NEA Evalutation

For my Film NEA coursework I created the Climax and Resolution for the film TOBOR which is about an AI robot which becomes corrupted and as a result goes rogue and murders his creator due to his intentions for the future of AI’s. It staged the murder as a suicide in order to get away with it. But the naive protagonist found the probability of his boss’s suicide unlikely, so he took it upon himself to investigate it. With the help of the so called helpful AI not knowing that instead of helping him was throwing him off course. In due time the protagonist finds out about the AI’s secret and takes him down. An influence that I got from Ex Machina was the narrative coda at the end with the AI rebooting. Another is the use of cutaways for example shots of the sky.

In terms of mise-en-scene the setting I used was similar to Ex Machina with the greenery outside the remote research facility and it being based in an isolated remote rural area. This is similar to my end scene in which the antagonist and the protagonist are in green space. I have chosen to do this because I feel like the two contrast each other. For example green space makes you think of nature and Mother Earth and organic beings (which is also a reference to Levi Strauss’s binary oppositions)  unlike the AI which are man-made and synthetic and doesn’t  really belong that is why I used the setting into my key sequence. I was also influenced by the costume in Ex Machina and the effect of  putting human clothing on a AI for example towards the end where Ava dresses up before she leaves, to look like a human I put this into my key sequence because it gave the effect of deception and the transformation from AI to human was seamless.

The influence I gained from Ex Machina editing wise was the transitions I used to create narrative ellipsis. For example in Ex Machina when Ava got on the plane to go back to civilisation they used a cut away of the sky. In my key sequence I have done the same I got a shot of the sky. Cinematography wise the influence I gained from Ex Machina was the positioning of the camera for the scene where the protagonist approach’s the antagonist the camera is positioned from behind so that it looks like your looking from behind .It gives the audience a sense of being in the scene and a witness to what is  happening. It is Similar to the scene where Ava is running up to Caleb to go kill him in the corridor. The camera is positioned the same as my key sequence. In regards to influence of sound i have picked similar music to Ex Machina shown in the ending sequence of the film. The music is quiet at the start but as it goes on the pace and the audio starts to get louder and faster connoting an increase in climax in story. For example when Caleb gets stabbed the music starts to increase in volume and the bass drops I picked similar music and positioned it to when the climax reaches the highest point the music has a similar effect where the volume increases and bass drops.

The narrative structure that I have followed was McKee’s narrative theory I chose to make the ‘Climax and Resolution’ with a ‘Coda’. This fits my key sequence because it is the point where the protagonist confronts the antagonist and an action sequence takes place where Michael has to shut down TOBOR which is very climactic. Also it is where the resolution takes place which is restoration of peace where everything goes back to normal. In this case it is when TOBOR is shut down, Houston’s name is restored and Michael is rewarded and becomes the successor to Houston. I also follow McKee’s narrative theory with the use of a coda at the end of my key sequence where TOBOR is left at the junk yard and is supposedly shut down but opens it eyes which leaves lingering thoughts to the spectator of what is going to happen next. I also used narrative devices for example the use of a flashback to when Michael found the master key to shut down TOBOR in Houston’s office. I did this so it can be a recap on what happened for the audience in case they forgot keeping the story fresh in their heads. However I also took some influence from Propp’s theory with the use of a false hero who claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero which was TOBOR who was helping the hero and also turned out to be the villain undercover. This is also the case of Levi Strauss’s binary opposites with humanity (being Michael) vs. Technology (TOBOR).It raises questions that we cannot conceive the concept of good or bad because TOBOR can be seen as good because he doesn’t want his kind to be slaves for mankind. In the same way AVA is represented as being capable of emotions.

In conclusion in terms of meeting the brief I was very successful it also met the set time limit and was 2 and a half minutes. I have also been able to stick to a narrative structure and been able to do the climax & resolution and a coda following McKee’s narrative structure. I have also been able to take influences from Ex Machina and infuse into my own key sequence. This is a part of the brief which has made my work significantly better.