Lena Koenighofer

is a visual philosopher using motion, design & illustration. HomeShowreelWorkAboutContact & Info

Das verraeterische Herz // The Tell-Tale Heart

Logo Animation.
Title Intro & End Credits.
Film Poster.
Film Props.

Director:
Kathrin Told

Production:
Battitude Arts
Fachhochschule Salzburg
Logline A man driven to madness by his obsession with an old man's "vulture eye" murders him and is ultimately undone by his own overwhelming guilt, which manifests as the imagined sound of the dead man's still-beating heart.
Title intro of The Tell-Tale Heart
Mission
& Approach
This title sequence introduces the main protagonists with ghostly animations and sets the mood for the film's atmosphere. The subtle movements are reminiscent of a cat sneaking up on its victim - just like the younger man in the short story.
Based on the tragic short story about a gentleman who, fearing the wrong eye of his older companion, murders him one night and hides the body under the floorboards, the strategic placement of the title suggests a cross-section of a room. 

Pluto the cat, a protagonist of the short story The Black Cat (1843), also appears here. The Gothic-style lettering and the illustration, which resembles a pen and ink drawing/etching, refer to the classification of Poe's works as "Gothic" literature.

Death and decay are represented here in colour by a cold green, while the strong red represents life on the one hand, but also the manic, paranoid behaviour of the younger man.
Poster for The Tell-Tale Heart
This allusion to Poe's poem The Raven (1845) is stylistically modelled on Füssli's Nightmare (1781). The background is colour-coordinated with the bedroom of the doomed old man and its greenish sheen is reminiscent of the poisonous arsenic that is said to have adorned Napoleon's wallpaper in exile on St. Helena and ultimately caused his death.

In the film, the painting can be seen above the old man's bed, watching over him like a harbinger of death.
“Nevermore”
Process
First test of the title intro
Painting process in Procreate
The painting process of Nevermore
The painting process of Nevermore
The painting process of Nevermore
Digital sketch of the painting
Painting process of the poster illustration
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