Matrix Introduction Analysis

This is an analysis of the matrix introduction where i will be talking about the mise en scene, editing, sound and camera work aswell as talking about my overall opinion of the piece. 

The opening of the matrix starts with green coding that fills the screen flashing and changing. The coding then slowly begins to fade away and morph into the title of the film: ‘The Matrix’. This title begins to get magnified (zoomed in) and more and more cropped before it disappears returning to the screen full of green coding. The reason that the green coding is constantly being used throughout the first few seconds of the film is that it really sums up or gives the audience a small idea of the main theme of the movie. In the background of the green coding a woman and a man are having a conversation on a phone, this helps a lot because it’s the first bit of dialogue we as audience members hears. The voice over really helps viewers to have an idea about the story line or plot of the movie.

The image then is focused on a flash light that, when using a panning shot, shows that it is being held by a man with a gun up and ready. The lighting in this scene is almost pitch black and the torches are the only source of light it would seem. The dark lighting and use of guns immediately tells you that straight of the bat in the intro there is something bad happening.  As the panning shot carries on it reveals several more flash lights searching the light further back in the shot and shows one of the men holding a flash light slowly come forward into the light. The man is wearing a police uniform and as all of the police men tentatively move forwards you can see by their surroundings that where ever they are it is has a sense of danger. Police men are seen, spread apart my 2 or 3 metre lined along the walls of a hall way positioned at either side of the screen creating a long empty path way. The police men that had been featured in the first image then begin to walk down this pathway guided by the light given from the lined up police officers. This shows that there is not just one or two policemen here: there are many, which hints to the viewer that the situation is dangerous and life threatening (also indicated by the use of guns). The police then enter a small room after kicking down a wooden door and enter to a woman sitting in a chair on the other side of the room facing away from the entering police. The woman has simple makeup but her hair is short and has been tightly slick back and her clothes are black. She has been made to look quite masculine. This room is again very dark and carries of the idea of danger.

The image then changes to a hotel sign with the letters of the name lit up however one of the letters was not lit up because the light had broken. They showed this to highlight the fact that they were not in a nice area because a hotel in a nice area would be embarrassed and able to quickly get it fixed. A fleet of police cars are shown with police men scattered around them. The image is still very dark however we are able to see the characters. The lights of the police cars are flashing in the background of the image as three men (not police) exit out of a car that just pulled up. All three of them are very well put together; There hair is slick back; they all have sunglasses on; they all are wearing expensive, fancy suits with a tie and they have ear pieces in. the scene is set showing the police of one side and these three men on the other however due to height, upright posture and there outfit, they seem to dominate. 

The screen changes to the woman who is still standing facing the wall and away from the police squad behind her. Her hands are on her head as a man slowly edges towards her with handcuffs. She then whips around quickly before fighting the entire squad of police men in the room and defeating them. This shows that she is the best of the best and very good at her job or whatever her aim is in the film. A faced pace chase across roof tops is then carries out. Between the woman and the three put together men. However behind then is the police who are also chasing.

The sound effects start at the very begin where orchestral music is playing the background and is slowly building with the use of faced paced string instruments: violins and cellos etc. the music then fades away as the title of the film is shown. Coding noises: high pitched beeping noises and heard along with the electronic chattering of the numbers in the coding switching and changing. As the police men are shown in the scene the loud building music changes to soft, chilling, creepy high pitched music that creates tension and suspense and shows something bad is going to happen. In one scene one of the three tall, put together robot looking men turn his head to say:

‘oh lieutenant your men are already dead’, in reply to the lieutenant saying his men are going to be bringing the girl shortly. This implies that trinity (the girl) is very strong, beautiful heroin who can get past any obstacles. During the chase the music quickly begins to gain momentum. The speed increasing and the volume increasing creates a sense of acting, speed and danger. This building of the music carries on until the climax of the scene which is Trinity’s epic and impossible jump over the gap in-between two buildings. 

Diegetic sound is heard during the beginning in which the noise that the phone creates is heard during the falling coding and another example is when the guns were being fired when the fight scene was going on. 

During the first scene in which you see the police men a panning shot is used to alert the audience to the dark scary setting that the police are in. quite quickly afterwards a POV shot is used as a police man is kicking open the door. We, as the audience, are made to feel like the door as the police man is going to kick it down. We then see an upward panning shot onto trinities face with the police torch lights in the background which shows that she is cornered and outnumbered. A downwards pan is the used immediately after, in my opinion, showing that the scene that just occurred was high up and the scene that is about to occur is low down in the streets. 

A crane shot is used to announce the entrance of the three mysterious men this was to show their power and intimidation over everyone else. An extreme close up is then used on trinities face however her face, on the right of the screen, as a policeman creeps towards her from behind. This shot and the fact that her eyes are clothes tells the audience that she is getting ready for something. Another crane shot is used once Trinity has defeated all the police men and is standing in the middle of their paralysed and pained bodies. This is to show authority and how powerful and dangerous she is and what she can do. The last crane shot in the intro is when trinity is doing her magical jump across the roof tops of a building in slow motions and we see trinity jumping and the enormity of the space in which she is jumping. We can also see the cars and streets bellows which is making you feel like you are there too but just above her. A bullet time photography shot is used next when Trinity is up in the air and performing a spectacular kick in slow motion. This shot really intensified the scene and the moment really highlighting trinity’s unique powers, strength and physical fitness.

Editing in the scene starts out way before any of the characters have been introduced. During the beginning of the intro when the production company that produced the movie was being shown the screen was washed in a green colour so that everything was green. When the green coding then came onto the screen it created a nice fluid/sinister feel to the intro already. An editing program called superman echo created the cool falling coding at the beginning which gave the audience an idea that technology and hacking would be a part of the movie. During Trinities fight scene rapid cuts are used to create a fast paced, thrilling vibe to the scene. Gun noises are also used throughout this scene too. When trinity jumps over the huge gap between buildings it becomes slow motion which again is used during the scene in which trinity is up in air doing a kick. In both these scenes the use of slow motion create a magical sense to them. It highlights the awesome things that she is doing and it also tells the audience that she isn’t an ordinary person but is something slightly more special and powerful.

I really like this introduction. I think it gives a great insight into the rest of the movie: just enough so we understand what’s happening and want to see more but not enough so that we have seen too much and don’t want to watch the film. The film is definitely an action adventure and is very fast paced and the use of rapid cuts, building music and slow motion or fast paced chases fills the viewers with adrenaline.