My memory about this is a little bit different. The original Matrix never was that green in the theater or early DVD releases and became it's look overhaul just for the Trilogy Box Set. In fact the original movie had more a tendency to blue than any other color, even the poster was mainly in blue. Which was also a big trend in the years of it's release.
I’m glad someone in the comments pointed this out. All the marketing material leaned towards blue - just check out the original VHS, DVD and soundtrack material plus alternative poster. The colour timing in the first movie were subtle compared to the sequels. It was the introduction of the deluxe DVD trilogy collection (with Animatrix) that there was a deliberate decision to go back and retime the colours of the first film so they were consistent with the sequels. The 4K release essentially is an attempt to ignore the changes.
The DVD trilogy set stuff is correct - when Warner released a big 10-disc complete collection set in 2004, the Wachowskis returned to the original film and re-timed it to match the hues of the sequels. This was discussed at the time in articles on sites like Digital Bits and IGN - for memory this was info direct from Warner, or DP Bill Pope. The 2008 Blu-ray set simply used the HD masters prepared for that 2004 DVD set, which is why it has the same color timing for the first film.
I had the original VHS (official, not bootleg) and both you guys and the author of the video are correct - first home releases were actually quite warm looking and marketing was mostly blue (Soundtrack included). When first HD uploads started appearing, I literally remember thinking "wow, the green tint was bigger giveaway in the original than I thought". One thing I would like to point out is that some remasters might have been influenced by the sequels, since massive fanbase was now fully aware of the green Matrix code aesthetics.
The reason for the changes to the original film can be summed up in two words: the sequels. The Wachowskis and Bill Pope changed the look of the film for the Ultimate Collection DVD release to bring it in line with the sequel aesthetic. The same HD masters were used for the BD releases, although because Warner was dual format at the time they were encoded in VC-1 with low bitrates to support HD DVD, rather than taking advantage of BD's superior specs. The original DVD releases did in fact look way different, almost muddy at times. Years ago I wrote an article on the differences for the now-defunct DVDActive, including comparison screen shots, but that's been lost to time (along with my Star Wars changes comparison articles, which I really wish I'd kept).
At the beginning of this video I was constantly nodding: “yeah, bullet time, trench coats, green color palette, yeah I remember, yeah - wait green? Wasn’t it more like a bluish color palette?!” I only saw early DVDs in the very early 2000s and have never seen the remaster from 2008, so it looks like my memory of The Matrix has been completely different from many others. That’s fascinating! Also the reasons behind it. Thanks for the video!
I saw The Matrix multiple times in the theater in its original run. There was a green tinge when in the Matrix, but it was subtle so you did not notice it at first, but with subsequent viewings you knew which scenes were in the Matrix and which ones were not.
@Peacefield In the original the green hues were a lot more yellow-green. They changed the colour of the tint to match the sequels when it was released on blu ray.
I also watched it back in the day and for me it was more like the 4k bluray, at least for the first movie. I didn't watched reloaded at the theaters but I did watched Revolutions, and revolutions had a yellowish look. I never liked the green tint in the 2008 release for the first movie, but I know it makes sense within the trilogy. The weirdest part for me is Revolutions, it doesn't look like I remember, but I don't mind since it looks more like the first Matrix, the saturation is different the colors are way more vibrant.
I caught two screenings of the original 35mm release print of the Matrix (and in good condition) about a year ago in Los Angeles (one at the New Beverly Cinema, and the other at the Legion Theater). I can confirm the green tint was certainly present, albeit much subtler than the 2008 Blu Ray (therefore discounting any claims that Matrix did not have a green tint at all in its theatrical run), and articles from the 1999 American Cinematographer issue on the Matrix clearly mention that the green was bumped up in the film's color timing as an artistic choice. What was surprised me though was how much the amount of tint varied from scene to scene in the 35mm print I saw; it was very pronounced in the opening scene with Trinity, for instance (I'd say even approaching the level of the 2008 Blu Ray), while Neo's interrogation scene with Agent Smith was much more yellowish-green (like the original 1999 DVD). Meanwhile, the rooftop shootout scene midway in the film was more like the recent 4K remaster (with more cyan hues present), and in a few scenes (notably the lobby shootout scene, and the helicopter scenes), the green tint was barely even there at all. It's also worth mentioning that the 35mm print I saw was also quite contrasty (so NOT like the 1999 DVD release), and also seemed quite a bit desaturated (more so than what the recent 4K remaster would lead you to believe). So to sum it up - from what I could tell, none of the home video releases seem to be a true representation of the original 35mm print, although certain *specific* scenes from each home media release do come pretty close.
Ironic that there's so much debate over what a popular movie like The Matrix originally looked like. Almost like you can't trust what is and isn't reality
This is fascinating! My next project covers a lot about the Matrix and even mentions its color grading as a storytelling technique. I'll now have to look back at all the versions to make sure what I said is correct per the theatrical color grading. Excellent work, keep it up!
Probably the single most important thing about the grade of The Matrix is the fact that it came out a year before O Brother Where Art Thou in 2000 -- That is to say, it was before grading for a whole film was done digitally, and it was happening at the very tail end of the era of all photochemical coloring. That means that in the original theatrical release, the initial telecine wasn't actually that important because any coloring done with printer lights in the telecine on The Matrix wasn't something that directly transferred to the prints shown in theaters. That said, The Matrix obviously did have a ton of digital VFX (by the standards of the time,) so a bunch of the film got scanned. But only the specific scenes with digital VFX were scanned and put on a computer to be manipulated. Scanner time and storage was simply too expensive to scan the whole film at that point, which is why the first "Full Digital Intermediate" film didn't come out until the following year. So the stuff that got scanned, manipulated, and printed could have some degree of digital color tinkering, but that all had to live alongside the stuff that was done 100% with colored lights and literal adjustments to timing in chemicals while developing the film. One of the crucial difficulties of doing coloring with the classic process was that it was basically impossible to add contrast from one step to the next. So if you did something like have a strong green wash, your R and B channels might lose contrast and you'd be stuck with it. When you are doing the home video release for the DVD, it's a completely different toolset, so you have the option of making very different color choices -- including choices which were still physically impossible on the film release in 1999.
I regards to your video, I think the green tint was a happy accident. I say this because I remember the "real world" shots had regular color grading, while the matrix shots had a green tint. I liked the contrast, and always thought it was intentional to have that association with green tint because of how the matrix computer language looked on screen. Anyways, that's my take. The 4K version takes that away and it's not enticing for me to buy because of it.
My one pet peeve with many 4K/UHD remasters is that the skin-tones in SDR end up looking like something from the 1930s and 40s. Like it's been colorized.
They must have remastered the remaster for HBO Max. The skin tones look fine, and there's no overwhelming green tint. Haven't watched the whole thing, but what I've seen looks great.
In the most recent release of Terminator 2 there is a scene where John has florescent lips and it looks HORRIBLE (the terminator explaining to john about the t1000 while they ride the bike at night)
So cool to hear someone talk, even briefly about the LaserDisc version of the film, which, to many LD collectors, looks the closest to what the original looked like. Appreciated and subbed.
I had the 2 disc DVD of _Se7en_ and one of the featurettes went through the colour correction process justifying their changes. I feel like this is an area of film preservation which doesn’t inflame enthusiasts quite as much as removed footage or aspect ratio because the very nature of colour is a much more subjective experience.
The bonus on Seven was really good and showed how much it changed the tone of a scene. I remember the works on Pitt's face in the finale so that it would not be so red. Anyway, few people do notice it.
There is nothing glorious about life. It's a "thing" that unfolds over the period of years and before your skeleton turns too dust leaving only teeth behind, the memory of yours is wiped out. Just look at younger people, like a permutation of your past, they think they got things to accomplish, places to get to. You are getting nowhere eventually. We all just dream in the locked room about being a person we want to be, when all you do is just maintenance of your body and executing instructions from the dumb DNA molecule that tells you to do stuff increasing chances of its replication. You are just a container for the stupid molecule of acid. It creates needs to drive your behaviors, just for you to take it as a free will and agency. It's not. It's just your programming. You know that when you die in Matrix, you die for real? Here is the thing: knowing doesn't make a difference whatsoever. Still going to die. Every year like nail to your coffin.
@@bumwhistler6304 People tell each other stories about how great their lives are, when in reality they need constant distractions to not to think about how pointless their accomplishments are. You don't have to be depressed to recognize that life is a harm to sentient beings.
@@sodalitia oh i know that honestly i just think people are strange for not being able to understand it and instead push a mental disorder to explain my thinking.
the sequels were definitely greener, i prefer the original the old way, it works better thematically, the matrix seems real at the start of the first movie, until we see the colour difference in the much Bluer real world. in the sequels we dont need a big reveal, so it helps the narrative to easilly pick out whether they're in the matrix based on the colour
@@WatchingtheAerial i think the reason is quite simple original was green because of using green screens, so to make editing process easier they added that filter(blue screen will reflect blue light) maybe nowadays it isnt a big of a deal to remove green light from green screen, so they did it, removed green color as much as possible
Your content is awesome man, take your time on the next one and release it whenever. Your channel is never dead as long as you're still alive. Much love to your work on this, fascinating topic.
I watched this movie repeatedly when it came out in 99... on VHS. I remember the "matrix" scenes looking very green. Ive never owned or seen it on dvd , just vhs and I completely recall the green saturation.
