Matrix Source Code
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
The Matrix source code, Digital Rain or sometimes Green Rain is a fictional code first seen in the popular film The Matrix (1999) on the computer screens of Nebuchadnezzar. All three Matrix movies, as well as all 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 text is for Star Wars.
In the films, a few people can understand what happens inside the Matrix by looking at a computer monitor. 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 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.
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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 some scenes in Code Lyoko. There are several screensavers based on it, like XMatrix and GLMatrix found in the XScreenSaver collection.
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.
Trivia
The source code font actually used in The Matrix trilogy and in the website for the game Path of Neo was never released by the Wachowski Brothers. Several imitations were made, but to no avail.
External links
- Official screensaver - digital rain for both Mac and Windows
- Fan Screensaver - One of the most accurate matrix-style screensavers. (Still in development)
- Guide to create the Matrix effect in Photoshop
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on May 04, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seenHere."
