So where I’m going with this is… I finally found an authentic, animated adaptation of The Oval Portrait that was completed in 2004 and has already been in at least one film festival.  Those who know me well know that originality means a lot to me.  I have been known to abandon what I considered really good ideas after finding that I wasn’t the first to come up with them, despite being urged that the overlap is “no big deal.”  Obviously in this case we are dealing with pre-existing literary material, so of course I have no claim over that.  But before beginning this project, I tried my best to see if there had previously been any attempts at adapting this particular story, especially for animation.  At the time I couldn’t find any evidence of anything in the works. Furthermore, despite being a Poe fan in early high school days, I myself had never come across this story before, so I assumed that it was relatively unknown to others as well.  I have since learned that The Oval Portrait is pretty common reading material in high school lit classes across the country.

 Anyway, I’m ranting further and further from the topic.  Basically, if I had found a significant animated version of this story before I started, I probably would have moved on to something else.  However, now that I have come as far as I have, I don’t think I’ll abandon it.  I believe that the way I can portray the themes of the story is unique enough to stand apart and still be important.  I hope that my version is significantly distinct enough to avoid unpleasantries like confusion and accusations of theft, unoriginality, redundancy, etc.

The Short in Question

 The first evidence I found of the prior film was at this link, which gives some production info and a thumbnail still.  That was all I knew about it for months until today when I did another search and found the animator’s website.  From there I finally found a link to watch the short online.

I liked it.  I think overall it’s definitely a valid interpretation.  I’m relieved that it’s a different take than I have in mind.  There are things I can learn from this and even the Lego version.   I think it’s funny that they both end with the poor girl as a skeleton.  He definitely has great music, looks like he got it professionally composed and recorded for his piece.  That seems to be the way to go.  Of course his painting session is a montage sequence like mine… not really any way to avoid that.  Those close-ups of the brushstrokes are dead on with what I want to do… oh well.  I like how he chose the light/shadows moving across the floor to show time pass; I’m not planning on using that at the moment.  His artist character seems more villianous than I want mine to be, and I would say there are things about both characters that aren’t developed enough for this to be a stand-alone film that a viewer could fully appreciate without knowing the story already.

Anyway, I could go on over-analyzing it, but the point is there is a lot for me to learn from it.  I’m sure I will be changing some things around as a result.

If one were to watch my film as it ends now, then immediately follow it up with this parody, they would burst into laughter and completely lose respect for OP* because right now it is exactly the kind of cliche melodrama that they are making fun of.  That is precisely what I am trying my best to avoid – making the over-serious, quintessential “Student Film.”  The choice of a Poe story in itself makes this a difficult task, because Poe has been done to death (no puns, please) and unfairly categorized as cheesy horror and outdated cheap scares.  Poe is what you read your freshman year of high school when you go through a self-absorbed and immature “dark phase” (which goths and emos don’t seem to outgrow), but then you move on and never read him again accept maybe for novelty.

Anyway, to summarize this rant, it’s a shame, and hopefully I can help show that there’s mo’ to Poe than you thought befo’!  I know… that was really bad.

*which is how I’ll most likely be referring to my film from now on.  You know, the OP… it’s cooler than the OC.