OCR Film Studies, Sunrise, Murnau

1. SUNRISE
A Tale of Two Humans (1927)

2. AFTER WATCHING…
• Tell me one scene you remember from the
film.
• What did you notice in terms of mise-en-
scene, editing, cinematography and sound?
• How does the film follow what we know
about the Silent Era?

3. GERMAN V HOLLYWOOD
The production of Sunrise itself blurs the
boundaries between German and Hollywood
cinema. The film was directed, written, and
designed by Germans. The film was financed,
produced, and photographed by Americans. This
combination of German style with American
production creates a film that is difficult to classify
in terms of expressionism or realism.
For theorists, expressionism and realism are
oppositional.
For Murnau, it seems the expressive and the real
compliment each other.

4. MISE-EN-SCENE
The mise-en-scene of Sunrise employs a mixture
of expressionism and realism.
In the marsh sequence the mise-en-scene reflects
the psychological states of the Man and the
Woman’s murderous affair.
The first image of the marsh sequence is a long
dolly shot following the Man walking to the Woman.

5. STUDIO SET
In this master shot, the marsh is revealed through
the darkness by the light of the full
moon. Everything in the set: the ground, the grass,
the fence, the moon, and the fog were carefully
designed.
Placing the set in the
studio allowed
Murnau full control of
the elements to
carefully convey the
interiority of his
characters.

6. THE MARSH -
EXPRESSIONISM
In a dark and dank marsh, the Man walks to the
Woman to pursue a love affair that will end with the
conception of the Wife’s murder. Literally the Man
walks in darkness, which symbolizes evil.
This visual imagery of darkness connotes evil
which is not lost on an audience.
Audiences are able to grasp the malicious intent of
the characters because of the foreboding set
design.

7. THE MARSH - REALISM
In the marsh sequence the expressionist set
design also creates a sense of realism. The
lingering smoke, the false moon, and the forced
perspectives are elements of the mise-en-scene
that appear real. The audience is ‘tricked’ into
believing the Man is walking through a real marsh
under a real moon.

8. LIGHTING
The lighting in the marsh sequence takes on both expressive
and real qualities.
In the opening sequence the light is low key, soft, and often
backlit.
This creates imagery that is beautiful and ominous. The Man
and the Woman from the City’s affair is evil and is expressed
with darkness.
In Sunrise light is more than a cinematic element it is a motif.
The Woman from the City is seen during the night with backlit
and low-key lighting to emphasize her as antagonist.
The Wife is shown during the day with high-key and soft

9. BINARY OPPOSITES
COUNTRY V CITY
The country town and the city, are expressive
and realistic.
Expressively the country town is a place of
innocence/ignorance while the city is a place
of corruption/enlightenment.
Realistically the town and city are
constructed to look real.
Murnau’s combination of expressionism and
realism in the mise-en-scene allows an
audience to understand the characters’
actions in the familiar reality of the settings.

10. CINEMATOGRAPHY
The first shot of the marsh sequence is a
long tracking shot following The Man
through the marsh.
Murnau’s “unchained” camera moves
through the scene like a ghost, invisibly and
voyeuristically.
The shot goes past water, through grass,
over a fence, and under an awning of trees.
The camera duplicates the world while
satisfying an audience’s “appetite for
illusion”

11. CONNOTATIONS
In Sunrise “stasis signifies distress and
movement implies freedom” (Fischer, p55. 1998).
In the tracking shot of the marsh sequence when
The Man is on his way to meet The Woman from
the City, the camera work reflects The Man’s
state of mind.
What state of mind does it connote?
His feeling of liberation from his boring country
wife/life.

12. FRAMING
The framing of the scene is more expressive than
real.
Early in the narrative, many shots are formed around a
split or barrier.
In the marsh sequence the Man is often framed
opposite from the Woman. They physically occupy the
same time and space but the composition suggests an
invisible border.
Later, there are physical barriers between
characters. The frame of a door separates the Man
from the Wife as he asks her to “go to the city.” These
separations, literal and invisible, express the

13. SPECIAL EFFECTS
There are many dissolves and
superimpositions.
In the marsh sequence, the Woman entices the
Man with tales of city life.
Murnau portrayed this by having the characters
view images from the city as if they were watching
a projected film.

14. SPECIAL EFFECTS
Later in the film, the reconciled Man and Wife walk across
a city street. They are so in love, they feel as if they are in
paradise.
Murnau employs a similar multiple exposure effect to show
them walking through the traffic which dissolves to them
walking through a garden before dissolving back to the
reality of the city.
These effects are used for expressing the characters’
psychology to the viewer.

15. EDITING
Murnau carefully used editing for both realist and
expressionist ends. In the marsh sequence, the editing
is expressive and real to allow the viewer to better
comprehend the story and character psychology. The
most expressive edit follows the opening shot of the Man
and the Woman’s passionate embrace. Murnau cuts to
the Wife who is embracing her child.
This cross cutting of parallel imagery expresses several
things. First, the image of mother and child shows the
audience what is at stake because of this affair. The
Man is losing his family. Second, the cut expresses the
idea of the Man being “as helpless as a child” while in
the Woman’s arms. Third, this edit presents contrasting
images of love as spiteful and sympathetic. Here,
montage is used for its expressive ability to present
abstract meaning and emotions to the audience.

16. MONTAGE
Later in the marsh sequence, montage creates realism.
The Man, learning of the Woman’s plan, reacts violently by
strangling the city woman.
Several edits along movements are made.: The Man reacts and
reaches for the Woman - Edit - The Man strangles the Woman –
Edit – The Man pulls away from the Woman – Edit – The Woman
grabs the Man – Edit – The couple falls into each other’s arms.
The montage is fast and relentless. Every cut is made to continue
the action of the previous shot.
This montage is realistic because
the viewer can see and believe in
the continuity of action. The short
shots are expressive of the tension
of the situation. This mixture of
expressionism and realism in
montage allows the viewer to trust in
the film’s story and characters.

17. SOUND
Although Sunrise is a silent film, it was
synchronised with a musical score.
The sound of bells is used as a motif at various
points – bells sound as the Man decides to spare
his wife. Later, bells are heard again and the Man
and the Wife emerge from the church. Here, bells
signal the Man’s change as he repents and renews
his love for his wife.