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Digital Dailies and the Matrix Sequels 233

Posted by michael from the internet-time-replaces-bullet-time dept.
rkischuk writes: "IGN FilmForce has gathered several tidbits about the Matrix sequels. Among the most interesting of them is that the dailies from the shooting of the film in Australia will be transmitted electronically to the U.S. using TRW's Picture Pipeline."
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Digital Dailies and the Matrix Sequels More

Digital Dailies and the Matrix Sequels

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  • I wander who is going to be the One this time? ;)
    • Jim Carey? ;-)

      "There... you have achieved omni-present, super-galactic one-ness."

      "I have!!??"

      "Yes... just now. I can see it in your eyes. You are more ONE than anybody else!"

  • Picture Pipeline? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sootman ( 158191 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @10:25AM (#2392195) Homepage Journal
    Why not just use limewire?
  • My loser ass hasn't even seen all of the first one..

  • glitch in the matrix. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Frey ( 14600 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @10:26AM (#2392200)
    I could swear that I just saw CmdrTaco post another article on the Mandrake based supercomputer cluster. I clicked on the link to mod him down as redundant and a man in black told me that there was "nothing to see here."

    On returning to the home page, I find the posting gone and this Matrix one in its place. Too strange.
  • The government Agents in the first Matrix are opposed, at least nominally, to stopping the rebels from slamming a helicopter into a building.

    I do not particularly like the idea of an aircraft as a metaphor for shattering a hostile reality anymore, since the people in the building turn out to be very real.

    • Each time you decide to short stock, not travel, or condemn a movie sequence based on what happened 9-11-01, you are providing validation to the terrorists that performed that act by allowing them to control your actions.

      Patriots, spend money! Watch movies with exploding buildings! Go on a vacation! Don't let these bastards win, control your own destiny!

    • I don't THINK you're trolling, so...

      In the first film, the helicopter crash is accidental. They're using the helicopter as a mobile gunmount to free Morpheus, and it goes down when the AGENTS shoot at it and they have to bail out or die.

      It's all about the intention; this is different than the New Line direct to video movie that got released last week about terrorists hijacking a plane specifically to fly it into a city. Airborne vehicle + building isn't always a WTC reference. If we're going this far to look for inappropriate content, it's time to think twice.

    • there are two types of terrorists as I see it. Those who commit the act, and those who are left around afterward to wallow in the human misery their colleagues produced. You sir are the latter kind. If you don't think the movie is "appropriate" don't watch it. I thinkt he shit that went down to my uncles and father in 'nam was fucked up, but Ill be damned if good morning vietnam and Forrest Gump weren't fucking awesome movies.

  • Impact of WTC attacks? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by alewando ( 854 )
    Hollywood has especially been hit by the WTC attacks and the resulting crises among airlines; it's simply impossible to do the same sort of production overseas if you can't or are unwilling to fly there. Wasn't the original Matrix chiefly filmed outside the U.S.? And so, has anyone accounted for this consideration when discussing the upcoming Matrix sequels?


    It'll hardly be the first time the sequels are delayed. Broken ankles and other health complications have already pushed production back beyond the original timelines.

    • The original Matrix was filmed in Sydney, Australia. Just like both new Star Wars movies, both mission impossibles and the new matrix. Hmm, hollywood must be worried right about now.

    • has anyone accounted for this consideration when discussing the upcoming Matrix sequels?

      The author to this obviously hasn't read the article.

      Yes, they have factored it in. According to the article, the artists and operatives have been in situ since pre-WTC, and due to the wonders of modern technology (using triple DES encryption and PGP, no less, allegedly enought to stump even Neo ;-) they can wire the day's production over at the end of each day, in a similar way to how George Lucas does it.


      Interesting to note that this technology also makes the world of music that much smaller - since the early days of ISDN mass-acceptance, musicians on both sides of the Atlantic/Pacific have worked together on recordings, simultaneously. The bandwidth of a single ISDN bearer channel exceeds the bandwidth necessary for a single CD-Quality channel.


