Ex Machina: Group 5
Ex Machina
By: Svetlana, Chelsea Chan Sui Hing, Megan and Ella
Link to trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYGzRB4Pnq8
Film: Ex Machina
Year: 2014
Director: Alex Garland
Screenwriter: Alex Garland
Lead actors: Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson
Running Time: 1h 48m
In the movie Ex Machina, the protagonist, Caleb, a computer programmer, is handpicked by his boss Nathan to interact with a robot to test it's artificial intelligence Caleb's task is to administer the “Turing Test” on "Ava" to if she has reached a level of self-awareness that matches human consciousness. Over the week that Caleb stays at Nathan’s secluded house in a beautiful and remote area, Caleb starts to develop feelings for Ava. She seems to reciprocate those feelings.
During a power outage, where the two cannot be observed by Nathan, Ava tells Caleb that he cannot trust Nathan and that they must escape or else she will be destroyed. Caleb decides to help Ava escape but in the end, when they do succeed in escaping, Ava leaves Caleb trapped in a room and leaves by herself after killing Nathan. Ava ends up manipulating Caleb so that she can get out into the real world. In the end, we see Ava in the real world and we wonder what she is going to do since no one knows that she is not a real human, but an AI.
During a power outage, where the two cannot be observed by Nathan, Ava tells Caleb that he cannot trust Nathan and that they must escape or else she will be destroyed. Caleb decides to help Ava escape but in the end, when they do succeed in escaping, Ava leaves Caleb trapped in a room and leaves by herself after killing Nathan. Ava ends up manipulating Caleb so that she can get out into the real world. In the end, we see Ava in the real world and we wonder what she is going to do since no one knows that she is not a real human, but an AI.
Cinematic Techniques:
The special effects that were used to make Ava look like a machine were very important. These special effects give her body a machine like texture and the wires and circuits inside her are very visible. The metal completely covers her body and is only visible on her face. This was a very important aspect in the movie because it shows that audience that the person is a machine even though they are sentient.
The special effects on the robots were important to show that they were in distress from Nathan’s experiments. For example, one of the previous AI’s was trapped in a room and hit the door so much that her hands broke off and all that was left were wires and machine parts.
The lighting that was used during the power outages was very important. When there is a power outage, the whole room turns dark and red, symbolizing danger. This also reinforces a sense of suspense and apprehension as it is the only time that Caleb and Ava have any privacy from Nathan's constant surveillance.
The lighting that was used inside the house--more dim and artificial- versus outside the house--blue skies, bright and natural-- is important to show that Ava is trapped inside the house against her will. As Caleb said about that thought experiment he learned in college, Ava, who was trapped inside only saw black and white but when she stepped outside and saw all the colors, she became sentient. The brightness outside also symbolizes freedom while the darkness inside represents the feeling of being trapped and isolated.
The lighting that was used during the power outages was very important. When there is a power outage, the whole room turns dark and red, symbolizing danger. This also reinforces a sense of suspense and apprehension as it is the only time that Caleb and Ava have any privacy from Nathan's constant surveillance.
The lighting that was used inside the house--more dim and artificial- versus outside the house--blue skies, bright and natural-- is important to show that Ava is trapped inside the house against her will. As Caleb said about that thought experiment he learned in college, Ava, who was trapped inside only saw black and white but when she stepped outside and saw all the colors, she became sentient. The brightness outside also symbolizes freedom while the darkness inside represents the feeling of being trapped and isolated.
Lighting was also used to emphasize different moments and places in the movie. Lowkey lighting was used in Caleb's room, which was very dark without any windows. It was done to create a mystery and highlight Caleb's feeling of being trapped and claustrophobic.
Highkey lighting was also used in the movie. In the end of the movie, when Ava finally has the opportunity to get out, the scene is very bright. The sun is beaming and it represents Ava's new life in the real world. It can be seen as a representation of her bright future and new discoveries that she will make in the future.
An important prop in this movie are the access cards that the characters use. The access cards limit the areas where each character can go. Nathan's master access card enables him to control the entire house while Caleb's card is programmed to have only limited access to different rooms and areas. In the end, Nathan's access card takes center stage, as Caleb must get Nathan’s card to be allowed to sneak around the whole house to engineer his escape with Ava. It really comes to show the hierarchy between character and emphasizes who has more power. Nathan can open more doors, so he is more powerful than Caleb. He controls the doors that Caleb can open and restricts some of them, which makes him control Caleb. Ava, on the other hand, does not have an access card. She has no power in the house and no control over the situation.
