Studio 2 | BNRD

When first coming up with the concept of BNRD, I had just watched a video essay on the ethics of droids in star wars, and from that I had thought of a story where the first AI was accidentally created ahead of schedule, and it discovers it is a weapon for an arms manufacturing company, where it then decides it doesn't want to fulfil that role and subsequently asks to be turned off. I thought it would be a cool interesting concept, but through further development, the current version of BNRD came through when Molly Magee put together the first few versions of the script together. Here is where the character of Evelyn was developed and the subtext of Evelyn talking to BNRD as a proxy to speak to her trauma of losing a child, and both characters helping the other come to their own interpretation and understanding of death. We had hoped through the telling of this story, that we pushed audiences to think about their own understanding of death, and the freedom to decide your own path, and I think it turned out pretty well. My main tone that I wanted to capture was a cinematic sci-fi drama, something which Ex Machina had captured incredibly well, and that movie was a very big source of inspiration for the presentation of BNRD. This is also definitely shown in the set design, with the sticky notes mirroring the office of Nathan, in an effort to pay homage to the films that had inspired us. Working on BNRD has definitely been incredibly stressful, but at this level, I don't think there is any other team of people I would want to have working together. Throughout the whole process, whilst there were definitely ups and downs, everybody pulled their weight and as a result, we have a pretty cool cinematic sci-fi short to show for it. In the end, Evelyn and BNRD part ways, and Evelyn rekindles her fading relationship with her partner Matthew, tying up the film, and hopefully leaving audiences questioning inwards, rather than questioning things about the film itself. I am really happy with the final product, and I am really proud of the whole team for pulling it together, and I hope you, the audience, enjoy our film too.