Beyond (The Animatrix)
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Beyond is a short film that is one of nine Animatrix films. Beyond is directed by Koji Morimoto (of Mind Game and Akira fame).
Beyond deals with a group of kids who stumble across an amalgamation of spatial anomalies within a dilapidated and abandoned building, indicatively somewhere in Japan. The kids learn to exploit the major glitch in the Matrix for their own enjoyment, through several areas which seem to defy real world physics. One such area is a large open space in the middle where they take turns jumping off a high point, freefalling towards the ground yet somehow stopping just inches before impact; this proves amusing and they seem unbothered by the inherent strangeness. The activity seems to be painless, although one boy starts to nosebleed even though he didn't actually hit anything. It is not revealed what causes this, but is taken by some to be related to how conscious minds inside the Matrix try to make things 'real', by simulating symptoms. Soon enough, the agents come to the abandoned building, finding the kids and the main character (older, around 17) inside. The agents come with a team of people in masks and rubber suits hoping to clean up this "glitch". The glitch is an anomaly in the system and the agents need to get rid of it before the humans find out there is something different about their world and rebel. The story ends when the girl and the kids are outside of the previously haunted house that is now abandoned - they take a look inside and the house is no longer there, converted into a parking lot. The girl spots the floating can, one of the previous glitches, which is no longer floating. She picks it up and cuts her finger on the opened lid of the can, blood dripping, at the same time presumably asking herself if what she saw was real - if it was possible to defy reality. The focus on the falling of her blood signifies that the reality is back, and she is left to wonder. [scene]
Other anomalies are seen: glass bottles reassemble after being shattered, broken lightbulbs that flicker briefly (during which they seem perfectly intact), a door which opens to nothingness, and a feather that moves through the air moving peculiarly. Before long, agents and men dressed like HAZMAT workers show up to eradicate the "problem" — permanently.
(A sign on a building in the background of one scene near the end of the short reads Otis)
[edit] The Glitches
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The 'glitches' combine everyday reality with the signs and symptoms that software, especially advanced video games, exhibit when things aren't working properly. The motions of the feather, for example, are clearly suggestive of the results when physics engines are given data they are unequipped to handle properly.[1] The flickering effect seen on the dog is reminiscent of a a sprite with a missing skin texture. The black room is reminiscent of the sight seen when a player in a computer game 'escapes' from the map and sees the empty void beyond it.[2] The other errors depicted, such as the half-rainbow [3], can be replicated in software to some degree.[4]
Several other glitches are also present, including: road markings in the middle of the grass; rain inside the building while there is none outside; a floating tin can; shadows to be respositioned several metres away from the source; Yoko's cat Yuki growls deeply; the walls of the building disappearing into a white void; bottles being thrown, broken, and then reformed after a short pause; some levitation and gravity-reducing effects when jumping; newspapers flying through the floor (without colliding with it); and time slowing down for a flying dove and Yoko falling to the ground.
It also gives an explanation for the occurrence of haunted houses, and supernatural plus paranormal phenomena. In The Matrix Reloaded, The Oracle touches on this by explaining that anomalies occur when programs are doing things they shouldn't, creating ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and things that just don't follow physical laws.
It should also be noted that this segment somewhat gives reference to The Matrix Reloaded, specifically, the concept of "back doors", when the character of Yoko stumbles upon the door leading to a black void. Upon close scrutiny of the scene, the outline of other doors can be seen in what appears to be a darkened hallway, and faint voices (Yoko's own dialogue from an earlier scene) can be heard.
[edit] Voice actors
- Animatrix - Beyond episode audio sample (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- sample from the Animatrix 'Beyond' episode (with all the "falling" sequences)
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
- Hedy Burress — Yoko
- Pamela Segall — Manabu
- Kath Soucie — Pudgy/Masa/Sara
- Tara Strong — Misha
- Matt McKenzie — Agent
- Dwight Schultz — Townsperson/Policeman/Exterminators
- Tress MacNeille — Housewife/Kenny
- Jill Talley — Townsperson
- Jack Fletcher — Townsperson
- Julia Fletcher — Townsperson
[edit] Notes
- ^ For instance, Havok has occasionally allowed preposterous events, such as perpetual motion, to occur.
- ^ See Noclip mode.
- ^ Incorrectly-applied texture mapping can cause a similar effect.
- ^ As an example, abnormal gravity can be simulated in a 3D game engine, by tampering with the computer variable that governs it.
