The sound tracks in the film are also very important to keep the audience interested. This is because the soundtrack tells the audience what to expect. For instance in the first two thirds of the film there is a lot of rock music this represents that there is a lot of action. At the end of the film the music is an orchestral piece - with parts that are tense for action scenes. Which sounds triumphant and at the end of the film ‘Neo’ beats ‘The Matrix’ which is him- good winning over evil- ‘The matrix’.
The way that sound effects are used to exited the audience in this film are the way that they are so detailed that you can hear every shell-casing drop when a gun is shot. So much attention has been paid towards this that the thrill of each case hitting the ground and the sort of smashing noise electrify the audience into frenzy. Plus when ‘Neo’ and ‘Trinity’ go in to the government building the footsteps of the ‘swat team’ echo around the hall. This gives connotations that they are big and strong but a contradiction of that happens and quite easily ‘Neo’ and ‘Trinity’ absolutely annihilate them. This pleasures the audience by giving them the violence that they enjoy and primarily go to see the film for. Sound effects, the aim is not just realististic sound it’s used to enhance audience is pleasures. Realistic sounds are necessary to make the audience BELIEVE in the film this is how the sound effects impress the audience. How does visual effects impress the audience? Important for the reasons given above to enhance audience’s pleasure. For example green tint applied to the fill, used to encourage audiences to view same as futuristic and discomforting effects. These are used more substantionraly to provide hints about the films meaning for example camera appears to travel down the telephone, wires through TV monitors are times e.t.c this hints at the original nature of ‘the matrix’.
Cinematography.
Another one of the reasons that ‘The matrix’ keeps its audience interested is how the directors decide to frame the shots. Throughout the film in the majority of the shots the picture is not balanced what I mean by this is like it should have been conventionally. For instance, when the agent is trying to get codes for the ‘Xion mainframe.’ the agent is on one side of the shot and a huge skyscraper is next to him. Whilst they in the wall, probably eighty per cent of the screen is black. Forty per cent on one side a small thin strip in the middle and black on the other side. This is very unusual even though this shit is balanced, it is not a conventional shit and makes us the media consumer feel uncomfortable and keeps us watching, as we want to find out if they survive.
The lighting through out the film also helps to keep us interested. They way in, which the directors have chosen the lighting, is very similar to ‘science fiction’ films. For example when ‘Thomas Anderson’ gets a phone through special delivery, even though he is still in an office it is quite dark. This also represents that because it is dark that something is going to happen. Which it does because we find out that it is ‘Mopheus’ on the phone and he knows were everyone and everything is and he guides ‘Thomas Anderson’ to safety. Another thing that helps to keep us curious about what is going on?
There is a ‘green tint’ like a sort of filter that we cannot see by looking directly but what we see effects our mind by telling it that this film is out of the ordinary. We subconsciously and notice it, this adds to the effect of science fiction.
The humans also are represented as a virus inside ‘The Matrix’ and ‘The Matrix’ is like a body with the ship floating around it. They are represented like this because they portrayed trying to break into ‘The matrix’ in order to attempt to turn everything back to normal. There are also creatures called ‘sentinels’ which are purely designed for killing much like white blood cells. These creatures are shown in the way that they move by swimming, they have eight swimming aids and they swim like squid. How dies cinematography impress the audience? By editing camera shots, lighting, the ‘look of the film’ etc. Traditional, cuts are often replaced by more unusual transition between shots. The camera appears to travel through things mimicking in its way the matrix works through wires etc that’s how.
Narratives, Enigma codes and inter-textual links.
The narratives and the enigma codes are the most important part of this film that helps keep the audience interested and fascinated. Basically the film is broken down into three sections they are as follows.
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Equilibrium-This is when it is ‘Thomas Anderson’ thinks he is in the real world. Everything is normal.
Dis-equilibrium (problem) what the film is about. ‘Thomas Anderson’ finds out that his world is computer generated. ‘Morpheus’ is looking for the ‘one’ in order to defeat ‘The matrix’.
