The Glassicals Podcast: Set Design in Ex Machina (Jack Walton, Bryan Zhao, Nicolas Amato)

In the podcast, the hosts discuss the use of glass and reflections in the film Ex Machina. They talk about how the glass serves multiple purposes, including creating a futuristic aesthetic and enhancing the central themes of the film. They also discuss how the reflections in the glass emphasize the characters' emotions and the audience's perspective. The hosts analyze specific scenes and discuss the symbolism and impact of the glass and reflections. Overall, they believe that the use of glass adds depth to the storytelling and enhances the audience's experience. Welcome, film fanatics, to The Glassicles. I'm your host, Jack, and today we are discussing the intricacies of set design in Ex Machina. Joining me on our discussion are two phenomenal guests who will dissect the impact of set design on today's film, Ex Machina. Hi, I'm Brian. And I'm Nick. On today's episode, we will be discussing this film, directed by Alex Garland, about a billionaire tech CEO, Nathan, who is developing a state-of-the-art humanoid AI called Ava, which he thinks is the next step in bringing about the Singularity. The Singularity being the point in time in which AI will outpace humanity. Nathan invites one of his employees, Caleb, to his home slash research facility to test Ava's AI in a modern Turing test to see if she demonstrates consciousness. We watched and analyzed the film and found that Alex Garland's usage of the set glass reflections, to emphasize the ideas and themes on the film, had effects on the audience, characters, and environment. Glass has a double role within the film. One rule is to satisfy the common trope in sci-fi of futuristic technology being glass-based and transparent. But the main role of glass serves to enhance the central themes of the film. I don't know about y'all, but I couldn't help but notice the amount of glass present in this film. It seemed like in every scene, there was glass to look through or reflections to be seen in. Yeah, definitely. When Caleb and Ava were talking to each other, the reflections of the speaker or the listener were, there were so many. I noticed that in most scenes, there were always rooms made out of glass and lots of reflections. It was definitely one of the most prominent background and foreground features. Another example is when he's walking through the foyer of Nathan's house. There's tons of glass showing the outdoors. This theme is continuous as he continues to explore the house. And you're exactly right. Combined with all the natural elements and materials of this house, the architectural design does a great job to hide the true purpose of this house and hide the artificial creations which lie beneath the surface. The glass truly allows nature to be fully integrated into the house. So do y'all remember that time when Caleb and Nathan first met? It had that huge window with the background and it showed the wilderness and just was a thin piece of glass separating I thought it kind of symbolized how close Ava was to freedom, but the possibility of escape was so far out of reach. It only strengthens her desire for freedom. I think it also symbolizes the integration of high tech in nature and namely Ava's extraordinary AI capabilities with the mimicking of human behavior. And it's obvious this was an intentional choice by Garland. So why do you think he chose to use so much glass throughout the film, not only in the upstairs house, but also in the basement, which kind of unified the house as one? I think one of the biggest reasons, at least in the beginning, is to emphasize the connectedness the upstairs has to the outdoors and the glass allows the untouched wilderness to be integrated into the house. Yeah, this really just acts to emphasize Nathan's seclusion from the outside world by emphasizing his connectedness with nature and how much he really just dislikes and attempts to avoid this society as much as possible. Yeah, it really emphasizes Nathan's nerdy, stereotypical billionaire attitude, just how he doesn't really like people and it's brought up again later. Yeah, and here's a quote from Nathan. It's funny. You know, no matter how rich you get, shit goes wrong. You can't insulate yourself from it. I used to think it was death and taxes you couldn't avoid, but it's actually shit. Yeah, I definitely agree. The design of the house plays into the fact that he's like a social recluse and it also helps to hide the true purpose of the facility, essentially, and it's a great facade. And yeah, this kind of acts to deceive the audience. Like say, for instance, you haven't seen the trailer to the movie. You just think this is some rich guy living in his mansion out in the wilderness and not have a clue what's going on beneath the surface. But in actuality, it's just a research facility. Okay, okay. So I have another question. So during Caleb's Turing test, there are so many reflections and it's obviously a design choice on the director's part. So it just begs the question, why do you think he decided to do this? I noticed that a lot of objects in the scene were reflections, including Caleb and Ava as well as other things around the room. But I specifically noticed that Ava's reflection was the most prominent in most scenes. And it seems like there seems to be two versions of Ava where she has a reflection. What do you guys think about this idea? Yeah, at first, the audience kind of adopts Caleb's view. We both see her as some AI, just a machine that's programmed to say the right things. And we can see her internal working. So initially, we're not too attached to her. Yeah, definitely. And later, Caleb starts treating her like a person after she kind of told him she liked him. Her appearance took on less electronics and all these other things. So I think this view is kind of showed to the audience as well, as Caleb changes his own view. Yeah, and to relate back, like her second reflection, her reflection kind of represents her hidden agenda. And I think that represents her double character. Caleb's reflections, I thought, were also really prominent. In session one, there was a scene where Caleb's reflection can be seen, but not Ava's. And it kind of focused the attention on Ava, but also on Caleb's reactions. It seemed like an uneasy look on his face. I guess taking in the electronic