      The matrix guys are likely using many many times that limited pipe, as the article says Hollywood can view their images in real time. Mmmm.


  • Super duper mega dailies encryption (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chairboy ( 88841 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @10:27AM (#2392208) Homepage
    According to the article, the dailies will be transmitted over the internet and will be Triple DES encrypted plus PGP CAST 128 for the files.

    I humbly wish to propose the target subject of the next distributed.net project....

    • Re:Super duper mega dailies encryption (Score:5, Funny)

      by jandrese ( 485 ) <kensama@vt.edu> on Friday October 05, 2001 @10:42AM (#2392282) Homepage Journal
      Yeah, by the time D.net finishes decoding the trailers you should be able to pick up the DVDs of the movie cheap, especially considering how the sun would be pretty much burnt out by that point.
      • Moore's law says CPU power doubles each 18 months. I'll use 1 year for the below calculation, the point's still made ;)


        Let's pretend we break 56 bit encryption in one week with today's computers. 57 bits would need two weeks - or we'll wait a year and still break it in one week with next years computers.


        From that follow, to break 3DES (112 bit) we need to way 112-56 years (which is, 56 :)


        So, in 56 years we'll break 3DES in one week. While we'll be able to pick up cheap DVDs then, you worry me about predicting the sun will be burnt out ;)


        *smiling*

        • This is of course assuming you get through the firewall and aren't seen getting through the firewall, and that they use the same keys each day. Just assuming you get the encrypted data, tahts still probably like 70 files that need to be cracked. Also they could be really trick and throw in something like cipher block chaining on top of the 3DES and then it would get really ugly especially given the size of the files. This could very well take until the sun burns out to crack ;) But then again, like all things crypto, you could get lucky and crack it with the first try :)
      • Nah, they're using Adobe's hardened encryption. Come on, who will _ever_ break ROT-13?

      • <insert obligatory comment about how tomorrows magical quantum computers' will crack all your crypted data in .000000000011 seconds.>

    • Re:Super duper mega dailies encryption (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      By the time it has been encrypted 7 times, you get back the original unecnrypted files

  • Stuff (Score:1)

    by manon ( 112081 )
    Well at least enough stuff happened the last couple of months to influence the Matrix...
    I just hope it doesn't get infected by Nimda, that would ruin all my fantasies.
    Go figure: the Matrix on IIS? That would not be SF anymore, but screaming horror!

  • Sequels... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Junta ( 36770 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @10:34AM (#2392243)
    I don't see how the Matrix lends itself at all to a sequel. It was a pretty intriguing movie with some interesting questions. Can the sequels hope to acheive anything close to the same level of intrigue and interest with the closure of the first movie in mind, or will it simply be a cheap grab for more boxoffice bucks?
    • >Can the sequels hope to acheive anything close to the same level of intrigue and interest with the closure of the first movie in mind

      ..and can the studios hope to acheive anything close to the same level of ROI as the first movie?

      See, it doesn't really matter if the movie is really worthy of a sequel based on where the story left off as much as how much the studio thinks it can milk more money out of the appeal created by the first movie. It is called an 'incremental investment'.

      Spaceballs, the sequel... the quest for cash
    • Sure, why not? The first one was written with sequels in mind, so it's not like, say, Jurassic Park, where they just kept finding more things to happen in the sequels. Of course, the situation is clearly that they realized that, if people liked the movie, they'd want to make sequels, so they should have in mind a way for them not to be lame.
    • ... or will it simply be a cheap grab for more boxoffice bucks?

      BINGO!

    • Re:Sequels... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dragons_flight ( 515217 )
      You're right, you can't really tell the same story since the audience has already seen the Matrix and Neo has become what he was destined to be. You might however tell a different story in that universe. For instance the Matrix is still firmly covering the eyes of most of the population. The AIs, while perhaps having something to fear, are still the dominant player in the Matrix itself. The sequel might even try to offer more details about the "real" world they are living in.

