LAUIL503: Studio Brief 2 - Dracula Contextual Research

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula (1931)

• My first immediate thought when Dracula as a project was mentioned

• He is the classic, the original and a childhood hero of mine

• He created the blueprint for Dracula making him sexy and captivating

• Really strong aesthetics with the Star of David, large bat-like cape, gentlemanly tuxedo underneath

• Strong black and white imagery that I feel does not age it at all; it adds to the horror themes, the mystique, the "unknown" of the character. There needs to be nothing more. The beautiful simplicity adds to its charm. 

Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

• Aesthetic!

• Sexy, dark, sensual and magnetic performance

• Creates such a beautiful and iconic silhouette in that costume. Can I use this in my work for this project? Strong lighting and shadows? Simple shape for recognisable characters?

Dracula in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000)

• Comedic elements playing on what we know of vampiric lore and Dracula as a character in pop culture at this point in time

• Dracula now for teen audiences

• All the tropes of Dracula (Xander becomes the Renfield character, Dracula's brides try to seduce Giles - Buffy's Watcher - to weaken Buffy's defences).

• Dracula is openly seen as sexy and commented on it as such by many of the characters much to the annoyance of the male characters in the show. A running gag of sorts!

• Many classic symbols are used including mind control, Dracula turning into bats, controlling the weather, having a weak-minded servant, being transported from Transylvania and so on.

• In true Buffy style, a damsel in distress is not on the cards here and Buffy is the one to drive Dracula out of town and away from overpowering her. It turns the trope of the defenceless female on its head and Buffy is fully and modestly clothed for many of the scenes. This is not aimed at a male audience or catered to the male gaze.

• Dracula cannot be killed and even though Buffy defeats him keeps that part of his character. Another running gag and part of the comedy, he keeps coming back!

Dracula in Van Helsing (2003)

• The movie was a bit of a dud but it was this scene in particular and this pairing that I loved along with Dracula's brides.

• Once again Dracula is sexy, charming and magnetic. I loved him as a teenager in the early 2000s when this was released (showing my age here! But the character has been with me for a long time and through a range of movies and media so this project will be incredibly enjoyable.)

• This ballroom scene was such a visual treat. It was Dracula's time to shine and try to manipulate. The lighting, the colour palette, the costumes, the choreography. Can I incorporate this into my work somehow?

Dracula in Hotel Transylvania (2012)

• Portrayed as a loving father and the main protagonist of the film
• Dracula for children and transcending media into modern children's films

• Incorporates the classic Bela Lugosi Dracula appearance ingrained into pop culture which drew me to the film originally and which I found incredibly charming; the tuxedo - this time black - the cape, the dark hair, pale skin, blue eyes, the thick expressive eye brows
• Crossing over into comedy as well as family genre, with romance. Not much horror at all, no objectification of female bodies for the male gaze or female victims - very unusual of the character!

Dracula in Penny Dreadful (2016)

• Handsome
• Gentlemanly attire
• Hypnotising the lead female
• Again beautiful costumes and characters, another sexy portrayal that I enjoyed well into adulthood and past my teen years into my mid twenties.
• Romance and horror themes are prevalent in the show

Similarities:

While picking childhood and recent favourite depictions of Dracula I have noticed that these portrayals are:
• All male
• All white
• All European features / European looking
• What does this say about the character? About the film and television industry and their perception of this character? Abut my exposure to Dracula? Is it limited? Are there are any other representations out there?

Words, objects, symbols and personal feelings

synonymous with Dracula:

Bats, blood, candles / candelabras, darkness, coffins, onions, wooden stakes, holy water, mysterious, sexy, magnetic, charm, hypnotic eyes, handsome, tall and dark, young women, fangs, eternal life, demon, undead, supernatural, Transylvania, bite, crucifix, immortal, psychic, harmed by sunlight awake at night

Type

I believe type will be used in this brief somehow so I want to look at what was used in the Dracula portrayals I have chosen for my personal study to get a better understanding of what is successful and what isn't, and why, to help with my own type selection when it comes to it.

Understandably, being from the 30s, this is the most "dated" of the typefaces. It is successful in creating an aura of mystique and the unknown because of the curve, the translucency evoking thoughts of ghosts and apparitions, and the jagged points of the lettering.The texture is quite nice too, paired with the jagged points of the "R" and "A" it makes me think of a wooden stake. The curves gives a sense of Dracula's cape extending outwards. I think it would have looked better without the curve alignment though and the translucency to make it more immediate, more bold, against the dark background. The alignment isn't central which may have something to do with film making techniques of the time. 

The brown tones and the leather-like textures give immediate thoughts of ageing, something that is old. I like the texture and think it really adds some visual interest, breaking up what would be a one colour screen with a gradient, and gives thoughts to journals and books and diaries. The typeface itself is rather interesting evoking feelings of ancient symbols as Dracula himself is an ancient being. I like that parts of the letters are missing, again suggesting decomposing and ageing or a forgotten language of symbols, but I think the font itself it very... it looks like something that would be preloaded into Photoshop or Microsoft Word like Lithos Pro or Papyrus. It's rather dated and not in a good way. The bevel and emboss adds to this. It's very "Photoshop 101" adding too many effects at once. The DRaCuLa alignment of having bigger letters amongst smaller ones is quite annoying from a design point of view. Taking off the embossing and changing the sizing would perhaps make this more successful and pleasing to the eye. 

Iconic! Simple, not overdone but with enough effects to make it easily recognisable, unique, easily applied to a range of products, media and merchandise. The type of "Buffy" gives immediate thoughts to dripping blood because of the dots and tapered ends  as well as a sense of motion and action because of the brush stroke in the "B" and the first "f" being slightly bigger and dripping longer. Also thoughts of wooden stakes with the shape of the "f." "The Vampire Slayer" uses a more classic gothic font synonymous with the genre and underlining the "vampire slayer" with a pointed line gives a sense of balance, central alignment and thoughts to more blood or a spike / weapon. The ghosting around it is a nice touch for the title screen against the night sky and taken out for merchandise to keep it simple. This was a redone typeface as the original series used a Lithos Pro-esque font that looks extremely dated now. 

A simple and bold font giving immediacy to something dark, cold and perhaps horror-themed with the sharp points. The metal effect given by shadows and reflections is effective for silver as Van Helsing is bitten and given the werewolf curse and there is also a werewolf controlled by Dracula in the film, whereby silver is used to kill werewolves. The sharp points are reminiscent of fangs, spies and weapons. I like this a lot, it isn't overdone and rather subtle when out of context or if applied to different words but the cold metal and sharp points will still bring about imagery of weaponry, action, war.