I had the VHS and later DVD with the balanced colours version. For years I was thinking "Why is this just daytime shots of Sydney that looks like an Australian TV show, why did I think this looked more impressive in the cinema?" In recent years everyone's talking about the "green tint" of the original Matrix and it was like a Mandela Effect for me. This video... explains... so much. I can finally sleep tonight.
This is exactly why Criterion became a company as they color corrected every frame from a fresh positive made from the original negative wherever possible.
This is a really great video. I recently saw the film for the first time in many years and was shocked to see that it wasn't nearly as green as I remembered. Now I know why.
You can find 35mm cell scans at www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwju1ZDluY3mAhVBC6wKHa0GAL4Qjhx6BAgBEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Foriginaltrilogy.com%2Ftopic%2FThe-Matrix-35mm%2Fid%2F16098%2Fpage%2F6&psig=AOvVaw3dh_6RGXwrqPB4OfA5bokn&ust=1575049128952316
It definitely always had the green color pallet to some degree. My friends and I were obsessed with it when it came out in 1999 and watched it repeatedly in the theater, the green tint was a notable stylistic choice.
@Aggressive Filmmaker There always was a green tint, no one is saying there wasn't. The 4K version also has a green tint. It's just that the green filter was severely cranked up on the Blu-Ray.
Imagine a point in time where, when watching any old movie, you could easily select which version of it you wanted, and most importantly the defaults were good. I didn't knew so many of them were in this bad condition.
It's funny how when I was a 90s kid, I watched so many films from the 60/70/80s that already looked outdated. But The Matrix just has that timeless edge, even 23 years later. This scene in particular is absolute class.
Mastering technology has a lot more to do with that than the merits of the original material. So many pre-90's films on video were simply misrepresented by crude telecine and mastering ending up on a low-res home video format. Nowadays with digital scans at the highest resolution, we can see how fantastic and timeless the work of, say, cinematographer William H. Daniels or director Josef von Sternberg was in the 1930's.
The green tinge is not noticeable to most when you first watch the movie, until they take it away, when the first scenes outside of the matrix takes place. After that you start to notice it more and more and the alien, post apocalyptic world begin to seem more real and the 2000s "normal" world seems unreal.
I think the matrix world is actually in the late 80's judging by the computer tech level. Remember smiths words about how as soon as computers started thinking "for us" it became their world.
@@bobdeinterlace Thanks, it was supposed to tackle on the y2k scare we had, people thought world going to come at halt in 2000 due to computers being computed for 20th century
Thanks for digging through this. I missed The Matrix in theatres and caught it on VHS and later DVD. The remastered DVD was deliberately intended to bring the original movie closer to the extreme blue/green digital colour grade of the sequels but was controversial even at the time as you might imagine. When I finally saw the punchy, very 1990s colour grade of the 4K remaster (in the theatre at last!) I was agog.
Great job on breaking down the color grading process, and exploring how a film's look can change over many different versions. Very well done! However, as pertains to The Matrix, I believe you're missing some of the original context. (And since your analysis is three years old, maybe this is information you have learned since then, but I'll write it in case it can be useful.) Digital color grading became mainstream in the early 2000s, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" being a famous early case. Back in 1999, The Matrix was most likely graded photochemically, a costly endeavor that didn't afford much flexibility, explaining the original "neutral" look. After the two sequels came out in 2003 (digitally graded and sporting the green look we're all familiar with), Warner produced a trilogy boxset, which (to my knowledge) is the first time the original film was seen with that green tint. Did the Wachowski siblings always intend for the film to look like that, or was it a bit of revisionism to ensure uniformity across the trilogy? Hard to tell, but probably a little bit of both. Now I don't know the specifics of what went on during the film's latest remastering, but there's an industry-wide tendency to give 80s and 90s movies revisionist teal and orange color gradings, most likely in an effort to make them more appealing to younger viewers, who are used to modern movies. Off the top of my head, I've seen it in Con Air, Top Gun, Blade, Aliens, The Terminator, T2, and most importantly, in fellow Warner releases Batman and Batman Returns. Now, I don't mean to imply that original DP Bill Pope didn't approve this version; it's quite possible he did. But my point is that the newer teal/green/orange look is probably not an attempt to correct past mistakes, but most likely another revisionist take on the film's look to make it "more appealing". So which is the true version? If you're looking for historical accuracy, it's probably the neutral one. If artistic intent matters more, then the question becomes "Who made the call for each version? The filmmakers? The DP? The studio?" You mention Se7en, which is an interesting topic, since in the DVD extras, Fincher specifically mentions changing the color grade between the theatrical presentation and the DVD remaster, reminding us that a director's vision is constantly evolving, making this a very murky topic...
"How can we add teal and orange into this classic movie's look? That's what all the kids like these days..." "Uh but boss, we really should try to preserve the original green...-" "Teal and orange!!!!!!!"
I thought the orange grade for Top Gun was only on the 3D version. And I heard it was done to make the 3D pop more because the 3D wouldn't work with how the movie was lit originally. I've been meaning to watch Top Gun and because I love 3D movies so I'm thinking of watching that version for my first viewing. I plan on getting the 3D Blu-ray which also comes with a 2D disc.
@@chrisfratzRegardless of why it was done, the 2020 2D Blu-Ray has the revisionist color grade, so it has sadly become the de facto official version of the film. Still, color is only one aspect of the film, so I hope you enjoy the movie!
@@alexandremullen4293 that is unfortunate for sure. Like I said I only ever known that the 3D Blu-ray had a different color grade in order to make the 3D pop. The copy I did order does come with a 2D Blu-ray so I'm curious to see if the grade on the 1080p 2D disc I'll get is different. And yeah, I'm excited to sit down and watch Top Gun for the first time. And if I like it it maybe I'll check out Maverick afterwards.
It's crazy seeing the 4K vs. BluRay color shift, the 4K was like unlocking all the memories of having seen it in the theater (which I did at least 11 times). I remember watching the BluRay for the first time after not having seen the movies in a while and going "its so cheesy how green they made everything, I don't remember this... must have just been my mind as a kid making it look nicer". Nope.
But it's not "Directed-approved" but cinematographer-approuved". The 4K version is maybe more true to the original version but the blu-ray version is more true to the vision of the Washowski. It's obvious that they wanted the Matrix world to look like very green in Reloaded and Revolutions and in Matrix 4 (no spoiler) we see some flash-back of the first film and they are green like the blu-ray version so it's obviously the blu-ray version that is the "Director's coloring". It's like the special editions for Star Wars, they are true to the vision of Georges Lucas but not true to the original version. Now witch is the "good" version is more dificulte to say (for The Matrix I personnaly prefere the blu-ray version)
It is very clear to me how to correctly color The Matrix: 1. Every scene in the virtual world should be lit green, like the "incorrect" home releases. 2. Every scene in the real world should be lit warm, like the theatrical release. Colors tell the story.
The greenish tint of the Blu Ray version was unwatchable. Sorry if you grew up with it, but this version is just wrong. They just wanted to adapt the film to the colors of the two bad sequels. I'm glad to finally see the film as I remember it.
@@chadchampion6773 That was the case in the two bad sequels. Yeah, sure it is intentional, but is only retcon. The original wasn´t so ugly green when he came out.
The original print of the Matrix did have the green tint (I saw a 35mm print in theaters last year); it just wasn't crazy over the top like the 2008 Blu-ray's was.
I love that out of nowhere the algorithm can take a video like this and shoot to the moon, literally years after it was made! So weird, but I would love to see more videos in this style! Hopefully the creator of this channel comes back and realises that there is an audience out there! :)
@Adrian Vegas when I made this comment the hype train about the new Matrix films hadn't started up. Like yeah people knew it was coming but promotion hadn't started. RUclips had a habit of rocketing videos years after they have been made.
@Adrian Vegas That is true, but, I came here in the same way as many others apparently did, through the recommendations page. (judging by the overwhelming comments at the time I came across this video) Statistically the vast majority of "viral" views (meaning views not generated by the persons natural following) on RUclips isn't from people searching content, it is by the algorithm serving videos to people through recommendations and the side bar. That is why I specifically mention the algorithm, I didn't search for this, I didn't view any Matrix related content before this, this was a random video with an interesting title served to me by the algorithm. It appeared on my feed mixed in with the normal movie/gaming/science content I view. The hype over the new film probably triggered something in the algorithm to start serving more Matrix related content around 4 months ago, then the increase of click through rate and watch time on this video served it to more people which gave it a massive boom. It is relatively rare for a video to get the majority of views years after publication, when it does happen it is normally specifically algorithm related There are some very interesting breakdowns of how these things work by channels like Veritasium. Algorithm is King on YT
@Adrian Vegas yeah, you just summed up exactly what I said about the algorithm. an increase in search ranking of The Matrix caused the algorithm to serve more content related to The Matrix who have a shared interest based on common viewing habits, out of that this video found popularity way beyond what it would have done! I never said it was "mystical" or even expressed any kind of wonder in this. My love came purely from that this dude, years ago made a couple video essays. Got a few thousand subs, then, two years later, this video gets served to literally millions of people (based of the click through rate to imaged served ratio) and the video earned a massive jump in views. This can, and is directly attributed to the algorithm, as seen by the comments of this video.
