Excellent Half-Life 2 Fanfilm

[ghib]

Been waiting for something like this for ages. Great job considering the budget.
It does lose it's pace a little between the train carriages and with a stronger script could've been amazing but it hits all the right buttons :)

[ragdoll]

no lie, that clip was dope. i like how they nailed the costumes. i'd watch the rest of it if there's more to come! :thumbsup:

-rj

[Venkman]

Info from the filmmakers:

The Escape From City 17 short film series is an adaptation based on the Half Life computer game saga by Valve Corporation. Originally envisioned as a project to test out numerous post production techniques, as well as a spec commercial, it ballooned into a multi part series. Filmed guerilla style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500.

www.purchasebrothers.com

Quicktime version:

http://www.purchasebrothers.com/Purchase-Brothers-v2-hl.html

[ivanisavich]

Saw this today and loved it. Yea, the acting is fairly amateurish...but the atmosphere they captured is EXACTLY how a half life 2 movie should be. And since the half life 2 universe is so cool, that's one damn cool fan film.

[RockinAkin]

Wow, that was badass - really high production values all over.
I want some breakdowns damnit!

[DuttyFoot]

that was pretty good. would love to see the second part.

[Lordiego01]

That was awesome.

[RockinAkin]

I really wish their website was up. :hmm:

CGSociety - INTERVIEW THESE GUYS!

[DoubleSupercool]

That was indeed very, very cool. I assume that their website is down because it's bandwidth was hammmered. Definitely bookmarked to check back on later.

[JoshBowman]

Totally great work here, yeah the acting isn't much but it's passable because it's short and it's more about the feeling they're actually part of the HL world. Well done!

Their website isn't much, shows the HL2 first ep, a coke ad and an iPod ad with contact details.

[blenderhead]

Well that was really damn good. I had no problem with the acting (surpassed Nicholas Cage or any Michael Bay movie anyway :D) and it was just really really well made. Such a dystopian atmosphere to it. Can't wait for this to continue!

[Venkman]

To me, the world of Half Life was always about a feeling. More so in Half Life 2- there is the sort of desperation about the world. I always got the feeling that their world overall is in the fall season, as days start to get shorter and humanity starts to wane.

This short captured that for me. IMO, they took the right path and avoided using Gordan Freeman at all, because by making him the silent hero in the game, they make him you.

Here, you are almost experiencing the same thing. Almost all shots are from the perspective of the two main characters and the couple of random freedom fighters, or as someone on the outside of a situation looking in, unseen by the combine and their machines. In other scenes, the camera is hidden behind rubble, watching from a hiding place as the synth helicopters fly by. The firefights with the walkers happen far off in the distance.

This to me, was superb low budget filmmaking. True to the source material (no pun intended), respectful of the original artistic intention, and utterly - completely - better than most things I have seen come out of hollywood in a long while.

Kudos to these guys. Truly inspiring work. I wish I could say I'm jealous.

But I'm too busy sitting here in awe.

[Syndicate]

I saw this late last night, youtube had 50 views or something, now its well over 150,000. I honestly hope Valve endorse this type of stuff. After all they should have had some sort of competition seeing as they embrace their mod community.

Anyway it was about time someone did a kickass job. I really want to know more about these guys.

Well done.

[davius]

Really fun to watch! And the HL2 spirit is there. These guys rock and Valve should get them if they ever consider making a movie out of Half-life

[kdubayoo]

That...was....awesome!

[heavyness]

very cool and well done for a fan film. remember not to long ago when fan films sucked? this is nicely edited, in HD, and good sound... gotta love technology.

i hope they do more.

sidenote: does anyone else think Half Life when watching Children of Men? it feels like those two worlds are very similar.

[DestinedForTheOne]

Wow that was stunning! Really looking forward to more from these guys.

[Lunatique]

Really well done. It appears that the best fan/indie shorts are all done by people who actually work professionally in the entertainment industry in some way (usually visual effects). I'm assuming the Purchase Brothers are also in the entertainment industry? They also tend to be brothers too--kind of interesting how that works. I've worked with the Peretti Brothers on Stormshadow, and the Shumway Brothers just posted their trailer for Enigma--all are brothers. My brother actually studied film and loves film too, except he doesn't have the passion or interest in investing his own precious time, energy and money on personal projects. He'd rather just go to work, then come home and kick back and watch films made by others. If he was more motivated I'm sure we'd make a great brothers team as well.

