research - narrations and readings of 'the raven'

really i wanted to start off with adaptations of the works of poe that i already know exsist, as well as reserching into other story adapatiations and how they work. 

In my original idea there would be a narration rather then dialog, and i stumbled across 6 different celebrities reading out poes 'the raven' i thought this was very clever as it shows how different voices effect the story.

William shatner

I personally feel that watching this, apart from the feeling like its james kurt reading it, the slow dialog suits the poem, i also didnt realise how long it took to recite the poem, i like the brakes in the text and while the video is cheesy and his stare is distracting the pronunciation is good. 

James earl jones 

 

James earl jones, aka darth vader reading poe? what an odd mixture, his voice is deep and rather soothing, and while he has a great voice to listen to the velvet touch of his voice doesnt add to the poem, it sounds strange which i guess if its the option ur going for then thats great. it seemed more rushed then the first, as it doesnt seemed to be paced well, and with poetry thats something ill have to be very wery of. and he does need to pronounce some letters longer then others which make them stand out abit to much.

Christopher walken


something very strange happened when i opened this, it opened in a new window so it was running twice at once, slightly out of sync and the echo and repeating and the multi voice made it sound like many a voice rolling around in the narrators head, which is a great effect i could maybe experiment with. Unlike the first one this reading actually has a soundtrack with it, a very creepy thunderstorm filled night like classic horrors always seem to attract! this is good but would not really work if i am to set it in modern times like i wanted to. However it does show me how the atmophere does effect the narration, its different just then having the narration and silence.


Stan Lee


Stan lee creator of some of the best and well known comics of all time reads one of his fave poems of all time. While hes not really an actor i really like his performance because hes not going for the overly evil creepy voice and putting alot of emotion into it. you can tell he knows it well, and knows when to add emotion and when not to. it makes a change from the overly haunting effects of the previous 3 readings. 

Christopher lee 




well Christopher lee does have a very dramatic and even traditional voice in comparison to more colloquial voices, his annunciation is very correct and it makes it sound more old fashioned. He also did a whole collection of readings of Poes work so i may look into what others he did. But i do think it will be very hard to get someone with a voice like that! 

Vincent Price 

 

No gothic horror peice should be overlooked by the master of creepy voices himself mr vincent price. His voice just has that quality of eerieness and creepyness not only by association but just by the tone. Here hes acting out the play in the context of the very gothic style room ect. it does make me think how u would reenact it in a modern world? or would it just not suit in style?

I think this was a real good idea, its allowed me to see a big deal it is to get the voice and  the text broken down into the right sections so that it flows well, and the right emotion goes into the right parts of the narrative