Analysis of the first two minutes of The Matrix

The first two minutes of the film is interesting because it shows hints to the audience about what the genre of the film could be but doesn't give too much away. The opening two minutes starts off with showing the logo of Warner Bros Pictures, the only difference is that the logo is green instead of it's traditional colour yellow-this shows a hint to the audience that the film is something different from the usual work of Warner Bros Pictures, also the music in the background has a weird tone and seems scary and mysterious creating an enigma-this suggests to the audience that the film could an action film.

As the film progresses some codes appear on the screen-this is another hint to the audience about the genre of the film as the codes look like letters being typed onto a screen, this suggests it could also be a sci-fi film.

We then get 40 seconds and hear two voices via a phone conversation, a male and a female. They both speak about a man but don't say who, they only mention that they have to kill him however the female disproves the idea and explains that they need him and refers to him as "the one"- all of this creates an enigma causing the audience to ask questions and wonder who this man is, and why he is "the one". The woman then asks if "the line is clean" - this suggests that the conversation was supposed to be secretive. This creates more questions and we are only one minute in.

The conversation then ends and the camera moves away and zooms into a light, the camera then pans we see a group of police officers holding flashlights in a dark building-this is effective because the dark lighting means the audience can only see what the police see. The policemen then kick down the door and shout "freeze". They then aim their flashlights towards someone sitting in a chair, the person is wearing full black clothing and is sitting with their back to the police, the audiences first thought is that the person is male as this would follow the typical conventions on an action film. The camera then cuts to the person and reveals it to be a female-this shocks the audience as it subverts the conventions because usually it is a male protagonist in an action film. The woman then puts up her hands and there is an over the shoulder shot showing many flashlights-this makes the woman look vulnerable and weak which conforms the stereotype of women as they are usually in danger and in need of rescuing.

Overall the opening two minutes is very good because it creates an enigma and causes the audience to ask a lot of questions making them more engaged to watch more and find out who "the one" is and how he will impact the film.