Free Write
The first thing that caught my attention was the child. I believe the photographer positioned the child in front to show the story first. Being that the child is front and center and the bird being kind of distant, while everything is blurred out; the photographer depicted the child as strong. The bird in the back, in my opinion, is being represented as the child’s protector. Nothing else matters to the bird, hence as to why the background is blurred out. He believes nature is the only way to go instead of being controlled.
Opening Sequence of Walking Dead
The director chose to open with crossroads to show they have options. In my opinion, the trees could represent protection. Also, the director could’ve shown the crossroads to represent the different paths. In the second frame, a car is flipped over as the police drive down the street. The flipped over car represents a tragedy. Another vehicle is flipped over and nobody’s around. The director could be leading us into the story or how the story begins. In this frame, the officer is carrying a red gas tank as if he’s upset. This case the officer could be burning the undamaged cars. The look on officer’s face doesn’t show concern because he’s so calm. Emotion wise, in this frame, is the concern. The set communicates lifeless as all the cars in one area as if everybody got out their cars and just left the face of the earth. The colors red and black symbolizes wrong, the black on the car represents death and the red cooler represents blood since the population is gone. There’s a pink tricycle that I’m guessing belonged to a little girl. The reason they chose this prop was to get sympathy from the audience, to have people wonder where the girl is. A baby doll and a stroller appear to be in the background showcasing that majority of the children are gone. This frame is set up to show the way they had to live before extinction, the people in the car shows how they tried to survive. The tree shows knives as if they were aiming to make sure whatever they were aiming at was dead. This red gas station shows it was a town favorite. The pumps 1 and 2 represent the first two stages of human extinction. The significance of the officer recognizing sound shows he realize it is not just him. Cameras zoom in on the officer face to show his awareness. The way the director shot this frame was to realize that there was somebody there. In this frame, a little girl goes to pick up her teddy bear. The teddy bear matches her slipper and robe which indicates it was early in the morning and she didn’t plan on being in this much fear to start her day. First words said in this film was the officer stating who he is. He states who he is because he knows the little girl could attack him thinking he’s a zombie. The camera zooms in on the little girl face to show her actual identity. The reasoning for the director ending on officer’s face is the fact he realizes his life will now be dedicated to protecting himself and surviving. All the elements in the opening scene led to this event, how? The placement and the repetition of the color red, the little girl toy. The theme in this opening communicates suspense.
Response to Ex- Machina
The reason the director had Nathan dressed in black and white is to show he’s the creator, he’s in charge. For example doctors, dentist, and nurses wear white coats most of the time. The black pants represent how he doesn’t care, he’s emotionless. The white walls represent pure and the faces on the wall were previous experiences. The gray and black Ava is made of proves she’s unbreakable. Ava touching the previous faces might convey that she wasn’t the only one being locked up and told what to do. I’m sure after seeing and touching those faces are going to make her really upset. The way the director zoomed in on Ava’s face is to show how shocked she is to see someone like her but on a wall. The reason Keyoko is blurred out is because she knows what’s going on. Ava tilts her head a little when looking at Keyoko to determine if she’s an android or not. The way Ava is looking at Keyoko is as if she knows she can help her escape. I believe Ava just told Keyoko that there’s a way out and not to be scared. The director zoomed in on the mouth of Keyoko and half of Ava’s face is to show they might finally be connecting and understanding each other. The two hands coming together shows union. Keyoko might’ve been jealous of Ava and Connor’s relationship, that’s probably why she has the knife to destroy Ava and try to have what Ava and Connor had but instead Keyoko and Connor. Being that Nathan is at one end of the hall and the girls at the other show they weren’t really close. When Nathan walks out he stops as if he can’t believe what he sayings. He’s looking like they’ve turned against him. When Nathan tells Ava to go to her room Ava is looking at him like boy you got me fucked up. Nathan is at the tip of the red carpet; the red carpet could suggest danger to the other androids. Little does Nathan know his power is about to end as Ava defies him. The way director shot this scene was to show even though Nathan had treated then like toys and told them what to do, Keyoko has to do what’s right for her and to free the other androids. Maybe the director used sounds of suspense to get viewers to think there’s a plot twist. Eve though Ava and Keyoko and Ava never really spoke to each other, they both had the same feelings toward their creator and came up with a plan to dethrone him from his power. Nathan knocking Keyoko’s jaw off just looks like a piece of metal flying through the air. After looking at this scene the power dynamics between humans and robots show that artificial intelligence will always have the higher power. The scene when Ava is shown holding something that was all along her freedom. She just wanted her freedom and she got that, whether she had to kill to get it. After looking at this scene the director wanted to communicate that artificial intelligence will always have the upper hand. And just because he created her don’t mean she couldn’t develop a mind of her own. The big idea of this movie that was to be understood would be power.
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