.
Murnau, however, managed to exceed these limits and explore greater possibilities
through moving eye/camera shots in The Last Laugh, where camera postioning and
movement appears limitless, and the compositional movement became a spectacle in
its own right. The early appearance of such moving eye/camera shots as the wireguided
technique already mentioned in order to create an establishing view of the
hotel at the film’s opening significantly advanced the manner in which perspective is
created within film. By doing this, Murnau moved away from traditional
expressionist perspective techniques, such as exaggerated set design and lighting, to
provide a sense of immediacy and experience. Whether or not the audience
identifies with the body they inhabit, the action around the character becomes more
palpable.