Equilibrium-‘Neo’ defeats ‘The Matrix’ everything returns too normal.
The equilibrium at the start of the film is about ‘Thomas Anderson’ who is a normal office worker and he lives in a flat and is a hacker in his spare time and finds illegal things to sell. The dis-equilibrium is that he finds out that his world is computer generated and ‘Morpheus’ is searching him down because he is the ‘one’. Cipher plays a part in the dis-equilibrium because it is he drops his phone so that the agents can capture Morpheus and get the codes to the ‘Xion mainframe’, The last equilibrium is when ‘Neo’ defeats ‘The matrix’ and everything is restored back to normal.
The audience who watch the film like the mild scenes and sexual tension when ‘Thomas Anderson’ meets ‘Trinity’ for the first time because they were standing close together and the image given to us as though they were going to kiss. Plus the film the Matrix’ is aimed at male audiences and ‘Trinity’ is wearing a black leather outfit, which is said to turn men on well sexually.
The use of the enigma code in this film is very gripping. For instance one used at the start is “why is she running into that phone box when this truck is obviously going to run her over. Later in the film we find out that in order to get to the real world you have to use a telephone. An enigma code used over and over again in the film” in the film the question is “is he the one” ’Neo’ because later on in the film we find out that he is the one when he can download the programs for a full straight ten hours. Then gets told by the ‘Oracle’ that he is not the one. After that when cipher turns on the ship he says “If he really is the one then it would take some king of a miracle to stop me” at which point ‘Tank’ gets up and kills Cipher, so hope is restored. After which he gets shot by an agent and supposedly killed that what the audience thought at this point. But then ‘Trinity brings him back to life with a kiss, another inter-textual link with ‘snow white’. So hope is restored once again. Finally hope gets restored and the audience get pleasure when they find out ‘Neo’ is the one as he killed the agents. I
In this particular media text the directors chose to against leading ideology the character Cipher. Cipher because he is the ‘Judas type of character he drinks a drink call ‘moonshine’ which is illegal in America, this says that he is ‘bad’ and ‘dishonest’. Throughout the film there are few inter-textual links, which are used to very great and leading effects, for example ‘Neo’ is the first starting to down load all the fighting and other skills he gets called “A machine” this is like the 6 million dollar man. As well as when Neo is going into the simulation for the first time Cipher says, “Buckle up Dorothy Kansas is going bye-bye.” Cipher says this because he is going to a place that he has never been before and might find it out of the ordinary just like Dorothy did in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Lastly the film end with an inter-textual link with ‘Superman’, ‘Neo flies up from the ground and ‘whooshes’ towards the camera then the film ends.
Conclusion.
It is clear that the storyline (narratives) and Special affects and the Inter-textual links used in this film are truly groundbreaking. The directors have used these two things so successful that through one part of the film do you turn you head away. That is why this film was so popular because it catered for the interests of the target audience by having quite a lot of action, the sexual tension, the technology used, inter-textual links and the use of enigma code making yourself think and the great narrative used in the film in my opinion I would rate the film 10 out of 10 reasons why is for the use of the film’s technology and the great story line. One thing I would change If I was the director is the uses of colour in the film making it more brighter, making the film better what the target age group what they class a futurist colours and the ‘real’ world’ colours.
Here are 3 pictures I have chosen that I thought were good in the film.
This is ‘agent Inity’ and the Matrix is behind him.
In this picture on the left is ‘Neo’ then ‘Mopheus in the middle’ and ‘Agent Inity’ on the right with the gun. What is happening in this picture is ‘Mopheus’ teaching ‘Neo’ in one of the training programs.
In this picture ‘Agent Jones’ is fighting and the picture shows how fast he can move, this is a special effect because by using CGI, the computer can slow down the frame up too a hundred per second and then it is compressed. It is really fascinating as you can see what the ‘agent’ is doing how quick he is moving and which way his body moves, this frame comes under special effects this was superior movie I as like action movies.
By Jamie Naran.
