The Stairwell by Shane Meadows

The Stairwell by Shane Meadows

‘The stairwell’ is a very short film that has the duration of 40 seconds. It was filmed on a Nokia phone and was filmed with Shane’s two friends.

The narrative is a male walking down the stairs at a fast pace and a female walking up the stairs at a slower pace. After turning the corner the characters bump into each other violently and the film ends.  The narrative is very simple but Shane Meadow normally uses these opportunities as a creative playground therefore he experiments with camera techniques and styles and if they work they are often portrayed in his full-length feature films or future short films.  

Analysis

The music throughout was very tense and had a dramatic feel to it. The pace of the music built up dramatic which makes the audience assume there’s going to be a big climax.

When the two characters bump into each other the music cuts out and are now diegetic sounds of them being moaning and being hurt. The cut of the tense and exciting music makes the climax a anti-climax as it doesn’t deliver the big climax that everyone expected.

I noticed that Shane meadows uses a lot of titled shots and plays with angles which make every shot visually interesting.

Throughout this film both characters are in dark lighting so the audience don’t get a clear view of each character so throughout he create mystery in both the characters and narrative.

Also as a director he likes to play with the audience’s perception. The whole build up of having titles made it seem like it was going to be a longer short film.

The lighting used in this particular film is lighting that Shane Meadows often uses in most his film so he has created a distinctive look that is recognizable to an audience.

Shane meadows also put titles and credits with a background that doesn’t necessary have a direct link to the narrative.