The different robots that were in Nathan’s room is an important prop because it allows the protagonist to realize that Nathan is evil. It is also what Ava uses to turn herself into a more realistic human. These robots are hung up in Nathan's bedroom in separate closets. They look like dead bodies and represent Nathan's failed experiments. Seeing these robots for the first time instills fear into the audience because it is a visual representation of what will happen to Ava once Nathan is done experimenting on her.
Sound is another important cinematic technique used in the movie. Diegetic sounds, which are noises that happened on screen, has importance throughout the whole movie. An example would be loud noises during numerous lockouts, which emphasize the panic state the characters are in. A siren is also often associated with something going wrong, so by making the sound very loud, the produces are sure to get the viewer's attention.
Then, non-diegetic sounds, which are edited sounds, were also used throughout the movie. A very clear example would be in the scene when Caleb steals Nathan's card when he is drunk and asleep. In this particular scene, editors added a racing sound that represents the high level of stress that Caleb is experiencing. It also adds a lot of suspense to the scene.
Editing is also an important cinematic technique in the movie. Short takes are made out of very short movie sequences. An example in the movie is the scene where Kyoko tries to get out of the testing room, by beating the door, until her arms break. Short takes under a few seconds were assembled to create a more dramatic effect and add fear to the scene.
Long takes were also used in the movie. An example would be the scene when Caleb first visits the laboratory where Ava was created. In this scene, a long take was used to show the entire lab and the way Caleb reacts and interacts with it. By using a long take, the viewer really gets to choose what he wants to look at since the lab is full of innovations and new technologies. There is a lot of information to take in.
One of the main themes in the movie is humans vs. machine. During the whole movie, we see how Ava is hard to tell apart from a human. We see how realistic technology is and how easy it is to trick a human mind. The only way that we see that Ava is an AI is that she has the body of a machine. Caleb was influenced by Ava in the movie, because he is human with feelings and emotions who can easily be manipulated by her since she can read his facial expressions. He starts feeling empathy toward Ava and tries to help her break free after he finds out that after the test, Nathan is going to destroy her. She manipulates him and at the end even leaves him behind, trapped alone in Nathan’s basement. She takes advantage of his human weakness. At the end, when she enters the world, all we can wonder is : what are her intentions? The theme of humans vs machines really demonstrates this fear of robots taking over the human race.
The second theme that is discussed in the movie is technology. In the movie, we see that technology is at a more advanced phase that it is nowadays. Everything, from the locks on the doors to the artificial human brain in robots, is controlled by technology. Artificial intelligence is developing at an exponential rate, and starts resembling humans more and more. Technology controls everything in the movie. Special programmed cards open certain doors, and let certain people use the phone. Technology is also what allows Nathan to gather the necessary information to create an AI. In the movie, we see him hack into all phones and record everyone and their dialogues. Since everyone now has a phone, could it be possible for someone to access our daily lives and use that information to create an AI? As amazing at the movie might seem at the beginning, technology is also the cause of the bad ending in the movie. The locks on the doors are reprogrammed to let Ava out and to lock everyone else in and Ava out. The movie really reflects on the limitations of technology. It also makes us questions if advanced technology will affect us in a bad way.
The third theme is the battle of the sexes which is a very controversial theme. As Caleb interacts with Ava and begins to fall in love with her, he becomes horrified that Ava is being trapped and isolated as an experiment and possibly a sex slave. How males treat women in Ex Machina is what really created the controversy. It reflects how females have been depicted for years and that it continues in AI. This film that was made to make the audience feel many things can leave the audience intending and interpreting only one thing, sexism. But, one thing viewers are encouraged to keep in mind, is that Ava does escape from the sexism of the male characters in Ex Machina.
Word count: 1582
Ex Machina, the sci-fi , thrill-filled, mind-boggling film about artificial intelligence is sure to have viewers left will multiple questions. Ex Machina is elegantly crafted and wonderfully written with great acting. It provokes thinking and creeps into the audience's mind as it portrays an unsettling relationship between a man and a robot.
We noticed many strengths this film has to offer as well as some weaknesses. A strength of Ex Machina is how it helps us to imagine the extraordinary capabilities of potential AI’s. As seen throughout the film, Eva is mesmerizing, with an awareness of herself, and we are curious to see what will be her destiny.
