Ex Machina and Suicide Squad case study

1. Film Industry
Suicide Squad and Ex Machina

2. Film trailers
Suicide Squad
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=CmRih_VtVAs
Ex Machina
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rEjlBI0oU5U

3. Genre
Suicide squad
 It’s a superhero film.
 Unlike Ex Machina this film is not a
hybrid.
 This means it can only reach out to
those who like superhero films –
limited audience.
 Technically this film would bring in
a smaller audience and not get as
much money in the box office, but
sometimes this is not necessarily
true.
Ex Machina
 It’s a Science fiction phycological
thriller.
 This is known as a hybrid as it is
made up of two film genres – (sci-fi
and thriller).
 Hybrid films act as an advantage as
they can reach a wider audience.
 You can reach those who like
science fiction and thrillers.

4. Producer(s)/Director
Ex Machina
 Directed by: Alex garland
 Produced by: Andrew Macdonald
and Allon Reich
 The film was written by Alex
Garland.
 Alex Garland is best known for his
work as screenwriter for 28 Days
Later (2002), Sunshine (2007),
Never Let Me Go (2011), etc.
Suicide Squad
 Directed by: David Ayer
 Produced by: Charles Roven and
Richard Suckle.
 Written by: David Ayer and Justin
Marks.
 David Ayer is most commonly
known for being the writer of
Training Day (2001), and the
director and writer of Harsh Times
(2005), Fury (2014), and many
more.

5. The main idea - Ex Machina
 The main foundation for this film was set when Alex Garland (director) was
around 11 or 12. He was very interested in coding and experimentations on
the computer.
 Garlands much later ideas came from his discussions with a friend who had a
job in neuroscience. This friend also claimed that machines could never have
feelings and think like a human being.
 During the pre-production of the film Dredd (directed by Garland), he was
reading a book about consciousness and embodiment. It is known that he had
a ‘epiphany’ which gave him the main idea for the film.
 This idea was written down, and then years later the film was made on a
smallest budget possible.

6. The main idea – Suicide Squad
 In 2009 the film was announced with Dan Lin as the producer.
 Justin Marks was the screenwriter.
 The inspiration for this film came from the comic book called Suicide Squad.
 The director, David Ayer, signed to direct and write the film in September
2014. In doing so Ayer had six weeks to write the script as the release date
was already set.

7. Casting – Ex Machina
 Alicia Vikander as Ava (bottom).
 Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb smith (middle).
 Oscar Isaac as Nathan Bateman (top).
 Alicia Vikander was not as well known before
her role in the film Ex Machina (2015). After
that she played the role of Gerda Wegener in
The Danish Girl, for which she received the
Academy Award for best supporting actress.
 Domhnall Gleeson become known to a wider
audience when he played the role of Bill
Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise.
 Both Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson have
been in the film Star Wars: The force awakens.
With Isaac playing as X-wing pilot Poe
Dameron, and Domhnall playing General Hux.

8. Casting – Suicide Squad
 Will smith as Deadshot (bottom).
 Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn (middle).
 Jared Leto as the Joker (top).
 Will Smith has been known since the 1980’s
with him being a rapper under the name
‘The Fresh Prince’. His popularity drastically
increased when he starred in the TV series
‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. Will smith has
also featured in the films Independence Day
and Men in Black 1,2 and 3.
 Margot Robbie has starred in the films About
Time, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

9. Production
Ex Machina
 Production was filmed on the Sony
F-65 with anamorphic lenses.
 The sets were all closed and not
that massive.
 They had one problem – Majority of
the filming was in a glass box, so
the camera was either inside or
out, and also there was no where
to hide. This meant that when it
came to body tacking they had to
do it 3 or 4 times because the
reflections are all different from
lens and mirror distortion.
Suicide Squad
 One of the cameras used was a
Arriflex 435 ES.
 There are claims that
disagreements over the film's tone
and even the way characters were
introduced to the story were major
issues for the studio as the final
cut was being put together.

