Remember that old HL2 film, Beyond Black Mesa? It came out today. - Games

The actors looked too clean and well-groomed to be resistance fighters on the run from the combine. For their budget (and ignoring the deviations from the Half-Life universe) they did pretty good.

[QUOTE=JurajIsNotPirat;27587279]I'd say the super kung fu katana shit was a bit weaboo.[/QUOTE] How can the "super kung fu katana shit" be someone who is obsessed with Japan? Anyway, that was alright although the ending wasn't good. It looked nice though.

I quite liked it. Great for their low budget.

[QUOTE=DMGaina;27603615]The editing was awesome, the scenes and the fighting choreo where good, the actors where good, the setting and equiptment was authentic and great... but there are several things what makes me not liking this video as a Half-Life based film at all. First of all it's the Zombie without a Headcrab. There are no classic "Zombies" in Half-Life... everyone knows that... EVERYONE KNOWS THAT. Then, as mentioned above, the timeline is incorrect. And then there is the pissing Combine... I mean... a pissing Combine!? Come on, they are transhuman, they don't need to eat, therefore they don't need to piss or shit. And why is there randomly HECU written on the map? The HECU was the military forces active in Black Mesa. I thought they just put it there randomly but it really bugs me.[/QUOTE] The Zombies were infected with the Green Flu, and aren't Headcrabbed. You find an actual Headcrab zombie in the saferoom where the team finds their pistols and medkits. The Combine were CPs. Note how they had terrible aim with their SMGs and had(from what I heard) sounds from the CPs. Most CPs aren't augmented all that much, so they would have to expel waste. The HECU graffiti is an easter egg, like the Aperture Science product found near when Shepherd finds the bloody wrench.

[QUOTE=DMGaina;27603615]The editing was awesome, the scenes and the fighting choreo where good, the actors where good, the setting and equiptment was authentic and great... but there are several things what makes me not liking this video as a Half-Life based film at all. First of all it's the Zombie without a Headcrab. There are no classic "Zombies" in Half-Life... everyone knows that... EVERYONE KNOWS THAT. Then, as mentioned above, the timeline is incorrect. And then there is the pissing Combine... I mean... a pissing Combine!? Come on, they are transhuman, they don't need to eat, therefore they don't need to piss or shit. And why is there randomly HECU written on the map? The HECU was the military forces active in Black Mesa. I thought they just put it there randomly but it really bugs me.[/QUOTE] I think they were supposed to be Civil Protection, who aren't augmented [QUOTE=eatdembeanz;27607962]The Zombies were infected with the Green Flu, and aren't Headcrabbed.[/QUOTE] well yeah, but the green flu isn't in hl2 either

[QUOTE=DMGaina;27603615]The editing was awesome, the scenes and the fighting choreo where good, the actors where good, the setting and equiptment was authentic and great... but there are several things what makes me not liking this video as a Half-Life based film at all. First of all it's the Zombie without a Headcrab. There are no classic "Zombies" in Half-Life... everyone knows that... EVERYONE KNOWS THAT. Then, as mentioned above, the timeline is incorrect. And then there is the pissing Combine... I mean... a pissing Combine!? Come on, they are transhuman, they don't need to eat, therefore they don't need to piss or shit. And why is there randomly HECU written on the map? The HECU was the military forces active in Black Mesa. I thought they just put it there randomly but it really bugs me.[/QUOTE] Those were Civil protection, not soldiers. Civil Protection are volunteer and have absolutely no changes done to them physically. Noticed the sounds used? [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=eatdembeanz;27607962]The Zombies were infected with the Green Flu[/QUOTE] There is no Green Flu at any point in the HL Universe, only the L4D Universe.

Maybe, in the end it wasn't a grenade. Maybe it was a flare? Nah, I am just too optimistic.

That was neat, but they got the Half-Life storyline all wrong.

I very nearly stopped watching when the Combine soldier brought out the katana.

[QUOTE=ChosenOne54;27611646]I very nearly stopped watching when the Combine soldier brought out the katana.[/QUOTE] Same for me. It was a complete "WHAT THE FUCK?" moment. I must've skipped a big part of HL2 to miss the Ninja CPs.

That was insane

Awesome - Don't know why everyone's complaining about inaccuracies and the ninja bits. It was an entertaining well produced short film with some HL references. Great work

[QUOTE=pogothemunty;27619129]Awesome - Don't know why everyone's complaining about inaccuracies and the ninja bits. It was an entertaining well produced short film with some HL references. Great work[/QUOTE] It had references and cameos all around.

[QUOTE=pogothemunty;27619129]Awesome - Don't know why everyone's complaining about inaccuracies and the ninja bits. It was an entertaining well produced short film with some HL references. Great work[/QUOTE] it may have been entertaining but when they are trying to make the HL Universe, leaving out shit like the headcrabs and adding fucking Ninja CPs is just stupid.

