I am planning an animation of my all time favorite short story, Tell Tale Heart. You'll be hard pressed to find anything that rivals the movement found in this piece. Poe masters rythym and suspense to draw you in further. The words dictate the pace, and the reader is just along for Poe's ride.
Anymore writers will come up with a few good characters or plotlines (not often, but it does happen) but the writing will be very little more than utilitarian. The best you can hope for is... maybe.. some catchy dialogue..
"It is more than probable that I am not understood; but I fear, indeed, that it is in no manner possible to convey to the mind of the merely general reader, an adequate idea of that nervous intensity of interest with which, in my case, the powers of meditation (not to speak technically) busied and buried themselves, in the contemplation of even the most ordinary objects of the universe."
Nervous intensity. That is an excelent way to describe the mood of Poe's piece, and I'm definitely hoping to capture that nervousness in my cinematography. My primary objective, however is the pacing! I have heard many.. less than exciting renditions of TTH. One by ziggy pop, "I felt that I must scream or die" will make you want to cry.
And on that note, I'm looking for someone with a good voice and a flair for reading to submit a version. I feel a male voice would be more appropriate, but a husky female voice would be fine. I like how I read the story, but my voice doesn't translate well on recorded media... i.e. my voice is awful. So if anyone would like to help me out it would be awesome! It wouldn't pay (well maybe if it's really awesome I could scrape together something, and certainly if it is succesful) but it will be submitted to animation/video festivals and you would receive all credit due!
Poe's characters writhe in their torment, they are round and you can touch, feel, taste their emotions. He does not require that you know the history of the primary characters, he does not require you to study the text in great detail... only that you listen, and be entertained. I believe that so many separate themselves from Poe work because he draws them into a world, that is often dark and frighteningly real. In tell tale heart he draws you into the mind of a killer who's obsession brought his doom. He uses language and rythym to pull you inward... into the mind of a man who peers in on an old man, a family friend, a father... it is never told, he peers in with a small lantern building the resolve to do what, he feels, he must...
But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the evil eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! --do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me --the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.
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