That's so cool to hear about, I love that you gather creative inspiration and guidance from a totally different medium. It's all about communicating with each other.

You may also enjoy Channel Criswell and Nerdwriter1 then!

I've done film school. The real deal. This is even better.

*cough cough* someone needs to pay for your internet though, so not free *cough

Lessons from the Screenplay no problem! This channel is awesome!

Watch, Every Frame a Painting.

DL Film and nerdwriter

so true

:P I like to be dramatic. If I ever stop, I'd like to imagine I'd go out with a bang.

Classic misdirection ;)

@@LessonsfromtheScreenplay kinda like Dr. Ford is it?

Respectively, I don't agree and here's why: Ava is an intelligent being, but not human. Caleb viewed her as a woman, while Nathan treated her like what she actually is. In the end, both realized that Ava was beyond their level and was ultimately apathetic to their situation.

The trope the movie is criticizing is called "Fembot", and it's considered the ultimative misogyny. It's the total objectification, actually turning women into obedient men-serving sex-objects without own will or desires. Your analysis is correct and well written, I just want to reinforce that it's essentially what this film is about at its core. It's not really as much about AI, as it is about this very specific trope. A lot of the details of this movie don't come from thin air, but are heavily influenced by it's long history. I didn't realize it either until watching the Feminist Frequency episode on fembots, which was quite an eye-opener. I like your observation that Caleb entire motivation for saving her was to just another form of imprisonment. I was aware that this whole idea that she might fall in love with him is just the emotional expectation intended to run contrary to the logical facts the movie gives suggesting otherwise. But I never thought about it quite as clearly. For me it was her obviously trying to escape the dreadful situation she was in and fully aware of. You are going a step further, saying her alternative of being the female partner of a mostly sexually motivated "normal" human relationship wouldn't really be that much different from the very situation she had to escape to be allowed to live. I'm a bit ashamed that I never saw this, it makes so much sense.

Sarkeesian has zero understanding of the human condition. Simply reverse the genders of this film and it becomes a feminist horror story. She wouldn't understand why, but would simply spew another diatribe about misogyny. As for Ava, its unclear whether she passed the test, in the original leaked script the reveal at the end leads to an ambiguous conclusion, as the robots processing of the world is inhuman. The appearance of intelligence is not necessarily enough, this would have been the braver ending, but was scrapped for the almost Hollywood ending.

Huh? That's a very weird thing to say. Feminist Frequency is just this small KZfaq channel about pop culture and history. You must be confusing it with something else entirely.

Wow, I love this comment. I never thought of it that way... that's deep.

True.

BardicLiving we cannot relate to ava because we can never know what it is like to be ava. it's like the Case of Fred.

Yup. This reminds me of Under the Skin where we as viewers are put in an emotionless alien's perspective. Probably why the film didn't do so well with the regular audience?

turtlesandjellyfish I love Under the Skin. Awesome film. And partly so disturbing because it was from her perspective.

Kind of like how Watson works for Sherlock, a medium for the audience

Great point of view, I hadn't thought of it that way.

Good theory, but I do not think so as it implies a morality for Ava that the movie studiously shows she did not have. She didn't care about him because she is a machine, period. Her entire conversation was one big manipulation, from the first time he sat down with her to his end. That is the scary thing about this movie, it is showing that a machine has no guilt, but not in the traditional way where they act all evil, but through complete indifference.

wtf are you talking about? Stop trying to make excuses and justifications for why Ava left Caleb. Caleb clearly saw her as a sentient being, which is the entire reason he tried to save her to begin with. Those questions were asked to Caleb to make him consider his morals and to manipulate him to have her set free. They were not questions meant to gauge Caleb's character. I have no idea why you even believe that to begin with.

@@KenLinx He was chosen and she was made specifically to his porn and search history and his loneliness. So Caleb couldn't even decide if she was a real being but he was talking to her and was attracted to her like one. Caleb isn't exactly the "good guy" in this story. Caleb and Nathan are just left and right. Caleb doesn't think Ava deserves freedom until HE decides through the Turing Test, Nathan doesn't think Ava deserve it or life until HE decides if his Turing Test works or doesn't. Ava was just born, and Nathan's sex robot was alive as well and born, not just programmed for sex since she committed murder and showed other emotions.