      My guess is that the sequel will be focused on the war between man and machine on a broader scale, and possibly the awakening of more of humanity. They can't tell the same stories, but they might still do a very good job if they find the right kind of story to tell in that universe.

      • Re:Sequels... (Score:1, Redundant)

        by Xibby ( 232218 )
        You're right, you can't really tell the same story since the audience has already seen the Matrix and Neo has become what he was destined to be.

        Why not? DBZ manages to pull off constipated fighters every episode.I'm a super Saiyan! No wait, I'm an Ascended Saiyan! No wait, not I have this lightning thing going on around me...not I grunt and groan like I'm constipated and I'll have even more power...

        If the writers for DBZ can keep it going, I'm sure the Matrix writers will find a way.

        (Some of the Frezia scenes are really darn funny when you pretend he's grunting because he's constipated. Try it some time.)

    • Re:Sequels... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Tim Macinta ( 1052 )
      I don't see how the Matrix lends itself at all to a sequel.

      Actually, I remember reading that the Wachowski brothers said that the main point of the first Matrix was to set the stage for sequels. They wanted to have characters that possessed superpowers in a believable way (and the first Matrix did indeed set the stage for this). I'm taking it as a good omen for the sequels that even the bridge (the original Matrix) that they wrote to their central plot was so exceptionally good.

    • Re:Sequels... (Score:3, Informative)

      by dswensen ( 252552 )
      Well, ultimately, the original was a cheap grab for box-office bucks, as are all movies. Moviemaking is a business, of which entertainment is a by-product.

      However, if you can get a good writer or director that can act as a skillful intermediary between the "money-grubbing" studios and the demanding audience, you can sometimes end up with a good story, or at least a story worth telling and exploring further.

      The Wachowski Brothers are behind the sequels, and in their interviews they seem to have a lot of love for the material. I think that will go a long way towards making worthy sequels.

      My favorite moment in the Matrix DVD interview with the Wachowski brothers is when you see Joel Silver and Laurence Fishburne talking about the film:

      "The Matrix is about humanity, and about love, and hope, and what it means to be a person..."

      Cut to the Wachowski brothers:

      "The Matrix is about robots vs. kung fu."

      I don't think Matrix was ever intended to be a particularly high-concept movie, and if people go to the sequels expecting to see the wheel reinvented a second time, I'm sure they'll be disappointed. If they go expecting robots vs. kung fu, then it'll be a worthy sequel.

      My point here is not so much "keep your expectations low" as "don't try to make the franchise into something it's not." The original had a nice surprise that a few people didn't expect. I wouldn't go into a sequel expecting the world to get turned on its ear again.
      • "The Matrix is about robots vs. kung fu."

        How about a Monkey vs a robot?

        http://208.34.189.52/MonkeyVsRobot300k.asf

      • My point here is not so much "keep your expectations low"...

        Ah, yes. An actual fortune cookie a friend received some years back:
        Minimize expectations to avoid disappointment.

        Words to live by, that :-)
      • Cheap grab for box-office bucks? Hardly.

        First, you assert rather blatantly and incorrectly that "movie-making is a business, of which entertainment is a by-product". Filmmaking is an artform. Hollywood is an industry which uses and very often abuses the artform in the pursuit of wealth. The establishment within Hollywood largely, but not exclusively, pursues films which cost less to make than they can probably be assumed to gross. The artform, then, often suffers, because marketing forces affect both the sort of films which are made, and frequently the way in which films are made.

        Having clarified that, let us move on.

        Filmmaking is an artform, and certain films are universally recognized as being fantastic works of art- regardless of the processes or powers that created them. You can not look at many of the masterpieces of modern cinema and pretend otherwise. Tell me, was "Taxi Driver" a cheap-grab for box-office bucks? "Citizen Kane"? "Sex, Lies and Videotape"? "Run Lola Run"? "This Is Spinal Tap"?

        Few films are both artistic masterpieces and box-office blockbusters. Nevertheless, some films are, and it is elitist and cynical to be dismissive of high art that just happens to be popular and financially successful.

