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FIRST ANIMATRIX EPISODE: FEBRUARY
Source: <TheMatrix.com>

For those who want a better understanding of how THE MATRIX came into existence, THE 2ND RENAISSANCE is the place to start. This epic anime story tells of the many steps that led to the first war between man and machine. This will be the first episode to be released for THE ANIMATRIX, a collection of Matrix based anime shorts. Be prepared, as this particular history lesson gives visceral insights that are far beyond what is currently known about THE MATRIX. Written by Larry and Andy Wachowski and directed by Mahiro Maeda (BLUE SUBMARINE No. 6).

Coming in February, THE 2ND RENAISSANCE: PART ONE will be the first of THE ANIMATRIX episodes to launch, with more to follow. In fact, there will be new episodes to download right through the months leading to the event we are all waiting for, the May 15th premier of THE MATRIX: RELOADED. While we are not releasing all nine online (as there is a DVD on the way), those we are encoding will be complete and uncut, pulled directly from the digital source files.

THE 2ND RENAISSANCE: PART ONE. Find out how it all began.


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JOEL SILVER SUMMARY
Source: <Reeves Drive>
Thanks to: <The Matrix Online>

A nice round-up of the last months of shooting in Sydney:

Next year will be The Year of The Matrix. With two sequels who are set to push the cinema technology to its limits. Developped by the Wachowski brothers, under the expert eye of Joel Silver, the two installments' shoot is presently winding down. It's now time for Joel Silver to give us the first photos, the first data and, more importantly, for him to answer some of our questions. Follow the white rabbit..

By Laurent Cotillon

If you ask a Sydney resident what is being shot at the Fox studios on the outskirts of the city, he will automatically tell you "The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions". Ironically, the most secret film shoot of the decade is also its most popular! The city can't help but talk about the rumours surrounding this shoot. Of course, each storyteller is certain that the information that he is giving out is from a credible source, often relayed by a local press with its ear to the ground, anxiously reporting all the goings on concerning the films' cast. Naturally, the ones who are the easiest targets are Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne who are now pillards of the Australian society. In other words, all of Sydney is living by The Matrix's rythm.

However, the production, whose offices are in building 28 of the studios, is doing its best to remain secret. This proves to be a delicate operation especially when it comes time to erect baracades around certain sections of the city to shoot a spectacular helicopter stunt which no one will witness because the police squad prevents anyone from reaching the parameters of the sight! This is another precautionary measure requested by the Wachowski brothers who are very security-minded especially concerning the protection of their artistic vision. An idea is so easily copied... Especially since, as producer Joel Silver explains, "we're talking about a fourteen-minute scene which is by far the most complex ever filmed in the history of cinema."

Read more <here>

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EVERYDAY APOCALYPSE
Source: by Email

More on the phlosophy behind the Matrix. David Dark has written a book titled "Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, The Simpsons & Other Pop Culture Icons". Here's a clip from Chapter 5 :

Living in Fiction: The Matrix, The Truman Show, and How to Free Your Mind

Although most of my students don't know what a metanarrative is, they have a pretty good idea after I suggest that The Matrix and The Truman Show are, for many, the most convincing metanarratives of our culture. They take personally the apocalyptic significance of films whose protagonists discover themselves in carefully scripted, immersive environments which create the illusion of freedom while using inhabitants to fuel their own death-dealing machinery. They know the joke's on them when a voice says "Because we value you, our viewers/customers/clients...." And the bright colors, earnest-sounding voices, and lively music only serve to remind that someone (or something) is trying to create demand and move product. They don't like it particularly, but they don't see much in the way of available alternatives. As the popularity of the films suggests, any articulation of a spirit of resistance will have people lining up. As Dostoevsky observed, no one wants to want according to a little table, and the sense that they¹ve been playing roles in a vast formula of market research, while occasionally consoling themselves with a packaged rebellion, isn't a realization anyone can sustain for long without becoming depressed. But there is something powerfully invigorating about imagining, especially in the company of young people, what it might mean to take the red pill of reality on a regular basis or to weather the storm to the limits of one's bubble and to break on through to the other side."

Interested? You can buy it <here>

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ANIMATRIX (FAN?) DVD COVERS
Source: <MatrixFans.net>

MatrixFans.net got an anonymous email with two images that may be used for the cover of the Animatrix DVD. It probably are images made by a fan, but they're really well accomplished, and I personally wouldn't mind if the Wachowski Brothers would use the first one:



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SEQUEL ROUND-UP
Source: <FilmFour.com>
Thanks to: Sub7

A round-up by FilmFour.com for new-found Matrix fans who want to know what's going on:

The Wachowski brothers want to revolutionise mainstream cinema - again - with the first of two sequels to their 1999 cyber-punk smash.
- by Alistair Harkness

It began as a three-day brainstorming session. A friend asked brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski to chew over some ideas for a new comic book series. Instead they came up with The Matrix: a radical sci-fi movie inspired by everything from cyberpunk and the Bible to kung-fu, Baudrillard and Japanese anime. With its pioneering 'bullet-time' visual effects and disturbing production design ­ courtesy of comic-book artist and the film's chief conceptualist Geof Darrow ­ The Matrix looked like nothing else and proved that Hollywood could be smart and make money.

