The audience - passive, mindless, mass and ill defined. Audiences will always have the same response.
The spectator - the active viewer. The spectator is privileged. The spectator understand the context of the film, and has an awareness of concepts such as narrative, genre film form
Facts: contextual information
The Force Awakens
- JJ Abrams (Director of Star Trek, Super 8, the rest of the sequel trilogy, and the producer of Cloverfield franchise)
- Species in big budget, tentpole sci fi films
- US film… although shot in Pinewood in London and a variety of other locations
- Huge budget, 533 million dollar
- 2.7 billion in revenue
- Produced by Disney following their acquisition of Lucasfilm for 4.5 billion…
- A huge ensemble cast
Ex Machina
- Alex Garland (author of The Beach, screenwriter of 28 Days Later and Dredd, and unofficial director of Dredd). Specialises in indie, lower budget, and more cerebral; science fiction
- UK production… although shot in Norway with a variety of actors of different nations
- Low budget - 15 million
- 36 million
- Produced by several companies, primarily Film 4, but also DNA films and A24, to minimise financial risk
- Four main characters
How does theatrical spectatorship emphasise the impact of these films?
Force awakens
In the planet annihilation sequence, a rich orchestral score anchors the spectator, and aligns their response with that of the director. Furthermore, the rich, bassy and pleonastic sound effect of the planet killing laser symbolically demonstrates the destructive power of the weapon. We cut to a close up of General Hux, his performance indicating fear and regret in the face of the oncoming genocide, and a subsequent montage of alien worlds and futuristic cities facing annihilation reinforce the sense of total destruction. For the spectator to experience this in the cinema emphasises the emotional response intended by the director
Ex Machina
In the scene where Caleb first meets Ava, a subtle and complex relationship is constructed between the two characters. A significant internal conflict is evident in the character Caleb, who is simultaneously fascinated and romantically attracted to Ava. Caleb’s performance is amused, nervous and clearly conflicted. The subtle use of CG in this sequence aligns the spectator with Caleb, and foreshadows later themes of the dark and manipulative power of artificial intelligence. These subtle conversations, expertly emphasised through the use of an ambient yet also also highly conventional science fiction soundtrack, communicate themes of gender, humanity, relationships