Unit 1 Space

7/31/2019 Unit 1 Space

1/20

Unit 1

Matt Coward


2/20


3/20

The Pit and The PendulumThe Pit and The Pendulum is a compelling but

very sinister story about a prisoner

incarcerated during the Spanish Inquisition era.

It starts out with the prisoner being found

guilty of Heresy and sentenced to death. Asthe story evolves the character becomes

exposed to the horrors of torture and

imprisonment. His fate appears sealed as his

prison cell changes shape and he is pitted

against deadly sadomasochistic games of

death. He starts to accept his death and tries to

block it out but then the opposition soldiers

storm the Spanish stronghold and spares hislife. The author focuses on exaggerated

psychological torment by the broad use of dark

descriptive and stretched emotional language.

Link to original Synopsis
http://mattman12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/excerpt-one-synopsis-pit-and-pendulum.htmlhttp://mattman12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/excerpt-one-synopsis-pit-and-pendulum.html


4/20

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was considered by many

as a master in the art of mystery and

macabre storytelling. He was one of the

first practitioners of short novels and is

regarded as the architect behind the

popular genre of detective fiction, as wellas driving the rise of the Sci-Fi genre. Born

in January 19th, 1809 and orphaned as a

child, his premature death at the age of 40

has drawn many conspiracy theories

claiming he was murded as his death was

very odd and suspicious. One of the

popular speculations is he was subjectedto Cooping, an old method used by

gangs to sway the result of elections. This

was done by kidnapping stragglers off the

street, imprisoning them, plying them with

whisky so that the intoxication can

produce a delirious state of mind and then

send them to vote again and again.


5/20

Poe started out in the military after having no means of providing

for himself, it was where he released his first book, a 40 page

documentation of poetry. Only 50 copies were sold. Edgar Allan

Poe left the army 5 years later after achieving the highest rank anon commissioned officer can receive; Sergeant Major for

Artillery. After the death of his brother, Poes interest in becoming

a writer ignited and despite having a very rocky start to his early

career before creating a widespread sensation for his 1845 poem

The Raven. After this he managed forge a very illustrious and

successful profession.

Contrary to his bright career and

obvious talent Poe was not without

controversy in what seems most of

his life. One of the most shocking

revelations was the secret marriageto his 13 year old cousin when he

was 26, her death brought about his

steady increasing decline in

psychological stability. He was never

short of critics, once sacked for

being drunk on the job and forever

being hounded as a dark and

twisted soul haunted by his historyof dying loved ones.


6/20

The Pendulum, The Pit and

Hope in 1983

a 15 minute stop frame by

Famous surrealist animator Jan

Svankmajer

In 2006 another stop frame animated

adaptation was made, using the banner

of stop frame godfather Ray

Harryhausen Presents banner. This

version was award winning.

The most recent remake

released in 2009, A horror film

directed by David DeCoteau,

shows much less resemblance

to the original story.

Additional

Information

Probably the most

prominent ( in terms of

most faithful to the

original) being The Pit

and the Pendulum

directed by Roger

Corman in 1961 and

starred Vincent Price

and Barbara Steele.


7/20

Social and Cultural Context

At the time of writing this story in 1842, evidence suggests there were a

number of factors that may have influenced Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe was heavily influenced by a series of short terror stories

from a publication called Blackwood Magazine.

It is believed that Poes heavily focused view on torture and despair

came from the works of Juan Antonio Llorente's History of the Spanish

Inquisition which involved historical references to torture and harsh

imprisonment. The important presence of The Pit in this story may have

derived from a translation of the Koran By George Sale. Sales translation

included a piece on an alleged common form of torture and execution by

throwing people into a pit of fire. There is a strong reference to this inthe book as Poes character stumbles upon a pit in his cell and

repeatedly tries to avoid it due to stories he had heard.


