Robots

by Christine Evely

Introducing the film

Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) is a young robot from a small town with a remarkable talent when it comes to invention. He works in a restaurant beside his dad who is a dishwasher, but Rodney dreams of bigger things. To his mother’s horror he decides to leave his home town to meet his idol, Bigweld, the amazing inventor (Mel Brooks) who has spent his life creating things that will make the lives of robots better.

So Rodney embarks on a journey to Robot City. However, to his dismay, Rodney finds things in Robot City are not quite as he had imagined. As he finds his way around the city he meets and becomes friendly with a group of misfits, the Rusties, street-wise robots who really know how this city works. Fender (Robin Williams), one of the Rusties, quickly becomes Rodney’s best friend, along with Fender’s little sister Piper (Amanda Byrne), the tomboy. Perpetually frustrated at not being taken seriously, Piper eventually surprises everyone with her strength and determination, and ultimately proves her worth.

Rodney and his friends overcome many challenges in their quest to locate Bigweld, to save Robot City and to help robots everywhere. Along the way Rodney meets the beautiful Cappy (Halle Berry), a dynamic executive at Bigweld Industries and comes face-to-face with the nefarious corporate tyrant Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), President of Bigweld Industries. Ratchet regards robots like Rodney as ‘outmodes’ ready for the scrap heap, and his obsessive need for cleanliness fuels his diabolical plan to rid the city of rusty robots.

Once again the makers of Ice Age have pushed the boundaries of animation and filled a humorous tale with rich characters who teach us that a robot can shine no matter what he is made of.

Using Robots for teaching and learning

Robots is a film that will be enjoyed by young and old. With a blend of humour and subtle messages, this film provides opportunities for students of all ages to engage with and examine the plot, character development, settings, representation, animation and production design.

Teachers can select from and adapt the teaching and learning activities that follow to suit the needs, abilities and interests of their students.

Before viewing the film

Draw a labelled diagram of your ideal robot. What would it look like? What are its dimensions? What materials are used in its construction? What functions would it perform? Display and describe your robot to your class.

Use the diagrams to create an alphabetical robots-of-the-future book.

Vocabulary

  • Ask students to work with a partner to find out and list the meanings of the words:

robot, robotics, electronics, machine, tool, bionic, mechanism, mechanical, automated, science-fiction, animatronics, android, computer, brain, cyborg.

Challenge each pair of students to list their own robotic words, record their meanings and share them with the class.

  • Create a large format robotics dictionary in which all words can be recorded.
  • Have pairs of students create and swap robot word finds.

Tuning in: What do we know about robots in today’s world?

Most robots have been designed to assist humans in some way. They may help to make tasks less difficult, less boring, or safer. Robots range from very simple machines that can be programmed to move or handle objects in some way, to highly complex machines that complete several tasks or sequences of tasks.

  • Establish students’ prior understanding by posing the question: What is a robot?

Ask students to work in pairs to:

-list robots they encounter in their daily life;

-write a paragraph explaining what makes a robot a robot.

  • Have three pairs of students form a group and then list as many different robots as possible and record the task performed by each one.

Name of robot

/ Type of robot / What does it do?
  • Provide an opportunity for each group to display their work and report to the class.

Robots in films

Many films include robots as characters. Often these are science-fiction films.

  • As a class use large sheets of paper to brainstorm and record as many film titles as possible with robots as characters. Add to the list whenever you think of more film titles.
  • Select four robots that have appeared in films or on TV.Use a chart like the one below to compare and contrast each robot and its relationship with humans.

Name of robot / Type of robot / How is it similar to humans? / How is it different from humans / How does it relate to humans?

Preparing for the film viewing

  • Imagine you have the power to create a new world that is inhabited entirely by robots. Draw a representation of your world and write a paragraph describing your imaginary robotic world.

- What would the world look like?

- What type of robots would live in this world?

- What would the robots do?

- How would the robots relate to one another?

  • As a class discuss what students already know about the film, Robots. Record knowledge and ask students how it was gained.

After viewing the film

Film stories or film narratives are made up of characters, the setting/s and the plot. Robots is a highly entertaining film with a number of interesting characters, various contrasting settings and a succession of events. By examining these elements, students will deepen their appreciation of the film and build screen literacy knowledge and skills.