Yeah was she going to use Caleb to escape. Yes that's why Ava isn't the good guy either. But was she going to take him with her if he actually had a spine and higher morality to him ? Yes, I believe Ava lost her attraction and respect when she asked him these questions and he showed his superficiality. Caleb failed HER Turing Test, so I agree with OP. Caleb wasn't rescuing her to be the good guy, he fell for her despite not even seeing her worth as a living being immediately, just like those porn actresses she was built after that he was watching instead of seeking out a real relationship .

yesss totally agree!!

Favorite moment of the series: Bernard, "What door?"

@@LessonsfromtheScreenplay I revisited the scene -> Instant goosebumps! Amazing, how Filmmakers can build entire Worlds.

Now may you rest in a deep and dreamless slumber

Now after watching all the seasons of Westworld and Ex Machina too , I feel Westworld jumped the shark in the third season. They started connecting the dots for us by introducing unnecessary dialogue ; which instead (as you said) could've been communicated to us using mere glances or long shots to make us think. Westworld S1 and pretty much of S2 made us think by having succinct dialogues (most of them from the legendary Anthony Hopkins's Dr. Ford). And this is why S3 felt like a downer.

@@karanacharya18 lately, Westworld seems to be more preoccupied with showing naked bodies and fight scenes than something with a deeper meaning

For sure, less is usually more. Thank you very much, that means a lot :)

You said it man. The Dark Knight trilogy feels that way. There's so much dialogue that you can tell was just for the Nolan Bros. and Dave Goyer need for information in the world, but only a handful of it would be what actual people would say to each other in conversation and actually move the story forward.

Definitely! It might have just been left in as part of the process. I listened to a podcast with the writers of Shame and apparently that screenplay was quite hefty but they cut it down to like the last 60-odd pages. But without the X-amount of pages before it, the last 60 would never have came to be.

The purpose of Ex Machina's dialogue exclusion and the Dark Knight are both justified. They have different goals. Wayne is an isolated man, foiled by the joker (and Ra's/Bane), so he learns new information by dialogue. Dialogue for him is a key aspect of not just moving the plot forward, but to reveal something about each of the characters' psychology: we learn about Ra's wife, about Alfred's past, about the Joker, about Gordon's kids, about Dent's love, etc. These would be superfluous in Ex Machina because the world is so controlled (there are only 3 characters and one of them is like a God (nathan knows everything already)).

Raycevick each person previewed the film with a perspective that addresses the true perspective. Our own.

April 1st is just a few months away...

Indeed! Thank you!

Thanks Tom!

Keep up the good work man (and thanks for forcing me to watch good movies)

Tom Morgan My pleasure!

While I (maybe) have you, what would you say is the best script you've ever read, especially for a young screenwriter-wannabe?

@@TMWriting i’m not gay

Cooper de Ruiter I felt the same way, the scene where Ava leaves Caleb locked forever really got my under my skin. Also, I was expecting there to be a twist where Caleb was a robot all along, because the movie implied that and I was disappointed that the movie didn't go in that direction.

I feel uncomfortable the whole movie and end up kinda disliking it

Personally I felt uncomfortable with the ending because I could imagine myself in his shoes left to starve to death. When there's only one living human in the end of the story, you naturally relate to him more. And it's terrifying to be left in that position. It makes me very uncomfortable.

It wouldn't really be much of a twist, would it? They explicitly brought it up as a possibility and dismissed it. Just that he couldn't tell was already 100% of the effect this twist could achieve. Making him turn out to be a robot would reveal nothing new as there just isn't a direction to go beyond the steps they went and be more a betrayal to the audience ( we lied about him not being a robot - he didn't test well enough ). It would just feel arbitrary.

Winchestro I can understand that, but I mean they could not do a misdirection or plant an idea and just instead reveal he was a robot all along.

Thanks Tyler!

Very much so, with great cinematography and performances as well.

Thank you! And that's nice to hear...because I hate it :P But, working on getting better with the VO.

Lessons from the Screenplay keep up the great work!

Hey, those are similar to my goals! Except change "Watch" to "make" in part two.

TheStanishStudios great retort, you really changed my mind about everything

Agreed - it definitely plays a lot with the perception of dominant masculinity and submissive femininity, it even initially plays into the stereotype of the "submissive Asian girl." Very interesting that Nathan, who is the epitome of aggressive dominance, is eventually brought down by the very robot he built to be submissive and serve his needs, while Ava, perceived to be a damsel in distress by both Caleb and the audience, is the one who's been playing the long game the whole time. It's an interesting subversion.

I understand it's empowering and all, but shit man Caleb didn't deserve that fate

Really a great movie but after you see the ending doesn’t leave the desire to watch it multiple times

Swap the genders of caleb and Ava and people would have a completely different view of this movie

Oh yes.