I caught two screenings of the original 35mm release print of the Matrix (and in good condition) about a year ago in Los Angeles (one at the New Beverly Cinema, and the other at the Legion Theater). I can confirm the green tint was certainly present, albeit much subtler than the 2008 Blu Ray (therefore discounting any claims that Matrix did not have a green tint at all in its theatrical run), and articles from the 1999 American Cinematographer issue on the Matrix clearly mention that the green was bumped up in the film's color timing as an artistic choice. What surprised me though was how much the amount of tint varied from scene to scene in the 35mm print I saw; it was very pronounced in the opening scene with Trinity, for instance (I'd say even approaching the level of the 2008 Blu Ray), while Neo's interrogation scene with Agent Smith was much more yellowish-green (like the original 1999 DVD). Meanwhile, the rooftop shootout scene midway in the film was more like the recent 4K remaster (with more cyan hues present), and in a few scenes (notably the lobby shootout scene, and the helicopter scenes), the green tint was barely even there at all. It's also worth mentioning that the 35mm print I saw was also quite contrasty (so NOT like the 1999 DVD release), and also seemed quite a bit desaturated (more so than what the recent 4K remaster would lead you to believe). So to sum it up - from what I could tell, none of the home video releases seem to be a true representation of the original 35mm print, although certain specific scenes from each home media release do come pretty close.
When Cinderella (2015) came to Blu Ray and DVD, i saw that the entire film looked like it had been passed through a yellow filter destroying the look of how it was intended and it was very oversaturated during post production.
I was under the impression (can’t remember where I picked it up) that theatrical cut scenes within The Matrix were intentionally hued with that famous green, and scenes taking place in The Real were more natural tones or slightly blue. Great analysis by the way. Subbed.
So to leave the green unreal world, you take the red pill to finally see the blue true world And add all this together, it is a journey to the white enlightenment
The theatrical cut _did_ have the scenes in the Matrix hued green - it was just far more subtle than the uniform green tinge like the Bluray did it. For example the sky inside the Matrix is never blue.
Such a cool discovery! Thank you for your research and insight on this. It's crazy how different the Matrices are. It's hard to tell which one is "better".
I never saw The Matrix in theaters, and I also never saw the bluray version, so when I saw the 4K bluray I was completely blown away by how good this movie looked.
I definitely prefer the 2008 blu-ray over the 4K remaster. The all-encompassing green filter is one of my favorite things about The Matrix universe. It being gone does make sense though in Resurrections after the ending of Revolutions.
Still to this day we don't have a watchable version of the original theatrical version to look at. There are some stratched up 35mm prints online but they don't do the job for me. Its a shame because the original color grade is the best by far.
I’ve seen the Matrix trilogy countless times and I always liked how the Matrix is green, the real world is blue, and the machine city (through Neo’s eyes) is yellow. The fact that they messed this up makes me want to avoid the 4K version
You gotta empathize with the people that saw the film at the theatre and then were never allowed to see it again in the same way they saw it at the teather, now they can finally re-watch it just like the first time, whether the Green Tint fits the Matrix or not, you like it because that's what it looked like the first time you saw it, same goes for them.
I think the more greenish tint of the BluRay version supports the story quite well. Also the look ties the trilogy together visually. This may not have been the intention of the cinematographer, but it makes sense on a certain level and is therefore my favourite version.
The greenish tint of the Blu Ray version was unwatchable. Sorry if you grew up with it, but this version is just wrong. They just wanted to adapt the film to the colors of the two bad sequels. I'm glad to finally see the film as I remember it.
@@coramunro85 Nothing to be sorry about. I never saw the movie in cinema. The sequels may not be as good as the original movie, although I like reloaded for its world building, but from a color language point of view the green tint makes perfect sense and tells the viewer there is something off in the reality of the Matrix on a subconscious level. Since the sequels were released just a few years later and extended the visual language I'm perfectly fine with the choice to retroactively adapt the color scheme for the original. I'm just a bit irritated when I see the original posters and boxart without any green tint 😅
The trilogy sucks. The Matrix stands on its own. I hate it when they try to make films in the same series look the same without them originally having been like that. It’s a sin.
The original never had the green tint, as you said, & The Wachowki's went back after doing 2 and 3 and changed 1st movie to match the green tinting. So your guess was correct. It was all over the internet when it first came out. The newest 4k release is the closes I've seen to the original colors, with a few caveats of course.
He doesn't take into account the equipment needed to correctly portray 4K, you need a certified ultra high speed HDMI 2.1 cable & the right settings so this guy more than likely streamed the blu-ray next to the 4K with equipment not prepared to handle the information. I paid 100 for 3feet of ultra high speed 2.1 HDMI cable & 4K on my television with proper input & proper settings looks fucking amazing.
@@Shadoefax760 You don't need an HDMI 2.1 to correctly portray 4k, unless you are going for 4k 60fps or more. The 2.1 standard has more bandwidth that allows for higher refresh rates at higher resolutions. Most film is natively 24fps, which can be handled by pre 2.1 spec cables @ the 4k resolution.
I enjoyed both. I wasn’t completely aware of what was different but after watching this I understand why the “mood” changed when watching the 4K version recently. The 4K version didn’t feel as fantasy as the previous versions. I didn’t feel as immersed but it was still great. I mean I also have the Blu-ray if I really wanted to experience it that way again.
Thanks for this excellent video! Just enjoying it now. The Matrix is such a good example because the color grade is there for everyone to notice, and different points of entry (like the DVD for me) end up being “definitive” for different people. Personally I assumed that, rather than treating their movies like art, they treated the original matrix like a product, matching it up with the more aggressive and artificial green in the sequels. Unfortunately for me, the DVD is still the only one that looks right. The city Neo was living in only became known as an illusion a ways in so I’ve always felt that making it more neutral, or at least a little more blue, was the only “right” choice, and they gave the action in those scenes more realism and impact.
Thanks for the video, very helpful! I'll still buy the trilogy in this new weird natural color version because I only have it on DVD and want to see it in HD but I'll keep those DVD's forever!
Fun fact: from scans of 35mm theatrical prints we know that the original theatrical release of the matrix had no specific tinting. It's kind of jarring to look at actually, but it explains a lot since the archival negative probably has no tinting either
When I got the 4K and started watching, what put me off was the grain. I immediately went, "why is this so grainy?" I played the DVD to compare, and although color and effects look better, it doesn't look that grainy. I don't really remember if the theater release was that grainy, but on that element, to me, the DVD is better.
In the BTS the producers talk about how they lowered the blue channel in scenes taking place in the matrix. There is an intentional green tinting in any "in-the-Matrix" scene.
Subbed. For the love of god do more of these videos! Very very insightful. I first thought you were a major youtube channel with hopefully a couple of dozen videos like this. But come to find out you only had 287 (now 288 :D) subs. Very proud to have found you this early. Keep up the good work my friend.
That could be the reason when i watched matrix reloaded last night on cinemax hd i noticed that when neo trinity is in the matrix with monica belluci it doesnt look or feel like they are in the matrix because most of the green tint were corrected. I thought it was just my tv but guess what cinemax aired is the restored version because itwas not like that on my dvd set
Very good video well done! How have you not got more subs? You've got 1 more now! BTW I've just got a ps5 and played matrix for first time other day 4k version and I like the updated original look better. Looks so good! What are the best copies of movies you know? I think the ps5 4k blu ray player upscales the standard blu rays too so I'm going to go back and watch some not even sure I need the 4k versions if it's up scaling on both the player and on the tv doing it too you could be fooled to think it actually is 4k! Just watched all standard blu ray John wicks and looked incredible!
dude believe it or not i have never seen the matrix, shocking i know! Im going to order the trilogy but dont know if i should get the Blu Ray trilogy for £14 or the 4k Trilogy for £40 ive also got a PS5, which is worth it?
This came up in my RUclips recommended. I had to actually check my copy to see for myself, and you are right -- Everything is super green, given it is the older Bluray. Might need to pick up the remastered so I have the real version.
It's dificulte to say Witch is the real version. The cinematographer approuved the 4K release and said that it's more true to the original look but the 2008 blu-ray version seems to be more true to the vision of the Washowski (you just have to look like the sequels or the flash back scenes of the first movie in Resurrections to be convinced). Personnaly I prefere the 2008 blu-ray version
Its on HBO. Thats funny you mentioned it. I just watched it yesterday. Amazing a lot of shot give way more depth to some characters... And its almost 4 hours long wow wow !!!!
Have you ever seen the workprint version of the film with the watermark? It was the first version I saw back in 1999. No color grading difference of any kind throughout the entire movie. Completely neutral colors like you'd see from a camera shooting the film from BTS. I was able to find it on 'the spleen' a few years ago. I'm holding onto it for preservation purposes lol.
@@mr.smith45 you're the one that has it, you'd have to tell me. workprints of big movies like that out in the wild are very rare. it can give us all a glimpse into the creative process of these movies that we rarely get to see.