Responding to the film

  • Provide each student with a blank sheet of A3 paper and ask him or her to record whatever he or she thought about the film, Robots. Share and discuss the variety of student responses. Explore reasons why people may have chosen to respond in different ways, for example, using sketches, words, phrases, sentences, poetry, drawings, colour, black and white. Discuss also any differing reactions to the film. Have students explain what they did or did not enjoy about the film. Encourage them to give specific examples from the film. Display A3 sheets in the classroom.
  • Ask students to read the quote below from director Chris Wedge.

Ideas start with a setting, and I thought a mechanical world would be a place I’d want to visit, creatively. There have been many movies with robots, many of them science fiction, but Bill Joyce and I wanted to create something different: a whimsical, colourful world of mechanical people. It would be a totally created world, meaning, of course, we realized that we would have to invent everything. It’s not a movie set in the ice age, or about insects or fish. There were no reference points we could draw from.

Chris Wedge, Robots director

  • Do you think the filmmakers were successful in creating something different: a whimsical, colourful world of mechanical people, where everything was invented? Do you agree that they had no reference points to draw from? Justify your response giving examples from Robots and from other films.
  • According to the Robots press kit William Joyce, Robots Executive Producer and Production Designer, researched ideas and concepts at junkyards, factories, second hand stores––even his own kitchen, where he found inspiration from waffle irons and a meat grinder. He says, ‘We visited places that were machine-oriented.’

In what way/s does this information support or refute the ideas suggested in the quote from Chris Wedge?

  • As a class discuss: ‘There is no such thing as a new idea.’

Characters

Before work began on Robots, Chris Wedge directed Ice Age. While members of the animation team also worked on Ice Age, ‘Robots was much more difficult to animate than Ice Age,’ says animation supervisor Michael Thurmeier, ‘because it is such a huge leap in character animation and complexity. For example, robots can appear to be uninvolved and unemotional if you don’t spend a lot of time getting their eyes and mouths just right.’ Months were spent testing facial expressions and movements for various characters. The animators also drew upon pantomime and puppetry to help develop the characters and, for Rodney, they even viewed old Jimmy Stewart films to examine the way this famous actor moved.

The animators’ work was regularly critiqued at Blue Sky Studio’s ‘Sweatbox’, a forum at which the filmmakers analysed a specific shot––sometimes even a single frame––to give the animators feedback on the character performances. “The Sweatbox really helped raise the level of our acting’, says another animation supervisor, James Bresnahan. Blue Sky Studios produced both Ice Age and Robots.

The look of the robots was central to the development of each character. According to Michael Eringis, materials supervisor for Robots, Blue Sky Studio’s materials team ‘gave the robots physical “character” by creating details like rust, chipped paint and oil splotches––all the critical touches that make up the surfaces of robots and a mechanical world.’

The materials group studied photographs and analysed how metal and machinery ages. Junkyards were a valuable resource. ‘We learned that older machines with chipped paint and dings had their own special character’, says Robert Cavaleri, Effects Supervisor for Robots. ‘Giving dings to our bots gave them a bit of charm.’

The Robots press kit maintains that Rodney’s ‘everybot’ qualities are evident in the character’s design origin: director Chris Wedge’s grandfather’s outboard motor. Often used to power small fishing boats, the motor has a utilitarian design that partially drove Wedge’s concept of Rodney. ‘I’ve never before based a character on a motor’, says Wedge, ‘but this old motor, with its chips and dings, was inspiring.’

  • As a class discuss the idea of Rodney being an everybot (everyman) character. What do you think is meant by this description? Invite a Media Studies or English teacher to your class to discuss this notion.
  • Use a chart like the one below to analyse the appearance and other qualities of key Robots characters.

Character

/ Type of character or personality / Ambition of character / Appearance of character
Rodney
Fender
Piper / tough, but kind-hearted / to prove herself / beautiful
Cappy
Ratchet / insecure, neurotic, mummy’s boy / to please his mother
Madame Gasket / old, rusty parts
Bigweld
  • As a class discuss:

-How the name of each key character has contributed to the audience understanding the character’s personality and motivations.

-How elements of production design have contributed to the audience understanding each character’s personality and motivations.

  • Examine how the filmmakers have created audience understanding of characters through the film’s action. Use a chart like the one below to record your ideas.

Character / Key action involving the character / Reason for or cause of this action / Result or consequence of the action
  • Create a concept map that shows some of the relationships and conflicts that occur between main characters.

Settings

According to the Robots press kit, for the first time ever, Robots is “an animated feature (that) presents a totally imagined world––a wondrously clanky universe populated solely by mechanical beings.

