“Science fiction are quasi-scientific, visionary and imaginative that include fantastic places, new technology, extraordinary monsters and futuristic elements and technologies that explore issues. It often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind particularly when technology or alien life forms become malevolent, Sci-fi films often feature multiple genres as well as sub-genres” . Ex Machina being a sci-fi film, is specifically a part of the artificial intelligence (AI) subgenre. In this sub-genre it is assumed “that one, or many, artificial minds become fully sentient ... Artificial intelligence can perform tasks requiring intelligent behaviour... [they are] focused on providing solutions to real life problems.” The science fiction genre has conventions, some of which are relevant to Ex Machina, such as the setting, the narrative convention of overcoming an obstacle and the Frankenstein complex .
Set in Nathan’s home Ex Machina (which is his research lab as well), is the equivalent of a spaceship even though it doesn’t look like a spaceship it represents the same thing as it is far away from normal civilisation. It gives a different scene to the present, the sci-fi genre does this to “allow viewers to see the narrative from a more neutral perspective.” Ex Machina also places the unfamiliar (Ava) in context to the familiar, (which is the current period of time) along with Caleb as a normal human to present a juxtaposition of how the two ‘different’