Unit 1 Space & Environment

Matt Coward

The Pit and The Pendulum

The 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. As the 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 his life. The author focuses on exaggerated psychological torment by the broad use of dark descriptive and stretched emotional language.

Link to original Synopsis

Edgar Allan Poe

Biography
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 well as 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 subjected to 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.

Early Life
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 a non 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.

Fort Independence in Boston USA where Poe was enlisted

Controversy

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 marriage to 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 history of dying loved ones.

The Simpsons rendition of The Raven aired on October 25, 1990 in the first installment of The Tree House of Horror edition.

Additional Information

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.

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.

The Pendulum, The Pit and Hope in 1983

a 15 minute stop frame by Famous surrealist animator Jan Svankmajer

The most recent remake released in 2009, A horror film directed by David DeCoteau, shows much less resemblance to the original story.

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 in the book as Poes character stumbles upon a pit in his cell and repeatedly tries to avoid it due to stories he had heard.

Scene One - The Pit and The Pendulum

25 yardsdungeonstone dingy depressions ironplates dark hideous squarerepulsivedevices damp

fungus atmosphere cold circular pit slimy moist Slippery smooth solid gleams
of light
I designed this word map from key words to help me construct my world

horror
low light

After reading the excerpt I extracted key descriptions and made a Word Map

Why and How they have influenced me

I feel these extracts have influenced me because I am intrigued by the heavy use of atmosphere and light to create a dark, horror like mood.

The other extracts that have influenced me

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 whole psychological in the right direction.

This map is more on physical examples of visual influences. A couple of them are not real but I included them because they have directly influenced me due to their chilling moods and dark atmospheric elements. The other images are of prisons and dungeons. Although they do not represent the scale I need, I still need the sense of composition.

The Fall of The House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe 1839

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 is halting 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.

Additional Information

There have been many remakes of this book, most notably:

The Fall of The House of Usher made in 1960 starring

Roger Corman and Vincent Price. The first of eight Poe adaptations

House of Usher by David DeCoteau 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 the world of surrealist stop frame animation

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 a cavity 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.

Scene Two- The Fall of The House of Usher

ghastly vacant stone gloom oppressively masonry decay dark gothic shadows tarn sedge

fungus atmosphere cold mystery dreary mansion of gloom iciness Dull solid isolated eye
like windows

horror
discolouration

This is one of three pages that give in depth detail to the exterior 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.

Why and How they have influenced me

This extract focuses more so on the 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 the space around it.

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.

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 like old mansions and derelict buildings, also a few darker atmospheric images to give me a direct reference to a bleaker themed concept.

Life Drawing