From the Film Maker...

I was attracted by the painter's use of chiaroscuro and used this kind of high contrast lighting in the Test Room where Dr Bunker observes his test subjects. Elsewhere, the main characters are lit largely by artificial light, similar to the painting. As my film is styled to reflect the future; as imagined from the late 1970s, fluorescent light dominates except inside the Test Room.

Just as the artist seems to have selected archetype characters for his picture, I wanted my characters to be instantly recognizable as scientists in lab coats.

The painting seems to be about the juxtaposition of the glory and the horror of scientific experimentation. The cockatoo is suffocating inside a bell jar; I felt this resembled a crystal ball, which inspired my futuristic setting. I see the painting as relevant today as it was at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The near-suffocation of the cockatoo begs the question of how humanity will go in the name of ‘progress'.

My film explores how a human clone might relate to the person he thinks is his maker and what his sense of reality might be. The character Lachlan believes his father has put his lover in jeopardy and sets out to free him with unexpected consequences.
Kerry O'Brien