Here's what they could have done instead: [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN4JIz7uq40[/MEDIA] Compare and contrast... - Special Effects: In this case they're used for things specific to this setting. If you're doing bullet impacts and explosions, we can see how inferior they are to any average high budget action movie. - Characters: A variety of personalities that can be understood and related to are introduced. For that matter, the actors are cast to fit the role (or the roles were designed to fit the available cast). Average groomed teenagers = teenagers, not struggling soldier resistance fighters. - Dialog: It's natural, written for its audience, and can be understood. It's written to fit the situations with good comedic timing, and the sound mixing keeps it audible during the action. - Sword Fight: It's aware of its own goofiness while still framing the action well. It's self depricating and, even better, actually just a nerd fantasy. - Copying: It borrows ideas, but it does it by making clever nods to its inspirations. It also spends equal time confidently bringing its own ideas to life. - Lame Ending: Yeah, it's not great, but it also leaves you wanting more. It hints at a larger world and continuing story. - 12 Minutes: The flow between scenes is coherent and there's plent of memorable moments. Most imporant, it doesn't feel like I wasted my time watching this. - Not About Half-Life: In conclusion, people aren't complaining about Beyond Black Mesa because of the artistic liberties. They're complaining because it's completely wasted potential. Yes, it was made using limited resourse and with the creator's free time. No, we couldn't do much better. It's just sad to see all that effort go in to something so poorly concieved. I hope they can at least see their own failures, refine their process, and make something that isn't trash next time.

As an independent film it's really good, but as a HL2 film it's mediocre. Didn't really capture the HL2 feel like other fan films such as Escape from City 17 or Lambda. If they wanted to do something involving Half life as a basis they should of gone a route similar to What's in the Box.

The biggest mistake that they've made is personification of this movie by the main character from VALVe game. Escape from City 17 is graphic example that they shouldn't do that. As for me I think this movie is shit only for one reason, the director Brian Curtin. He already mentioned about himself as a perfectionist, shame. He think that he is a cool guy, choosed the big name for his character in this movie, a lot of non-canon things, poor asian died LOL but then good soldier Shepard saving a cute girl, running together like a lovely couple and killing themselves, what a stupid ending. IMHO this movie is fucked up because of blind personal ambitions of Brian Curtin and his team.

[QUOTE=MenteR;27586535]Shep[b]h[/b]ard.[/QUOTE] Feck.

The filming and effects were pretty good, and yeah they're a little young to be entirely believable but since they made it I'll suspend my disbelief. But what's up with the clothes their wearing? They look like they just stepped out of a JC Penny or Kohl's catalog. I'll give them credit for rubbing a bit of dirt on their shoulders, but I think they could have varied what they were wearing with some pants that aren't blue jeans or a coat or something, holes in it etc. Maybe skip a shower, or at least make your hair look like you didn't spend a while fixing it or something. And is Adrian Shephard wearing a fuckin scarf? [these people probably had fun making this that's the point blah blah blah]

I guess I'm not really gonna have anything to say that hasn't already been said, buuuutt First of all, this is an impressive film. Entertaining, its fun to watch. I'd rather watch this than most of the currently released movies, anyway. You can tell an extreme amount of work has been put into it, but there are ALOT of flaws. I'm not even going to go into the inaccuracies, the fact that it screws with Half Life alot, because heaps of other people have stated the obvious. I'm going to look at this like it WASN'T a Half Life film, which is what it should be, if they had concentrated on making a short film with a seperate storyline, this would be near perfect. A few things with the visuals. God damn, its a pretty film. Looks top notch. But there are some annoying things. Like the combine look stupid as hell, they resemble what they should in the game, but they just look plain [I]silly.[/I] Everything else? Top notch. The next and most fucking BLARING thing is the story. Because it tries to be true to Half Life, and then use Shepard has a main character, there are heaps of faults. Shepard is fleeing from Combine. We can assume Gman had placed let him out of stasis or something. Next you see him obviously investigating Ravenholm, where he meets a chubby asian chick we'll call...Chubby Asian Chick. They use their non-half-life scanner and pick up a safe house. Seems good enough, then they spot a fleeing female, followed by zombies. Its worth noting at this point the zombies look kick ass. Reguardless, you can see Shepard run away from Chubby Asian, showing that they ARE indeed strangers and don't seem to have any real care about eachother. In the following scene you see them all save eachother, but I'm guessing its more of just a "help fellow humanbeing" thing. They finaly reach the safehouse THIS is where, in my opinion, the story gets raped. It didn't have much of a story to begin with, but still. They loot weaponry and leave the safe house just as the Combine catch up. Shepard gets left behind as he has a gunfight with he combine. This once again, shows that these three characters seem to have no previous relation, as they are more than happy to leave Shepard behind. Then he jumps out a window. ...I can dig it Anywho, Shepard is now left alone when he comes across ANOTHER Combine. Except...its some form of Super Ninja Combine. They have a small shootout, but both of them are left disarmed. Shepard grabs a pipe and the combine...grabs a sword. Yeah, IDK. Its worth noting this scene is fucking kick ass, if I werent too distracted by the fact its nothing like Half Life. Apart from the Crowbar Shepard gets and proceeds to rape with. So we can assume the storyline, in brief goes like this Shepard is fleeing from Combine, meets Survivors, They are also fleeing combine, they get split up, Shepards searching for them. Speaking of Survivors, its Chubby Asian and Fleeing Female time. They are, fleeing from Combine some more. I don't actually know what they're doing, but Chubby Asian dies, and Fleeing Female gets captured. THIS is where I don't know what the fuck happens. The combine are about to execute Fleeing Female while Shepard provides some commentary. With some blaring mistakes. Such as when Shepard remarks "To them, we're nothing more than a race plagued with self destruction", which I guess is true, however the humans didn't destroy themselves at all, but nevermind, I'm not pointing out mistakes here. Shepard quotes Gman as a Combine, who is about to excuete fleeing female, proceeds to turn on his solders and shoot them. Turns out its Shepard in disguise. Shepard and Fleeing Female then proceed to run off, before getting pretty much cornered by Combine Solders, he then proceeds to...hold Fleeing Females hand? Yeah? Sudden romance or what? He drops a grenade at his feet and the film ends. So yeah, the storyline looks like they had prepared a REALLY long storyline, for an 11 minute movie. This WOULDNT be [I]SOI] bad, except that due to the fact its restricted to the Half Life storyline. The characters are atleast believable, they looked varied and like actual people, as well as the fact they're played with good acting. As good as you can get when you don't talk. The film, in total, looks bloody awesome and is just as fun and exciting to watch, but flaws in its storyline and such and such.

