E X M A C H I N A
M A I N T I T L E S
Here are the conceptual frames that I designed for the 2015 major motion picture, Ex Machina.
Ex Machina is an independent science fiction psychological thriller film written and directed by Alex Garland in his directorial debut, and produced by Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich. It stars Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander, and revolves around a programmer invited by his CEO to administer theTuring test to an intelligent humanoid. Computer programmer Caleb Smith wins a one-week visit to the luxurious, isolated home of Nathan Bateman, the CEO of his software company, Blue Book. The only other person there is Nathan's servant Kyoko, who Nathan says does not speak English. Nathan has built a humanoid robot named Ava with artificial intelligence (AI). Ava has already surpassed a simple Turing test; Nathan wants Caleb to judge whether Ava is genuinely capable of thought and consciousness, and whether he can relate to Ava despite knowing she is artificial.dress to Congress on May 25, 1961.
s t y l e f r a m e s
I wanted to keep these frames fairly abstract in nature - aiming more toward a mood of symbolism. I felt that depicting the exact likeness of the characters would be an unfair giveaway, most especially if this sequence were to play at the beginning of this film. I feel one of the beauties of Ex Machina's beginning is the little information it gives the audience - the viewer is forced to just jump straight into Caleb's experience with very little leadup or explanation of the setting.
My design goals were to illustrate frames that eluded to each characters nature while also touching on scenes that could be considered turning points within the narrative. I wanted the illustrations to be smooth and concise, consisting of a palette that evokes feelings of danger, claustrophobia and overwhelming paranoia. These frames do still need refinement but I wanted to get something up here sooner than later.
