Locating Agent Smith’s corner office
#OSINT training with one of the most spectacular science fiction movies: 1999’s The Matrix
After @BushidoToken seized the opportunity to blog about his OSINT training in geo-locating James Bond’s position in the final scene from Skyfall, I tasted blood.
Over the weekend I re-watched The Matrix, the first part of the trilogy. Arguably one of the best contemporary science fiction movies and a technical innovation leader in film editing, sound, and visual effects — or the one the New York Times called “‘the kind of film in which sunglasses are an integral part of sleekly staged fight scenes.”
Enough of the intro. You want some #OSINT fun, let’s jump right in. Let’s start where it makes sense the least: at the very end.
We see Neo flying off after telling ‘the machines’ to watch out or he’ll kick your butt.
From the wiki page, we know the film was shot in Australia (officially in order to stretch the production budget). In the scene, we spot a number of taller buildings. My first guess is Sydney.
All this is hypothetical and the fun is to translate the techniques to your own OSINT analysis. Sydney is something we’d figure out through background research.
The skyscraper on the left stands out as a sufficient reference point. So does the one to the top right-hand side. My first thought: skyscraper database. The wiki page for ‘List of tallest buildings in Sydney’ reveals a distinctly looking eight-sided skyscraper. We check on Google Earth Pro the address: ’19 Martin Place’. We could have also chosen the Australia Square Tower (now listed as ‘Essence Project Management’ on Google maps), on 264 George Street, the round building in the upper right.
The corner where Neo takes off is therefore at -33.865774, 151.208748, or Pitt St corner Hunter St. The phone booth now gone was in front of the Citibank building.
Since the shot Neo’s and other phone booths vanished. Many thousands disappeared, which would make it increasingly more difficult to get out of the Matrix (I have to pinch myself, all that isn't real :-).
Though fictional, the same movie shot today it might make more sense to include a Telstra screen phone, the ones with advertising on both sides. A lawsuit was just filed end of last year between Telstra and local Sydney councils over Telstra’s attempt to remove payphones and install their large LDC advertising screens. The allegation is that they could create congestion on busy footpaths. Neo watch out!
The jump
Then there is the training program and the infamous jump scene. Neo and Morpheus enter the training jump program and end up on a building.
We can use the Essence Project Management building as well as the big black building with the five windows on Bond Street as reference points.
Somehow the scene isn't conclusive. On google maps and Earth pro, we’d find the right set of buildings but the direction they face makes little sense. I try a few things. By inverting the screenshot from Google maps in illustrator I spot what’s going on. Then I crop the, what must be a fictional building, and paste it into the image. Check carefully, except for a few buildings near the frame, this makes sense now.
The building behind looks like Century Tower, a residential apartment building, completed in 1997 (only two years after the film was shot). According to Wikipedia it held the title of the country’s tallest residential building until 2002. It’s 183 meters tall, the fictional height Neo fall from in the next scene.
One conceivable point this was filmed from is the building behind the one with the ‘MERITON’ lettering on its roof.
The shot where the jump was executed is in a different spot. The background of Neo’s jump scene shows a building with a distinct set of windows. The Sydney skyscraper database assists again.
The most conceivable shot in my mind is the following: The jump ostensibly executed from the AMP Centre Building on -33.862960, 151.211474, towards the small side of Governor Phillip Tower. It’s arguably a bit inconceivable for the Matrix scene as the two buildings vary in height. Governor Phillip Tower is a good bit taller.
But the perspective is correct. The big round building on the film’s screenshot in the right must have been built later. It hides the brick building with the white edging. To your left we can see the glassy apartment buildings.
I always wondered how far that distance between the building really was. Let’s check with Google Earth Pro. The rule tool suggests 53 meters (191 feet). In other words, you’d need around 6 Bob Beamons (jumping his 8.90 m world record) to manage the abyss.
Mr Anderson’s and the Agents’ office
Neo’s late for work after a heavy night out with Trinity. The office, the building with the big Metacortex sign (superimposed or built for the film) is the building on Margaret St & Carrington St.
Now to the shot from the Agent’s office. We witness a lovely view towards the harbor.
The direction seems right from the fictional Metacortex building. We see the waterway in the background.
Although at first it seems a bit far away from the waterfront (likely the flat camera angle’s fault), we can now see the building with the white stripes on the left and the harbor side in the back on the right.
Final question: which floor was Agent Smith’s office? I’d opt for the top floor because that’s about the same height as the building with the white stripes.
That’s so much for me. Thanks for reading and until next time for some #OSINT and investigative journalism training action.