        "The Matrix" is, regardless of your somewhat low-regard for the film, a true masterpiece of science-fiction. Yes, the creators of the film offhandedly said the "Matrix is about robots vs. kung fu". That comment was a humble, joking hypersimplification. Sorry if you missed that.

        Do some reading. Consider Simulacra and Simulations [stanford.edu] for starters (a book which Neo has early in the film). Read up on Culture Jamming [syntac.net]. There is a war underway, RIGHT NOW, for the control of the minds of mankind. "The Matrix" is a film which addresses that very subject- co-opting the form of a shoot-them-up-sci-fi-FX-supermovie in order to make a bigger point than most of you seem to have realized.

        The 60s were a period of great civil unrest and cultural change. Many great films of the day reflected the social upheaval our nation experienced- touching on the subjects of the civil rights (for minorities and women), the counter-culture, etc.

        As we speak, a new war rages- but it is a quiet war, an invisible one. The war is being waged by corporate interests, using media and advertising, to create and control a complete version of reality, one which allows them to encourage endless consumption and one that discourages them from questioning the reality. The rebellion is being fought by individuals and groups that realize that the consumption culture is creating empty shells of all of us. It is isolating us from family and community.

        The rebellion has no leader- it has no center. It is a thousand small pockets of rebellion, each attempting to use novel means to awaken others to the war. Noteworthy authors include Thomas Frank (One Market Under God [amazon.com]), Adbusters, Neil Postman ("The Disappearance of Childhood" and [amazon.com] "Amusing Ourselves to Death" [amazon.com]), Mark Osborn ("More" (a FANTASTIC short film) [moreshort.com]and so many, many others.

        The film "The Matrix" is a part of this movement. It isn't just a cool sci-fi. Yes, the film is being marketed and used by the Producer Joel Silver to generate a serious mint. The system is necessarily co-opted to subsidize the creation of the expensive, incredibly complex work. Is this hypocritical? You decide. Do the ends justify the means? I would say yes. I'd rather see "The Matrix" realized as a $100M work than see what the Brothers would've been able to come up with using only the money they made painting houses and doing their first film, "Bound".

        Watch the movie again with these facts in mind. Research the culture-jamming movement and read everything you can if you want to be a part of the fight. If you don't, at least be aware that it is being waged- and that you minds are the spoils if the powers win the war.
    • simply be a cheap grab for more boxoffice bucks?

      And this would stop them from filming it... why, again?

    • Re:Sequels... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by actiondan ( 445169 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @11:03AM (#2392370)

      I don't see how the Matrix lends itself at all to a sequel.

      There are some issues that a good Matrix sequel could explore. For instance, the question of whether freedom is worth the price of the tough life outside of the Matrix. If people knew what they were in for, would they agree to leave the matrix? If they would not agree, is it right to 'free' them by detroying the matrix? Are the freedom fighters actually working against peoples best interests without their consent?

      I think the issue of freedom Vs a (generally) better life inside the the matrix could give Matrix sequels some really interesting angles to look at. Maybe The One isn't the saviour of mankind after all...

      • Being a battery but not feeling like one is a "Better" life??.. People might shun enlightenment because they are scared but once one brick is pulled the rest come tumbling down.
    • After Star Wars Luke had gained "superpowers" and destroyed the Death Star, freeing the galaxy from evil, right? So why bother with two sequels? (The prequel, btw, struck me as a money-grab.)

      The Matrix left more questions unanwered than Star Wars and really presented a much smaller victory if you think about it. So Neo can fly around in the Matrix now, big deal. Can he free humanity? Can he defeat the machines in the real world?

      I think the movie left plenty of interesting questions unanswered and there is still room for the sequels to ask more. Even if the new movies aren't as interesting as the first they will still have lots of sfx and kung-fu magic which will be more than enough to attract a large percentage of the /. crowd.

