The Fanimatrix

Infobox Film
name = The Fanimatrix


director = Rajneel Singh
producer = Steven A. Davis
Rajneel Singh
writer = Steven A. Davis
Rajneel Singh
starring = Steven A. Davis
Farrah Lipsham
Fasitua Amosa
Vaughan Beckley
music = Don Davis
cinematography = Rajneel Singh
editing = Rajneel Singh
distributor = Plutonian Shore Productions, Absolute O Productions
released = September 27 2003
runtime = 16 min.
language = English
awards =
budget = $500US
followed_by =
imdb_id = 0395147

"The Fanimatrix" (full title "The Fanimatrix: Run Program") is a science fiction/action fan film based on "The Matrix", released on the Internet on September 27, 2003, written and directed by Steven A. Davis and Rajneel Singh. It stars Steven A. Davis, Farrah Lipsham, Fasitua Amosa, and Vaughan Beckley. Its name is a deliberate pun using the title "The Animatrix" and the term fan film. Hence it is a live-action, fan-made version of "The Animatrix".

It was featured prominently on Slashdot.org, garnering the film's website with nearly 3 million hits during the first 5 days (with 70,000 downloads in that same period), and is also remembered for being an early contributor to the popularity of the BitTorrent file-distribution system.

With an estimated 1 million downloads since 2003, it is arguably New Zealand's most widely seen short film.

Plot

The short film is set within the Matrix universe, shortly before the discovery of "The One" (in "The Matrix" feature film). It tells a story of two rebels, Dante and Medusa, operating out of a ship called the Descartes and of their fateful mission onto the virtual reality prison world that is the Matrix.

The film opens with the insertion of Dante and Medusa into the Matrix. They materialize inside a machine-shop and quickly move across the city, all the while talking to their Operator who is guiding them on their mission. The night's objectives are simple: Medusa is to break into a high-security building in order to steal important data. Dante is to provide a distraction so the Matrix will not discover Medusa's presence.

Dante heads for a particularly rough nightclub populated with cyberpunks and goths. After dispatching the two bouncers, he quickly picks a fight with two goths who mock Dante's "normal" appearance. The Operator - who is in constant contact with Dante via his cellphone - helps coordinates the fight so it coincides with Medusa breaking into the high-security building and taking out a team of security-officers.

The nightclub brawl culminates with Dante delivering a superhuman kick onto the one of goths, which catches the attention of the Matrix. The system promptly dispatches an Agent to take care of the situation and the chase is on. Dante leads the Agent on a dangerous wild-goose-chase across the city while Medusa is free to carry on her work.

Unfortunately things suddenly take a terrible turn. One security officer, missed by Medusa during her entry, discovers her presence and hits the alarm. She has to flee! Dante's goose-chase now becomes a frantic dash to get to an exit point - the nearest being the machine shop they first appeared in, but he is unable to shake the Agent from his tail.

Dante is now trapped and Medusa is out of time. He realizes he must fight the Agent - even though it means certain death - in order to buy time for Medusa to escape with the information she's hacked. He tells the Operator to get Medusa out and then, chanting the mantra "free my mind" to himself, he throws himself into battle! He is good, but not good enough and after an epic kung-fu fight he is thrown against a piece of machinery and a steel pipe pierces his abdomen, killing him.

As Dante dies, Medusa makes it back to the car and to safety - unaware of Dante's immense sacrifice for her own life.

Production

"The Fanimatrix" was filmed in New Zealand. The producers note:

"The film was produced for the intention of developing filmmaking craft and expressing our passion for "The Matrix" saga as well as conveying our gratitude to the persons, studios and companies responsible for its creation."

With an estimated budget of $800NZ ($500US), most of which spent on wardrobe and props, the fan film was shot on a single CCD Sony camcorder on DV tape. Utilizing guerilla filmmaking techniques, the film-makers worked over the course of 9 nights to finish the project. The notable fight sequences were choreographed using the same martial arts system (Wushu) as used in the feature films. Several members of the local stunt industry assisted in the fight sequences and wire-work. The final product was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro non-linear offline video editing software and premiered online on September 27th, 2003, freely hosted by local internet service provider IHUG.

The success of the film garnered the makers with international attention and they featured in news stories in the national paper - The New Zealand Herald - and on Television New Zealand's ONE News.

"The Fanimatrix" was also the subject (along with many other fan films) of an unreleased documentary on "The Matrix" series affectations on popular culture. The documentary was originally slated to be released in the "The Ultimate Matrix Collection", but was not included due to space limitations, and remains unreleased to this day.

Cast

*Dante - Steven A. Davis
*Medusa - Farrah Lipsham
*The Operator - Fasitua Amosa
*The Agent - Vaughan Beckley
*Bald Goth - Mike Edward
*Contact Juggling Goth - Chris Rigby
*Bouncer #1 - Ben Butler-Hogg
*Bouncer #2 - Louis MacAllister
*Security Guard #1 - Andrew Salisbury
*Security Guard #2 - David Fraser
*Security Guard #3 - Dominic Skinner
*Crow - Matt Bennett
*Pedestrian - Eden Phillips

Notes and references

* [http://slashdot.org/articles/03/09/22/1112218.shtml The Matrix Re-done By Fans] on Slashdot
* [http://www.gadgetopia.com/post/1395 "The Fanimatrix"] on Gadgetopia

External links

* [http://www.vimeo.com/754262 Download] "The Fanimatrix: Run Program" Vimeo Host
*imdb title|id=0395147|title=The Fanimatrix
* [http://www.fanimatrix.net Official website] (defunct)
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20031219081128/http://fanimatrix.net/ Fanimatrix] on Internet Archive Wayback Machine (defunct)
* [http://www.fanfilms.net/index.php?cid=50&fid=306 "The Fanimatrix: Run Program"] on fanfilms.net
* [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=55&objectid=3526734 "Viewers rush for net flick"] by Richard Pamatatau on The New Zealand Herald