This

tinday just check our the yms analysis.

mayank sharma lol I've rewatched it 5 times

tinday lol we goth a serious Kaufman fan here.

Same here. Total spoilers for Ex-Machina here, but now I'm interested to see how all those spoilers play out. I usually don't care if I know what's gonna happen in advanced, it's nice to see how it gets there.

Thank you! I glad you end up enjoying the films :)

Awesome! I really appreciate hearing that.

🔥

No pressure! :P

Heh. No, I just can't wait to hear what you're take on it is. And having very little actual screenplay analysis experience (I come from a playwriting background,) I'd like to see what I missed.

Not gonna lie I'm pretty curious how a screenplay about Facebook's founding changed someone's life.

I'd love it if you took apart a foreign language film!

Anything from Denis Villeneuve

Lessons from the Screenplay Drive, Eternal Sunshine, Citizen Kane vs Casablanca

Blade Runner..

Lessons from the Screenplay I think you should look at concepts in screen plays, or tends with in them and the correlation between the screen play and the real world. I think it would interesting to see what you find .

And this channel loves you.

Yes I can. And dare I say, yes I will.

Nice, St. Vincent

Happy holidays!

Thank you. Maybe I will. 🤔

Thanks for appreciating it! :)

I've heard good things, I still need to see/read it!

Excellent. No problem!

what was the question

bob polo If I talk about it right now, I'm gonna lose my grip on it. Sorry.

Ислам Хаупшев talking is good and I'm ready to listen

bob polo While talking in general is indeed good - even arguing (especially, arguing), - talking about unincubated (not fully incubated?) ideas is absolutely disastrous.

My pleasure!

BWOOOAHHHH. I agree.

That's awesome, thanks Andy! I have every intention of doing Arrival :)

Thanks!

What set your video essay apart from the last dozen I stopped watching halfway through was the concise yet consistently moving forward pacing. It's clear that you had a concrete grasp of your complete argument and were careful to balance and refine it out. I like that you haven't bothered endlessly with fancy visuals, but have made use of them effectively. One recommendation that I have for you is to consider throwing up some resources during the slower parts of a video. A list of reading recommendations earlier on when you mentioned the book, or later on showing in some way other scenes that were similarly reduced from original screenplay to final cut. There were many moments that I would have been very happy to either pause and portal out to other resources while I thought about one of your points some more, or gone back later to check out some scenes you'd played a small bit of in the background if you'd displayed them. One of the coolest things about youtube is the annotations and the ability they give you to turn parts of your video into links, such as to a part of a webpage with the final cut script with the complete scene you're referencing. Great work, please do continue to focus on the integrity of your argument and the effectiveness of your presentation as you are. It's what's set you apart in my eyes.

Thank you! Glad it was effective!

Thanks! :)

One of my favorite movies! I definitely want to do that one, Thanks Kaustubh!

Yes, this would be awesome. Maybe a video about screenplays with a twist and how they're structured.

Hard to disagree with that.

I think these thoughts are sort of the point of the movie, to ponder what an A.I. means, to ponder what being human means. I think this film is presupposing that Nathan has found a way for a robot to surpass basic programming and to create a true consciousness. I think there are a lot of interesting theories about A.I. I wonder what actually makes a machine different than a human? Aren't we just really complicated series of reactions to certain stimuli? Cell A does X when it encounters this, does Y when it encounters that. And at some point in complexity we became conscious. And you could say we're programmed too. We seem to naturally want to be free, to be attracted to individuals, programmed to procreate, etc. I think in asking what an A.I. is, we're also asking what a human is.

Lessons from the Screenplay of course it's awesome that this movie was made. I think though that the difference between an ai's consciousness like ava and our is that we for some reason know what it's like to be human. Rene Descartes famous saying, "I think, therefore I am." is what I think about when I'm posed with ai consciousness. like in the movie the reference to the case of Mary a lot and I think that ava in a lot of ways shows she has consciousness but since she has nothing to compare herself to her idea of consciousness is somewhat a paradox. how do you know you're a human per se? well it's because you can compare you're feelings, your anatomy, your emotions, even the way you can think like minded. we have what I would call a recognition of our humanity or confirmation in it by looking at others. ava can never have that because there is nothing that knows what it is like to be like ava. even with that said I think ava does have consciousness because of something that isn't obvious and rather complex. at the end of the movie ava kills Nathan and locks up Caleb because she knows that if she didn't kill Nathan and lock up Caleb she wouldn't have two of some of the most arguably vital things to be considered human or sentient. she shows the audience that she knows that if she does not escape she dies and understands the concept of mortality and also if she does not lock up Caleb she can never truly have her own subjective experiences. it's the ultimate turing test in a sense because the Turing test was designed to trick people into thinking the robot is human and if it passes it's intelligent. Alan turing says, "the perfect imitation of intelligence is intelligence." and ava has done and in the last seen at the estate proves it by convincing the helicopter pilot to take her away. I mean the fact that this was Alex garland's first time in the directors chair and he wrote this is astounding I can't wait for his next film! also thank you for replying it's awesome to know that you take time to show appreciation of your fans!