I bought the original dvd that came after the theatrical run and the green color grading is seared into my mind. But one thing I noticed is that the green color grading is not uniform throughout the film. It is only apparent when the characters are in the Matrix. This makes me think that this grading was only done to show the differences between settings. I wonder if there is anyone that can confirm this.
my understanding is that the way the earliest DVDs looked is how the film was released theatrically. then after the sequels came out, it was the directors themselves who recoloured it to match them more closely. this was part of their artistic intention for the film. green represents the matrix and blue represents the real world. you basically never see blue within the matrix, and the only green in the real world is the matrix code itself. so that is the definitive colouration this new version you're showing here looks very patchy and inconsistent, with blue showing up all over the scenes within the matrix. that goes against the directors' intentions
Pure coincidence! I just started rewatching this film in 4K yesterday and the color confused me. Since I have old copies on my hard drive and I have watched it thousands of times, I can tell how different the 4K version is. What amazed me now is how RUclips knows I watched it on my TV yesterday and sent me here!😓
So glad you highlighted this i always thought the dvd versions looked too green compared to the cinema in comparison. I thought it might have been filmed on a certain stock a certain brand of film used while making these movies because I've noticed a fair few films looked a certain way almost off colour and weird. As you said in the video a certain film filter colourist probably was responsible ill have to check out them in 4k might be able to watch them without frustration trying to get rid of the overly green tint
Dude, the extended version of Fellowship on Blu-Ray is so green it actually distracts me from the movie. Glad the 4k versions returned to a color grading more similar to the dvds. Great video.
THey're trying to make it look like a modern movie. Everything's blue and orange these days, movies don't really have a color "cast" like they used to. and they tried to add those colors to a movie with a green cast, shot on particular film to give it that look on purpose. Doesn't quite work to change it years later in a computer.
Watching those security guards go down in real time felt bizarre. And this is wild. I'm almost 30 but I always remember it being green, and its been my favorite movie since I was about 8 years old. Clearly the later versions just overwrote my recollection of the earlier ones. Wild...
I like the green tint to the original film. It was there for a purpose. To show when they were in the matrix. Outside of the computer generated world the colour was normal. I think it was a total sin to remove the green from the "inside" scenes. While we're at it, let's change The Wizard of Oz's yellow brick road to red and modify the movie audio and song to say the red instead of yellow. Come on now... Leave it alone. Just make it more resolution and look better and keep the damn colours alone!
But the original release never had the heavy green tint until years later. The re-release of the first movie changed the color grading to match Matrix 2 & 3.
Yeah I feel like it gives away more of the original Matrix movie away I mean pretty sure it took me several viewings to even notice the subtle color difference to signify when a person was in the Matrix vs outside it.
I don't think you watched the video. The excessive green tint was NOT in the original film. Subsequent remasters emphasized it for some reason, and when the original editor redid it for the new 4K version, he did it how it was SUPPOSED to be. Yes the green is there for a reason, and it still is, but it's toned way down to the way it was supposed to be.
I grew up on the VHS from 2000ish. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that being a bit more bluer in scheme, similar to the 4K. I may just be associating that with the box art though, which was primarily blue and white.
I actually have been saying this about the true colours of remaster immediately after seeing it in the cinema at the 20th anniversary. It even is in my channel in a clip where I briefly share my experience of seeing The Matrix in a cinema theatre 20 years into my fandom. You have no idea how much it means to me to see a proof that I was right in my impressions!!!
I feel like removing the green tinting for the remaster is a disservice to the visual narrative and tone of the movie. It gave the in-Matrix scenes a surreal feeling that contrasted well with the regularly color balanced real-world scenes, lending itself to the idea that you're actually watching the inside of a computer program. It works remarkably well after the first 30 minutes or so, once Neo is finally brought into the real world and we go from this dull green filter for an entire half an hour to the striking blues and reds of him waking up in his pod and looking out onto the machine world.
How do you not understand that the movie did not have the green tint originally? It doesn't make it look "surreal," it makes it look like shit, like every other movie with an overdone tint. Removing it doesn't do a "disservice" to anything. It restores the film to its original greatness.
@@aolson1111 like damn bro do you even want to have a discussion or just want to insult people's intelligence on RUclips comments. Also, liking your own comment? Really? That's pathetic. Touch grass, get laid
My older brother had a negative film when he used to work in the movie theater. I remember found it the bathroom looking at the part the agent dodging the pallets. Probably in a landfill
I was one the Matrix groupies that bought any Matrix material. The 4K remaster has the same color scheme to the original photos. Just see the posters that were blue. Same thing with the sequels.
I remember noticing in the theater that the green washes in Matrix 2 and 3 were more intense than in 1, where it was quite subtle. The versions of The Matrix I've seen on home media since then have either had it too strong (like the later films) or barely present.
For years I was watching that original skin-tone-balanced version thinking "I swore this looked better watching in the theatre, now it looks like a TV show, wtf?". Sure enough, we didn't get that theatre version on home video until 2008. Really messed with my head.
The 2020 “Skywalker Saga” release of the Star Wars films, featured new Blu-ray transfers. The new transfers for A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back are AWFUL! Loved the previous transfer and will stick with them.
Thanks for this. I was lucky enough to see The Matrix in it's original run and actually used it as the subject in my Art of Film class. When I bought it on Blu-Ray I remember thinking that I didn't remember the Matrix being so obviously artificial, but didn't really know why. Heading to Amazon to get the 4K edition now...
My memory about this is a little bit different. The original Matrix never was that green in the theater or early DVD releases and became it's look overhaul just for the Trilogy Box Set. In fact the original movie had more a tendency to blue than any other color, even the poster was mainly in blue. Which was also a big trend in the years of it's release.
The scenes in the matrix have more of a green tinted and the ones in the real world have a blue tint.
I’m glad someone in the comments pointed this out. All the marketing material leaned towards blue - just check out the original VHS, DVD and soundtrack material plus alternative poster. The colour timing in the first movie were subtle compared to the sequels. It was the introduction of the deluxe DVD trilogy collection (with Animatrix) that there was a deliberate decision to go back and retime the colours of the first film so they were consistent with the sequels. The 4K release essentially is an attempt to ignore the changes.
The DVD trilogy set stuff is correct - when Warner released a big 10-disc complete collection set in 2004, the Wachowskis returned to the original film and re-timed it to match the hues of the sequels. This was discussed at the time in articles on sites like Digital Bits and IGN - for memory this was info direct from Warner, or DP Bill Pope. The 2008 Blu-ray set simply used the HD masters prepared for that 2004 DVD set, which is why it has the same color timing for the first film.
I had the original VHS (official, not bootleg) and both you guys and the author of the video are correct - first home releases were actually quite warm looking and marketing was mostly blue (Soundtrack included). When first HD uploads started appearing, I literally remember thinking "wow, the green tint was bigger giveaway in the original than I thought". One thing I would like to point out is that some remasters might have been influenced by the sequels, since massive fanbase was now fully aware of the green Matrix code aesthetics.
I remember the DVD. Very green.
The reason for the changes to the original film can be summed up in two words: the sequels. The Wachowskis and Bill Pope changed the look of the film for the Ultimate Collection DVD release to bring it in line with the sequel aesthetic. The same HD masters were used for the BD releases, although because Warner was dual format at the time they were encoded in VC-1 with low bitrates to support HD DVD, rather than taking advantage of BD's superior specs. The original DVD releases did in fact look way different, almost muddy at times.
Years ago I wrote an article on the differences for the now-defunct DVDActive, including comparison screen shots, but that's been lost to time (along with my Star Wars changes comparison articles, which I really wish I'd kept).
Algorithm sent me here. Kinda insane that this was 2 years ago. Would love to see more content like this.
Same here.
@@MarcosZanet that makes three of us
Same
same
Yeah especially about the original LOTR trilogy changing color so much
Proper use of “Clubbed to Death” 🎵
proper version too!!! ironically, this song has sooo many versions, remasters and remixes
At the beginning of this video I was constantly nodding: “yeah, bullet time, trench coats, green color palette, yeah I remember, yeah - wait green? Wasn’t it more like a bluish color palette?!” I only saw early DVDs in the very early 2000s and have never seen the remaster from 2008, so it looks like my memory of The Matrix has been completely different from many others. That’s fascinating! Also the reasons behind it. Thanks for the video!
I saw The Matrix multiple times in the theater in its original run. There was a green tinge when in the Matrix, but it was subtle so you did not notice it at first, but with subsequent viewings you knew which scenes were in the Matrix and which ones were not.
@Peacefield I wish you could talk to just about anybody about such things without being considered eccentric.
@Peacefield In the original the green hues were a lot more yellow-green. They changed the colour of the tint to match the sequels when it was released on blu ray.
I also watched it back in the day and for me it was more like the 4k bluray, at least for the first movie. I didn't watched reloaded at the theaters but I did watched Revolutions, and revolutions had a yellowish look. I never liked the green tint in the 2008 release for the first movie, but I know it makes sense within the trilogy. The weirdest part for me is Revolutions, it doesn't look like I remember, but I don't mind since it looks more like the first Matrix, the saturation is different the colors are way more vibrant.