8/20

Scene One - The Pit and The

Pendulum

25 yardsdungeonstonedepressionsironplates

squarerepulsivedevicesdamp

atmospherecold circularpit Slippery

smoothsolid gleams

of light

horrorlow light

dingydark

fungus

After reading the excerpt I

extracted key descriptionsand made a Word Map

I designed this word map from key words

to help me construct my world


9/20

Why and How they have

influenced me

I feel these extracts have influenced

me because I am intrigued by theheavy use of atmosphere and light to

create a dark, horror like mood.The other extracts that haveinfluenced me


10/20

I started looking at

textures of differently

aged wood, metal and

stone as these are the

main elements within this

excerpt. I think by

recreating these correctly

it will sway the wholepsychological in the right

direction.


11/20

This map is more on

physical examples of

visual influences. A

couple of them are not

real but I included

them because theyhave directly

influenced me due to

their chilling moods

and dark atmospheric

elements. The other

images are of prisonsand dungeons.

Although they do not

represent the scale I

need, I still need the

sense of composition.


12/20

The Fall of The House of UsherEdgar Allan Poe1839

The Fall of the House of Usher is a short tale by Edgar Allan Poe

written in 1839. The story is about an man who is summoned by

his gravely ill long term friend to visit him at the house they used

to play in as kids. The man (who is also the narrator) notices how

intact the house is considering its age. He soon learns his

friends sister is also ill with the same neurological disease that ishalting the life of the siblings. As the story goes on it becomes

apparent that the house becomes almost a character in its own

right. This becomes clearer as the narrator reads an old Knights

tale to his friend, whenever he reads a passage from the book

the house replicates it. He starts to become increasingly

concerned about Eventually the house destroys itself and the

narrator leaves unscathed.


13/20

Additional

Information

There have been many remakes of this

book, most notably:

The Fall of The House of

Ushermade in 1960 starring

Roger Corman and Vincent

Price. The first of eight Poe

adaptations

House of Usher by DavidDeCoteau in 2008. It also uses

a characters name as a

reference to the name Poe was

calling out the night he died.

In 1982 Jan Svankmajer created another

Poe classic and transformed it into theworld of surrealist stop frame animation
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3629290496/tt1017442


14/20

Social and Cultural Context

Some beleive that Edgar Allan Poe's inspiration for the story may be based

upon a few real life events.

One of them being the story of the original Usher House, located on Boston's

Lewis Wharf, where a sailor and the young wife of the owner of the house

were caught and entombed in their meeting spot by her husband. When the

Usher House was demolished in the year 1800, two bodies were found in acavity in the cellar in an embraced position. Poe pays acknowledge to this by

making a key scene from this information.

Another event that may have influenced Poe is a couple from his childhood

called Mr and Mrs Usher, the friends of his mother Eliza Poe. The couple took

care of Eliza's three children and Poe whilst she became ill and eventually

died.


15/20

Scene Two- The Fall of The

House of Usher

ghastly vacantstoneoppressivelymasonrygothicshadows tarnsedge

atmospherecold mystery iciness

Dullsolid isolatedeyelike windows

horror

discolouration

gloomdark

fungus

This is one of three pages that

give in depth detail to theexterior of the house

My chosen scene is staged primarily upon the character of the

House from the outside as I am intrigued by the subtle

characterisation used by the author.


16/20

Why and Howthey have

influenced me

This extract focuses more so onthe look of the house, after

these two pages its mostly about

the interior and the story.

What Im focusing on for this scene is injecting a sense of life

into an otherwise dead object by using shapes and detail to

form a relatable emotional background for the house and thespace around it.


17/20

For this scene I need to

focus on grey, plain

colours that still

emphasises a strong

current of a darker

atmosphere. I looked at

stone/masonry textures

and creepy wood.


18/20

This map is more on

the structure of the

house so that I can

start to build a

structure around it. I

looked at things likeold mansions and

derelict buildings, also

a few darker

atmospheric images to

give me a direct

reference to a bleakerthemed concept.


19/20


20/20

Life Drawing

Documents

Unit 1 Space