Slashdot Mirror
Fanimatrix - The Matrix Re-done By Fans
wishes writes "It appears Matrix fans have banded together to create the fanimatrix. From the Trailer it's not just an amateur event either.
Release date is 27th September. " From the trailer, the movie actually looks good!
if you're only looking for the torrent link to the trailer: here goes
Here is the torrent for the mpeg. Fanimatrix 14MB mpeg trailer
How long before there's a Matrix Convention, with lots of nerds dressing up in black trenchcoats, acting out scenes and theorizing about the symbolism of The Oracle, then having a disco at the end of the evening. Lots of geek girls dressing up as Niobe.
...
Actually, you know
"It's not your information. It's information about you" - John Ford, Vice President, Equifax
It won't be long before someone makes it available on CD/VCD/DVD at costs, for those like me who simply don't have a fast enough connection.
There are other sites out there that have every thing from gatherings to RL RPG but one I'm on, that has been around since the beginning, with some of it's members even making it on Matrix Revisited, is Matrixcommunuity
I am impressed with things fans have done, including writing full scripts of their own.
And as the matrix is, there is plenty of room, for everyones story.
Why do all "Matrix" spin-offs have something with "trix" appended to the end? Two examples are "The Animatrix" and now "The Fanimatrix". Why don't they do it the other way round? What's wrong with "The Matran" or "The Matrimation"???
It's also the same with unix. Why don't programs do something other than end in "x" (eg Linux, lynx, lyx, knoppix...)? They should start with "un" (or if you like linux, "lin"). For example, "open-office" could be called "un-office", and "link" could be called "linlink".
apt-get install deathstar && deathstar alderaan && echo "You're far too trusting"
From the trailer it looks like they're competent film makers. I can't comment on the storyline, cos really, the trailer doesn't actually say much about it, its just showing "Look we can copy the stuff the Matrix did".
/.
I was going to complain about "Why don't these people write their own stories, based on their own created characters, etc etc, then we might have some new worthwhile cinema and new ideas coming though", but I guess there are people who do that, they just don't get on the front page of
I dunno, I guess I have the same feeling about professional cover bands too.
Their disclaimer says "Although copyrighted materials (e.g. music and sound fx) do appear in this film, we hope that the spirit of goodwill will prevail in allowing us to feature their work on our movie in the hopes that it will promote their own talents."
I like the idea, but it seems far fetched that the copyright holders will actually go for this...
Did you title the story "Re-done" because it sounds more sensationalistic? From their "What is the Fanimatrix" section:
*********
"The Fanimatrix - Run Program" is a collaboration between over a dozen professional actors, stuntpeople, special effects artists as well as an amateur filmmaking crew (all based in New Zealand) who set out to accomplish four primary goals:
1. Do something constructive with our spare time (boredom is a killer y'know...)
2. Create a short film that the general audience would actually WANT to see
3. Celebrate our mutual love for one of the finest film sagas put on our screens for over a decade - "The Matrix".
4. Provide an opportunity for everyone involved to practice and hone their filmmaking skills and respective talents.
"The Fanimatrix" is a fan-made, zero-budget short film set within the Matrix universe, specifically shortly before the discovery of "The One" (i.e. the first "Matrix" feature film). It tells the story of two rebels - Dante and Medusa - and of their fateful mission onto the virtual reality prison world that is The Matrix.
The film was shot on the Sony Mini-Digital Video format and edited on a PC editing suite utilizing Adobe Premiere, After FX and AlamDV Special FX. The entire production was completed over nine nights, ranging from six to over fifteen hour shoots, not including rehearsal and blocking-tape-shooting sessions. Most of the props, sets and lighting equipment was borrowed and locations were either hired or shot guerilla style. Although the film was a "zero budget" production, the final cost of the movie (combining personal expenses of cast and crew such as investment into costumes, transport costs, food etc) has reached upto approximately $1000 NZ (or $400-$600 US). The movie was shot entirely within Auckland City, New Zealand (our home).
Wow, they're letting anyone into Mensa these days I guess. Any way to moderate someone "-1, Looney Tunes"?
"He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once." - Steve Jobs on Bill Gates
"There is no trailer."
Here is the FAQ. There isn't much other info on the site...
;) That and the amount of petrol we spent zooming around town.
F A Q
F.A.Q.
Q. What the heck does "Fanimatrix" mean?
A. It's the "Fan"-imatrix. As in it's a "fan" film.
Q. Will there by any sequels?
A. Depends. If the movie is popular enough across the Net and if nobody objects to the material, then we may yet see more "Fanimatrix" movies before long. We sure had a lot of fun putting the film together and would relish a second chance, possibly with better equipment and more money as well.
Q. What the heck IS Medusa doing in that office building?
A. Both her and Dante's stories provide lead-in material for a larger body of work should more "Fanimatrix" movies be made. You'll have to wait and see.
Q. What was the most expensive part of the whole project?
A. Possibly Dante's outfit. The actor - Steven A. Davis - got a little carried away we think
Q. What city is the story set in?
A. "Run Program" is not set in the same city that Neo lives in - for one thing all the cars drive on the left side of the road. Although the film is shot in Auckland, we always intended that the setting be something of a bohemian location - possibly Europe. To answer your question succinctly, we didn't really think about it.
Q. What was the most difficult part of the whole project?
A. Possibly the three consecutive nights of shooting in the machine-shop location and the Goth bar - over 48 hours of constant filming and practically all of it involving martial arts, wire-fx and handling large amounts of crew and cast. Combined with incredible lack of sleep, sore muscles and the freezing cold, it was the hardest shoot we'd ever done (professionally or otherwise) and many of us went home that night with our bodies riddled with physical pain and exhaustion.
