Client: Personal Project
This project is not a real-world production. I set the brief to develop and practice the art of graphic research and prop-making under set time constraints.
Project: Bram Stoker's Dracula (Reimagined)
I have taken the script from the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula and approached it as if it were being produced today.
It is 1890, Count Dracula (Mads Mikkelsen), a 15th-century prince, is condemned to live off the blood of the living for eternity. Young lawyer Jonathan Harker (Timothée Chalamet) is sent to Dracula’s castle to finalise a land deal, but when the Count sees a photo of Harker’s fiancée, Mina (Freya Allan), the spitting image of his dead wife, he imprisons him and sets off for London to track her down.
The props come from a script breakdown of Jonathan Harker’s journey to Romania and his initial meeting with Dracula.
Hero letter to Jonathan Harker from D
Hero letter to Jonathan Harker from D: Jonathan Receives a letter from Dracula with instructions to meet at the Borgo Pass. I have created a new version of the Order of the Dragon crest from which ‘Dracul’ takes his name. It dates from the Crusades, requiring its initiates to fight the enemies of Christianity. I have inverted the cross in a nod to Occult symbolism. I have also created a postage frank from Bistrița-Năsăud, the region Harker travels to. It displays an image from their coat of arms with children suckling on a wolf, foreshadowing the appearance of Dracula’s wolf pack.
Hero painting of Vlad Dracul the III (Mads Mikkelsen)
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Right: Orient-Express ticket for Harker from Paris to Budapest.
Below: Orient-Express Dinner Menu.
Orient-Express ticket: in 1890, the Orient Express was operated by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). The ticket bears their logo in gold emboss. The spelling ‘Pesth’ was used by Bram Stoker in his novel, although it is now considered archaic. Orient-Express Dinner Menu: I created a dinner menu as dressing for Jonathan’s journal. It features typical Victorian dishes and is in French, as would be typical for most items on the service. | Budapest Postcard: Jonathan departs the Orient-Express in Budapest before picking up another train to Romania. Jonathan would likely have little time to explore the city but has purchased a postcard depicting the magnificent Budapest Western Railway Station. It is as yet unwritten. Jonathan Harker Calling Cards: Calling cards were an indispensable accessory to fashionable, upper class life in Britain during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The p.p.c in the corner is added before a long absence (Pour Prendre Congé / Take My Leave). |
Hero photoplate of Mina Harker (Freya Allan)
Hero photoplate of Mina Harker: The photoplate image of Mina is very important to the plot as the resemblance of her to Dracula’s late wife makes Jonathan a prisoner. I have taken a photo of Fraya Allan and photoshopped it to recreate the style of Victorian photographic techniqu
London Newspaper from April 28, 1890.
London Newspaper from April 28th 1890: The Newspaper is dated from when Harker would be in London a few days before the scene. The design takes liberties from the traditional look of the front page of the period with the addition of large banner headlines. The main story relates to the British Empire to add a reference to our time frame, and the story about mysterious disappearances in Eastern Europe foreshadows the events to come in the film.