10. Location/Budget
Ex Machina
 Juvet Landscape Hotel in Norway –
Nathan’s mountain retreat.
 Pinewood studios.
 UK – Bloomberg offices, Finsbury
square, London.
 The budget for the film was $15
million.
Suicide Squad
 The film will start shooting in
Toronto from mid-April to
September 2015 – Majority of the
filming was taken place here.
 Also shot in Chicago, Paramount
studios and Pinewood studios.
 Additional scenes took place in
April 2016 – May 2016.
 The budget for the film was $175
million.

11. Technology – Ex Machina
 The technologists behind Ex Machina who have been the previous winners of
two Oscars for visual effects and computer animation for the films Inception
and Interstellar, decided to go one step further…
 The visual reality team decided to create a VR experience by using a custom
built digital spherical stereo camera designed for use with its 3D rendering
software. The result allowed the viewer, wearing the Samsung gear VR
headset, to look around the entire hi-res environment and ‘meet’ Ava using a
specialised Android Oculus playback app.
 They also used very minimal CGI. They took two shots: one without Ava and
one with Ava. This helps to create the transparent part of her robotic body.

12. Marketing
Ex Machina
 The film was advertised via
billboards and posters. Due to the
film being low budget they did not
do as much for marketing.
 The film was also marketed in
another way. The team chose to
use tinder as another way to
promote the film. They did this by
doing the following: A fake tinder
account of Ava, with the profile
picture being Alicia, was created.
This account was controlled by a
tinder bot. When people came to
have a conversation with the
account they were eventually lead
to an Instagram account which
advertised the film.
Suicide Squad
 They marketed their film by using
big names such as Will Smith and
Margot Robbie.
 They also showed exclusive trailers
which were presented at the San
Diego Comic Con. They were all
well received.
 Posters and trailers were made in
interesting ways.
 They also made a good soundtrack
with artists such as Twenty One
Pilots, Queen, Eminem, and Wiz
Khalifah.

13. Target Audience/Release dates
Ex Machina
 The film was released in the UK on
the 21st January 2015.
 It was soon released in the USA on
the 10th of April 2015 for a limited
amount of time.
 The BBFC rating for Ex Machina is
15.
Suicide Squad
 The film was released in the USA
on the 1st of August 2016 I New
York City.
 Few days later the film was
released in the UK on the 5th of
August.
 In the UK the will had a BBFC
rating of 15, but in America is was
rated PG-13.

14. Cross-Media convergence
Ex Machina
 On the official website for Ex
Machina they have linked with a
website, which takes people to a
site called avasessions.com.
 When you enter this website Ava
asked you to tell her your name,
and for you to take an image of
yourself. This website does involve
you having to need a camera. Ava
would then draw a digital image of
your face.
 This website enables the target
audience to connect with Ava and
almost have a conversation with
her.
Suicide Squad
 Cross-media convergence is shown
when both film and music worked
together to create the soundtrack
for the film.
 This shows convergence as two
media platforms have come
together to help promote the film
in some way.

15. Synergy
Ex Machina
 Synergy between Film4 and DNA
films occurred as the two
companies worked together to
produce the film.
 The synergy was successful as they
both benefit from the box office.
Suicide Squad
 Suicide squad is based on a comic,
so DC comics and Warner Bros
came together to create the film.
 They also worked with Blu-Ray to
produce their DVD’s.
 They came together with Funko
pops to create small little dolls.

16. Behind the scenes clip
 https://www.fxguide.com/featured/ex-machina-the-making-of-ava/
 This clip shows a behind the scenes look into the making of Ex Machina.

17. Critic Reviews
Ex Machina
 Stylish, elegant, tense, cerebral,
satirical and creepy. Garland’s
directorial debut is his best work
yet, while Vikander’s bold
performance will short your
circuits. – Empire.
 Ex Machina is a slyly spooky
futuristic shocker about old and
new desires. – The NY Times.
Suicide Squad
 Like Avengers Assemble forced
through a Deadpool mangle,
Suicide Squad gives new life to
DC’s big-screen universe. So bad-
to-the-bone it’s good. – Empire.
 Harley Quinn's character is the
strongest proof that this movie,
for all its rebellious posturing, is
nothing but business as usual. –
The NY Times.