Hi OTers,
I started here lurking and then posting on the threads for Adywan’s Revisited and the Reborn projects, and finally got an idea for an edit of my own.
Much of The Matrix is close to monochrome as it is, and I thought it would work very well with the scenes set inside the computer done in high-contrast black-and-white (and the blue filter removed from the real-world scenes). This was also inspired by TRON, which has black-and-white characters in a Technicolor world inside the computer. The main two reasons to do it in black-and-white are that the scenes inside the computer have some stylistic similarities to old-fashioned film noir, and that I think black-and-white/colour is a better and more overt way to make the distinction between real world and simulation than green filter/blue filter.
The other thing is that the phone call that ends the film could simply be the end of a longer call which we could hear (as narration) throughout the film, which would be very noirish, but unless someone here has a plausible Keanu Reeves impression I doubt we could make it work. It’s been suggested I could lift dialogue from the sequels, if I was only making the one edit. Probably will too, as they’re less noirish to begin with and also simply less good.
I’ve been chatting to Johnny Ringo about music. I expect I’d keep most if not all of what’s there, but a couple of suggestions for modern-noirish music we came up with were If I Was Your Vampire by Marilyn Manson and Private Investigations by Dire Straits.
As for actual editing, there are a couple of scenes which I might take the knife to. The scene where Neo first meets Trinity always annoyed me; if I can find a way of removing or at least trimming it without breaking the plot I’ll probably take it. Any other suggestions welcome.
Finally, there are a few elements within the simulated world that would have to remain in colour, as was done in Sin City and Schindler’s List. The most obvious ones are the red and blue pills and the woman in red, whose colours are referred to in dialogue and which it would be appropriate to show. The computer displays I’m tossing up about. I want to have both the computer displays in the Matrix and the Matrix feed in the real world either both green or both white. Suggestions for this or other elements that you think should be coloured are welcome.
I’ve made a fresh thread here.