I caught two screenings of the original 35mm release print of the Matrix (and in good condition) about a year ago in Los Angeles (one at the New Beverly Cinema, and the other at the Legion Theater). I can confirm the green tint was certainly present, albeit much subtler than the 2008 Blu Ray (therefore discounting any claims that Matrix did not have a green tint at all in its theatrical run), and articles from the 1999 American Cinematographer issue on the Matrix clearly mention that the green was bumped up in the film's color timing as an artistic choice. What was surprised me though was how much the amount of tint varied from scene to scene in the 35mm print I saw; it was very pronounced in the opening scene with Trinity, for instance (I'd say even approaching the level of the 2008 Blu Ray), while Neo's interrogation scene with Agent Smith was much more yellowish-green (like the original 1999 DVD). Meanwhile, the rooftop shootout scene midway in the film was more like the recent 4K remaster (with more cyan hues present), and in a few scenes (notably the lobby shootout scene, and the helicopter scenes), the green tint was barely even there at all. It's also worth mentioning that the 35mm print I saw was also quite contrasty (so NOT like the 1999 DVD release), and also seemed quite a bit desaturated (more so than what the recent 4K remaster would lead you to believe). So to sum it up - from what I could tell, none of the home video releases seem to be a true representation of the original 35mm print, although certain *specific* scenes from each home media release do come pretty close.
Ironic that there's so much debate over what a popular movie like The Matrix originally looked like. Almost like you can't trust what is and isn't reality
This is fascinating! My next project covers a lot about the Matrix and even mentions its color grading as a storytelling technique. I'll now have to look back at all the versions to make sure what I said is correct per the theatrical color grading. Excellent work, keep it up!
Is that cyber punk part 3
glad you doing something else than streaming
because green tint sucks just look at resident evil 5
Probably the single most important thing about the grade of The Matrix is the fact that it came out a year before O Brother Where Art Thou in 2000 -- That is to say, it was before grading for a whole film was done digitally, and it was happening at the very tail end of the era of all photochemical coloring. That means that in the original theatrical release, the initial telecine wasn't actually that important because any coloring done with printer lights in the telecine on The Matrix wasn't something that directly transferred to the prints shown in theaters.
That said, The Matrix obviously did have a ton of digital VFX (by the standards of the time,) so a bunch of the film got scanned. But only the specific scenes with digital VFX were scanned and put on a computer to be manipulated. Scanner time and storage was simply too expensive to scan the whole film at that point, which is why the first "Full Digital Intermediate" film didn't come out until the following year. So the stuff that got scanned, manipulated, and printed could have some degree of digital color tinkering, but that all had to live alongside the stuff that was done 100% with colored lights and literal adjustments to timing in chemicals while developing the film. One of the crucial difficulties of doing coloring with the classic process was that it was basically impossible to add contrast from one step to the next. So if you did something like have a strong green wash, your R and B channels might lose contrast and you'd be stuck with it. When you are doing the home video release for the DVD, it's a completely different toolset, so you have the option of making very different color choices -- including choices which were still physically impossible on the film release in 1999.
I regards to your video, I think the green tint was a happy accident. I say this because I remember the "real world" shots had regular color grading, while the matrix shots had a green tint. I liked the contrast, and always thought it was intentional to have that association with green tint because of how the matrix computer language looked on screen. Anyways, that's my take. The 4K version takes that away and it's not enticing for me to buy because of it.
God why is the Matrix so fucking good. I can just rewatch it over and over and never get sick of it.
That Lord of the Rings wasn't bad either - I hear they're bringing out a book of it. Madness.
But only the first one I guess. 😅
The Wachowski brothers were effing geniuses. The later two films may not be as good, but they still have a special place in my heart.
@@axolet They are the Wachowski sisters now.
I didn't know yall have Tv's
My one pet peeve with many 4K/UHD remasters is that the skin-tones in SDR end up looking like something from the 1930s and 40s. Like it's been colorized.
They must have remastered the remaster for HBO Max. The skin tones look fine, and there's no overwhelming green tint. Haven't watched the whole thing, but what I've seen looks great.
Because your device doesn't downconvert/remap the HDR to SDR properly.
It’s almost like that’s how the medium of film looks you numbskull
In the most recent release of Terminator 2 there is a scene where John has florescent lips and it looks HORRIBLE (the terminator explaining to john about the t1000 while they ride the bike at night)
Yep, way too much magenta.
So cool to hear someone talk, even briefly about the LaserDisc version of the film, which, to many LD collectors, looks the closest to what the original looked like.
Appreciated and subbed.
You mean it's not the same master and grade as the DVD?
I had the 2 disc DVD of _Se7en_ and one of the featurettes went through the colour correction process justifying their changes.
I feel like this is an area of film preservation which doesn’t inflame enthusiasts quite as much as removed footage or aspect ratio because the very nature of colour is a much more subjective experience.
The bonus on Seven was really good and showed how much it changed the tone of a scene. I remember the works on Pitt's face in the finale so that it would not be so red. Anyway, few people do notice it.
@Aggressive Filmmaker
I think that would still count as subjective but just what’s popular versus what’s not.
'the matix is 20 years old now'...like a knife to my heart. fk im old.
There is nothing glorious about life. It's a "thing" that unfolds over the period of years and before your skeleton turns too dust leaving only teeth behind, the memory of yours is wiped out. Just look at younger people, like a permutation of your past, they think they got things to accomplish, places to get to. You are getting nowhere eventually. We all just dream in the locked room about being a person we want to be, when all you do is just maintenance of your body and executing instructions from the dumb DNA molecule that tells you to do stuff increasing chances of its replication. You are just a container for the stupid molecule of acid. It creates needs to drive your behaviors, just for you to take it as a free will and agency. It's not. It's just your programming. You know that when you die in Matrix, you die for real? Here is the thing: knowing doesn't make a difference whatsoever. Still going to die. Every year like nail to your coffin.
@@sodalitia ppl think im depressed when i share views like this.
@@bumwhistler6304 People tell each other stories about how great their lives are, when in reality they need constant distractions to not to think about how pointless their accomplishments are. You don't have to be depressed to recognize that life is a harm to sentient beings.
@@sodalitia oh i know that honestly i just think people are strange for not being able to understand it and instead push a mental disorder to explain my thinking.
@Vasy What is nihilism?
I thought that whenever they're "In the Matrix" the green filter is applied, while in "the real world" colour grading is neutral or warm.
Yeah that was my impression too, most of the shots when Neo is unplugged from the Matrix are far more blue tones compared to when he's plugged in.
Yep. That was pretty obvious in the theaters when I first watched this movie. Looks like the re-masters screwed it up big time!
the sequels were definitely greener, i prefer the original the old way, it works better thematically, the matrix seems real at the start of the first movie, until we see the colour difference in the much Bluer real world. in the sequels we dont need a big reveal, so it helps the narrative to easilly pick out whether they're in the matrix based on the colour
you're right. I seen 35mm prints from the original run and that's how it is, even with some degradation.
@@theblackestvoid 35mm all the way sir , the host should do a comparison coz that's its natural base form colouration.
Still come back to this video often. Insanely good analysis.
glad to hear i'm not the only one who's into these crazy specific topics, thanks!
@@WatchingtheAerial honestly can't get enough of it! Do you plan on covering topics like this at any point in the future?
@@BR-ty3hx got a couple things potentially in the works, keep an eye out
@@WatchingtheAerial is there a 1999 4k version ?
@@WatchingtheAerial i think the reason is quite simple
original was green because of using green screens, so to make editing process easier they added that filter(blue screen will reflect blue light)
maybe nowadays it isnt a big of a deal to remove green light from green screen, so they did it, removed green color as much as possible
Everybody is getting this recommended. I think this is a sign you should come back.
Keanu style... "yeah, I think I'm back!"
def
Your content is awesome man, take your time on the next one and release it whenever. Your channel is never dead as long as you're still alive. Much love to your work on this, fascinating topic.
I watched this movie repeatedly when it came out in 99... on VHS. I remember the "matrix" scenes looking very green. Ive never owned or seen it on dvd , just vhs and I completely recall the green saturation.
I had the VHS and later DVD with the balanced colours version. For years I was thinking "Why is this just daytime shots of Sydney that looks like an Australian TV show, why did I think this looked more impressive in the cinema?" In recent years everyone's talking about the "green tint" of the original Matrix and it was like a Mandela Effect for me. This video... explains... so much. I can finally sleep tonight.
That green saturation is the most pure, true and senior version IMO.
This is exactly why Criterion became a company as they color corrected every frame from a fresh positive made from the original negative wherever possible.
I've never seen a movie that Criterion dig not butcher in both video and audio. I wish those people would just go away.
This is a really great video. I recently saw the film for the first time in many years and was shocked to see that it wasn't nearly as green as I remembered. Now I know why.
You can find 35mm cell scans at www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwju1ZDluY3mAhVBC6wKHa0GAL4Qjhx6BAgBEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Foriginaltrilogy.com%2Ftopic%2FThe-Matrix-35mm%2Fid%2F16098%2Fpage%2F6&psig=AOvVaw3dh_6RGXwrqPB4OfA5bokn&ust=1575049128952316
It definitely always had the green color pallet to some degree. My friends and I were obsessed with it when it came out in 1999 and watched it repeatedly in the theater, the green tint was a notable stylistic choice.
no one said it didn't
@Aggressive Filmmaker Watch the video.
@Aggressive Filmmaker There always was a green tint, no one is saying there wasn't. The 4K version also has a green tint. It's just that the green filter was severely cranked up on the Blu-Ray.
@Aggressive Filmmaker But the video doesn't say that, and neither am I.
You're wrong. There are 35mm release print scans on youtube proving you wron. ruclips.net/video/Ow1KDYc9XsE/видео.html
Imagine a point in time where, when watching any old movie, you could easily select which version of it you wanted, and most importantly the defaults were good. I didn't knew so many of them were in this bad condition.
