I really enjoyed watching this movie, not only is it very entertaining and packed with action, but I think it has one of the most compelling plots of any movie I have recently seen. The way that it plays with the idea of reality verses the perceptions we have is novel and delightfully unsettling.
One of the many themes that this movie explores is the actuality of reality verses the illusion that one sees. This is all happening in a post-apocalyptic time, when humans have been over taken by the artificial intelligence they created, and are now used as energy cells. While they are unconscious in harvesting pods, humans experience a computer program that simulates the real world, called The Matrix. The directors did a really good job of transporting the viewer from world to world, and that's what I would like to discuss. The way that the mise-en-scene is created, perfectly enables you to believe that one world is in the other and you can see the difference in mood, lighting and props that illustrate the drastic differences between the two "realities".
In the matrix, everything is very organized, from the cubicles at Neo's office, to the plain professional dress that everyone wears. The lighting is a florescent-greenish hue, and the buildings and sky blend together in a grayish wash. The matrix has a very bland and routine feeling, but at the same time it is comfortable and calming, which is exactly what the machines had intended. In contrast, the real world is the exact opposite. The set of the Nebucadnezzar, their ship, is very dark and crowded, pipes and valves cover the walls, and dark steel grates serve as floors. The wiring for the computers is tangled and runs haphazardly along the ceilings and floor, something that would never be seen in the matrix. It evokes a mood of darkness and resourcefulness much like the humans aboard the ship. Lighting and design play an important role when progressing the plot, for example when Neo meets Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) under the overpass and gets in the car, it is very dark and rainy. At this point the matrix has been clean and boring, but as we see it for what it is; a very dark reality, the setting gets darker, and has a more ominous mood. There are many small setting details throughout the film that add to the fracturing of the perfect world presented as the matrix. Towards the end, in the scene where Neo and his team escape agents by climbing down the walls of an apartment building, you can clearly see how the set design created a mood of chaos and destruction. Tiles are falling off the walls, there is broken glass and graffiti covering the hallways and it is dimly lit and abandoned; our once organized and pleasant view of the matrix is lost just as it becomes lost on Neo. Just as the set and props give way to the corruption of the matrix, the costume design acts as a form of transformation as well. 
In the real world the characters wear torn and ragged clothing, usually dark in color. Unlike the crew of the ship, Morpheus is always wearing his slick black trench coat and his mirror sunglasses, to suggest he is always in control, and unaffected by the grit of the real world. There is a clear juxtaposition once Neo and his crew enter the matrix. Their sleek and menacing black coats are a clear and calculated design tool to highlight their different view of the matrix now that they have been revealed to the real world. The difference in costume design between the two worlds also makes it feel like Neo is now a visitor in the matrix, not just one of the many mindless inhabitants. I see this more towards the end of the movie, as illustrated in the above pictures, we meet him wearing torn gray t-shirts in a post-apocalyptic world, and as he progresses through the movie, gaining power and control in the virtual world, he dons his fully tricked-out black cape with gun belts padding is torso. With his new mirror sunglasses, he looks almost identical to Morpheus, illustrating how he has risen in power and become fully integrated to the real world. One key costume element is the continuity of the uniforms worn by the Agents. They are unchanging throughout the movie, furthering their quality of robot-like behavior and emotion. Their neatly pressed gray suits and anonymous sunglasses convey the lack of human emotion and flaw that the matrix possesses. These are only a few of the many ways that the Mise-en-scene is a key part to the form of a film and how they can tell an underlying story even when you don't realize it. This is what makes a movie feel real and palpable even though it is a made up universe.Works Referenced:
Barsam, Richard Meran., and Dave Monahan. "Chapter 1: Looking at Movies, Chapter 2: Principals of Film Form." Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. 2-62. Print.
The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry
Wachowski.
Warner Bros.
Pictures, 1999. DVD.
"The Matrix (1999)." IMDb. Amazon.com, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/?ref_=ttgf_gf_tt>.
Pictures are screen shots from:
Wachowski, Larry, and Andy Wachowski. "Matrix Trailer HD (1999)." YouTube.
YouTube, 21 May 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
N.d. Photograph. Google. Google. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://static.comicvine.com/uploads
/original/6/68616/1404576- photo_of_neo_from_the_matrix.jpg>.
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