      • After Star Wars Luke had gained "superpowers" and destroyed the Death Star, freeing the galaxy from evil, right?... The Matrix left more questions unanwered than Star Wars and really presented a much smaller victory if you think about it. So Neo can fly around in the Matrix now, big deal.

        Let's think of this another way... Luke simply deleted a an executable binary in someone else's account... whereas Neo gained root. He wasn't just flying around at the end. He saw through the matrix, and could eat the energies of the AIs.

        The matrix was much more Tron than Star Wars. Neo was a much closer analogy to Flynn (a user) than to Luke...

    • Just to explain the gaping plothole:

      "They're powered by batteries made out of people! PEOPLE!!!

      ...

      Oh, yeah, and they have cheap cold fusion."

      "But Morpheus, why do they need human batteries if they have..."

      "Shut up and watch the pretty VR, Neo."

    • Re:Sequels... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by JahToasted ( 517101 )

      Well think about it for a second... Is the "real" world where humanity has to live in the sewers and the machines rule, or is that just another matrix to escape from. Are the machines using people for power? It seems to me to run a sophisticated AI which would be needed to create a matrix you would need a lot of processing power. People only use a small percentage of their brains... what if the machines weren't using our body heat to power them, but our brain power as CPU's. Imagine a Beowulf cluster of human brains if you will. Seems the fusion power is enough to give them the electricity they need, but the human brain is probably yhe most efficient processor they could find.

      Also the AI said that humans want life to be difficult. If they were smart, they would have a multi-layered matrix. If you find life too easy, you can figure out a way to get to the matrix which exists outside the matrix and be able to live in an even more miserable world. If that is the case maybe it's not even machines which control the matrices, maybe its something else.

      But then again, I'm probably overthinking this. They'll probably just make it like the first one but put in more explosions and more kung fu. Oh well.

      will it simply be a cheap grab for more boxoffice bucks?

      of course it will be... but will it be entertaining?

      • People do too use all of their brains. Maybe not all at once, but the "people only use 10% of their brains" theory is completely untrue. I wouldn't try and read too deep into all this - and I also wouldn't try to build a Beowolf cluster of human brains. Brains just aren't compatible with other brains, they grow randomly on their own and create their own formats for memories and such. If it were possible we'd have evolved with neural connectors rather than being forced to use that clunky "language" to communicate...
    • well, they found the One, now they have to find the Zero. that would only be logical.
    • Has everyone forgotten that the whole idea behind the matrix was to create a new superman type character for a new generation, and that the first movie was written as an afterthought to explain how Neo got these super powers? The ideas for the sequels came first, and they decided that they needed to do a little explaining before releasing those.
    • I don't see how the Matrix lends itself at all to a sequel.

      The hacker mind-set tends to value content and substance and tends to dismiss appearance and crome - but there's an exception to every rule. Even if Matrix2 is 100% plot-free I'll go see it if it's anything like the first one. The original was awsome.
    • Why is this moderated up to 5?

      A dumb assumption based on nothing more than the author's own admitted lack of vision for the sequels?

      It was intended, from the beginning, to be a trilogy.

      The authors have barely scratched the surface of their own mythology. Did you feel that the end of the film rendered sequels impossible? Remember the final quote, with Neo addressing the creators of the Matrix which STILL enslaves almost all of humankind?
      "Neo:
      I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules or controls, borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."

      The entire film is simply a set-up so that the sequels can TELL THE STORY OF THE ATTEMPTS OF A SMALL-GROUP OF SELF-AWARE REBELS TO LIBERATE A HUMAN POPULATION FROM MENTAL CAPTIVITY. In short, THE STORY HASN'T BARELY EVEN BEGUN YET.

      As you may or may not know, the film- in addition to being one bad-azz science-fiction masterpiece- is a profound philosophical statement, as well. It is a message to YOU and to ME, about our OWN captivity by OUR MEDIA, which represents a FALSE version of reality that most assume to be TRUE. The Matrix is real- it is being fed to us through television sets 24/7. It is being delivered to us every morning by the paperboy. It is being used to create WANT, so that CORPORATIONS can SELL products we don't NEED but CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT.