Ask George Lucas to release the original cut of Star Wars.
That ending to this video is so meta when you consider the message of the 4th film.
It's funny how when I was a 90s kid, I watched so many films from the 60/70/80s that already looked outdated. But The Matrix just has that timeless edge, even 23 years later. This scene in particular is absolute class.
Mastering technology has a lot more to do with that than the merits of the original material. So many pre-90's films on video were simply misrepresented by crude telecine and mastering ending up on a low-res home video format. Nowadays with digital scans at the highest resolution, we can see how fantastic and timeless the work of, say, cinematographer William H. Daniels or director Josef von Sternberg was in the 1930's.
The green tinge is not noticeable to most when you first watch the movie, until they take it away, when the first scenes outside of the matrix takes place.
After that you start to notice it more and more and the alien, post apocalyptic world begin to seem more real and the 2000s "normal" world seems unreal.
I think the matrix world is actually in the late 80's judging by the computer tech level. Remember smiths words about how as soon as computers started thinking "for us" it became their world.
@@doltBmB It's definitely the late 90's judging by the flip phones used throughout the film. In the 80's, cell phones looked like giant bricks.
@@doltBmB In the movies it's explained that the Matrix is a recreation of the world as it was in 1999 because that's when humanity was at its peak.
@@doltBmB You clearly NEVER lived in the 90s. Nothing in matrix is even 80s, The matrix is literally reflective of 98. Trust me, I lived it..
@@bobdeinterlace Thanks, it was supposed to tackle on the y2k scare we had, people thought world going to come at halt in 2000 due to computers being computed for 20th century
to bad the channel is dead and only have so few subscribers. Very professional work.
Thanks for digging through this. I missed The Matrix in theatres and caught it on VHS and later DVD. The remastered DVD was deliberately intended to bring the original movie closer to the extreme blue/green digital colour grade of the sequels but was controversial even at the time as you might imagine. When I finally saw the punchy, very 1990s colour grade of the 4K remaster (in the theatre at last!) I was agog.
Great job on breaking down the color grading process, and exploring how a film's look can change over many different versions. Very well done! However, as pertains to The Matrix, I believe you're missing some of the original context. (And since your analysis is three years old, maybe this is information you have learned since then, but I'll write it in case it can be useful.)
Digital color grading became mainstream in the early 2000s, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" being a famous early case. Back in 1999, The Matrix was most likely graded photochemically, a costly endeavor that didn't afford much flexibility, explaining the original "neutral" look. After the two sequels came out in 2003 (digitally graded and sporting the green look we're all familiar with), Warner produced a trilogy boxset, which (to my knowledge) is the first time the original film was seen with that green tint. Did the Wachowski siblings always intend for the film to look like that, or was it a bit of revisionism to ensure uniformity across the trilogy? Hard to tell, but probably a little bit of both.
Now I don't know the specifics of what went on during the film's latest remastering, but there's an industry-wide tendency to give 80s and 90s movies revisionist teal and orange color gradings, most likely in an effort to make them more appealing to younger viewers, who are used to modern movies. Off the top of my head, I've seen it in Con Air, Top Gun, Blade, Aliens, The Terminator, T2, and most importantly, in fellow Warner releases Batman and Batman Returns. Now, I don't mean to imply that original DP Bill Pope didn't approve this version; it's quite possible he did. But my point is that the newer teal/green/orange look is probably not an attempt to correct past mistakes, but most likely another revisionist take on the film's look to make it "more appealing".
So which is the true version? If you're looking for historical accuracy, it's probably the neutral one. If artistic intent matters more, then the question becomes "Who made the call for each version? The filmmakers? The DP? The studio?" You mention Se7en, which is an interesting topic, since in the DVD extras, Fincher specifically mentions changing the color grade between the theatrical presentation and the DVD remaster, reminding us that a director's vision is constantly evolving, making this a very murky topic...
"How can we add teal and orange into this classic movie's look? That's what all the kids like these days..."
"Uh but boss, we really should try to preserve the original green...-"
"Teal and orange!!!!!!!"
I thought the orange grade for Top Gun was only on the 3D version. And I heard it was done to make the 3D pop more because the 3D wouldn't work with how the movie was lit originally. I've been meaning to watch Top Gun and because I love 3D movies so I'm thinking of watching that version for my first viewing. I plan on getting the 3D Blu-ray which also comes with a 2D disc.
@@chrisfratzRegardless of why it was done, the 2020 2D Blu-Ray has the revisionist color grade, so it has sadly become the de facto official version of the film. Still, color is only one aspect of the film, so I hope you enjoy the movie!
@@alexandremullen4293 that is unfortunate for sure. Like I said I only ever known that the 3D Blu-ray had a different color grade in order to make the 3D pop. The copy I did order does come with a 2D Blu-ray so I'm curious to see if the grade on the 1080p 2D disc I'll get is different. And yeah, I'm excited to sit down and watch Top Gun for the first time. And if I like it it maybe I'll check out Maverick afterwards.
Absolute banger video essay. Short and to the point, information dense, entertaining. Thx for this
It's crazy seeing the 4K vs. BluRay color shift, the 4K was like unlocking all the memories of having seen it in the theater (which I did at least 11 times). I remember watching the BluRay for the first time after not having seen the movies in a while and going "its so cheesy how green they made everything, I don't remember this... must have just been my mind as a kid making it look nicer". Nope.
This was something I've been wondering about ever since i saw clips of the new remaster. Thanks so much for talking about it!
What an insightful video! It also makes me appreciate even more when a release or remaster can say it's "Director-approved" like Criterion often does.
But it's not "Directed-approved" but cinematographer-approuved". The 4K version is maybe more true to the original version but the blu-ray version is more true to the vision of the Washowski. It's obvious that they wanted the Matrix world to look like very green in Reloaded and Revolutions and in Matrix 4 (no spoiler) we see some flash-back of the first film and they are green like the blu-ray version so it's obviously the blu-ray version that is the "Director's coloring".
It's like the special editions for Star Wars, they are true to the vision of Georges Lucas but not true to the original version. Now witch is the "good" version is more dificulte to say (for The Matrix I personnaly prefere the blu-ray version)
Thank you for putting effort in making this video. Very insightful!
It is very clear to me how to correctly color The Matrix:
1. Every scene in the virtual world should be lit green, like the "incorrect" home releases.
2. Every scene in the real world should be lit warm, like the theatrical release.
Colors tell the story.
The greenish tint of the Blu Ray version was unwatchable. Sorry if you grew up with it, but this version is just wrong. They just wanted to adapt the film to the colors of the two bad sequels. I'm glad to finally see the film as I remember it.
@@coramunro85 Godard's The Image Book was unwatchable, a slight green tint on The Matrix is okay.
@@chadchampion6773 That was the case in the two bad sequels. Yeah, sure it is intentional, but is only retcon. The original wasn´t so ugly green when he came out.
The green tint remains in the UHD, it's just much more subtle than before. For more info, find my other comment in the main thread.
@@chadchampion6773 Not for the first movie, I much prefered webdl version before 4k blu ray came out, it made green tint bearable.
Such a great video! Bonus points for putting Clubbed to Death at the end. Excellent work!
I saw The Matrix about ten times in the theatre and I never realized until now that it didn’t always have that green tint. Crazy!
The original print of the Matrix did have the green tint (I saw a 35mm print in theaters last year); it just wasn't crazy over the top like the 2008 Blu-ray's was.
I love that out of nowhere the algorithm can take a video like this and shoot to the moon, literally years after it was made!
So weird, but I would love to see more videos in this style! Hopefully the creator of this channel comes back and realises that there is an audience out there! :)
RUclips is the new stock market.
@Adrian Vegas when I made this comment the hype train about the new Matrix films hadn't started up. Like yeah people knew it was coming but promotion hadn't started.
RUclips had a habit of rocketing videos years after they have been made.
@Adrian Vegas That is true, but, I came here in the same way as many others apparently did, through the recommendations page. (judging by the overwhelming comments at the time I came across this video)
Statistically the vast majority of "viral" views (meaning views not generated by the persons natural following) on RUclips isn't from people searching content, it is by the algorithm serving videos to people through recommendations and the side bar.
That is why I specifically mention the algorithm, I didn't search for this, I didn't view any Matrix related content before this, this was a random video with an interesting title served to me by the algorithm. It appeared on my feed mixed in with the normal movie/gaming/science content I view.
The hype over the new film probably triggered something in the algorithm to start serving more Matrix related content around 4 months ago, then the increase of click through rate and watch time on this video served it to more people which gave it a massive boom. It is relatively rare for a video to get the majority of views years after publication, when it does happen it is normally specifically algorithm related
There are some very interesting breakdowns of how these things work by channels like Veritasium. Algorithm is King on YT
@Adrian Vegas Apologies for the long reply, but the mechanics of how this website works is something I have an unnatural interest in 😂
@Adrian Vegas yeah, you just summed up exactly what I said about the algorithm. an increase in search ranking of The Matrix caused the algorithm to serve more content related to The Matrix who have a shared interest based on common viewing habits, out of that this video found popularity way beyond what it would have done!
