Note: Kara was a seven minute tech demo that was released by Quantic Dream at the 2012 Game Developers Conference. This was after their last game Heavy Rain (2010) had 'wowed' gamers with its next generation graphics engine - creating a game that looked close to real life footage. This demo was simply to show their next game engine that was bigger and better than the one used on Heavy Rain. It IS NOT part of any game in development, however it created hype for their next release - due to the amazing graphics. This is essentially a really long trailer for their next graphics engine.
1. The demo starts off quite slowly. Our ears are filled with the sounds of machinery, while lights 'wipe' the titles onto the screen. The background to this is an extremely blurred out image of some sort of automated assembly line. This intrigues us and we are a little impressed with the imagination of how the titles are placed onscreen. The font is of a 'sci-fi' nature, with parts of letters missing and each letter having a perfected finish (no blurring, no pixelation, no ink spots, etc.).
2. The first real shot we see of the demo is a close up of a woman's head - this is being moved somewhere and we are following it. It is then placed on a body, as mechanical arms then set to work adding bits and pieces to it to create a person. The continues noises of the machinery from around the room keep us believing in the film and it suspends our disbelief. There is a medium close up and we hear a voice that asks "Can you hear me?" to this, the person being created ('Kara') replies with a "Yes".
3. There are a number of different shots that show the process of Kara being created, while dialogue is being performed. These consist of many extreme close ups of parts of her head and arms, as well as some medium close ups and the occasional long shot. We find out that Kara is a robot designed to help humans with everyday tasks and the voice is checking everything has been assembled correctly for her to be sold. Everything is really detailed and we get a good look at almost everything on, in and around Kara. The white room and machinery helps remind us that it is set in the future, due to the fact that everything is extremely clean... Not to mention the robots... There is an extremely nice shot that follows Kara's arms from beside her body, up to in front of her face, and then out in front of her (towards the camera); this shot firmly keeps out attention on her arms and not much else in the frame.
4. Kara has finished being made and the voice tells her to "take a few steps" - she tentatively walks forward a little, exploring her new body. Slow, emotional stringed instruments are played at this point in the soundtrack - this helps us realise how amazing this is for her because she is walking for the first time ever. She does a twirl and the camera follows her with a medium shot, while her skin starts to form on her body. The voice tells her that she is going to be sold and she realises that she is a piece of merchandise; the emotional music makes us feel extremely sorry for her because she is about to be sold as a slave, even though she has a personality (even if she is only a "computer with arms and legs").
5. There are close ups of Kara as she says "I thought..." and the voice gets confused as she isn't meant to 'think' at all. She then explains that she thought that she was alive and during this section of the demo, the music has a lower pitch, but it equally as emotional (if not, even more so). For the final line "I thought I was a live", there is an extreme close up that moves from Kara's lips, to her eyes - this captures the emotion conveyed through her eyes (any actor will tell you that your eyes convey much more emotion than pretty much any other part of the body).
6. After this, everything changes... The voice says that Kara's behaviour is non-standard and she needs to be disassembled. The music becomes a little faster, louder and more emotional - bringing in different elements from each instrument. There is also much faster camera movement as it contains many close ups of Kara and the robotic arms, as they quickly try to take her apart. Meanwhile, Kara is making a plea for her life, but the voice is having none of it and is continuing with the disassemble. There is a very poignant moment when the camera moves around to her head for a moment and she exclaims "I've only just been born, you can't kill me yet!". The music gets louder and louder and comes to an all time high (almost drowning out Kara's pleas), when she screams "I'm scared!". This is when everything freezes - the robots, Kara, the music... Just the sounds from the beginning machinery in the background are left. The music starts again and it starts as one single, high pitched note to help keep us feeling sad for longer than usual. Kara says "I want to live" and the music starts to build a little, for the aftermath of the attempted disassemble. There is a big close up on her face as she looks into the camera and says "I'm begging you" - this is extremely emotional, as it seems as if she is actually talking to the audience... Almost breaking the forth wall, so the emotion comes flooding towards us.
7. We hear the sounds of the man typing on the keyboard and the robots start putting Kara back together. There is a close up of her as they place her skull back and we can see a tear rolling down her cheek - another poignant moment in the demo (she has been in such a state that she has started crying). The music remains as prominent as ever, as the robots finish off putting her back together - among other camera angles, there is a push in on Kara (from a long shot) while the robots put her together (Kara is in the centre of the frame, while the robots are putting her together around the edge of the frame). We can easily see the lines made from her tears - keeping the emotion as the main focal point of the demo. The re-assemble is complete and the music slows down a little. There is a close up of her face as she smiles at the camera, we feel the same as her - relieved (which is reflected in the slowed music). The man tells her to join the others and she looks camera left we don't see where she is going just yet, but we know she is safe.
8. There is a long shot as Kara steps onto a conveyor belt - we are blinded slightly by the lights that are behind her, making her seem more like a silhouette than herself. The camera pushes in as she moves towards it, and we end up with an over the shoulder shot from in front of her - the robots are in the background and we hear the voice telling her to behave herself in the future. In a way, I kind of felt sad for her, because she didn't die... But she now has to have a long life of serving people and following orders - she can't do what she wants to do in life. She turns back and replies with a "Thanks", she smiles and then turns back to continue her journey. The music is still present throughout - keeping the emotions on the surface. There is a very nice shot, in which she has joined a line of robots that look exactly like her. This shot is from the right side of her face and looks down the line of robots - showing her future, showing that she is to be sold as one of them... Even though she is different. She is finally sealed in plastic and there is a close up of her and we see the emotions left in her eyes: Happiness? Worry? Finally, there is a long shot showing us the line of robots being moved along to be sold - the camera zooms in a little to keep our focus on them as they disappear. The man exclaims "My God!" as this shot fades out and the demo ends - we feel his shock towards what has happened, after all: a robot developed human emotions and thought for itself - that is a little scary. The music concludes with a lower note and fades away with the picture.
9. A different, yet still very emotional piece of music begins to play as the credits roll. Well... I say roll... But they actually are 'wiped' onto the screen the same way as the opening credits were. A very stylistic way of having the credits onscreen, and it is in keeping with the sci-fi genre that the demo is part of.
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