The cinematography in Nosferatu is almost another character in itself in the Robert Eggers film. Eggers has always described film as a collaborative medium and his partnership with his department heads always stands out due to just how beautifully they all speak the same creative language. One of the strongest partnerships Eggers has with his team is with his longtime director of photography, Academy Award nominated Jarin Blaschke. Blaschke has worked with Eggers from his short films to all four of his feature films, even earning a previous Oscar nomination for his work on The Lighthouse. With Nosferatu, a longtime dream from Eggers to bring to screen, Blaschke delivered his best work to date. From creating special lenses to capturing romanticism and the essence of moonlight in a classic tale, Blaschke’s dedication came together for the best cinematography achievement of 2024.

Eggers provided everyone on his team a lookbook full of inspiration ahead of pre production from the cast to the costume designer to the production designer. Sometimes a lookbook has even been sent out to the team before the script arrives. Per a Q&A with Film at Lincoln Center, Blaschke sees multiple lists of films serving as inspiration, not just for the looks but also the subject or looking specifically for shot composition from how to block a shot or a lighting inspiration. Blaschke brews and digests the information and then goes over it with Eggers to ensure they’re on the same page.

As Eggers said in conversation with Blaschke at the Kodak House, he trusts his cinematographer to use period accurate lighting that will still be captured beautifully on their signature use of film. For Nosferatu, Blaschke relied heavily on candles, flame bars, and mirrors to bring light into the darkness for not just period accuracy but to deliver the romanticism era look the team wanted to achieve. 

In my own conversation with the cinematographer, he discussed how he was brought on early in pre production to work directly with Craig Lathrop, the Oscar nominated production designer, to advise on the sets being built for how to best plan for desired shots. For instance, in the scene set in the Great Hall in Count Orlok’s castle, the fireplace was shifted in order to best capture the silhouette of Count Orlok in order to keep him slightly obscured. Pillars were moved around in order to best continue the rise from the stairs into the Great Hall in a smooth motion with the camera on a crane. The work for the plans of the shots and camera movement is that detailed and planned before anyone is even on a set. As Blaschke said to me, it’s a dialogue across departments, not just arriving on set and figuring it out. There are no compromises to the desired shot from the storyboard sessions as every detail is mapped out to ensure those shots can be achieved. 

At the Kodak House conversation, Eggers spoke about a previous challenge to convince studios to allow them to shoot on film but after continuing to prove themselves, there was no battle to shoot Nosferatu on 35 mm. Blaschke and Eggers have proven the story they yearned to tell and imagery they wanted on screen could truly only be achieved through shooting on film. In the same conversation, they spoke at length about not using steadicam and working with a crane to achieve the movement they desired throughout the film. The specific vision the director and cinematographer have comes together through their shared creative language developed over numerous projects. In Nosferatu, the same technique was used as previously used in Eggers’ movies The Northman and The Witch. It was shot in color on 35mm but desaturated using filters that discard yellow, orange and red light, essentially using a technique for black and white, picked up on The Lighthouse, but in color. 

While Nosferatu is full of some of the best nighttime sequences you can imagine, the scene that Blaschke said he’s most proud of is set before the sky is dark. In the scene when Thomas finds Orlok in the crypt, as the sunset was not just a pattern moving, but the shadows and the textures were changing as they were filming. It was lit for weeks through mirrors and various lighting fixtures being used to achieve the desired look that moved and appeared as a real sunset coming in through each window. 

Additionally, Blaschke worked alongside the visual effects team to ensure even the VFX heavy shots have the same aesthetic and use of shadows as the practical shots. This allows for the shadows, an important aspect in the film, to feel practically captured even if created through visual effects. The final result of Blaschke being involved in the post is stunning as some of the VFX heavy shots come across as almost invisible effects and effortless with his collaboration with the VFX team allows for a seamless, visual experience. 

Blaschke through each collaboration has delivered beautiful work but Nosferatu is out of this world and one of the best modern achievements in cinematography. Adapting an iconic film in not just horror film history but cinema history is always a challenge but Eggers and Blaschke deliver a new iconic film with a visual style that is both honoring what came before and creating something new. There is no film more deserving of a win for cinematography this year. 

Nosferatu is available on demand and will be streaming on Peacock on February 21st.
You can find our review of the film here as well as our interview with Blaschke here.