It’s extra sweet when the acknowledgement comes from the city of one’s birth…
UPDATE 5/31/23 – “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre” was honored as semi-finalist in the Berlin New Wave Film Festival:

Even if you’ve only so far seen the poster(s) or trailer for “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre“, my musical short film adaptation of the classic Edgar Allan Poe story, you’ve encountered the above image of the protagonist hanging from the edge of the pit, with a monstrous eye waiting below for its quarry.
Day 8 of our shooting schedule is when we captured that shot – well, everything but the eye, photographed a previous day and added in post with VFX work. We would need an eight foot tube with the opening as wide (four feet) as the pit, in order to stretch out my body and arms within.
We wouldn’t be standing the pit tube upright for the shot. Usually in these “fake hanging from ledges” shots, the actor is lying on their stomach and the camera is placed level in the floor so that it looks like the shot is “looking down” at the character holding on for dear life.
In our case we decided we would tilt the pit tube about 45 degrees. In stead of a large fan, some gel and spray and styling would give my hair the right “downward” look. My acting would have to sell the rest. It felt a little like I was about to be shot out of a cannon.
There’s the pit tube below, angled up. Not all the flat sides – representing the walls of the cell which have closed in to force the protagonist into the pit – have been attached yet. That’s co-producer Henry Borriello at left.
For the whole film shoot we needed three separate versions of the pit. Most scenes required only the opening of the pit to be cut out of the floor of our set, raised just two inches above the studio floor. We placed a green screen or black cloth underneath (depending on the lighting). Both the inside of the pit shrouded in blackness and the reveal of the eye would be added in post with VFX.
Then we also needed to build a version of the pit that stood four feet off the ground, in order to allow shots from within the pit looking up, as well as shots of the protagonist as he is forced down into the pit by the encroaching, infernally hot walls.
For the shot of me actually hanging from the edge by my fingers we needed the big long tube. There was enough surface tension between me and the tilted tube that I wouldn’t slide down once lying down inside, but it was still very helpful that production designer Mariana Soares da Silva built a foot rest for me. Below the back entrance we at first placed green screen to aide Jimmy McCoy, our VFX guy, when he later adds the eye. But then we switched that out with black cloth to avoid the green light spill. The total darkness at the bottom of the tube caused by the black cloth was going to work better for Jimmy.
The Romford Film Festival in London starts this Wednesday and runs through May 30th. “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre“, my short film musical adaptation of the classic Edgar Allan Poe short story, plays 9:30pm Monday night, May 29. I will be there, answering your Qs with my As.
My first short film musical Poe adaptation “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre” played the Romford Horror Independent Film Festival, an off shoot of the Romford Film Festival in 2021. So naturally I applied again this year with the companion musicabre. However the Romford Horror Independent Film Festival reached out to me, suggesting I switch my submission to the Romford Film Festival instead. I did, got accepted, and – upgrade! – here I am, playing in the bigger sandbox this time!
I look forward to being part of the festival. If you are in the London area, do come out Monday to see me and my musicabre.
Rising from the waters of the Hudson River where Pier 54 used mark the western end of 14th Street, the man-made Little Island is Manhattan’s newest park attraction. From its website:
“Little Island opened on May 21, 2021 as an oasis for New Yorkers, with more than two acres of magnificent landscape, distinctive architecture, dazzling views and an abundance of free education programs and performances.”
On the first summery Saturday of the year, Little Island proved a popular destination. The wooden remnants of the old piers still stand in the waters below and beside the concrete platforms that form the island park.
The Lonely Wolf 2023 International Film Festival London just announced the line-up of honored films. “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre” is a “top nominee” in four categories:
Best Medium-Length Film
Best Comedy or Musical
Best Dance or Poetic
Best Production Design
Colorful Impressions at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on a Mid-April Day
The Brooklyn Museum as seen from the BBG
Many more cherry blossom pics, and flower selfies, are at the end of this post…
The Astoria Filmmaker’s Club on-line journal has published a short article by Kendall Mullenhour about me and my musical short film Edgar Allan Poe adaptation “The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre“, which the Triborough Film Festival (sponsored by the club) had recently awarded 3 trophies.
You can read the article here.
Ed and I returned home after a week in Naples, Italy (plenty photo posts on that forthcoming), and new Spring blossoms welcomed us back in our neighborhood and garden.
Robinson Film Award winners gathering on stage at the end of the festival
Tuesday, April 11 the Robinson Film Awards presented the best of their bimonthly awards season (“The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre“, my musical Edgar Allan Poe adaptation had won Best international Short and Best Experimental Short and Best Soundtrack during their December awards). Short films and feature length films were shown all day, interspersed with live performances.
“The Pit and the Pendulum – a musicabre” was scheduled for 14:00 (2pm).
I attended with co-producer, co-actor (and husband) Edward Elder.
Here we are with John Vamvas and Olga Montes, who would later win Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Feature for their movie “Scarpedicemente”.
The festival commandeered one of the theaters in the Cinema Multisale Eliseo, which normally shows your typical movie fair. (I got a kick out of “Cocainorso”, the one word Italian translation of “Cocaine Bear”.)
Ed and I took our seats early. It would be an all day affair.
This Thursday at 4pm EST I was interviewed live on Blog Talk Radio. The interview is now be archived at this link:
Karl Kaefer from the Deviant Legion Network wrote the following on the blog website:
“Join us as we welcome NYC SF Film Festival Award Winner Danny Ashkenasi- director of the featurette “The Pit and the Pendulum”- a “musicabre” based on the Poe short story.
Having seen this film at the festival, I was totally unprepared and astounded by not only the visuals, but also with the music score- which was composed and orchestrated by Mr. Ashkenasi.
So please join us for this very special episode on Thursday, April 6 at 4pm EST.”
Last Sunday Ed and I enjoyed another jaunt at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. While much is still in post winter slumber, here and there early spring blossoms – such as daffodils, early cherry, magnolias, and apricot – are writing the first act to a floral extravaganza for which the crocuses had been a mere prelude.
The BBG decided to restrict their daffodils not just to Daffodil Hill – which we will get to soon – but planted a welcoming brigade of them right by the Eastern Parkway entrance.
The main cherry trees at the Esplanade still have a month or so to go before they are in full bloom. (See some previous posts on that here and here.)
But some cherry tree variations at the outskirts of the Esplanade start blossoming before the majority.