Facilitator Guide Frames (2019) | Farhad Pakdel (Director), Madeline Ashby (Writer) Introduction In light of recent surveillance developments — social media breaches, smart city projects, workplace monitoring — we need to consider the implications an

Intended as public education tools to spark discussion and extend understandings of surveillance, trust, and privacy in the digital age, each film focuses on a different aspect of big data surveillance and the tensions that manifest when the human is interpreted by the machine. [...] Questions to guide film analysis include: • What is the film about? What themes are addressed? • What is its narrative structure? How does the plot unfold? • Are there any recurring visual elements? • Who are the characters, and what roles do they play? What are they wearing, and what does this say about them? • Where is power located in the film, i.e. [...] futuristic, contemporary, historical? • What are the different locations throughout the film? • What do you think the director is trying to achieve through this film? • How did you feel throughout the film? Why? For example, the three films here are all set in urban environments in a very-near future. [...] The facilitator’s role is to guide discussion about the content of the films, and the larger social context of the implications of surveillance technologies. [...] Discussion • What did you learn about smart cities? Questions • What is the difference between public and private space in the film? • Do you think that she knew she was being watched/observed? • The deposit to the café worker’s bank account was also documented by the surveillance system: what else was being tracked? Some of the imagery showed her movements being tracked, as well as her purchases.