Q. Is that copy of NMap on Medusa's machine trying to port-scan itself?
A. Shutupshutupshutupshutup....
Q. What are your backgrounds in filmmaking?
A. See our cast and crew page (coming soon).
Q. What sort of martial arts are featured in the "Fanimatrix"?
A. The same type you see in the feature films: Wushu (a.k.a. Chinese Martial Arts or Kung Fu).
Q. Is the story of "Run Program" canon?
A. No, the "Fanimatrix" films are not to be considered canon at all. We are in no way affiliated or involved with the Warschowski Brothers, Warner Brothers Pictures, Silver Pictures or Village Roadshow.
the above post is obviously an ad for Verisign SiteFinder
Much agreed on the human bodies as batteries, but otherwise thought it was excellent.
Already I'm not really sure if you're serious. Neo <-> one is hardly an impressive anagram, and I suspect neo is more often used to refer to something being relatively new or recent than to refer to Satan. Most Christians would hold that they are mono-theistic, I think, despite what the Jews or Muslims might say. Yes, he fights against order, and part of the order he fights against is ordered rows of human bodies used as batteries. More of a concern, I think, are all the people he kills along the way. (And here I could draw a parallel with either the Hebrew assult on the Canaanite people, or the Christian Crusades.) Lastly, you must realise that even within Christanity, there are widely different views on many moral issues. The search for absolute truth may well be a noble persuit, but the assumption that you already have it and everyone else is wrong is not.
A name can refer to more than one thing.
Don't believe everything you read, Nebukadnezar got a lot of bad press.
And since you're a member of Mensa, perhaps you can explain this. As you surely know, the god you worship made a covenant with the Israelites on Mount Sinai, and the English translation begins thus:
Note it does not say "There are no other gods besides me." It actually implies there are other gods. A god would not be likely to get that wrong. Of course, relative to the Israelite/Jewish view there are no other gods. But that's just their moral values. Why shouldn't other people be allowed to worship any god(s), or none, as they choose? Or, to get to the point, why should anyone else be bound by the morals that you have chosen?Modern fantasy literature defines wizards as those who wield flashy special effects and blow shit up. Not that I mind flashy methods of blowing up stuff. ;)
Tolkien's the one who started pop-culture down that path, though, even if he didn't move much in that direction himself.
His whole style was based on taking myth and making it concrete. More direct and immediate. Instead of Shakespere-style fairies that live in vaguely remembered dreams, his dwarves and elves were real people that cursed, sweated, and bled.
Too, his Gandalf held the seeds of a modern fireball-tossing 'wizard'. Although the reader never watched Gandalf display distructive power, he always knew it was there. This was particularly affirmed in the offscreen Balrog-fight. Knowing that Gandalf had stood toe-to-toe with such a demonic brute implied his own aggressive power were vast, but the details were left to the imaginations of individual readers. The 2nd and 3rd generations of typical "fantasy" authors grew up on that, and wrote down their own interpretations of what a magical battle would entail.
Basically, modern fantasy has done to wizards what Star Wars has done to space movies: more flashiness, less subtlety.
The real change was "more budget, more budget". Have you seen space movies before Star Wars? The direct cultural precedent was Flash Gordon... equally flashy, except it couldn't afford a big display. Few "space movies", before or after, have been intentionally subtle. (Yes, we can point to 2001 and Alien as exceptions)
In certain ways, Star Wars was distinctly more subtle than prior "sci fi" movies: in the presentation of "alien" costumes. Prior movies had every alien as an important threat or mysterious savior- something that draws the camera to center on it whenever it's in frame. Lucas, for the first time, allowed weird-looking aliens as background characters and barkeepers. A distinctly subtle way to emphasize the strangess and variety of the setting.
(Note that he backed away from that restrained style in the 3rd and especially 4th Star Wars films. The 2-headed race-announcer, for example, was purely body-shape as punchline. Ironically, the technical constraint of needed actors inside suits had helped keep the creature design within credible limits)
That said, I'd love to see a well-done film adaptation of the Dragonlance stories as well!
It couldn't possibly be worse than the film called "Dungeons and Dragons", right?
Actually, Dragonlance would work better as a 9 episode miniseries (covering one trilogy), on a cable network like the SciFi channel. The main cast of primary heros is too large to fit in a single film. The lower FX budget would keep them from going overboard on spectacle (you don't want to black out the sky with dragons- that distracts from the sheer power just one of those beasts should represent)
Legally speaking, I believe they are. IANAL, but I did take a business law course which discussed the *real* necessities for a copyright infringement lawsuit, and, while I don't remember precise details, I do remember that having to document dollar-value losses is not a part of the requirement. Tarnishment is considered a viable 'loss' as are several other intangibles.
Think for a moment that you're a company who's copyrighted work is being subjected to a fan-imitation work that you've AUTHORIZED. Someone else comes along and does the same thing and finishes there work before the authorized fan-mimicked work is released. The second one comes out, and your attempts to market it have now been cut short.
In addition, you may not want people dilluting your trademarked logo, fictitious world, or concepts. Trademark is a whole new can of worms, though, and I don't remember enough of that to really get deep into it, either.
Suffice it to say that your two reasons wouldn't cut the mustard, unfortunately.
Moo
Another interesting biblical reference is the Merovingian. According to certain versions of history (which was first popularised by the book "holy blood, holy grail") the Merovingian kings were direct descendants of Jesus (who hadn't died at the cross and who fled Jerusalem with Mary Magdalene and later had a child with her) and that bloodline is the actual Holy Grail. One of the first things that hint at this possibility is the term Holy Grail, which come from the french "San Greal"; it's likely that it's a misstranslation of the term "Sang Real", which literally means Royal Blood.
This would mean that the Merovingian in the movie is a decendant of Christ, which adds an interesting twist to biblical interpretations of the movie.