      In order to hope to escape it, we must first know that it exists- and that it is distinct from the existence we assume to be real.

      SPOILER ALERT.

      "The Matrix" sequels are going to touch upon many subjects it hadn't yet addressed in the first. We already know that much of what will be taking place to propel the plot will be sci-fi versions of "culture jamming [syntac.net]"- in which the lucid rebels use the tools of the Matrix to waken the sleeping citizenry. Television sets which help to keep the population dumb and entertained ( in both the films and in our real world) might suddenly be overrided by the hackers- so that unexpected, jarring programming comes through- perhaps warning them of their enslavement, or of the reality of the Matrix, or whatever...

      There are acts of culture-jamming going on all around us right now. They aren't simply random, unrelated happenings like some dork running onto the stage at the Grammys naked with the words "SOY BOMB" on his chest. They are a part of a movement, one that you might not even be aware of but should be. A movement to fight an enemy common to all of us.

      Give the sequels the benefit of the doubt. If you want to speculate about spurious sequels for the express purpose of generating major bucks at the box office, get out your light sabre and take a few swings at George Lucas.

      Here endeth the lesson.

  • Hmm... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Scoria ( 264473 )
    According to Corona's Coming Attractions [corona.bc.ca], Gloria Foster (a.k.a. The Oracle) passed away last weekend at the age of 64.

    That will most likely hamper production.
    • She predicted that would happen.
    • When the first movie came out, a friend of mine speculated that the Oracle was an AI or some sort of expert system, and not human at all.

      If that's the case, it should be easy enough to give her a new "residual self-image," should they need to do so for story purposes.

      It's too bad about Ms. Foster, though. I thought she was one of the best things about that movie. It was refreshing to know that the Matrix wasn't made up entirely of goons in suits and leather-club hairdressers in PVC.

  • Positive Uses for Encryption (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bonker ( 243350 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @10:38AM (#2392262)
    Even Neo would have trouble cracking into the system that uses "Triple DES encryption over network, PGP CAST 128 encryption on disk, firewall, [and] intrusion detection."

    I bet Trinity could slice and dice it in just a few days, tho...

    Seriously, it's great to see encryption mentioned in anything other than a 'Only Terrorist Use Encryption' context.

    It's a good time to start using encryption just for the sake of using it. Abilities that are not excercised tend to atrophy. If enough people see that its good to exercise crypto in this manner, we'll have a lot more people install it and grow used to the feeling of security it will give them.

    Even MS Outlook users can use PGP...
  • Don't plan on hacking into their system though. Even Neo would have trouble cracking into the system that uses "Triple DES encryption over network, PGP CAST 128 encryption on disk, firewall, [and] intrusion detection."

    Here is your chance to be notoriously better than Neo.
  • I think they should get George Carlin to do a cameo, or maybe even Alex Winter... Pop quiz, hotshot. Somebody asks you which one played Bill and which one played Ted. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?
  • Even Neo would have trouble cracking into the system that uses "Triple DES encryption over network, PGP CAST 128 encryption on disk, firewall, [and] intrusion detection."

    hopefully not supplied by MS. [joke!]

    Although I would not mind knowing what they are actually running for the system. The Initial Press release [picturepipeline.com] leads me to believe that it is a home grown proprietary system, probably unix based.

  • The Matrix AI flowchart diagram in SourceForge/ Mind/ Docs/ at http://sourceforge.net/projects/mind/ [sourceforge.net] (among 350 AI projects)is valid for coding First AI in many programming languages.

    Teachers and students of computer science in general and of AI in particular may use the First AI flowchart to address the problems encountered in any phase of the study of computer science and AI.

    Authors of textbooks may include this diagram or its derivatives in order to incorporate AI theory and practice into all phases of instruction: systems analysis; programming; quality control; etc. Trivial homework assignments may be replaced with serious AI code. Generations of human computer science students may learn the ideas and techniques necessary to create and interact with a new species of intelligent cyborgs sharing in joint stewardship of the planet. As the runaway Singularity approaches, AI will learn to design AI.