parts of her body was really disturbing for him. It showed his troubled character, his loneliness, his lack of human connection. And it alludes to the reasons why Nathan chose Caleb for this test. Yeah, I think the reflections of Caleb showed his transformation from being like a recluse individual to a more attached to Ava. Also, I'm not sure if y'all remember this, but there was a section of the glass on the side of Ava's enclosure that was cracked and splintered. And it only was shown for a split second. I feel like it kind of foreshadowed what would happen later and more nefarious intentions going on. Definitely. Caleb was really guarded and he looked really guarded after he saw that. But the camera doesn't linger on this crack and it quickly moves on to the interview, which forces the viewer to move on and doesn't give them time to realize what they've seen. And it's only until way later in the film that we see the true meaning behind this crack in the glass and what the history of this place is. And similar to the scenes of Session 1, many of the shots are actually filmed through glass of the characters and directly through glass reflections or screens. For example, like while Ava and Caleb are talking, filmed through glass, you can see reflections all around on the glass. On the opening scene of the computer screen where Nathan is pretty much watching Caleb through the computer screen. And that kind of provides Nathan's view through the computer screen of Caleb. And this contributes to the feeling of separation between characters and characters in the audience. The audience is left unknowing if they are truly seeing the full picture or just what the characters want them to see. This signifies he was selected to participate in Nathan's Turing test rather than the initial lottery assumption. Yeah, and this contributes to the feeling of separation between characters and characters in the audience. The audience is left unknowing if they are truly seeing the full picture or just what the characters want them to see. As Caleb's view of Ava changes, I think the usage of glass and transparency is used to show the emotional intimacy that Ava and Caleb achieved instead of the separation. In some of the scenes where Ava and Caleb were talking in their daily conversations, the transparency of the glass seems to bring them closer. There's almost a lack of reflection to have a barrier between them. And this then affects or deceives the audience. And so seeing them, Caleb and Ava, as having no glass between them, and it appears to be the closest they've gotten so far physically and emotionally. Not only is glass present throughout the film, but also reflections off of glass in other surfaces. For example, in the opening scene where Caleb is being observed through his computer, it shows how Caleb is being watched by not only the audience, but also Nathan. This signifies he was selected to participate in Nathan's Turing test rather than the initial lottery assumption. And this reinforces the idea of how the technology is already observing him. Based on the idea of observation, Nathan observes Caleb just as he observes Ava. Later in the film, reflections are used to focus the audience's attention on Caleb again. After his discovery that Kyoko was an AI, he starts to question his own humanity. He attempts to use the reflections to reveal his true identity, whether he is a man or machine. This identity crisis might have been caused by Nathan and Caleb debating nature versus nurture and comparing humans to a computer program. I think this really pushed Caleb to thinking about if he was really just another AI created by Nathan. Many scenes are shot through the glass, and this kind of gives the impression that the audience is also viewing the characters from an observer's standpoint. And through the glass as well, the reflections almost seem to hide the robotic features Ava has. And it also shows Caleb through the glass and his own reactions to the glass. And this also acts to symbolically separate the audience from the characters. We think we can see them clearly and know what's going on in their heads, but there is this physical barrier to the glass that's in the way. And it kind of symbolizes that there's some part of the characters, what's going on inside their head that we don't really understand and don't know what's going on in there. Branching off our glass discussion, what are some of the differences between the luxurious top floor and the bottom lab floor? And how does this reflect the meaning of the film? The upstairs is more open and has lots of transparency with the outside, like more decorations. It's more aesthetically designed, tailored to comfort. And there's a lot of nature within the top floor of the house, and it's a constant theme in the upstairs. And I think it gives the viewer like a false sense of security. Meanwhile, the underground is more sterile and claustrophobic in stark contrast to the above ground. Yeah. And Caleb was super surprised after going downstairs and seeing there was no windows, even in his own room. It was almost like he was staying in an underground bunker. And this really shows the audience the sort of hierarchy that exists in the house now. Nathan's at the top, and how Caleb is almost integral to the Turing test as Ava is. And in order of like observing, Nathan is spying on Caleb just as much as Caleb is watching Ava. This is pretty apparent in the living accommodations between each of the characters. How Nathan is living in the luxurious master bedroom on the surface, while Caleb is stuck in the sort of bunker-like cube room with no windows. And then Ava, at the bottom of the hierarchy, practically lives in a prison cell. And she mentioned she hasn't left her entire life. All right. So I think that concludes today's episode. To wrap up, we talked about different aspects of set design. More specifically, the role glass and reflections play in enhancing the film by not just providing a cool and technological effect, but by giving more depth to the characters and how that affects the audience's view of the film. We also talked about the reasons why Garland chose the design of the house, and how the audience perceives the chosen design. This reflects Nathan's character as a whole as well. We hope you enjoyed today's episode, Set Design in Ex Machina, and thank you for listening.