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The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

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Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#41

Post by nico »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #21
wkat4242 wrote: post #9

I'm surprised they used two real locations for the hotels. The "Heart O'The City" one at the very start, and the "Deja Vu" staircase. These hotels look really delapidated in the film. I thought they were studio sets. I wonder how they managed to make them look so bad, tbh with late 90s tech (green screen mostly and limited CGI) it sounds like it would have been simpler to just build a delapidated staircase in a studi…

CGI was not as limited as you think in 1999. Look up films from that year and you’ll see.

For reference, Terminator 2 is from 1991

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#42

Post by protocolture »

wkat4242 wrote: post #9

I'm surprised they used two real locations for the hotels. The "Heart O'The City" one at the very start, and the "Deja Vu" staircase. These hotels look really delapidated in the film. I thought they were studio sets. I wonder how they managed to make them look so bad, tbh with late 90s tech (green screen mostly and limited CGI) it sounds like it would have been simpler to just build a delapidated staircase in a studi…

I was in Sydneys chinatown a few years back and above one of the restaurants I could see into a burnt out old apartment building that 100% reminded me of the matrix. I doubt it would have been too hard to find.

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#43

Post by protocolture »

echelon wrote: post #20
dylan604 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what about the fourth with the gender bend twist? I guess the meme is older than the fourth movie, but I rarely see it even get mentioned let alone memefied. I guess less people would know tetralogy instead of trilogy, at least, I had to look up what a series of 4 would be.

The first film was groundbreaking. It matched "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" in terms of its cultural penetration. Unfortunately the series failed to live past that strong debut. The second and third films were a total letdown, and The Animatrix only appealed to a niche audience and was itself a mixed bag. The surprising and unsolicited fourth film had some promise in the first third of the film - I loved how it…

>The first film was groundbreaking. It matched "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" in terms of its cultural penetration. Unfortunately the series failed to live past that strong debut. The second and third films were a total letdown, and The Animatrix only appealed to a niche audience and was itself a mixed bag.

I dunno, I feel like people had erased the entire film up to the lobby scene. It has frontloaded pacing issues. The sequels were 100% studio, but they were solid films in their own right.

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#44

Post by ajxs »

tetris11 wrote: post #35

I was hoping to see the subway location, but I guess this was just a set piece

Lots of sources online say it was shot on the disused platform at St James, but that was the subway scene in the second film. Some sources say it was shot at a freight siding at White Bay. If that's true then the actual station must be a set piece. You can find some behind-the-scenes footage online[1], and you can see that the staircase down to the platform is real, so that makes me doubt it was White Bay. Whatever the case, it's not at St James. You can find lots of pictures of the disused platforms online[2], and you can see the roof is totally different. I'd love to know what the actual truth is!

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f79nuDTcCA

[2]: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Disused_platform_S...

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#45

Post by throwaway422432 »

frollogaston wrote: post #37
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, they are as canon as the phantom menace even if you don’t like them (neither do I for that matter but hey, if these creators wanted to wreck their legacy who are we to stop them).

Reloaded is ok. It's not like Star Wars 1 (which btw isn't real), more like Star Wars 6.

Return of the Jedi (6) was perfectly fine. More like 7 which was ok as a nostalgic cameo vehicle, but resulted in throwing away the Rogue Squadron arc which should have always remained canon.

But not like that hadn't happened before. Anyone remember Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the original sequel to Star Wars?

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#46

Post by echelon »

parpfish wrote: post #32
echelon wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first film was groundbreaking. It matched "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" in terms of its cultural penetration. Unfortunately the series failed to live past that strong debut. The second and third films were a total letdown, and The Animatrix only appealed to a niche audience and was itself a mixed bag. The surprising and unsolicited fourth film had some promise in the first third of the film - I loved how it…

Star Wars and The Matrix anre great examples of over-explaining removing mystery and undermining your world building.

> over-explaining removing mystery and undermining your world building.

This! Spending too long in a fictional universe waters it down. The trimmings of imagination are best when used sparingly. If you reveal too much, the magic ceases to work.

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#47

Post by dylan604 »

echelon wrote: post #46
parpfish wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Star Wars and The Matrix anre great examples of over-explaining removing mystery and undermining your world building.

> over-explaining removing mystery and undermining your world building. This! Spending too long in a fictional universe waters it down. The trimmings of imagination are best when used sparingly. If you reveal too much, the magic ceases to work.

yeah, telling me about midichlorians and using some scientology reading of them just killed it for me.

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#48

Post by hamish-b »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #29
wkat4242 wrote: post #9

I'm surprised they used two real locations for the hotels. The "Heart O'The City" one at the very start, and the "Deja Vu" staircase. These hotels look really delapidated in the film. I thought they were studio sets. I wonder how they managed to make them look so bad, tbh with late 90s tech (green screen mostly and limited CGI) it sounds like it would have been simpler to just build a delapidated staircase in a studi…

They probably were delapidated, Surry Hills has undergone a lot of gentrification in the last 25 years.

My father spent a lot of time in Surry Hills in the 90s. Got the shock of his life when I told him I was moving there. I have been living around the area for the past 4 years, and he was amazed just how much had changed while I was showing him around recently!

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#49

Post by parpfish »

dylan604 wrote: post #47
echelon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> over-explaining removing mystery and undermining your world building. This! Spending too long in a fictional universe waters it down. The trimmings of imagination are best when used sparingly. If you reveal too much, the magic ceases to work.

yeah, telling me about midichlorians and using some scientology reading of them just killed it for me.

not just the midichlorians, but the fact that every little knob and lever in an x-wing or on your blaster has an explanation of what they do. every single alien you saw in Mos Eisley eventually got an official name and canonical backstory (not to mention the small-world effect where it just so happens that most of those backstories intersect with the same small handful of important people).

so it's no longer a world where your imagination can run wild, it's a world where pedantic nerds get to tell you "you're wrong. here's the actual answer". and it's not even that the "actual" answers are necessarily bad... it's just the fact there is an answer at all removes some of the magic

Re: The Matrix (1999) Filming Locations – Shot-for-Shot – Sydney, Australia [video]

#50

Post by vunderba »

echelon wrote: post #20
dylan604 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what about the fourth with the gender bend twist? I guess the meme is older than the fourth movie, but I rarely see it even get mentioned let alone memefied. I guess less people would know tetralogy instead of trilogy, at least, I had to look up what a series of 4 would be.

The first film was groundbreaking. It matched "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" in terms of its cultural penetration. Unfortunately the series failed to live past that strong debut. The second and third films were a total letdown, and The Animatrix only appealed to a niche audience and was itself a mixed bag. The surprising and unsolicited fourth film had some promise in the first third of the film - I loved how it…

The second/third ones never really captured the magic of the first - part of that is because of the refreshing world building.

The rest of the trilogy felt... a bit self-indulgent for lack of a better description. Everything from the "When Harry Met Sally scene" with the drink to the interminably long fight scene with every possible "martial arts" weapon - I found myself rolling my eyes even as a teenager.

I haven't seen the most recent one. Like Star Wars, I sort of lost interest with the whole franchise.

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