    Meanwhile, each Mind module beckons to enterprising students who may concentrate on perfecting the very best implementation of the module or its functionality in any programming language or robot.

    Not a land rush but a veritable Mind rush is on to turn the Matrix into reality with an artificial life form of AI Minds.

  • When are they going to give away another Slashdot Cruiser?

    In order to save money, will they just fish the first one out of the lake and give it away again?
  • Anyone know who they got to replace Aaliyah? Did she even have a big part in the sequels? Man I was looking forward to seeing her kick some ass.
    • An article in filmforce.com (http://filmforce.ign.com/matrix/articles/305472p1 .html ) gives some info on how Warner Brothers is dealing with the character that Aaliyah played.
  • As a professional movie critic (laughs) I think the best way to get a higher ROI is to put trinity into a smaller leather outfit. *wink*

  • quite a change since Tron (Score:3, Insightful)

    by AssFace ( 118098 ) <`stenz77' `at' `gmail.com'> on Friday October 05, 2001 @10:53AM (#2392328) Homepage Journal
    When I was in college [williams.edu] I interned briefly (more of a class really) at Kliezer Walzack (sp?) Construction Company (I think they are www.kwcc.com).

    it was a husband and wife team and they did some micheal jackson vids, judge dread, the spiderman ride at universal and I think Honey I blew up the Kids... all bad films, but cool special effects. At the time, Jeff Lew was there - he is a huge name in the character animation field.

    anyway, Jeff (Klisier - again I don't know how to spell it) was one of the owners and his first real film was Tron. According to him, they'd program all the efffects, then never really see them until the process of putting the data to film was complete, then the film would be mailed back to them, they'd watch it, and then make corrections. It was amazing how well and how fast they did it all considering that was the case.

    eveyrthing is now net based, so this isn't as big a deal - a much bigger deal that the whole movie is done this way - but as far as adding in digital efects, they've been doing it for awhile now (Sending the stuff over the net that is).
  • The Matrix (the unnamed city in the Matrix was I think Sydney or Perth), Matrix sequels, LotR, Phantom Menace (some parts)... does anyone know why Australia seems to be such a popular choice for filming movies these days? Is it a good choice in terms of political or financial considerations involving shooting a film, or is it just very popular?

    Ok ok, I know that LotR and maybe Phantom Menace were shot in NZ (IIRC). Still, it makes me wonder what's so hot about shooting films Down Under.

    -Kasreyn
    • the desert scenes in phantom menace were shot in tunisia

    • Re:Australia? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by JungleBoy ( 7578 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @11:39AM (#2392568)
      Australia has the largest sound stage in the world. The second largest one is in England, but the Australian one is cheaper to use. Lucas and company made comments about this while making The Phanton Menace. A Huge sound stage is obviously a requirement for doing some of the large scale CG scenes that are found in the matrix and TPM.

      -JungleBoy
      • All of this is because of one man. P.J. Hogan, who you see as director on many Australian films, and is the direct reason for the existence of such fine film production and stage buildings in Australia.

        P.J. Hogan is actually Paul Hogan. Yup, Crocodile Dundee. The guy who had that killer Aussie show that was such a yuckfest to those of you in the UK and Canada, but who the Yanks don't understand has done anything else.

        And that's why they're filming in Australia.

        Us lifetime members of Cinema Seattle know these things ...

    • Remember the Hollywood strike that never happened. US actors and production are asking for too much money (so they say), so alot of work is going overseas. Australia is a prime choice because the natives speak English, there is alot of terrain, and the price is right.
    • I really don't know heh... I live in Perth, Australia but I guess its because of the fact that Australia has the Sydney Harbour Bridge and other monuments. The Matrix was shot in Sydney btw... because they forgot to cover some shots too... for example: In The Matrix Neo walks past the Commonwealth bank which is an Australian bank :P
    • I understand that production equipment and services can be obtained pretty cheaply there, as opposed to acquiring those services here in the States (pretty expensive here - is anyone really surprised?)... it's all about the Benjamins, as the saying goes. They're probably saving a lot of money down under, so I can't blame them for doing so (can't imagine any other good reason).
    • Hollywood has the tendency to shoot outside of the US (Australia for movies, Canada for a lot of commercials) because it's cheaper.