[eco]

Wow! That's good... I wouldn't like to have to survive in that world. HL2 is the only game that gave me the creeps and seeing that film only makes it worst .

[SergeantOreo]

That was quite excellent! I think I'm going to go play Episode 1 now.. :)

[MrPositive]

Best fan film ever? Unless we are counting the Halo ones I guess.

[oktawu]

halo ones had substantial financial backing. they were not fan films.
they were part virals part visual test.
vfx were done by origami digital ,props by Weta, and were directed by Neill Blomkamp,
which is quite a name in the commercial world.

[mrpeace]

Perfectly Executed...

An amzing job...Valve really must put some consideration for any fan work this sort...Very good work...

[Kage06]

Pretty good :)

You can tell the models come directly from the game (or at least they look like they do), but that is pretty impressive stuff.

[Pyke]

Really well done. It appears that the best fan/indie shorts are all done by people who actually work professionally in the entertainment industry in some way (usually visual effects). I'm assuming the Purchase Brothers are also in the entertainment industry? They also tend to be brothers too--kind of interesting how that works. I've worked with the Peretti Brothers on Stormshadow, and the Shumway Brothers just posted their trailer for Enigma--all are brothers. My brother actually studied film and loves film too, except he doesn't have the passion or interest in investing his own precious time, energy and money on personal projects. He'd rather just go to work, then come home and kick back and watch films made by others. If he was more motivated I'm sure we'd make a great brothers team as well.

My brother and I own a Viz company together. Granted we aren't making movies (yet!), but I think we are an unstoppable team in what we do. ;)

Awesome short. I think a lot of the HL feel comes from the sounds they have used directly from the game.

Ive only seen the low res youtube version (QT and my browser arent friends!)....are the combine soldiers digital or live action?

I loved how the dude used the crowbar on the soldier....awesome!

[Shletten]

My brother and I own a Viz company together. Granted we aren't making movies (yet!), but I think we are an unstoppable team in what we do. ;)

Awesome short. I think a lot of the HL feel comes from the sounds they have used directly from the game.

Ive only seen the low res youtube version (QT and my browser arent friends!)....are the combine soldiers digital or live action?

I loved how the dude used the crowbar on the soldier....awesome!
You are wondering if the CPs are digital or live action? I would bet on live action but the masks were added digitally I can tell, but their tracking is excellent either way.

[Venkman]

I've only seen the low res youtube version (QT and my browser arent friends!)....are the combine soldiers digital or live action?

Click on the "watch in HD" link just below the lower right corner on youtube.

Hi-res glory!

[kelgy]

They also tend to be brothers too--kind of interesting how that works.

*the great advantage I see there is you have someone you know well and can trust, and given the introverted nature of the work required to pull it off, you dont need to go out and spend lots of time to track down a collaborator and then determine whether they are reliable or not.

Disney brothers.

Chiodo brothers.


Too bad my brother is the polar opposite of me. He helps me with the computer set up stuff but that's it.
Nothing else in common.

[Michael5188]

This is very well done, and just in case anyone missed it-

Join the Team (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=2&t=730575)

[Gentle Fury]

not bad....most of the cg is really well done....not really digging the costumes...looks a little too halloweenish. The pink mist is a little too after fx looking. Some of the comps are not cc'd perfectly and stand out....and there is once again too much fake camera shake (trust me it is totally noticeable.)

Overall, for an indy fx project it is very very well done and shows great potential. Great job!

[Kanga]

Ha ha, 500 bucks on pizza and a shit load of work for love I rekon.
I loved the overall look,... and well when the ol' crowbar came out it bought a tear to my eye :)

[ChrisDNT]

Wow, 500 dollars and they even hired Christian Bale!

[lehmi]

great short... but... well if I'd have to write a synopsis for this:

two guys are trapped between trains and kill soldiers. End.

Well I know it's more like a teaser for the episodes... but all that is happening in that teaser is that two people are killing soldiers... no real tense moments... no climax...

Well it lives from the universe that valve created for them.
Nevertheless, the costumes and fx and the integration of the assets of the games were really nice, I would love to see more stuff that is made out of machinima and cg, as both assets can almost look equally good nowadays...


can't wait for the next episodes.

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