Halo: The Machinima Picture (9)

The Monitor of Installation 04 needs the Chief's help in "containing" the Flood. It won't be pretty...

HALO: The Machinima Picture (created 11-2006)

Since I discovered the Xbox game 'HALO' back in 2002, I have wanted to put this fabulous first-person sci-fi action romp on video for my friends and family to watch and enjoy as a two-hour cinematic experience. Back then I would have plugged the Xbox into my VCR's and tossed in a blank tape and used the pause button to edit in real time, taping the cinema scenes back to back. Analog hell. Crude as it would have been, I did this very thing for a few old games... like "Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage" on SEGA Dreamcast, and Rebel Assault II for the Playstation.

Flash forward to 2006. I have a computer, a movie maker program, and the DVD burner to make it all contemporary. Not to mention the 'like-original' copies I can make for friends and family, unlike the degrade of vhs tapes.

As for what I actually did... I plugged my Xbox console into the Dazzle USB converter and used my PC like a 30 GB recorder. I played through the game Halo (BUNGIE/Microsoft,2001) recording the cinema scenes that periodically would show the story... the one of humanity's fight against an alien threat. Then I recorded key transitions, audio cuts and first-person action sequences within the game, editing them on the computer to make the beautiful cinema scenes tie together in a more 'movie-like' fashion.

With the help of the two soundtracks of music released by BUNGIE and Martin O'Donnell, I filled out the feel of the film by putting music and sound where necessary. A total of 37 separate mp3 additions to be exact. I also raised and/or lowered the audio based on the background noise or an overlaying song track. Based on the timeline from the Del Ray novels, I included a reoccurring 'Mission Clock' that appears on-screen to update the flow of events.

I turned the control sensitivity down to the lowest (1) to reduce the 'jerky' motion associated with the fast paced action of a first-person shooter game. The actual difficulty was on easy at times, normal at others, heroic and legendary too. I'm not some "killer player" who records his skill to show off. I used the settings that got me what 'scenes' I needed to tell the story. Again, this is all about the "story," this is not a video run-through of the whole game.

I spliced and cut scenes together to make the flow more comfortable. In other words... I took the gist of the story and only included the necessary gear and vehicles. For example, you won't see the M808B Scorpion Tank. It's not in any cinema scenes, so I didn't take precious time out of the film by showing that part of the game. It's a bad-ass Covenant-kicking machine, just not needed to tell the story. Now in Halo 2, I did include the Scorpion because there... it is in the cinema.

I didn't use every weapon. Since I am not 'archiving' Halo so-to-speak, I respected the cinema in which Master Chief always has his Battle Rifle. True, the game is set up to where at one point you start a mission without it (i.e. sentinel attack in the control center) but I purposely grabbed another weapon just before that cinema to explain why Chief has the 'new toy in hand.'

After six weeks of work on this thing, I am happy with the final one-hour fifty three minute version. Because of the limitations of the 4.7 GB DVD's, that limitation being a one-hour time limit on the disc, I decided that instead of a shortened one-hour movie, I would make two one-hour episodes. I created a 'debriefing-style' flashback at the start of episode two, refreshing episode one events. I used the E3 trailer for Halo 2 to give it that 'to be continued' feel at the end.

For the Internet fans, who may actually care to see what I've done, I have cut up the 2 episodes and posted them as 12 ten-minute 'chapters' on YouTube, but remember that the Internet has poor compression, meaning that the film will look dark and shadowed at times, the bandwidth of the web makes uploaded videos dark and sometimes hard to watch.

Sadly, (laughs) 'no retail release.' This thing is a simple fan-film, made in my room, on my personal computer and is not available for widespread distribution. I only made 15 DVD copies for family and close friends (Halo clanmates). I love the games, novels, comics, even getting 'owned' online in Team Slayer, I love it all. Thank you BUNGIE for making one of the best electronic videogames of all time. "...yo, sniper's down..."

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Halo
• xbox
• machinima
• bungie
• fanfilm
• master
• chief
• unsc
• space
• game

[gilfer200k]

What's the song that starts at 1:12? It's gotta be the most fitting music for this level ever =)

[kamisamajedi]

It's by the group Incubus, and it's on the Halo 2 soundtrack: volume 2. :)

[Seth8965]

WTF

343 G.S.-"last time you asked me"

Dose anyone knows what hes talking about? I'm so confused. (at 9:29)

[kamisamajedi]

Notice that at 6:25, when 343GS and Chief beam into the Core Chamber, he is in the middle of a sentence about the Flood and potential hosts. So the "last time you asked me" line from 343 is talking about a previous conversation, where Chief asked 343 if he would activate the Ring and destroy the Flood (if he could of course.) And he answers that "yes" he would. All the info you need is in the Del Ray novels. If you like the Halo story, I suggest you try to read them. Excellent reading.

[christoph7890]

Great montage at the Library! I really like the B/W you did there.

Also, do you have the whole Halo game on video? I only see your videos here go up to 11. I am having trouble beating the flood, and need some help. THanks!

[kamisamajedi]

Check my channel out for the rest. The machinima is Halo 1 and 2. It goes up to chapter 24.

[WarPig1942]

what i dont get is that during the level you go up all of these elevators to get to the index but in the begging the index is like right there.

[Jadem131]

If you've played halo 2, its on the part where you chase after the heretic leader

[beserksock]

people who didn't have the oppurtunity to play halo 1 and want the background story. jerk.

[dustylee]

i still find the first part funny since the index was right on the other side of the door to where MC and GS teleported.

i know that spark had to activate or unlock the key somehow but the library to me was a waste of time.

[church348]

oh god i despised this level with a burning passion, on legendary mode it would be longer then most games last campaigns all together would last

[church348]

i always thought that was a reference to a conversation Guilty spark had with the last forrerunner who activated the halo before

[OoBinKYYYYOo]

alot of people wud dumbass