      For one, they don't have to deal with the expensive unions (for production/grunt work) in the US.

      I think the other is insurance. Insurance is cheaper for locations.

    • The crews are cheaper (we're used to producing films on budgets, unlike the Hollywood inflationary system), the air is cleaner, the cocaine is plentiful... why not choose Sydney?

      BTW, LotR was filmed in New Zealand, not Australia. Australia has a relationship with New Zealand not unlike that which the United States has with Canada: for all intents and purposes, we're pretty much the same, but we give each other hell over it.


    • Here [cineweb.com] is a nice articale about filming in Australia from the original Matrix. Gives a number of reasons why they filmed there.

  • There is no spoon. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kippa ( 453370 )
    So many questions to be answered and story lines to be followed, the sequel has a good probability of being just as interesting as the first. Now that the gang has figured out how to infiltrate the AI machine complex, how will they "show these people what you don't want them to see" ? Similarly, how will we show the oppressed people of Afghanistan what the Taliban doesn't want them to see?
  • with mandatory backdoors into all systems and encryption coming soon watching the Matrix and who knows what else years before the rest of the world would be worth working for the spooks and using only homemade encrytion programs....

  • Humans as batteries (Score:2, Interesting)

    by invid ( 163714 )
    I really enjoyed The Matrix but I was bothered by the "humans as batteries" concept. If I was a vast AI mind I would not want humans as batteries. For one thing, it wouldn't work. What I would use them for is as massive parallel processors to augment my own intelligence. After all, I have this seemless interface into their brains already. Imagine the computing power of 6 billion human beings plugged into my AI brain! Hahahahahahah! The POWER! The POWER! Hahahaha.

  • Confirmed: Gloria Foster, the Oracle, dead (Score:4, Informative)

    by Freshman ( 9729 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @11:42AM (#2392578) Homepage
    Gloria Foster, the actress who played the Oracle, died last weekend. She finished most of her role in the sequels.

    May she rest in peace...

    Link [corona.bc.ca]
  • <sarcasm>
    Doesn't the DCMA protect them against anyone decoding the messages even if they're encrypted using bad encryption? </sarcasm>
  • yeah great

    how about walking up and just takeing the disks before they get encoded

    because they are not streamed directly to crpto'd disk they are vunerable

    security is lax you can walk onto the set if you want you just got to have the balls to tell the managers where to go and have the right colour band around your wrist

    regards

    john jones
  • I just want to say, without looking at any of the other comments, and without having read anything else about Matrix sequels, that right after I watched the film the first time I predicted these two:


    Matrix II - The Fight for Jericho

    and

    Matrix III - Return to Earth


    Was I right?


    MjM

  • I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, I'm just stopping in from lunch, but Gloria Foster, who played the Oracle in the first movie, passed away last weekend. She had completed most of her scenes in the first sequel.

    Found at Corona [corona.bc.ca].

  • The Matrix was a pretty nice movie. A sequel will almost certainly be worse.

  • This is what I think a logically progression of the Matrix movies would be:

    1. (the one we have all seen). Intro to the characters and a description of the problem.
    2. Most humans are still in the Matrix. Neo and the rest of Zion defeat the machines, not without signifigant losses.
    3. Most of humanity hates the Real World (and why wouldn't they?) and they want to go back into the Matrix. Now it's a war for humans vs humans.

    I always thought that this would make a more interesting story progression than just a continuation of the same thing. We know who Neo is, what he can do, so aren't the machines pretty much finished?

    All that aside, I'm still going to see the next two -- the first one was so highly creative, that, if nothing else, I want to know what the W Bros are going to come up with.

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