Wednesday 26 November 2008

The Matrix (1999)- Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski.






The matrix is a action packed film right from beginning to end, throwing the audience right into the frenzy without hesitation. It starts with special effects. This tells the audience that this film is quite technological and modern. The soundtrack is a quite exhilirating composition of various instruments which eventually builds to a creshendo to support whats happening on screen and an electric synthesized sound, suggesting technology. sure enough after this a telephone rings and we hear a conversation between two people who's dialogue suggests they are a secret organisation. A woman and a man who speak of the "chosen one". We can hear the ambient sound of electronic clicking and looking at the screen it looks a computer displaying a code. The black background has connotations of secrecy and evil, and the green code contrasting with the black suggests millitary activity and on screen we become aware that the camera is in subjective point of view listening into the conversation, and later in the film the code, telephone and secretive talk is explained.
The establishing shot shows an extreme close up of an officer with a torch and a gun scoping the dark, musty, almost derelict building with his comrades, which gives an eerie feel to the film. This confirms the theme of spies and secret organisations. The atmospheric sound adds to the creepy vibe. The men then walk into a room where a person is sitting facing the wall which creates tension along with the dramatic pause. The camera then pans upwards to show a medium close up, showing her determined face and the lights behind her imply power. The camera now jump-cuts to the outside of the building, panning downwards showing a sign that reads "HEART o' the city hotel". Men in black suits, shirts, ties and sunglasses show up in a black car, their costume suggesting authority. There are alot of police cars outside denotating that the woman seen inside the hotel is dangerous. This is confirmed when after being scolded by the men in suits for not listening to their instructions, the police officer says; "I think we can handle one little girl, i sent two units, they're bringing her down now" and the slow speaking, seemingly wise man in a suit replies, "No lieutenant, your men are already dead." Then the camera cuts to the action inside the hotel where this woman (who comes to be known as Trinity) has her hands behind her head with the camera doing a close up of the officer getting out his handcuffs. He slowly walks up to her and the violence commences. The impressive fight scene includes a freeze frame when Trinity does a jumping kick in the air and the camera does a 180 degree clockwise rotation around her whilst she is seemingly frozen in mid-air.
This trick was actually done by setting up 120 normal cameras in a circle around Trinity with two motion picture cameras. By merging all of the photos one after the other it creates the illusion that the camera has moved at an impossibly quick speed. After the fight sequence Trinity speaks with Morpheus on the phone who tells her to get to a phone booth as quickly as possible. The non diegetic music starts up again as she begins to flee, running through long corridors. Eventually the chase ends up on a roof where Trinity jumps across a large gap, landing on another rooftop. This action is caught by the camera in an aerial shot and slow motion. This shot allows us to see how high up Trinity is as we can see the cars underneath her and we hear the diegetic sound of a police siren. The camera zooms in on the police officers face when he sees that the man in a suit has made the same incredibly high jump as Trinity. All is eerily silent as the man in a suit closes in on Trinity, but as the camera focues on a tiny window, the music starts up again as her next escape plan is made clear to the audience. Her jump is super imposed into the film but looks realistic. She lands at the bottom of a staircase and a shot reverse shot between Trinity and the window shows her fear of being chased. The mise-en-scene here of a light moving back and forth because of Trinitys movement caused the build up of suspense and is the only diegetic sound here. Next she is heading towards a phonebox when she sees a truck with the men in suits controlling it. A shot reverse shot shows that the race is on to the phone booth and Trinity reaches it first, just as the truck crashes into it. A close up of Trinitys face with the phone to her ear makes us wonder if she'll survive. The camera pans across the rubble and it is confirmed that Trinity has dissapeared. The suits then speak about tracking down "Neo." And the film properly begins.

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