I never said it was "mystical" or even expressed any kind of wonder in this. My love came purely from that this dude, years ago made a couple video essays. Got a few thousand subs, then, two years later, this video gets served to literally millions of people (based of the click through rate to imaged served ratio) and the video earned a massive jump in views.
This can, and is directly attributed to the algorithm, as seen by the comments of this video.
How the hell did I stumble across this incredible channel that only has three uploads from a few years ago??
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN...................................
I know right
the videos are so good
please come back
This was an amazing breakdown of the process! Thank you for the effort you put into this
I caught two screenings of the original 35mm release print of the Matrix (and in good condition) about a year ago in Los Angeles (one at the New Beverly Cinema, and the other at the Legion Theater). I can confirm the green tint was certainly present, albeit much subtler than the 2008 Blu Ray (therefore discounting any claims that Matrix did not have a green tint at all in its theatrical run), and articles from the 1999 American Cinematographer issue on the Matrix clearly mention that the green was bumped up in the film's color timing as an artistic choice. What surprised me though was how much the amount of tint varied from scene to scene in the 35mm print I saw; it was very pronounced in the opening scene with Trinity, for instance (I'd say even approaching the level of the 2008 Blu Ray), while Neo's interrogation scene with Agent Smith was much more yellowish-green (like the original 1999 DVD). Meanwhile, the rooftop shootout scene midway in the film was more like the recent 4K remaster (with more cyan hues present), and in a few scenes (notably the lobby shootout scene, and the helicopter scenes), the green tint was barely even there at all. It's also worth mentioning that the 35mm print I saw was also quite contrasty (so NOT like the 1999 DVD release), and also seemed quite a bit desaturated (more so than what the recent 4K remaster would lead you to believe). So to sum it up - from what I could tell, none of the home video releases seem to be a true representation of the original 35mm print, although certain specific scenes from each home media release do come pretty close.
When Cinderella (2015) came to Blu Ray and DVD, i saw that the entire film looked like it had been passed through a yellow filter destroying the look of how it was intended and it was very oversaturated during post production.
I was under the impression (can’t remember where I picked it up) that theatrical cut scenes within The Matrix were intentionally hued with that famous green, and scenes taking place in The Real were more natural tones or slightly blue.
Great analysis by the way. Subbed.
So to leave the green unreal world, you take the red pill to finally see the blue true world
And add all this together, it is a journey to the white enlightenment
The theatrical cut _did_ have the scenes in the Matrix hued green - it was just far more subtle than the uniform green tinge like the Bluray did it. For example the sky inside the Matrix is never blue.
Seeing The Matrix twice in 1999 upon original release, here in Sydney where it was filmed, was a theatrical experience I will never forget.
I watched the 2nd Renaissance and my whole feed is full of Matrix content, I like this
Such a cool discovery! Thank you for your research and insight on this. It's crazy how different the Matrices are. It's hard to tell which one is "better".
It's been two years since you posted a video, but I'm gonna subscribe anyway in case you make another great video like this
Hahah class 👍
I never saw The Matrix in theaters, and I also never saw the bluray version, so when I saw the 4K bluray I was completely blown away by how good this movie looked.
I definitely prefer the 2008 blu-ray over the 4K remaster. The all-encompassing green filter is one of my favorite things about The Matrix universe. It being gone does make sense though in Resurrections after the ending of Revolutions.
Still to this day we don't have a watchable version of the original theatrical version to look at. There are some stratched up 35mm prints online but they don't do the job for me. Its a shame because the original color grade is the best by far.
I watched that early color-corrected print for so many years... mind boggled.
I’ve seen the Matrix trilogy countless times and I always liked how the Matrix is green, the real world is blue, and the machine city (through Neo’s eyes) is yellow. The fact that they messed this up makes me want to avoid the 4K version
Except it’s hardly them messing up, it’s simply them putting the film back in it’s originally intended format.
Try the original DVD. It’s still my preferred version.
You gotta empathize with the people that saw the film at the theatre and then were never allowed to see it again in the same way they saw it at the teather, now they can finally re-watch it just like the first time, whether the Green Tint fits the Matrix or not, you like it because that's what it looked like the first time you saw it, same goes for them.
@@juanme555 Like garbage?
The cast looking like Yoda is stupid. The 4K is clearly an improvement that the vast majority of people prefer.
Now is the time you need to upload something before you lose traffic.
This is an excellently put together & researched video. Great stuff. Thanks, and well done!
I think the more greenish tint of the BluRay version supports the story quite well. Also the look ties the trilogy together visually. This may not have been the intention of the cinematographer, but it makes sense on a certain level and is therefore my favourite version.
The greenish tint of the Blu Ray version was unwatchable. Sorry if you grew up with it, but this version is just wrong. They just wanted to adapt the film to the colors of the two bad sequels. I'm glad to finally see the film as I remember it.
@@coramunro85 Nothing to be sorry about. I never saw the movie in cinema. The sequels may not be as good as the original movie, although I like reloaded for its world building, but from a color language point of view the green tint makes perfect sense and tells the viewer there is something off in the reality of the Matrix on a subconscious level. Since the sequels were released just a few years later and extended the visual language I'm perfectly fine with the choice to retroactively adapt the color scheme for the original.
I'm just a bit irritated when I see the original posters and boxart without any green tint 😅
@@coramunro85 Sequels weren't bad. Not as awesome as the original but not bad.
The trilogy sucks. The Matrix stands on its own. I hate it when they try to make films in the same series look the same without them originally having been like that. It’s a sin.
@@coramunro85 is the new 4K like the original?
Great editing on this video.
The original never had the green tint, as you said, & The Wachowki's went back after doing 2 and 3 and changed 1st movie to match the green tinting. So your guess was correct. It was all over the internet when it first came out. The newest 4k release is the closes I've seen to the original colors, with a few caveats of course.
He doesn't take into account the equipment needed to correctly portray 4K, you need a certified ultra high speed HDMI 2.1 cable & the right settings so this guy more than likely streamed the blu-ray next to the 4K with equipment not prepared to handle the information. I paid 100 for 3feet of ultra high speed 2.1 HDMI cable & 4K on my television with proper input & proper settings looks fucking amazing.
@@Shadoefax760 You don't need an HDMI 2.1 to correctly portray 4k, unless you are going for 4k 60fps or more. The 2.1 standard has more bandwidth that allows for higher refresh rates at higher resolutions. Most film is natively 24fps, which can be handled by pre 2.1 spec cables @ the 4k resolution.
source?
@@efraim. why don't you go look it up? This is readily available information online
I enjoyed both. I wasn’t completely aware of what was different but after watching this I understand why the “mood” changed when watching the 4K version recently. The 4K version didn’t feel as fantasy as the previous versions. I didn’t feel as immersed but it was still great. I mean I also have the Blu-ray if I really wanted to experience it that way again.
Great video. Very helpful. Thanks!
Thanks for this excellent video! Just enjoying it now. The Matrix is such a good example because the color grade is there for everyone to notice, and different points of entry (like the DVD for me) end up being “definitive” for different people. Personally I assumed that, rather than treating their movies like art, they treated the original matrix like a product, matching it up with the more aggressive and artificial green in the sequels. Unfortunately for me, the DVD is still the only one that looks right. The city Neo was living in only became known as an illusion a ways in so I’ve always felt that making it more neutral, or at least a little more blue, was the only “right” choice, and they gave the action in those scenes more realism and impact.
Thank you RUclips algorithm, this was fascinating. Subbed to the channel!
Thanks for the video, very helpful! I'll still buy the trilogy in this new weird natural color version because I only have it on DVD and want to see it in HD but I'll keep those DVD's forever!
Thanks for the link to the Seven article. I checked it with Netflix, they use the Warner Bros Bluray from 2010.
Great breakdown.
Fun fact: from scans of 35mm theatrical prints we know that the original theatrical release of the matrix had no specific tinting. It's kind of jarring to look at actually, but it explains a lot since the archival negative probably has no tinting either
The matrix was green because it represented the attributes of colour green and gnosticism
When I got the 4K and started watching, what put me off was the grain.
I immediately went, "why is this so grainy?"
I played the DVD to compare, and although color and effects look better, it doesn't look that grainy.
I don't really remember if the theater release was that grainy, but on that element, to me, the DVD is better.
The original version has no green tint.
In the BTS the producers talk about how they lowered the blue channel in scenes taking place in the matrix. There is an intentional green tinting in any "in-the-Matrix" scene.
@@DecodingDoom I was talking about 35mm version , you can find it online and watch it. Original theatralic version has no green tint.
@@goodstufffromchina6236 There was some green boosting even in the original in Matrix scenes. It was far less, though.
@@DecodingDoom search on youtube The Matrix 35mm Film Scan and you will see that green tint is missing .
Subbed. For the love of god do more of these videos! Very very insightful. I first thought you were a major youtube channel with hopefully a couple of dozen videos like this. But come to find out you only had 287 (now 288 :D) subs. Very proud to have found you this early. Keep up the good work my friend.
Still prefer the green tint. Makes the movie look better.
Nah
Actually, it's not green enough.
