Director goggles?

countevil

countevil

murnaumalkovich.jpg


I don't know if any of you have seen the film 'Shadow of the Vampire' about the 1920's production of FW Murnau's 'Nosferatu'. In the film I noticed that Murnau and the camera crew were wearing these goggles (as in the image above) while filming.

Was there any practical purpose to these goggles in film production at the time?
I wondered if they were black and white filtered so they would have a better idea of how things would look on film. I'm probably wrong though

Does anbody have any idea?
Also does anybody know where to get a pair, they look pretty awesome.
 
I was curious myself about it and found a note on this web page. it is down toward the bottom

Also, I want to mention that early filmmakers wore those dark goggles because of the brightness of the lights used. This movie doesn't make that clear, because that kind of lighting would look ridiculous with today's films
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Some other websites say that it was a science choice as they also wore lab coats and treated filmmaking as a science rather than an art.

To me it doesn't make sense either way because only one lens is tinted - it doesn't explain how it would "dim" the lights enough. Although that might be a choice for the director of this film.
 
Thanks that kind of gives me a better idea of what it could be. I had noticed the lab coates too and that they called Murnau doctor. I've done a lot of research on him and hadn't noticed anywhere saying he had a doctorate.

I expect you're right and a lot of it is artistic interpretation.
 
Looks like an interesting flick; will have to check it out. :cool:

The goggles might have had a more practical purpose, though. Not being blinded by the off-camera lights.

Several DPs I've worked with carry welding-glass (usually as a monocle), so they can stare straight into the big lights to have them adjusted as needed.

They wouldn't be able to see squat the rest of the time, however... so full goggles would be a silly idea. And the lab coats are something else entirely.

Anyways, just tossin' that out there.

Most likely artistic design choices... but maybe they were staring into 100kw? ;)
 
Yeah it's an interesting film. If you're interested in that era of cinema you'll probably like it. You get a bit of an insight into what film production was like then.

It probably would make sense that they were for protection from lights. If one lense is tinted and the other isn't, then they'd be able to look into the lights with one eye and also able to see properly with the other.
 
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