The producer and writer are presented as clueless and the director all knowing and manipulating and we are left with a mystery the movie will resolve later. The story is formed latter in the movie as the plot reveals aspects to place back into the story. As Shadow of a Vampire continues we learn latter about that Murnau had a deal with Max Shreck, to portray a vampire in his film if he were to allow him to "have" Greta, the famous movie starlet who would appear in the film. The revealing of the deal with Schreck supports the notion of Murnau's character as a filmmaker who will go all out, allowing people to die for his art. The film includes many spoken manifestations about the greatness of film by Murnau and these provide a clearer connection to his character after his intentions are revealed. .
The plot development in Shadow of a Vampire also includes a change in knowledge on behalf of the producer, Grau and the camera operator, Wagner. These characters learn of crucial knowledge of the plots some of which the viewer was already aware of and some that only Murnau processes. In the scene after Murnau runs away from a situation where it looks like he feels that his life has been threatened by Schreck and he is in his sick bed, he confesses to others what he knows. This scene provides the story interesting parts concerning how Murnau found Schreck as well as the knowledge that the viewer already had that Schreck was an actual vampire. This demonstrates a definite change of knowledge for Grau and Wagner and they now are now ready to try to finish the movie and kill Schreck. Another fascinating aspect of this change of knowledge is that leads to the death of both Grau and Wagner. It leads one to ask if Murnau had used them just as he had every other person as a pawn for his art. It is very possible that Murnau had this even planned, as the final scene of his movie, Nosferatu supports.