One of the better films to have been released in 2015 had to be Ex Machina. Given its relatively small budget of $15 million and the very contained and isolated set pieces, it manages to be one of the most thought provoking and tense films I've seen in my lifetime. Aside from the writing and acting, the film is exceptional in its visuals and keeps the viewer immersed with realistic practical and digital effects that could easily fool the untrained eye. This is all thanks to a blend of good direction and a very talented visual effects team.
Throughout the whole film, Ava, who is an artificial intelligence (AI) in a robotic body, interacts with the two other characters (Caleb, shown above) as well as the environment around her. In any other film, this isn't too much of an accomplishment, but for Ava, it was an extraordinary feat in visual effects to be able to seamlessly blend her character into the world around her. By blend, I mean consistently and continuously use digital effects to make her robotic character seem realistic and believable. In the scene above, this is demonstrated by both the character herself and her reflection. What makes this scene work, and by work I mean what grounds the scene in reality, is the fact that there is nothing about Ava that looks unrealistic or unbelievable. From the lighting on and from her, to the texture of both her skin and metallic limbs, she looks really real. This is thanks to the visual effects team at Double Negative with the special effects team lead by Richard Conway.
The Special Effects (SFX) Supervisor is the person in charge of making sure the atmosphere is set and the right things blow up, as well as any other means of demolishing a prop. Now, Ex Machina isn't exactly a Michael Bay film in terms of destruction, however, there are scenes, and without spoiling anything, with props that get destroyed in this film. This scene is not one of those, but one of the props might be in this shot. (oops!) While the SFX Supervisor played a very important role in this film, there is a little (a lot) more to say about the Visual Effects (VFX) team.
Visual Effects are more what made Ava come to life, which this movie, and specifically this scene, would be nothing without. The VFX team was able to create balance when they were able to reflect Ava on the pane of glass right next to her. That is really what makes this scene believable. If it looked wrong, you would notice and point out how wrong it looked. If it looks natural and real, you don't say a word, because what's to praise about a reflection? Nothing, unless it's the reflection of a mostly computer generated character. There is a great deal of negative space in this film to contrast the living creatures against sterilized, futuristic backgrounds. Ava stands out in the scene due to her human appearance, and her robotic features against the stone canvas behind her.
In this scene, you can equate the blank walls to the blank slate of Ava's mind. A mind that has just recently been created and is ready to be filled with all kinds of information and human interaction. This is in contrast to the antagonist of the film, Nathan, whose living areas are noisy and are decorated with abstract art and decorations. The room in the above picture is Ava's living quarters, where you can clearly see there is close to nothing in terms of decoration.
These VFX artists are essential to conveying anything in this scene. A robot communicating with a man, and then the frame communicating with the audience, telling us that this is all real, which is really the point of the film. To tell the audience that AI is real and is happening.
Pragnanz comes to mind, reducing reality to its simplest form. In our minds, as we see a robot on screen, we know it's fake. The beauty of film isn't to just to trick the viewers, but to allow them to escape. To recognize that what we're seeing isn't going to be reality, and to suspend our disbelief to escape into a world where artificial intelligence merges with an autonomous robotic body. Sure it's all make-believe, but the VFX of Ex Machina make sure you forget that for two hours.
This scene is one of many just like it throughout the film, with Ava and other characters in dialogue. With the writing to augment the visuals and vice versa, we see a contrast of human and AI and the blurred lines between the two. In this scene, the only thing that separates Ava from Caleb is her robotic appearance, and visually, we are being told much more about our robot friend Ava than we might originally have thought.
Production Credits:
| Sara Desmond | Unit Production Manager | |
| Clare St. John | Post-Production Supervisor | |
| Tor Arne Øvrebø | Production Manager |
Principle Photography by Rob Hardy
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