The theater experience was a more natural tone to the film
That could be the reason when i watched matrix reloaded last night on cinemax hd i noticed that when neo trinity is in the matrix with monica belluci it doesnt look or feel like they are in the matrix because most of the green tint were corrected. I thought it was just my tv but guess what cinemax aired is the restored version because itwas not like that on my dvd set
Very good video well done! How have you not got more subs? You've got 1 more now! BTW I've just got a ps5 and played matrix for first time other day 4k version and I like the updated original look better. Looks so good! What are the best copies of movies you know? I think the ps5 4k blu ray player upscales the standard blu rays too so I'm going to go back and watch some not even sure I need the 4k versions if it's up scaling on both the player and on the tv doing it too you could be fooled to think it actually is 4k! Just watched all standard blu ray John wicks and looked incredible!
dude believe it or not i have never seen the matrix, shocking i know! Im going to order the trilogy but dont know if i should get the Blu Ray trilogy for £14 or the 4k Trilogy for £40 ive also got a PS5, which is worth it?
Fantastic video, fascinating material, well-presented. More of this please RUclips!
This came up in my RUclips recommended. I had to actually check my copy to see for myself, and you are right -- Everything is super green, given it is the older Bluray. Might need to pick up the remastered so I have the real version.
"What is 'Real?' How do you define Real?"
The skin tones in the 4K version don't look 'real' to me...^^
It's dificulte to say Witch is the real version. The cinematographer approuved the 4K release and said that it's more true to the original look but the 2008 blu-ray version seems to be more true to the vision of the Washowski (you just have to look like the sequels or the flash back scenes of the first movie in Resurrections to be convinced).
Personnaly I prefere the 2008 blu-ray version
Please continue this channel! Awesome video
amazing video!
Thank you for making this video. Very insightful!
Now I’d like to know what happened with the blu ray extended cut of The Fellowship of the Ring
Its on HBO. Thats funny you mentioned it. I just watched it yesterday. Amazing a lot of shot give way more depth to some characters... And its almost 4 hours long wow wow !!!!
@@philippebiendon5809 Not in Canada! I fucking hate HBO for that because I long to see the remasters!
Please make more videos. No one talks about this and it's something that film makers/enthusiasts need to know about
Have you ever seen the workprint version of the film with the watermark? It was the first version I saw back in 1999. No color grading difference of any kind throughout the entire movie. Completely neutral colors like you'd see from a camera shooting the film from BTS. I was able to find it on 'the spleen' a few years ago. I'm holding onto it for preservation purposes lol.
you should definitely find a way to share that with people. work print versions of films are always interesting and always hard to find.
What's the spleen?
@@JangoTheBlueFox is there anything g different with the matrix workprint I have it but haven't watched it
@@mr.smith45 you're the one that has it, you'd have to tell me. workprints of big movies like that out in the wild are very rare. it can give us all a glimpse into the creative process of these movies that we rarely get to see.
@@JangoTheBlueFox What do you mean he’s the one that has it? Who are you talking about?
I bought the original dvd that came after the theatrical run and the green color grading is seared into my mind. But one thing I noticed is that the green color grading is not uniform throughout the film. It is only apparent when the characters are in the Matrix. This makes me think that this grading was only done to show the differences between settings. I wonder if there is anyone that can confirm this.
All these years... I had questioned the green... all these years.....
Great job! Awesome info! Interesting to learn things about the remastering process. Ty!
my understanding is that the way the earliest DVDs looked is how the film was released theatrically. then after the sequels came out, it was the directors themselves who recoloured it to match them more closely. this was part of their artistic intention for the film. green represents the matrix and blue represents the real world. you basically never see blue within the matrix, and the only green in the real world is the matrix code itself. so that is the definitive colouration
this new version you're showing here looks very patchy and inconsistent, with blue showing up all over the scenes within the matrix. that goes against the directors' intentions
"What is 'Real?' How do you define Real?"
Obviously it wasn't their artistic intention if they had to change it a decade later.
@@aolson1111 they changed it when the movie rereleased alongside the second and third films. this latest release seems to have changed it back.
Pure coincidence! I just started rewatching this film in 4K yesterday and the color confused me. Since I have old copies on my hard drive and I have watched it thousands of times, I can tell how different the 4K version is. What amazed me now is how RUclips knows I watched it on my TV yesterday and sent me here!😓
So glad you highlighted this i always thought the dvd versions looked too green compared to the cinema in comparison. I thought it might have been filmed on a certain stock a certain brand of film used while making these movies because I've noticed a fair few films looked a certain way almost off colour and weird. As you said in the video a certain film filter colourist probably was responsible ill have to check out them in 4k might be able to watch them without frustration trying to get rid of the overly green tint
Dude, the extended version of Fellowship on Blu-Ray is so green it actually distracts me from the movie. Glad the 4k versions returned to a color grading more similar to the dvds. Great video.
I just got the Blu ray for this and I thought it looked bluer than normal. I too was used to a greener filter.
THey're trying to make it look like a modern movie. Everything's blue and orange these days, movies don't really have a color "cast" like they used to. and they tried to add those colors to a movie with a green cast, shot on particular film to give it that look on purpose. Doesn't quite work to change it years later in a computer.
Watching those security guards go down in real time felt bizarre.
And this is wild. I'm almost 30 but I always remember it being green, and its been my favorite movie since I was about 8 years old. Clearly the later versions just overwrote my recollection of the earlier ones. Wild...
I like the green tint to the original film. It was there for a purpose. To show when they were in the matrix. Outside of the computer generated world the colour was normal. I think it was a total sin to remove the green from the "inside" scenes. While we're at it, let's change The Wizard of Oz's yellow brick road to red and modify the movie audio and song to say the red instead of yellow. Come on now... Leave it alone. Just make it more resolution and look better and keep the damn colours alone!
The green is still there, especially in the earlier scenes before Neo escapes The Matrix.
But the original release never had the heavy green tint until years later. The re-release of the first movie changed the color grading to match Matrix 2 & 3.
Yeah I feel like it gives away more of the original Matrix movie away I mean pretty sure it took me several viewings to even notice the subtle color difference to signify when a person was in the Matrix vs outside it.
I don't think you watched the video. The excessive green tint was NOT in the original film. Subsequent remasters emphasized it for some reason, and when the original editor redid it for the new 4K version, he did it how it was SUPPOSED to be. Yes the green is there for a reason, and it still is, but it's toned way down to the way it was supposed to be.
I grew up on the VHS from 2000ish. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that being a bit more bluer in scheme, similar to the 4K. I may just be associating that with the box art though, which was primarily blue and white.
I actually have been saying this about the true colours of remaster immediately after seeing it in the cinema at the 20th anniversary. It even is in my channel in a clip where I briefly share my experience of seeing The Matrix in a cinema theatre 20 years into my fandom. You have no idea how much it means to me to see a proof that I was right in my impressions!!!
A great recommandation by RUclips.
Didn't know they'd exist anymore.
Awesome video.
I feel like removing the green tinting for the remaster is a disservice to the visual narrative and tone of the movie. It gave the in-Matrix scenes a surreal feeling that contrasted well with the regularly color balanced real-world scenes, lending itself to the idea that you're actually watching the inside of a computer program.
It works remarkably well after the first 30 minutes or so, once Neo is finally brought into the real world and we go from this dull green filter for an entire half an hour to the striking blues and reds of him waking up in his pod and looking out onto the machine world.
How do you not understand that the movie did not have the green tint originally? It doesn't make it look "surreal," it makes it look like shit, like every other movie with an overdone tint. Removing it doesn't do a "disservice" to anything. It restores the film to its original greatness.
@@aolson1111 I'm not reading all that shit lol
@@aolson1111 kiss my ass
@@aolson1111 like damn bro do you even want to have a discussion or just want to insult people's intelligence on RUclips comments. Also, liking your own comment? Really? That's pathetic.
Touch grass, get laid
My older brother had a negative film when he used to work in the movie theater.
I remember found it the bathroom looking at the part the agent dodging the pallets. Probably in a landfill
I was one the Matrix groupies that bought any Matrix material. The 4K remaster has the same color scheme to the original photos. Just see the posters that were blue. Same thing with the sequels.
The “where is this going” was hilarious there.
I believe they also did try to match the sequels colors more when remastering the matrix to Blu-ray.
I remember noticing in the theater that the green washes in Matrix 2 and 3 were more intense than in 1, where it was quite subtle. The versions of The Matrix I've seen on home media since then have either had it too strong (like the later films) or barely present.
Yup, the green tint was definitely present in the first Matrix, just much subtler than the 2004 DVD/2008 Blu Ray.
I like the 2008 version better, the Greener effect really suits the movie
Isn't it greenish only when they're in the Matrix as the green letters on the computer screen? I thought so...
For years I was watching that original skin-tone-balanced version thinking "I swore this looked better watching in the theatre, now it looks like a TV show, wtf?". Sure enough, we didn't get that theatre version on home video until 2008. Really messed with my head.
@@GlennDavey The theater version did not have green tint.
@@aolson1111Bro I was there, yes it did
Very informative and interesting! I’m happy the algorithm sent me here!
The 2020 “Skywalker Saga” release of the Star Wars films, featured new Blu-ray transfers. The new transfers for A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back are AWFUL! Loved the previous transfer and will stick with them.
Thanks for this. I was lucky enough to see The Matrix in it's original run and actually used it as the subject in my Art of Film class. When I bought it on Blu-Ray I remember thinking that I didn't remember the Matrix being so obviously artificial, but didn't really know why. Heading to Amazon to get the 4K edition now...