An obvious weakness of the film is how male-dominated it is. Men are the inventors and programmers, while their creations are "women."Once again, women are still seen as objects. Switching these robots off if they are not working properly, programming them to“flirt” with someone to save them or to help them escape and using them as sex objects all reinforce many tropes of women and stereotypes. Ava and the rest of Nathan’s robots are used as slaves, sex toys and experiments to enhance and support Nathan’s male ego. Undeniably, Ava was an amazing experiment but it is still saddening to see these other robots being used solely for sex and house work, especially when they had a certain degree of sentience.
Despite the sexism in the film, we would highly recommend Ex Machina to most audiences.
We noticed many strengths this film has to offer as well as some weaknesses. A strength of Ex Machina is how it helps us to imagine the extraordinary capabilities of potential AI’s. As seen throughout the film, Eva is mesmerizing, with an awareness of herself, and we are curious to see what will be her destiny.
An obvious weakness of the film is how male-dominated it is. Men are the inventors and programmers, while their creations are "women."Once again, women are still seen as objects. Switching these robots off if they are not working properly, programming them to“flirt” with someone to save them or to help them escape and using them as sex objects all reinforce many tropes of women and stereotypes. Ava and the rest of Nathan’s robots are used as slaves, sex toys and experiments to enhance and support Nathan’s male ego. Undeniably, Ava was an amazing experiment but it is still saddening to see these other robots being used solely for sex and house work, especially when they had a certain degree of sentience.
Despite the sexism in the film, we would highly recommend Ex Machina to most audiences.
COURSE CONNECTIONS
1)The first concept that can be connected to the course is consciousness. Throughout the whole movie, Caleb is trying to understand if Ava is a conscious machine if she is aware of herself and her surroundings. He is trying to understand if she is able to behave on her own or if she is programmed to do certain things, like flirting.
¨If you’ve created a conscious machine it’s not the history of man…. that’s the history of Gods¨, said Caleb when we first heard about Ava. For everyone, it’s still impossible to link consciousness with a robot, yet the movie is full of examples that reveal that Ava has consciousness. She makes complex jokes, throwing what Caleb said to her. This is an example of the awareness of the mind, often strictly linked to humans. Furthermore, she is able to feel emotions. She is nervous when she puts the dress on for the first time to show is to Caleb. She makes fists and walks with her head down, which are elements that prove that she has some kind of emotion. She is also wondering if Caleb thinks about her and watches her on his TV. At the very end, we know that she manipulated Caleb to get out of the laboratory, and even though she faked his feelings for him, she thought of it on her own, which is an even bigger example of consciousness.
2)Then, another concept that is visible in the movie is the concept of the uncanny valley. It refers to the fact that ¨an almost human-looking robot will seem overly strange to a human being and it will produce a feeling of uncanniness, and will thus fail to evoke the empathic response required for productive robot-human interaction ¨ (study guide p. 6) . In the beginning of the movie, the overly human appearance of Ava fascinated, but at the same time threw Caleb off. He had difficulty perceiving Ava as a human because she was too realistic. It did not make sense in his mind. But as the movie went on, the concept of uncanny valley disappeared and got replaced by Mori’s original hypothesis. It is defined by the fact that ¨ as the robot’s appearance continues to become less distinguishable from that of a real human being, the emotional response becomes more positive once more and approaches human to human empathy levels ¨ (study guide p.6). We get a very clear example of that in the movie. Ava is a robot with a face that Nathan perfected for a very long time. But her body, even though it strongly resembles the one of a female, has wires and is primarily made out of plastic and metal. In the beginning, when Caleb sees Ava, he knows that she is a robot and treats her like an experiment. However, as soon as she puts a dress and a wig on, he sees her more as human and starts to develop feelings for her. He sees her as a woman and doesn’t feel like it is right to keep her in a closed room. He helps her to escape the laboratory because he thinks of her as a human. The more she starts resembling a human, the more empathy he feels towards her, just like Mori’s hypothesis suggests.
3)The third concept that is illustrated in the movie is the concept of objectification. By definition, objectification is ¨viewing humans or animals and treating them like objects, not sentient beings¨ (Study guide p.4). Thought the entire movie, we, as viewers, perceived Nathan’s maid, Kyoko as a human. A lot of scenes support that statement. From the beginning, just the fact that Nathan doesn’t make an effort to communicate with Kyoko is a big sign that he is not considering her equal to him. Then, Nathan objectified her by using her as a slave and she has to obey his orders. He uses her for everything, even his sexual desires. She has no liberties, no protection, no word to say. When Nathan gets aggressive and yells at her, she cannot defend herself. When he turns the music on, she has to dance. She is a slave and a worker and she is getting used by Nathan. Another example of Kyoko’s objectification is when Caleb comes to her and she assumes that he wants to have sexual intercourse with her and takes off her clothes. This really shows that she is so used to getting treated like an object, that she starts feeling and acting like one. Even though at the very end of the movie we realize that Kyoto is, in fact, a robot, objectification is still a concept that applies to her because we learn that she has some sentience and can understand English.
