Using a Stair Climber

One of the fascinating things about the moviemaking process is when a director comes across something unexpected and figures out how to utilize it for the project. There's a great example in a Filmmaker Magazine article that describes how director Sean Meehan employed a stairclimber that just happened to be at the house where he was shooting a music video for Run 8 Rider. He uses it for a for a shot that indicates the passing of time, and it actually works really well. The angle is very slight as the camera slowly glides down the stairs. The diagonal perspective and the movement combined give the viewer a sense of time passing as the images shift in front of us. The shot would have worked as a dolly move on level ground, but this bit of spontaneous crafting makes it much better. Unfortunately, I could care less about Run 8 Rider.