From now on my official response to being whacked in the face with a lead pipe is to whip out a fucking katana. Why wasn't that my official response anyway? Also, Shepard killed a butt load of Black Ops, and Overwatch cops aren't all that hard to kill. They could have fought the Overwatch units at the end off.

[QUOTE=The Walrus;27639983]From now on my official response to being whacked in the face with a lead pipe is to whip out a fucking katana. Why wasn't that my official response anyway? Also, Shepard killed a butt load of Black Ops, and Overwatch cops aren't all that hard to kill. They could have fought the Overwatch units at the end off.[/QUOTE] Exactly, instead of being a complete failure of a suicide bomber, not knowing the range of his explosives!

I'd rather watch Shephard's Mind.

The ninja combat was awesome. Should have made the combine slightly less ninja and with a stunstick, seriously where did he pull the blade of for fucks sake?

have these people played half-life 2 before?

What happened to Escape from city 17?

Why the fuck do they always have to use the sounds from the game? That, and the lack of headcrabs on zombies heads ruined it for me

[QUOTE=DaFreshLemon;27644986]Why the fuck do they always have to use the sounds from the game? That, and the lack of headcrabs on zombies heads ruined it for me[/QUOTE] I agree about the zombies, but I thought using the noises from HL2 made it better.

Another example of how to do it right. Fallout: [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9UwlAAnlmg[/MEDIA]

Effects dont make a good film. Firstly TYPE CASTING. That fat Asian boy doesn't fit realistically in a world where the main character clearly scavenges "supply crates for health+food" and running from zombies+combine throught the whole film, he stands out like a sore thumb, why not use some of the zombie extras instead ? Videocopilot Optical Flares look like shit. Honestly in my experience they're great for motion graphics but used with film it appears like fake blobs of color and out of place, anamorphic lens flares only look right if the actual aspect ratio IS ANAMORPHIC. Look to 2009's Startreck for how to properly use optical flares, although they still look fake in Startreck at least they blend and look half believable. Color grading is not crushing highlights and pushing blacks towards green, doing so is the equivalent of playing let the bodies hit the floor in your gameplay videos/lets plays. But alas im just nit picking, what this really needed was character development, rather than three random silhouettes running in cartoon land from an enemies we know nothing about (taking this from a "i haven't played the game" point of view as the film should be able to stand on its own as a narrative). The film makers should have dropped the whole beyond black mesa half life fiasco and instead drew inspiration from it. What im saying is yes have zombies/combine but use them as a stepping stone for something new that translates onto the moving image better. (See the recent Fallout "Nuka Cola" short) This is what shits me about the internet. This fucking piece of shit gets (at the time of writing) 696,474 views on youtube, whilst clearly better work goes unnoticed, a facepunch user called topic10 made a short film here: [url]http://vimeo.com/15638685[/url] with only 200 views. Technically Beyond Black mesa Blows this out of the water, both in the camera technology and post production values, but at least this film has clear and concise character development, I can clearly see the character on a journey and arc - instead of fucking lens flares, matte paintings and fake masked depth of field. Clearly the person doing the effects is talented (but fails in subtly of effects) had they prioritized story over effects it could have been much better over all. (Again see the Fallout "Nuka Cola" short) Anyone see the ironic paralells to Valves own games ? I mean source engine is quide dated by todays standards, but the storys told in it, portal/half-life are top notch, compare to crysis and you commonly hear "it was good up until the aliens" its rare for someone to call half life "good" more like "great" or "brilliant" and it aint for the graphics. What do I take away from Beyond Black Mesa ? A bloody statistic, upping their view count to 696,475. Fuck me, here you go facepunch my rant theses on Beyond Black Mesa..:pcgaming: