Spiral Staircases

 

 

As our genre is Soft Sci-Fi/Thriller and one of our locations included a spiralling staircase, we decided to research the use of staircases in films of a similar genre.

Staircases are a convention of thrillers, and are mainly found in those that have a distinct psychological aspect. Recent prominent thrillers that have used them include "Inception" (top left) and Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" (top right). Both of these stressed the psychological side of the plot, as well as involving action, elements that we are trying to emulate in our own film.

The Inception staircase is based on Escher's Klimmen en dalen (bottom left), and that is based on the Penrose Stairs, or the Impossible Stairs. The angle we used for our staircase shot makes it look almost like an optical illusion, as if the stairs could continue descending forever. Having Luke run down them suggests a more complex theme for our film; that there will always be good and bad sides to freedom of speech and that as long as everyone can say what they want, there will always be conflict, going round and round like the staircase.