Poe
Nouveau
Schenectady
filmmaker Heidi Philipsen-Meissner uses local landmarks
and talent for her retelling of The Tell-Tale Heart
By
Ann Morrow
“It
is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain,
but, once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” These
words come from the narrator of Edgar Allen Poe’s short-story
horror classic The Tell-Tale Heart. They can also
be paraphrased to describe the makings of filmmaker Heidi
Philipsen-Meissner’s short-film adaptation, Her Telling
Heart. Filmed locally, this feminist interpretation
uses a female narrator (like many details in Poe’s story,
the narrator’s gender is ambiguous), and adds flashbacks
to create a background for the unspecified source of the
narrator’s murderous madness. Directing under the name Eli
Meissner, the Schenectady resident (who also stars in the
film, as Heidi Philipsen) says some of her inspiration came
from her own childhood, and more recently from a Poe project
with Upstate Independents, of which she’s a member. In the
adaptation, Meissner’s five-year-old daughter, Sophie, plays
the narrator as a child. “It’s a psychoanalytic deconstruction,”
says Meissner. “In the story, there’s just the madness,
she’s obsessed with the old man’s ‘vulture-like eye,’ but
what’s the history of violence behind it? The flashbacks
illustrate why she’s mad, but also leave questions, like
in the [Poe] story.”
Despite her dedication to a feminist back story, Meissner
promises Her Telling Heart is plenty creepy—”I kept
the narrator’s voice”—and, funds permitting, the trailer
will be posted on the film’s website (hertelling heart.com)
on Halloween. She credits the Knickerbocker Mansion in Schaghticoke,
one of the film’s two locations, for providing the crucial
creepy atmosphere. The partly renovated 1800s-era building
still has rooms untouched from its past as a haunted house.
“There’s a shot in a chamber that’s falling apart, with
exposed walls,” says Meissner in a shivery voice, “and a
shot with Sophie in a doorway. When I saw that shot, I thought,
that’s exactly what I saw in my head. It’s very exciting,
because when you’re writing, you have this image, but it’s
the dream, the dream without budgets and time constraints,
but I got what I wanted, ‘the lane between memory and eternity.’
” She also credits director of photography Patrick Elliot.
“He’s enormously artistic and he’s not afraid to take risks,”
she says. “He spent a lot of time on his back with a heavy
camera on his chest to get the angle.” Originally from Michigan,
Meissner says the Knickerbocker was suggested to her by
mansion board member Stephen O’Connor, who is an actor.
Meissner says she’s always wanted to make a period film
and a thriller, and she began the adaptation as a post graduation
project while she was a student at the Motion Picture Institute
of Michigan. “But making a period film is a big big deal,”
she explains. “No matter how much you prepare, it’s easy
to get the details wrong, and if you get the period details
wrong, people don’t believe it.” Her undergrad film, A
Fork In the Road, won the student award for Best Film.
But after moving to Schenectady in 2007 (her husband, Niko,
works for General Electric), Meissner realized she was in
the right place for historical settings. Her Telling
Heart is set in both the past, in 1843, the year Poe’s
story was published, and in “the present time,” a few years
later. Present-time footage was shot at Eastfield Village,
in rural Rensselaer County. The reconstructed village of
18th- and 19th-century buildings is owned by Don Carpentier,
an art director for early Merchant-Ivory films and a former
props master (Master and Commander). “Don really
came onboard,” says Meissner gratefully. “The kitchen is
so accurate.”
“Technically,
it’s got a hell of a look,” says Carpentier of the footage
he’s seen. “The camera man and the lighting guy were amazing.”
Carpentier is also pleased with the use of his village,
which was previously used for a 13-part series on the History
Channel. “There’s really good contrast with these nice buildings
in a beautiful setting and all the terror that’s going on,”
he says. Stunt coordinator Curtis Lyons (Men in Black
III) also contributed to the terror in Her Telling
Heart. Like many of the people who contributed, Meissner
met Carpentier through a friend of a friend in the industry.
“I’m honored these people came to my little film and blessed
it with their talent and dedication,” she says. A local
premiere is planned for January 2011. Funding includes tax-deductible
donations from the public.
