Ex Machina Essay

Ex Machina is a dramatic mystery movie. It is written by a man called Alex Garland who is also the director. This films uk release date is January 21^st 2015. This science fiction thriller stars actors and actresses; Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Sonoya Mizuno. Alicia playing Ava, Domhnall playing Caleb, Oscar playing Nathan and Sonoya playing Kyoko. This film tells the story of a programmer who is invited by his employer to administer the Turing test to an android with artificial intelligence. This film had post production work completed at Pinewood Studios by the Pinewood Digital Production Services (DPS) team. Post Production work included colour and data management, onset monitoring and screen services; all completed by Thom Berryman and Luke Moorcock based at Pinewood Studios. Ex Machina was backed by the company film4 productions. Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982. Ex Machina was released in 2015 on the 21^st of January in the uk and the 14^th in America, it was very successful in both countries. In the opening weekend of ex machina coming out it earnt $250,000 in the US. The film was filMed in three different locations;

Pinewood studios in the UK
Sognefjord in Norway
Valldal, Norway

The exterior shots were filmed in Norway and much of Nathans pad is the Juvet Landscape Hotel in Norway. Most of the interior shots were filmed at Pinewood studios in the UK. This could be because Norway is very well known for scenery and nature, so mountains link to this ideology. This is a good setting for the film to be filmed becauseit’s like a different world so the setting should be quite lonely and peaceful.

There are no known issues or problems that affected this film’s production. When Ex Machina was first released into the cinema it was shown on 4 screens in the US and 8 screens in the Netherlands over the first weekend. The certificate for this film is a 15, this is because of the nudity and adult content shown throughout.

The attracted audience to this film is just about everyone, there is no specific age, gender or personality to be attracted to it. I think the director and producer of this film has thought deeply about the storyline and has picked a perfect piece. It is appealing to younger adults and older adults as it is to do with interesting creative world and things you would never believe could be possible.

When Ex Machina was released it wasn’t expected to do very well in the UK, however it did very well, as i said earlier. Compared to the likes of The hunger games and Fast and Furious 7 Ex Machina was expected to fall behind them however surprisingly made a decent budget.  

Even though many people will say Alex Garland must be really clever to have made such an amazing model it would have been made quite easy for him with the CGI standards. In our society it is becoming very easy to make computerised images and this is what the creator of the film has done. Ava is a computer generated image and can be easily created; this would suggest the film being easier to produce than thought.

Overall the reviews from Ex Machina have been very positive, here are some examples:

“Garland the writer may be a bit too fiddly about the details of what we're seeing, but his visual flair is undeniable. He also shows an ability to handle his actors. It all makes Ex Machina into a tantalizing debut and an arresting piece of [sci-fi].”

“A beautiful piece of science fiction on par with the best of the genre.”

“It is a gorgeous, thought-provoking story and a triumph in every way for Garland, who casts three rising stars to make a small film full of big ideas.”

However some negative:

“The story ends in a muddled rush, leaving many unanswered questions. Like a newly launched high-end smartphone, Ex Machina looks cool and sleek, but ultimately proves flimsy and underpowered. Still, for dystopian future-shock fans who can look beyond its basic design flaws, Garland’s feature debut functions just fine as superior pulp sci-fi.”

“Vikander’s spellbinding, not-quite-human presence (her synthetic skin is silky yet creepy) keeps us watching. But an only-too-obvious ‘twist’ and some clunky plotting...drain much of the credibility from a story which promised so much.”

“It's a theme Mary Shelley brought us in "Frankenstein," which was first published in 1818. That was almost 200 years ago. And while Ex Machina replaces the stitches and neck bolts with gears and fiber-optics, it all feels an awful lot like the same story.”