MovieCode (full title Source Code in TV and Films) is a website revealing the meanings of computer program source code depicted in film, established in January 2014.
Type of site | Geek |
|---|---|
| Owner | John Graham-Cumming |
| URL | moviecode |
| Launched | January 3, 2014[3] |
| Current status | Online |
It runs via microblogging site Tumblr, with its owner accepting examples submitted by readers. Its contents include examples of code and their origins and/or meanings.
History
editThe site was launched on 3 January 2014 via microblogging service Tumblr.[4][5][6] It was conceived by programmer and writer John Graham-Cumming[7] to address questions around what the source code seen in films actually does.[5][8]
Graham-Cumming was inspired to create the blog by Neill Blomkamp's 2013 film Elysium, which uses an extract from an Intel manual.[6][9][10] He posted a comparison image related to the film on Twitter, which prompted more than 500 retweets. He then created the blog.[11] The site's full title of Source Code in TV and Films[3][7] is sometimes shortened to MovieCode,[12][13] that being the Tumblr subdomain.
A companion website, Behind The Screens, covers some of the entries on MovieCode in great detail in the form of short videos.
Features
edit
The site's intention is to connect screenshots to specific extracts of original code.[6] The author accepts examples submitted by readers for future publication.[1][2]
Reception
editThe site was reported by the BBC as having received more than 10,000 hits 10 days after its launch.[3]
The German edition of Engadget was noted for its web site's HTML code being used in Duane Clark's 2011 TV series XIII,[4][12] while it was noted elsewhere that movie code is frequently taken from web sites, including Wikipedia[5][14] and a Canadian bank.[10][14]
It was noted that instead of using "random code" (which is often the case) sometimes more appropriate code is used.[7] Some cited examples are James Cameron's 1984 film The Terminator (using assembly language for the 1975[15] MOS 6502 microprocessor),[5] Eric Kripke's 2012 TV series Revolution (using code from Jordan Mechner's 1989 video game Prince of Persia)[12][16] and David Fincher's[9] 2011 film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (using MySQL).[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Movie code tumblr cracks the sources of code found in TV, film". Slate. Culture Blog. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b Harris, Aisha (7 January 2014). "Que veulent dire les codes informatiques que l'on voit dans les films?". Slate. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b c Kleinman, Zoe (13 January 2014). "Computer programmer cracks secrets of films' dodgy code". BBC News. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b Weiss, Franziska (4 January 2014). "Quelltext in TV und Film und was er wirklich beschreibt". Engadget. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Chan, Casey (5 January 2014). "What All The Fancy Code In Movie Computer Sequences Actually Mean". Gizmodo. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b c Cereloz, Axel (9 January 2014). "Le code présenté dans les films a-t-il réellement un sens ?". presse-citron.net. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d Johnson, Phil (8 January 2014). "The sources of all that code you see in TV and movies". ITworld. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ "Links: January 2014". Waxy.org. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b Gani, Aisha (10 January 2014). "Computer code in films: hidden meanings or irrelevant nonsense?". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b Sparkes, Matthew (13 January 2014). "Movie code reveals Iron Man was made of Lego". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ Marvin, Rob (13 January 2014). "Programmer debunks source code shown in TV and movies". SD Times Blog. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ a b c Love, Dylan (10 January 2014). "Here's Proof That The Computer Code Used In Movies Is Mostly Nonsense". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ a b Miller, Jennifer (7 January 2014). "What The Code Used In Computer Scenes In Movies Actually Means". Fast Company. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ "3rd Generation Microprocessor" (PDF). Microcomputer Digest. 2 (2). Cupertino, CA: Microcomputer Associates: 1–3. August 1975.
- ^ Crockett, Rebecca (8 January 2014). "Doctor Who Among TV & Movies To Use Fake Computer Code On Screen". Kasterborous. Retrieved 14 January 2014.