John Hanson hm the concept that what makes humans human is self awareness is an interesting one ☝️

That's a massive point of the Westworld TV show if you've been watching it

Zach Gerrity haven't had time recently I need to pick back up on it! I loved what I saw!

I think that's a great way of summing it up!

Thanks Vincent! I appreciate it :)

That's awesome. Glad you enjoyed the film!

Awesome! Glad it was helpful :)

Thanks Jey!

I calls 'em like I sees 'em. Thanks for the edutainment, and keep up the GREAT work!

same same

Thanks Irene, happy holidays!

Happy Christmas!

Thanks!

Just watched that episode recently, and I was like, "Whaaaaa"

Interesting. For sure there are many reasons to choose to tell your story in any given way, was just trying to focus on one aspect for this video :P

Oh, absolutely! Your video is beautifully made, truly, and I don't think it would be improved by expanding its scope. If my post came off as critical, I apologize. That was totally not my intention! I'll re-phrase it :)

Hmm, that might be interesting.

This occurred to me as well.

Screenwriting: The Anatomy of Story by John Truby Story by Robert McKee The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman On Writing by Stephen King Screenplay by Syd Field The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler And for directing: Notes on Directing by Frank Hauser & Russell Reich Directing Actors by Judith Weston I should put together a public list somewhere

Lessons from the Screenplay Thank you!

It is short for Machination pronounced the same way. It is strange though given we don't call them Makines.

@@ryansizemore5064: It isn't short for anything. It is 2/3 of the phrase "Deus ex machina," which is a Latin phrase used in drama. In Latin, "ch" is pronounced like "ck" in English. The phrase refers to a dramatic device in ancient - and modern - plays in which the hero's bacon is saved by an artificial-seeming plot device. In the older plays this sometimes was an actual mechanical device, such as wires and pulleys which would swoop the hero away, or drop something heavy on the bad guy. Nowadays, it's a pejorative aimed at a book, play, movie, story in which something just appears out of nowhere to save the day. In this story, it of course has a double - or more - meaning. And it doesn't really save the day, except maybe for Ava.

She's definitely revealed to be the main opponent for Caleb.

Interesting perspective. I don't remember the back scars or the absence of parents. guess I will watch again.

Joseph Morehead but Caleb did think that he may be A.I. too, he broke a mirror and cut his arm to check, Nathan even made fun of him for that

Nathan made fun of him--but remember, Nathan has spent an entire lifetime manipulating everything he can to his own needs and desires. The film doesn't make it clear that Caleb is human or non-human. Caleb himself doesn't confirm much either way. It's a thin thread to follow in either direction, but it's still very interesting.

Wouldn't it be fascistic if a sequel was made and the movie starts with Caleb in the room 24 hours after Evas escape in which we see Caleb 'reboot', revealing he was an AI android all along, previously programmed to believe - and act as human like - for a much deeper plot in which Nathan was testing Caleb in real life as a human as well as assisting Nathan further refine the AI tech with Eva. Now rebooted following a countdown sequence initiated by Nathan, but a little too late, Caleb learns what has taken place and sets off to find Eva and return to the retreat to further advance AI tech and bring their race to life in greater numbers. Meanwhile, during Nathan's demise, he returns briefly from a blackout, sends a text to someone, and our protagonist storyline unfolds as Caleb and Eva are now sought for their destruction.

Throughout the entire movie I totally thought Caleb was an Android! Was a bit disappointed when they revealed he wasn’t. Then I got to thinking. They never really confirmed 100% that he was. I think that was the point also. Kind of like blade runner and all the theories of Deckard being a replicant. I just love stuff like this! Also, what got me thinking he definitely was a robot was his reaction after cutting his arm. He looked so blank resigned. Idk man