The Matrix Reloaded is the second part of the Wachowski's futureshock head-wrecker, which was intended as a trilogy. Picking up the action six months after the original, it finds Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) continuing their fight against the machines while battling to save mankind's last sanctuary, the underground city of Zion.

As far as official plot details go, that's about it. Warner Bros are keeping schtum, but producer Joel Silver has confirmed that Reloaded is really the first half of one enormous movie, with the action taking place over 72 hours. Boasting a zinger of a cliff-hanger ("You're not going to want to wait for the next movie," claims Silver) the story will reach its conclusion a few months after Reloaded's Spring 2003 release when The Matrix Revolutions hits multiplexes (probably in October).

Exactly what the Wachowskis have in store is anyone's guess. Principal photography on the back-to-back sequels wrapped in August 2002 but post-production should last until nearer the release date.

Tragedy struck the 18-month shoot when stars Aaliyah (cast as a Zion native, Zee) and Gloria Foster (returning as the Oracle) died unexpectedly. Nona Gaye (daughter of Marvin) replaced the late R&B singer but Foster's death from diabetes came after she'd finished work on Reloaded, so she will be in the film ­ although Revolutions will now feature the Oracle in a different form.

What is clear is that Reloaded will introduce plenty of cool new characters. British martial artists ­ and former handy-hunks on Carol Vordeman's 'Better Homes' DIY show ­ twins Neil and Adrien Rayment are set to kick serious ass as all-white, dread-locked viruses that have free reign in the Matrix. Italian siren Monica Bellucci is an evil temptress. We learn more about Morpheus with the addition of Jada Pinkett-Smith as his ex-girlfriend Niobe and high-kicking Hong Kong legend Collin Chou ups the bad guy ante as Seraph ­ a role originally earmarked for Jet Li (he bailed over a pay dispute). There's also a return for Hugo Weaving as the slow talking, fast punching Agent Smith who, in addition to sporting a slick pony tail, now has the ability to replicate himself.

However, the main question is, can The Matrix still thrill now that its influence is so widespread? With most of Reloaded taking place in the virtual world (Revolutions is set mainly in the scorched real world) it promises to be more action-packed than its sequel. Neo has superhero-like powers, the adrenaline-pumped trailer hints at a car chase to end all car chases and Silver has been talking up one 14-minute stretch as "the most complicated sequence ever put on film". Indeed, as a screw you to the legion of action hacks who will inevitably try to rip off Reloaded's FX work, Silver says that the bar has been raised so high that really "there is no bar" anymore.


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MATRIX PHILOSOPHY CLASS
Source: The Charlotte Observer
Thanks to: <Countingdown>

The Charlotte Observer reports that a class exploring the philosophy of The Matrix will be offered at Siena Heights University. Kimberly Blessing, associate professor of philosophy at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Mich., said mass media is a great starting point for leading young people deeper into a study of the world's enduring values. Blessing is planning a class for next year that will draw eternal lessons from the Hollywood science-fiction thriller "The Matrix." "In the end," she said, "we're always searching for new concrete examples to help people understand these abstract lessons."

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GAME INSPIRED BY MOVIE INSPIRED BY GAMES
Source: <Time Magazine>
Thanks to: <Countingdown>

The latest issue of Time Magazine looks at how video games have received attention from Hollywood. They mention Enter the Matrix in the article:

The next step forward will occur when the two movie sequels to The Matrix arrive in 2003, along with their videogame companion, Enter the Matrix. "Companion," because Matrix creators Larry and Andy Wachowski -hardcore gamers both- have been actively involved in the development of the game, conceived as a complement and continuation of the movies. This will finally bring The Matrix to the very medium that, had things gone differently, might have spawned it. "When we first had the script for The Matrix," recalls Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the former Warner Bros. exec who shepherded the project, "I realized how difficult it was going to be to get it made in to a movie. So I went into the then heads of Warner Bros. and said, 'Why don't we make a game out of this first, build a brand, then turn it in to a movie?' Because it just seemed so applicable."

Games are the bait to lure us into a Bill Gates tomorrowland, according to the article. To get there, industry creatives must find a way to make games more accessible to the consumer who doesn't have the schedule (or patience) for marathon immersions in Orkworld. "Our consumers don't play for 50 hours [over the life of a game] anymore. They want 3, 4, 10 hours; they want quick emotional satisfaction," says Bruno Bonnell, chairman and CEO of Infogrames, which will publish 2003's Matrix game. "By changing the evolution of design, by changing the mind-set of the designer, we will be able to increase our population."

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© 2002 Code 808