Matrix digital rain

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Matrix digital rain, Matrix code or  sometimes green rain, is  a fictional source code featured in the Matrix series. First appearing in The Matrix (1999), the falling green code is  a way of representing the activity of the virtual reality environment of the Matrix on-screen. All three Matrix movies, as well as the spin-off Animatrix episodes, open with the code. it  is considered a characteristic mark of the franchise, more  or less  like the opening crawl is  for Star Wars.

In the films, a few people can understand what happens inside the Matrix by looking at the code on computer monitors. Operators from Zion, unable to jack into the Matrix, concentrate ways to read the scrolling code, or  "rain", and  infer data from it  such as the location of a person in the City, possible exits, and  so forth. The character Neo is  the only human that can see the code of which avatars are  composed while in the Matrix, and  is therefore able to see their "true" digital form. By contrast, some programs are  not seen as part of the green code, but as golden code (e.g., Seraph).

The code is  characterized by green flashing Roman and  Katakana characters and  Arabic numerals, as well as pictorial symbols, such as a bull's head (as pictured at the end of the Matrix Revolutions title sequence), falling in a black screen while changing and  fading. The effect resembles that of the older green screen displays, since the letters leave a fluorescent trace on the screen.

In The Matrix: Path of Neo game the player can press up on the d-pad (on the PlayStation 2 version) and  the world would turn into this "code vision." A similar effect is  seen when the game is  paused.

Sound designer Dane A. Davis digitized raindrops against window panes to create the sound of the letters as they rotate and  fall.

Contents 1 In pop culture 2 Trivia 3 Influences 4 References 5 Related Topics 6 External links

[edit] In pop culture

Because of the popularity of the movies, the effect has become noted in itself and  a part of pop culture. it  has influenced other franchises and  has been used in new-tech advertisements, TV spots, video-clips, posters and  appeared in other high-tech topics, such as flash intros of cyberpunk related websites. There are  several screensavers based on it, like XMatrix and  GLMatrix found in the XScreenSaver collection.

The code appears in some scenes in Code Lyoko

A horizontally-scrolling variation of the "rain" can be seen briefly in the 2001 film Swordfish, where a character creates digital encryption code. Movie producer Joel Silver was involved in both projects.

In the computer game Deus Ex, there is  a cheat, known as 'may-tricks mode', which replaces all in-game textures with a constantly scrolling form of digital rain.

[edit] Trivia

Code similar to that in The Matrix can be seen in an  earlier movie Alien (1979, directed by Ridley Scott). There is  a scene where Captain Dallas is  "talking" with Mother and  the "Matrix code" can be seen (even the word 'matrix' is  written in the Mother Program main menu screen). Another similarity is  where Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is  seen looking at a monitor with a "green (matrix) code" and  she is  interpreting the code and  understands that the transmission was no S.O.S. but a warning.

In the 1996 movie Independence Day, a code scrolling effect very similar to that of the Matrix code can be seen on the cockpit monitors of the alien flying saucer that was captured by the U.S. government.

At one point in the video for Skillet's song "Alien Youth", what looks to be the matrix code can be seen.

No official version of the source code typeface actually used in the Matrix trilogy and  in the website for the game Path of Neo has been released. Several imitations have  been made.

In the Matrix MMORPG, The Matrix Online the world first loads with everything as green code, slowly fading into a more  realistic view.

[edit] Influences

The 1995 cyberpunk film Ghost in the Shell, a strong influence on The Matrix,^[1][2] features opening credits similar to the digital rain.

The creators of the Matrix claim the look was inspired by the Korean language credits at the end of the movie Tron, ironically after failing to find inspiration in the film itself.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

1. ^ Joel Silver, interviewed in "Scrolls to Screen: A Brief History of Anime" featurette on The Animatrix DVD.
2. ^ Joel Silver, interviewed in "Making The Matrix" featurette on The Matrix DVD.

[edit] Related Topics

• Green screen

[edit] External links

• Official screensaver - Digital rain for both Mac and  Windows
• Fan Screensaver - an  accurate matrix-style screensaver. (Still in development)
• Guide to create the Matrix effect in Photoshop

The Matrix series
Films	The Matrix  | The Matrix Reloaded  | The Matrix Revolutions
The Animatrix	Final Flight of the Osiris | The Second Renaissance | Kid's Story | Program | World Record | Beyond | A Detective Story | Matriculated
Soundtracks	The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score | The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture | The Matrix Reloaded: The Album The Matrix Revolutions: Music From The Motion Picture | The Animatrix: The Album | Enter The Matrix: Original Soundtrack From The Videogame
Games	Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Online | The Matrix: Path of Neo
Characters	Neo | Trinity | Morpheus | Smith (Agent Smith) | Captain Mifune |Agents | Oracle | Architect | Niobe | Merovingian | Persephone | Seraph | Deus Ex Machina | Minor human characters |  and  machines in the Matrix series">Programs and  machines
Locations	The Matrix | Mega City | Club Hel | Mobil Ave | Zero One (Machine City) | Zion | List of ships in the Matrix series
Cast and  crew	Wachowski brothers | Keanu Reeves | Laurence Fishburne | Carrie-Anne Moss | Hugo Weaving | Jada Pinkett Smith | Owen Paterson | John Gaeta | Geof Darrow | Steve Skroce
Other topics	Thematic motifs |Matrix digital rain | The Matrix character names | The Matrix Revisited | The Ultimate Matrix Collection
Related topics	Bullet time | Cyberpunk | Digitalism | The Hero's Journey | Martial arts film | Messiahs in fiction | Virtual reality
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