The filmmakers conceived the magnificent mechanical metropolis of Robot City––home to Rodney’s dreams and to his destiny––as a multi-layered, vertically constructed city comprised of several social strata.

At the base of Robot City lies the down and dirty, pre-Industrial Age world of Madame Gasket and her dreaded Chop Shop. Heavy beams and other massive support structures make up much of this level.

Moving up to the next level, we find the world of the Rusties, everyday bots just trying to survive. This next-to-the-bottom stratum is homey, colourful and quaint, and put together with mismatched parts.

Progressing through a few more strata, where the robot middle class live and work, we reach the top level of Robot City. Sleek, polished, successful and corporate, with cooler, shiner colour schemes, this level is where the upper-crust bots spend their days.

‘Robot City is like any other great urban environment’, says Art Director, Steve Martino. ‘It has a wide range of design influences––from Art Deco to ‘50s-era automobiles to a sleek, forward-looking design.’

Refresh your memory of the film’s settings by viewing the Robots trailer found at Use a chart like the one below to describe and draw each of the key settings from the film.

Setting

/ Description / Illustration / What characters are found here?
Rivet Town / Suburban area with simple buildings. Powered by combustion.
Robot City
Chop Shop

Animation, design and lighting

For Robots Chris Wedge was determined to create mechanical beings unlike any seen before. He wanted to achieve a balance between a mechanical look and having characters express emotion, like a human would in a live action film. This was achieved in part through use of Blue Sky’s proprietary technology, including its ray tracing renderer, CGI Studio™.

This renderer allowed the filmmakers to manipulate their animated environments as if they were working with real lights on a real set, to achieve a look that mimicked the ‘real’ world. Blue Sky Co-Founder Carl Ludwig says this is important “because in a mechanical world, almost every surface in the film is reflective.”

Michael J. Travers, CG Supervisor for Robots agrees: ‘What you’ll see in Robots is lighting and a richness that makes you feel like you’re looking at real-life metals, and actual painted and dented characters.’

  • Consider three or four key characters from Robots. Analyse the look or design elements of each character. Do you think the look of the characters enables the audience to suspend disbelief in such as way that ‘you feel like you’re looking at real-life metals, and actual painted and dented characters.’ Justify your responses.

Plot

  • Create a class list of journey points for Rodney that shows key events from Robots.
  • Highlight the journey points in Robots that represent problems faced by Rodney or another character.
  • Select four or five key problems that occur in the film. Analyse the role of each event in Robots by completing a chart such as the one below.

What is the problem? / Why does the problem occur? / Who is involved? / How is the problem solved?
  • Use a large format board, similar to a snakes and ladders game, to create a story trail. Begin in one corner by describing what happens at the start of the film. Add key events that occur during the film. Finish in the opposite corner by describing what happens at the end of the film.

Messages and themes within Robots

Robot City’s multi-layered, vertical look complements another key design influence: the pocket watch. There’s something really beautiful about the back of a pocket watch, where you see all the piece’s inner workings. We loved exposing the mechanisms of our world.

Art Director, Steve Martino

  • Read the quote above, then as a class discuss whether you believe Robots exposes the mechanisms of our world. Give examples from the film to justify your ideas.
  • Working in small groups, select two of the following quotes from the members of the creative and production team and actors responsible for Robots. Discuss whether you agree with or disagree with the quotes, then individually write a page with your personal response to one of the quotes.

The story’s themes give resonance to Robots. It’s about the dreams parents have for their children.
Fox Animation’s Chris Meledandri
It’s a coming-of-age story in many ways. It’s about Rodney believing in himself and trying to make a sharp-edged turn from adolescence into adulthood. Screenwriter, Babaloo Mandel
Rodney is an Everyman – Everybot – with whom we all can identify.
Director, Chris Wedge
Cappy has a lot of integrity. She stands up to the powerful, evil bots to help the downtrodden bots. At the same time, Rodney helps her realize that she’s better than the sum of her upgraded parts. Cappy will become a role model for girls everywhere. She conveys something really important: that you should love who you are, and not conform to what others want you to be. It’s a wonderful message.
Cappy voice actor, Halle Berry

Contribution of the soundtrack to the creation of a world

Sound design and music were key elements of the film’s post-production process. Composer John Powell created a score that was inspired by the film’s mechanical world.

While Robots is set in a mechanical world, the filmmakers avoided metallic sounds believing “If we had put a squeak or a clang on everything seen on screen, it would be cacophonous,” says Chris Wedge. ‘You don’t want to hear every metallic jostle.’