Tuesday, March 01, 2016
A Look Inside the Academy Award-Winning 'Ex Machina'
The Creators Project: Take a look inside the process of turning a masterfully crafted screenplay into a Hollywood-caliber film built on cinematography, and now, award-winning special effects. "The film is definitely not supposed to be a cautionary tale about AIs," Garland says in our documentary. "The caution is all aimed at the humans."
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Ex Machina is one of my favorite films of 2015, based not only on the Oscar-winning visuals but on the script and overarching theme of what makes a person human. I believe that, had the effects not been so lifelike, the movie would not have resonated, but everything felt so grounded that it was hard not to get swept up in the fantasy Garland was creating. Hearing the actors discuss what it was like to work on the project is also enlightening, and helpful to me as a designer, because it shows that the effects in a production make it real not only for the audience, but for the actors. If the actors don't feel like the world is believable, then the performances they give will always have a layer of opacity to them, because you don't feel like they are real people inhabiting a world. Props to Alicia Vikander as well, who displayed extreme caution in her performance by never going into over the top robot territory, instead choosing to remain grounded and keep her true desires locked behind the pretty face. A scene that stuck out to me was when she puts on human skin that Oscar Isaac had made for his collection of robots, because it genuinely looked as if it was just sheets of skin she was putting on, and not some cheesy substitute.
Ah, this is an amazing look at one of the best written movies, I've seen in a long time. I personally think it should've been a best picture nom, certainly more complex and better written than something like Brooklyn, but I digress.Science fiction films, especially good ones, have a way of showing our fears and showing who humans really are in a way that other films can't always. For instance, 2001 A Space Odyssey, marking our arrival into the future and what space travel means, and Alien, is in a way about Women's lib and the right to control her own body. And this movie marks the coming of AI in our time, that others like "i, Robot", set in the distant future, don't. This movie and Her, show what can come, and what living in this time of AI is and may be like in very human and natural ways. I believed this movie could happen to someone like my coding brother, in the same way that Her could happen to any lonely guy I know.
This movie not only is a milestone, but just an incredible movie. I've watched it 3 times now,and I'm grateful I saw this making of. It makes so much sense that Alicia Vikander is a ballerina because her body precision and control is ridiculous. Watching her mechanically, bird-like movements in this movie are astounding. And Oscar Isaac's character is incredible for being looming and possibly the villain. There are so many twists and turns and I was on edge every time I watched it, because it succeeds so greatly at not being anything overarchingly scary, but giving a sense of suspense and doom throughout.
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