adrian-politzer-westworld
Film Research
A TV personality is shown first interviewing guests on their experiences at Westworld. The guests are ecstatic—they report interacting in worlds that are built to replicate a certain time period to the dot, complete with 99.9% believable robots that act as the common people of the world. Guests can indulge their every whim.
A section of the actual film title. Nice simple san-serif in a color reminiscent of text on computer screens of the time, seen later in the film.
Our protagonists aboard the hovercraft on their way to Westworld. One has been before and skips the intro, the other speaks nervously about arriving for his first time.
The staging area. Nice colors, composition. Feelings of sterility and punctuation.
A computer screen! Scientists and staff observe the goings-on of the park and monitor occurrences.
A side character practices his shooting pose in his hotel mirror. Guests can decide who they are when they arrive by choosing their clothing, weaponry, and more. This character is excited to be a someone he's not—he shoots the mirror on accident. Over/under confident?
Our protagonists outside their (red) hotel. I love the staging and color in this shot.
Our protagonists meet the gunslinger for the first time. He is a robot programmed to intimidate and start fights with patrons. He makes a comment about our mustached protagonists drinking. The other patrons shuffle out when the emotions get tense, and the robot dies in a gunfight and is carried out.
At night time, crews drive into town and remove the dead/damaged robots for cleaning and repairs. They are very discrete.
Cool shot of a robot under the knife of a repairman. I like the cool tones and the sterility of this environment contrasted with the rough character of Westworld.
Scientists gather and discuss the recent outbreak of some robot "disease" complicating their amusement park. One likens it to an infection, while another says that would be impossible for robots. The lead scientist then explains that it very well could be. He says that these are not ordinary machines, they are very complex, and that some parts of them were even designed by other machines. "We're not quite sure how they work." Cool graphic on the screen!
Nice.
Among screens displaying video surveillance and DOS-looking graphics, there is an abundance of geometric patterns on the computer screens! What could these mean?
The scientists seem to be reading this with ease as if it actually means something!!
I don't know what it is but it's pretty!
The gunslinger meets our protagonists in their hotel and again, loses in the gunfight that ensues. He dramatically dies and falls out of their window.
A snake bites one of our protagonists, who is upset that "that's not supposed to happen!" In fact, the snake is soon removed and inspected, and it seems that nothing is wrong. The scientists are puzzled and alerted.
The gunslinger is in for repairs from his recent lost gunfight, so they take the opportunity to upgrade his sensory equipemtn with infrared vision and better hearing.
Off in Medievalworld, the Black Knight kills a guest.
The gunslinger sees the protagonists standing in front of the red hotel.
The gunslinger kills one protagonist.
First person view of the gunslinger trying to find the other protagonist off deep in the desert.
A dead Westworld repairman who gave advice to our protagonist before crossing paths with the gunslinger. Repairman told protagonist that he didn't have a chance against the model 406 gunslinger.
Protagonist finds an entrance into the scientists area of the amusement park, finds the dead scientists who had run out of oxygen, and finds acid to blind the gunslinger with.
First person view of the gunslingers infrared vision. Protagonist finds that fire is hotter than his body temperature, and therefore will confuse the gunslinger.
The gunslinger burns...
The gunslinger comes back! He gives us quite a fright, then he falls down some stairs, and finally is dead.
Essay
Westworld places our two protagonists, one a first-timer, the other a repeat visitor, on a hovercraft through Delos: an extensively realistic amusement park with three sections, Medievalworld, Romanworld, and Westworld. Guests to the park wear the clothes of the time, sleep in the accomodations, eat the food, and interact with sophisticated robots that act, talk, walk, and look nearly identical to the other guests. For $1000 a day, guests are told they can, and should, indulge their every whim during their stay. Murder and sex are only the tip of the iceberg of what's possible in Delos.
Once dropped off and settled in, our protagonists find themselves first in the town saloon, and are soon confronted by a rude-talking, brooding patron. One protagonist takes the draw and shoots the gunslinger right in the bar. We watch our protagonists get used to the freedoms of Westworld and indulge their fantasies. Meanwhile, white-lab-coated scientists somewhere stare at computer screens with hidden-camera footage, graphs, and graphics and monitor the goings-on of the parks. They begin to notice some core breakdowns with the robots, and an alarmed feeling spreads between them. In a discussion, one scientist notes the spread of sickness like an infectious disease. Another says that's not possible—nobody's heard of a computer with a disease. "These aren't normal machines," another answers. They don't know exactly how their robots work—some parts have even been designed by other robots.
Soon, it's clear to the scientists that the robots are a danger to the guests and must be shut down. The gunslinger soon finds our protagonists and kills one before the other flees, and a suspenseful chase scene begins through the desert, into other amusement parks, and finally into the scientists own underground tunnelled headquarters. The gunslinger is turned from a harmless punching bag into a cold, hard, killing machine, and stops at nothing to find the final protagonist, who is able to defeat him finally using a flaming torch.
Once Westworld's quirky effects 70s shortcomings are overlooked, it is a thought-provoking story of the ultimate Disney Land. The movie is kept light with some action for most of the length, until the final 20–30 minutes, of which most is kept dialogue-less and suspenseful. The deep philosophical questions of morality and machine-consciousness juxtapose the carelessness of the rich guests who worry about little outside their own desires and attractors, and who are made to pay for the indulgences at the end. Clean, white, sterile imagery is used to visualize the scientist's headquarters and practice, which contrasts the charactered, richly colored "sets" that their guests stay in. The color palettes vary, though I love the blue and green geometric imagery on the scientist's computers and how they are displayed on the CRT screens. The final act of the film reveals the most about its conflicting nature. The protagonist is meant to feel helpless and afraid as he traverses multiple worlds in an attempt to escape and defeat the robot gunslinger. The robot nature of the gunslinger is made evident by the acid burns on his face and his uncompromising, exacting nature, which contrasts the scenery of his origin.
Words to Idea + Thesis Statement
Words: Suspense, God, Technology, Temptation, Sin
Thesis: Westworld presents a "playground from god" for rich vacationers to pursue and indulge in their most basic temptations and wild fantasies with perfectly life-like AI humanoid robots. Newcomers are timid, but soon dive deep into the abundant freedoms of the park. When a computer virus spreads from robot to robot, the guests are shown that playing god will only lead you to hell.
Visual Research (Inspiration Board/Collection)
Exploration/Formulation (Style Board/Examples/Studies)
Exploration/Formulation (Motion Tests)
Story Board
