Inspired by Edgar A. Poe's poem Annabel Lee, Poe himself comes to life through the magic of stop-motion animation. Annabel Lee is quintessential Poe- a haunted soul, a lost love and the nocturnal grave-quest. The epic quality of this Orphic adventure includes expressionist visions of a lone figure on a journey through a nightmarish landscape in order to be re-united with his lost love...but first he must overcome the wrath of the "Envious Angels" that ruined his world! This thrilling tale will make you believe...even a puppet can love.

Stop-motion animation was the most logical choice of mediums because you can create the illusion of life in any object. The goal was to create characters that people would believe were real -- to create a world beyond normal understanding, but to give the impression of a real place -- and to transport the audience there for 20 minutes, to be a part of that world and to feel for the characters. Stop-motion allowed for this and more.

The medium itself has an inherently creepy feel to it. It's uncanny and disturbing to watch puppets move on their own. With the medium itself creating this aesthetic, Annabel Lee took this to the limit with specific "horrific" visuals from the Poe Puppet's tortured mind, designed to enhance this experience. It has a nightmare-quality that cannot be duplicated in any other art form, including computer graphics. While computer images may be designed with horrific elements, the fluidity is more dreamy than nightmarish.

Annabel Lee owes a great debt stylistically to the early cinematic period of German Expressionism and its short-lived avant-garde cousin American Expressionism. The idea of "psychic acoustics," that is that the environment taking on the characteristics of the protagonist's anguished mental state, was found to be very inspiring and visually dynamic. Edvard Munch (The Scream) is probably the best known painter that used that technique. When the Poe Puppet was sculpted, both his works and those of Ivan Albright (The Picture of Dorian Gray) were on the workbench. Other painters that inspired the look of Annabel Lee include Beksinski, Bosch, Bacon, and many Symbolist and Romantic artists, including Bocklin and Friedrichs. Through "creative evolution," with the addition of high-key theatrical lighting effects, all of these influences have been synthesized into the style of the film, referred to as "Neon - Gothic!"

Annabel Lee (20 min.) is currently making the worldwide journey to international film festivals, while seeking distribution along the way. By visiting www.poepuppet.com, one can keep up with its progress and get glimpses into the long process that went into the creation of Edgar A. Poe's Annabel Lee.

The Author: Edgar A. Poe (1809-1849) was an American poet, short story writer, journalist and critic. He is most remembered for his classic macabre tales of insanity and morbid obsessions. Annabel Lee was his final poem, published posthumously within one month of his mysterious death.


The Voice: The Poe Puppet voice is that of Jim Knipfel, the author of SLACKJAW and QUITTING THE NAIROBI TRIO. He's currently a staff writer at NEW YORK PRESS. While attending a reading from Mr. Knipfel's book SLACKJAW, director George Higham was so struck by his unique vocal talents that he approached him to help bring the Poe Puppet to life which he accepted.


The Music: Bill Warford and Pat Gillis are Northern Machine. The high Gothic melodrama of Annabel Lee's soundtrack has taken them far afield from their industrial/ambient/ethno/space music roots. Irrespective, it is somewhat of a return to the time when Gillis supplied his classmates with music, sound effects and location recordings while studying at New York City's School of Visual Arts. Their music is available from HC3 and draws from such diverse influences as Brian Eno, Cabaret Voltaire, Marc Bolan, Throbbing Gristle, Tangerine Dream and Albert Hofmann. To date, they have released two CDs and are looking forward to completing another by the end of this year.


The Technique: Stop-motion animation is the longest, most labor-intensive form of filmmaking ever created! It works on the principle of persistence of vision, an optical phenomena that causes the viewer to retain an image in their mind for a fraction of a second after viewing it. That's the basis of viewing any film, actually, but it is utilized in the creation of a stop-motion movie. Normal film is projected at 24 frames per second, each frame being a still image. Normally, you expose 24 frames per second while shooting. With stop-motion, you expose one frame at a time, just like taking images with a still camera. However, after you take one still, you manipulate the puppet or object a fraction of an inch, then step back and take another frame. 24 of these actions will give you one second of screen-time. If you have several characters interacting, they have wings and you're moving the camera ...you can imagine the concentration needed to maintain the shot! Annabel Lee was shot using a Bolex camera on 16mm film, utilizing this process. All of the post-production work was done digitally, in order to take advantage of the numerous effects and compositing available in that format