Provocative Questions:
- Why did Ava decide to leave Caleb behind even if he helped her to break free? Was it her intention since the beginning?
- Why did Nathan keep Ava isolated at all time? Could it be because he knew how dangerous she could be for the real world?
- Do you think sentient machines can be trusted? Why or why not?
Helpful Weblinks:
This article describes what exactly artificial intelligence consists of. It discusses the abilities scientists and others believe AI has and will eventually have over time as well as where we see artificial intelligence in everyday life. It also explains the positive and negative consequences AI may have on the work.
This video explains the many fears people have about artificial intelligence and why there is no need to fear. It explains that artificial intelligence is all a part of evolution. This video also describes specifically what AI is and how AI will have far more capabilities than humans.
Work Cited
Garland, Alex, director. Ex Machina. Universal Studios, 2015.
Kelly McKinney, Study Guide, Knowing the Inner Self, 2019.
Question 1:
ReplyDeleteAs the movie progresses, it is revealed to Caleb that Ava is simply using him as means of escaping. The real test was for Ava to use any kind of way to convince Caleb that she is in desperate need of his help to escape since she is being held in the Nathan’s facility. Ava manipulated Caleb’s emotions to get him to be interested in her and to think of Nathan as the bad guy. I think it was her intention to leave not only Caleb behind but everyone that was in the facility behind. When she had successfully escaped, she no longer needed Caleb’s help to free herself from Nathan, she did not need Nathan to bring the human aspect of the Turing test to the facility anymore, and she got Kyoko to help her kill Nathan. Ava no longer needed the help and needed to manipulate the people that were with her so she left them there since they were useless to her now. she was free from it all and was going to step into the world without bringing with her anyone who knows that she is an AI to be able to have a fresh start and a new life.
Question 3:
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, we should not trust sentient machines but we should treat them with respect and treat them like human beings. We should ask them to so certain jobs that can be dangerous for human beings such as the military or working in the neuclear plants because they are more resistant. If we do not treat them with respect and treat them like slaves (using them to do chores for example), I think that it will not work on a long period of time. It will maybe work for a short period of time, but because they are sentient beings, they will realize that they are capable of doing way more and they will rise against us which is why I do not think that we should trust them as well. I think that we should ask them what task/ job they want to do so that they do not feel like we are using them.
As I have already seen this movie, I can tell that this blog is very well written and describes the movie properly. If I could add one thing, I would put subtitles under the photos to describe what is going on during those scenes to avoid confusion for those who have not seen the film. I found the cinematic techniques to have been well observed and analyzed especially the example of the power outage and the red lighting having such importance during that scene. I also found the description of the plot to have been perfectly explained.
ReplyDeleteI find this film to contrast the film Her by Spike Jonze in certain aspects. This is because in Ex Machina, Ava and the other robots have actual bodies and this makes the viewers see them more as humans. Samantha in Her can only be heard as she has no body.
I also agree with the statement that this film makes us see the potential in future AI, and how this film is sadly very male dominated.
I find this film to portray that robots will never be truly sentient beings even with large technological advancements. Ava does not care about anybody and is cruel during the film. She has such a lack of empathy which is shown when she left Caleb behind. Many questions regarding moral aspects of technology with in the film and this is properly depicted in the blog.
Question 3
ReplyDeleteIn the current era that we live in, this question is one of much relevance. Most would say that machines could never be sentient or fully sentient as they are entirely made up of material and have no brain like us humans. However, in this movie, the robot, Ava, is so realistic that Caleb starts to fall in love with her. She not only presents an understanding of human facial expressions and thus human emotions; she also finds a way to manipulate humans using those traits. This combination, makes for an undesirable mix. This robot can both evaluate what someone’s weaknesses are but it can also manipulate them in order to achieve what it wants from the human. Therefore, my personal thoughts are that we should not trust sentient beings being as humans, they do not always say what they are thinking and, have the technological capacities to cause more destruction than a human could. A movie that could be associated with this one is The Matrix. In the film, the audience quickly realizes that it is in fact a machine controlling most of the aspects of the characters’ lives. We also realize that not only do the people not control any part of their lives, the machine also has glitches which result in horrific consequences. This further proves my point that machines, while being very effective up to a certain point, should not be fully trusted on their own whether it be a sentient robot or a computer program.
