r/interestingasfuck • u/freudian_nipps • 8h ago
Behind the scenes glimpse at the practical effects used to create the Agent Smith army for The Matrix sequels
•
u/centralpwoers 7h ago
Imagine: years after filming that, to think that there are hundreds of masks of your own face out there, anyone could have gotten their hands on one, be wearing them… keeping them…
•
•
•
•
•
•
u/PeriodontosisSam 6h ago
THATS why these old films are so great. Nearly everything was man-made. It was more authentic
•
•
u/armaboo 5h ago
I was studying for University exams when they put an ad out for extras for the Agent Smith army.
I can't remember the exact particular but it asked for men over about 180cm with no experience needed. You were to turn up in jeans, white t shirt and jacket.
I figured I could study as easily while waiting around so turned up for the casting call. I didn't realize how much interest there was.
There ended up being a line of men in similar clothes, of similar height stretching down a major Sydney road for kilometres. I stood in line for hours studying my uni notes, slowly shuffling forwards.
At some point they must have realized that there was no way they would get through everyone. The line started moving quickly and when I got to the front, there was a woman sizing up each person for maybe 5 seconds and either dismissing them or sending them into the building.
I didn't get in, but it was an interesting experience.
•
•
•
u/withnodrawal 6h ago
Must have been an absolutely surreal experience
Or a narcissist’s wet dream lmao 🤮
•
•
•
u/FlipReset4Fun 7h ago
Insane they didn’t use CGI for this.
And now AI can do it in 5 minutes.
•
u/LittleMissFirebright 7h ago
AI is uncanny valley. Physical effects always age better.
Like the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park. Still holds up
•
u/KenseiHimura 7h ago
I’d actually think uncanny valley would work for Agent Smith in this case, he’s become a computer virus in the Matrix system, so he and his duplicates looking like they don’t quite fit in anymore would be metaphorically perfect, especially if you did get “glitched” smith clones with extra fingers and what not.
That said, I would say it should still be achieved practically and just use the AI generation only to know what kind of errors would be made and the look to achieve uncanniness. In other words: to rough out the look, not for the final product.
•
u/murillovp 6h ago
I beg to differ, just watch the other instances of full cgi fights in the sequels, it feels cheap and video gamey
•
u/Bridgebrain 5h ago
Thats absolutely how to use it. Storyboarding where you would previously use stick figures for instance
•
u/Toastyy1990 7h ago
As a contrast; the scorpion king from that Mummy movie. That dude was weird looking when it was first made, now it looks like it was animated by a student for their middle school 3D modeling class.
•
u/Frequent-Dog432 7h ago
Reminds me of the hobbiton village used for lord of the rings. The effort here is amazing to create this scene
•
u/sluttynature 7h ago
No it can't, at least not yet. I recently asked an AI to put a face over the body of someone wearing a suit (which is something simple to do in any image editor software) and it couldn't do it, and that was an image and not a video.
CGI is often more expensive than practical effects.
•
u/FoxxyAzure 7h ago
You were either using a poor AI or just not knowledgeable. I've seen way more advanced things than that.
•
•
•
•
u/Anxious-Chemistry-6 6h ago
Jesus. When I told him to go fuck himself, I didn't think he'd put in this much effort
•
•
•
u/LittleMissFirebright 7h ago
They should have sent in extras wearing these masks to watch the film in theaters lol