Pop Japan

Unbeknownst to some, the falling codes are shown in the Matrix franchise movies are sushi recipes. The world's famous digital rain, according to the CNET report, was just a bunch of sushi recipes. The man behind the code was Simon Whiteley who is the production designer at Animal Logic in Australia. Whiteley said that he started working with the Wachowski brothers (the author/writer/producer of the Matrix story) when they vetoed a design made by the design team. The Wachowski brothers wanted a design that is more Manga and Japanese.

Whiteley began looking for some inspiration in Japanese cookbooks and that's where he found the sushi recipe. He painstakingly painted and designed the Japanese letters and sent them to Justen Marsha who is the R&D supervisor of the Animal Logic. The letters were supposed to run from left to right but according to Whiteley, such animation did not evoke emotion to him.

Whiteley referred to a Japanese recipe book where sentences were printed from top to bottom. Then, he asked Marshall to flip the code so that they flow from top to bottom. As a result, the rest is history. The digital rain aka "sushi recipes" can be found in the movies opening credits.

Photo credited to Tony Werman

Licensed by Creative Commons

Tags: The Matrix Movie, Artwork, Sushi recipe, Wachowski brothers, science fiction movies, opening credits, science fiction films, American films, inspirations from Japan