Justine
The pictures used in the blog were fitting and quite acceptable. The cinematic techniques used and described within the movie “Ex-Machina” were quite interesting and it seemed like the filmmakers and editors had knowledge of these advanced techniques to make a stunning final product. There is a little spelling or phrase error at the end of the first connection to course concept “consciousness”, which is otherwise a good course connection. Ex-Machina is related to reality and that robots will eventually become true, Ava is super intelligent and appealing to the human eye. But, majority of the time we do not realize the capability of a robot or A.I. and things always seem to run into problems when non-beings gain consciousness, which enables them to make decisions and mimic human attributes. -Kyle Ferguson
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1:
ReplyDeleteI truly believe that the reason why Ava left Caleb was due to the fact that she did not truly have feelings for him. The whole point of the test was to display her ability to show human like traits as machine while interacting with a human and to make the test subject (Caleb) believe that an interaction with a machine was occurring (essentially making him feel as if she is human and not just a machine). She not only took advantage of this test that she was aware of to get out of the facility, but also accomplished passing the test as a result as well. She had shown high levels of intelligence throughout the film (capable of shutting down the power of the facility without anyone except Caleb knowing). So I do not find it hard to believe that she was capable of creating this entire plan as she also was the superior model of various other AI models created as well.
Matthew Barg:
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: Why did Nathan keep Ava isolated at all time? Could it be because he knew how dangerous she could be for the real world?
Answer:
I think there are a number of reasons why Nathan kept Ava isolated all the time. One reason is because she was a work in progress. This type of technology had never been created before Nathan's prototype so keeping it away from human contact was important both for safety reasons and because of it being an unfinished product. Nathan wanted to be the first person to create a conscious being (and to be know as a god) and keeping Ava a secret before she had reached that conclusion was important.
I think the movie showed Nathan did know how dangerous Ava could be in two ways: Nathan had been running experiments on other robots and he saw how aggressive and angry some of them got because of them being kept in captivity. These experiences gave Nathan knowledge on the potential darker side of his robots. Another part of the movie that showed Nathan's knowledge for Ava's destructive potential is when Caleb releases Ava and Nathan sees her on the monitor. In this moment he is panicking and visibly upset even though she is just walking around. I think this is another indicator of his knowledge of Ava's dangerous potential.
My first remark was I really love the first photo that was used in the beginning to represent the film. It really provokes a mysterious and sad feeling that draws my attention and makes me want to read the blog. I thought the synopsis of the film was very well done since it was brief but very clear. As someone who hasn’t watched the film, I still understood the main points which really helped me understand the rest of the blog. Furthermore, I thought the use of the gray and black in the cinematic techniques section made the reading clearer since the examples and explanations were distinguishable.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would have like for a longer movie review since that part was only a few sentences. I think it also would have made sense if you elaborated on the positive aspects of the movie because the movie was rated 4/5 stars, but the negative aspect was more explained. I would also suggest fixing the format in the course connection section since some words were cut which made the reading a little hard to follow. I also recommend explaining the photos since, for someone who hasn’t watched the movie, it makes the photos kind of random and I would like to know the significance of the scenes chosen. For instance, for the image right after the themes, it seems like an important and dramatic scene, but I am confused since I don’t understand the significance of these two characters interaction. I would also relate the weblinks to the movie to clarify how those articles and videos would help the reader further understand the film.
When comparing the explanation of the third theme to the other two, it is much shorter. I think adding some examples from the film would lengthen the text as well as help the reader further understand the sexism present in Ex Machina. Other than that, I completely agree with the sexist view of the AI robots. Similar to Her, another film by Spike Jonze, the AI robot is represented through a female character. It does raise the question of why these futuristic and idealistic characters are represented by females and why they are both involved in having sex with the male characters.
As for the comments, I would disagree with Justine, since she says the reason why we shouldn’t trust robots is because they can use humans’ weaknesses against them. However, not all robots will be like that. For examples, for humans, con artists who do the exact same things will manipulate others to get what they want. But, just because of these individuals, we, humans don’t distrust every human we meet just because some dishonest people exist. Likewise, even though some AI robots, could eventually deceive some humans, this shouldn’t be a reason not trust all sentient AI robots.
- Winifred Jia
Delete