This 11 minute short film was made by me and other students at the University of Sunderland, in the UK in 2003. Our aim was to create an adaptation of the poem, 'The Tell Tale Heart' written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1843. As a group we decided to give the film a modern day perspective, however, we took our protagonist and keenly represented the themes of paranoia and enclosure from the poem. As the director, what I decided to do was change the setting from the original poem of the claustrophobic confines of the house and create a polar parallel of that; which, in the case of the film, was the fear of being confined by the outside world. We accomplished this through types of framing, editing, and focusing on the rigidity of the city landscape. I added modern day social themes such as the conflict between the rural and urban world, the fear of authority, and the constructed adherences to social responsibility.

As the director, I decided to create symbolic references to the common themes within the original story, such as the watchful eye and the beating heart. In the case of the former, the watchful eye was represented in the setting of the urban environment portrayed through CCTV cameras. We used shots off the top of buildings to create the perspective of the mechanical voyeur, as well as dehumanising officials within society giving them a first person perspective of a CCTV camera. The latter, the heartbeat was recreated through carefully timed pacing within the editing's narrative structure. Through tight framing we focused on various architectures present in both of the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland. This was to represent the defined shapes of the structures in the surroundings that overbear the protagonist. Even escaping to more natural landscapes such as Mowbray Park in Sunderland proved to have mechanised elements that were too much to handle in the mind of the main character. In the end, he is left with little choices to overcome the world around him.

In order to establish the paranoia, we gave the film a very technology based theme. We created juxtapositions of people and machines and landscapes and structures. We manipulated these images though editing and sound effects to dehumanise officials in our society; albeit, through the eyes of the protagonist. To give the film an obscured and rigid feel, the cameramen practiced deliberately jerky camera work off buildings, the score of the film was all electronic based and there were intense colours used in the lighting to signify mood and psychosis. I wanted people to feel for the character through the technology we were using rather than through things such as story and dialogue. I had decided that by eleminating dialogue you intregue your audience and hence draw them into the mind of your character.

In the editing process I dictated the pace and established the confines of what the viewer should see. This forced the viewer to interact with the perspective of the main character, giving the audience the same blinkered view of paranoia and enclosure in the confines of the community. The misc-en-scene of the house settings were inspired by Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' where we are forced to look at particular portions of the screen. People always misinterpret vision and are very selective in what they see in every day life, especially in dreams where our vision is skewed.

The final product could be considered quite 'arty', but i prefer it to be seen as perhaps an abstract take on modern filmmaking. The minimal narrative is turned into the maximum story because the audience becomes part of telling the tale (excuse me). Audiences can accept concepts such as split framing and sharp edits because they have seen it before so, I think the film can be approached by a common market. It could be argued that the final and only line of dialogue that appears at the end, serves the purpose of that very market. I believe that the people who think the line works well perhaps see it as a nice way to round off the film as a package, as I do. The people who perhaps cringe at that line perhaps feel somewhat patronised and that the line takes the edge off their own enigmatic illusion; just as I do too.

Banksy's name is in the search because he, not unlike our protagonist here, has displayed an agitated perspective of modern westernised culture and its effect on the rural landscape. I refer directly to his satirised and doctored versions of famous art such as the natural landscapes with shopping trolleys in the river. If he watches this film I hope he gives me some feedback, which of course will be posted. Watch this space! However, I would like to mention that this film is purely fictional and in no way represents any views of those who contributed to its production.

Enjoy and please contact me with any views, opinions, criticisms, or offers for editing or production work!

Please check out my other videos, coming soon!

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