The film’s professionally hellish “look” was captured by
a Red One digital camera. “It’s the Rolls Royce of digital
cameras,” says Meissner, adding that her biggest unexpected
expense was buying hard drives for it. Production was completed
in a whirlwind three days. Meissner had planned on hiring
an actress for the role of Angeline, the narrator, but took
on the role herself to save time. “It’s crazy to be the
writer, director, producer, and star, but I’m glad I did,”
she says. “I already had the character in my head, and I
didn’t have to spend time explaining her to anyone. And
I had a great stand-in,” she adds. Meissner also feels validated
by her first review: “My friend who saw it said, ‘I don’t
think I can ever look at you again without being creeped
out.’ ”
Of
Teabaggers and Zombies
A
Metroland guide to protecting yourself from the brain-dead
Tea Party zombie apocalypse
By
David King
“Mmm,
blaargh, gaaark, no brains!” That is the cry of those infected
by the nasty Tea Party virus, thought to be caused by the
election of a “progressive” black president. Their absence
during the rampant expansion of big government and deficit
spending during the Bush years has confirmed this theory
for most scientists. Those afflicted by the virus lurch
forward toward Election Day, stomping their feet. “Gaargh,
no immigrants!” they chant in a blood frenzy, unaware that
the country was founded by and for immigrants. They hate
minorities and those who live “alternative lifestyles,”
but they will eat and convert just about anyone. Any minorities
they get, though, suffer a horrific fate: They end up stuck
as Tea Party talking heads on Fox News.
But don’t fear, kind citizen! Metroland is ready
to help you defend yourself from the walking brain-dead.
There are many strains of the Tea Party virus, and you need
to know your zombie!
1.
Carl Paladino—Republican Candidate for governor of New York
state. Mr. Paladino has clearly been infected by the “Rage”
virus a la 28 Days Later. Zombies of this type are
initially fast and vicious, but their anger burns out after
a while. If they find their prey, they will simply eat themselves
to death in a rage-fueled gorgefest. They are also known
for their hate speech. Zombie defenders will tell you that
zombies are just politically correct. But their obsession
with bestiality videos, racial jokes and porn in general
is well-documented. Zombies of this strain also have a particular
hatred for the media. “Me take you out!” they scream at
journalists. Don’t identify yourself as a member of the
press or you will quickly be dismembered. But there is a
very easy way to pacify these poor wretches: Rage zombies
are revolted and frightened to death by alternative lifestyles.
Gay-pride parades will always be safe from this sort of
zombie.
2. Sarah Palin—Tea Party cheerleader, former Republican
nominee for vice president. Palin is the typical Dawn
of the Dead-style zombie, brain-dead and headed to the
mall. These zombies are easy to outwit, outclass and outrun.
Sure, she might not know what the Supreme Court does, but
she wants to “change America.” Sure, she is wealthy and
does her hunting in a fur coat from a helicopter while trying
to convince zombies whose flesh- procurement skills are
meager that she is “one of them.” But what she lacks in
intelligence she makes up for in pep! The best way to defend
against this sort is to push her into a Saks Fith Avenue,
Nieman Marcus or Barneys, where she will gorge herself into
a stupor on fashionistas.
3.
Christine O’Donnell—Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware.
O’Donnell has been transformed by the nasty chemicals that
produce “Braiiins!”-demanding zombies in Return of the
Living Dead. The movie is a cheesy ’80s caricature of
a zombie film, and O’Donnell is a cheesy caricature of a
Tea Party member. “Blaaargh, what is separation of church
and state? I not witch! BRAAAAAAAINS!” These zombie sorts
are terribly easy to trick. In Return of the Living Dead
2, a 10-year-old pulls the old bait-and-switch on
a terribly stupid zombie hiding behind a wall and then pushes
it over a ravine. All you have to do to defend yourself
against this type is chuck a copy of the Constitution their
way. They may initially claim, “I reaaaaad this, really!
BRAAAINS!” But just mention any bit of its contents and
the brainless corpses will quickly realize they haven’t,
and then will do their best to stuff the document directly
into their skulls.
4. Rand Paul—Republican candidate for Senate in Kentucky.
Paul is the kind of zombie possessed by evil, the evil contained
in one book—not by the Evil Dead’s Necronomicon,
but Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. ’Course, it isn’t
the book’s fault; a lot of us spent a little bit too much
time with Rand in high school or college, but we didn’t
let it posses us totally, leaving us lusting to discriminate,
declaring, “GAARKK CIVIL RIGHTS ACT IMPOSITION ON PRIVATE
BUSINESS, BLAAARGH!” But Paul is sure that the dollar will
soon be replaced by the “Amero” and America will become
part of the “North American Union.” Paul is certainly a
well-read zombie. The book’s evil will not let him understand
that America was founded by immigrants for immigrants. The
scary thought that nonwhites are moving into America just
drives him bonkers—the flesh-eating kind of bonkers. The
best way to defend against this kind of zombie is to ask
him if he believes more in the founding principles of this
country or the philosophy of a Russian immigrant who went
from living a modest repressed life to glamming it up in
Hollywood—drunk on capitalism. I mean, how can this kind
of zombie explain being a slave to the writings of an immigrant?
Of course, the answer is likely that said immigrant was
white, but they won’t be able to grunt that out loud, so
their heads will almost certainly explode.
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