Obviously there will be people continuing on in such footsteps with the on-coming Halo 2, and I am hopefully going to be one of those who stride forward in their processes.
Now, I'll be honest, I'm an amateur. I've made a total of three machinima pieces. Two of them were done in Halo CE out of boredom, and the other was done with Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. It turned out a lot like a movie trailer, except for the fact that movie trailers don't really have minute-long credits afterward.
I'm not exceptionally taking to many fields of the process, I'll admit that. I've been working with Premiere for probably two or three months now and I still haven't really figured out how to apply and operate the effects, and God knows I CANNOT understand the encoding processes or compression and/or whatnot (I am forced to export as .wmv, for I cannot for the life of me figure out how to save my movies as .mov / .avi without having a dozen boners worth of extra megabytes in the file. However, I personally think that what I lack in these fields, I make up for in a few others.
I'm not boasting here, but I won't be modest either. I am quite a writer when my mind allows me to be. So many ideas are constantly hitting me when I think what kind of story I can make with different aspects of gameplay. Zanzibar especially, which is the level I am focusing on initially (for now), gives me a feel for the history that this place has, could have, and might have as I see more ideas flow.
Also, I have decided that the Axelhart Project (the name of the process; the work itself remains untitled) will not be a humor-based work. Quite contrary, it will most likely turn out to be an action drama. Also, of course the storyline will hold originality, but originality meaning general creativity. I am going to do my best to hold true to the storyline of Halo.
In order to better the chances of this, I went out last night and bought all three titles: The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and The First Strike. Just last night I read through at least 1/3 of The Fall of Reach, which surprisingly QUICKLY took me in. I hate reading, but it really is a great book so far, I'd recommend it to all of you.
Back on subject, my goal at the moment is split. I have pretty much tried viciously to rule out dividing the storyline into episodes, however I may have to do it this way. I am aiming toward a single movie, which I am having doubts of even the possibility as for the current notes and ideas I have down, it would take at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours to tell the story through. I don't even know if it's possible to have a movie clip that long that will actually have a reasonable filesize that people would actually be willing to download, and so if my worries prove correct, I will wind up going the path of episodes. The other idea I had was a sequel or a trilogy with shorter timespans, but I just realized that I would have to split them into three different stories that have somewhat of an ending to each.
Well anyhow, the reason I am writing all of this up is because I obviously cannot do all of this on my own. I have a grand total of two, maybe if I'm lucky, three friends who are even slightly interested in the project, and the only skill they can bring to the project would be voiceacting (which I'm even hesitant about now).
I mean not to get anyone's hopes up (if that's even possible) because I cannot guarantee that this will even go anywhere, but I am hoping to see if there is anyone who would be interested in being part of the team. Again, at the moment nothing and I mean NOTHING is official as it is so early... I'll only be making a list of people that show interest for later reference, but if you ARE interested, go ahead and let me know, and also let me know what you think you could bring to the series.
Although it is not vital to what I have in mind at the moment, it would be really helpful if anyone of interest who will be planning on modding Halo 2 when it arrives could incorporate those skills as well. Obviously there is no portfolio for Halo 2 itself at the moment, but I'd still like to hear of anyone's confidence in their abilities to work with Halo 2.
Anyway, basically this is what I am looking for: (The software I list is not solid, it is just what I currently use. Go ahead and list what you have in mind if anything.)
- Famililarity with video production software (Premiere 6.0)
Famililarity with audio production software (Audition 1.0)
Holds knowledge of running a website
Creative writers (though it would be better if you could bring other qualities, for I am stubborn and do not often "share the pen" with equality).
Current Halo Mod-makers who may be able to help me put storyboards together.
Knockaround Guys - If you don't have patience, or if you are NOT someone who doesn't give a fuck, then you probably won't be able to handle my persistance as a KG. Basically what I would need from you guys is to help act out scenes in Halo 1 which we would eventually incorporate into Halo 2 when the project actually goes into motion. I am planning on recording these scenes (PC version by FRAPS, as I currently do not have a DV camera to capture XBOX gameplay yet) for further speculation and molding until we find a scene that is well acted out that will turn out to be the storyboard for scenes acted out in pieces that will be filmed for the real project later on. (The idea of having the physical actors have a copy of this scene so they know generally of what will go on. Maybe it is pointless, but I thought I'd write it down just in case).
I can't really think of anything else at the moment, but I'm sure I'm missing a lot of things.
As for the storyline itself, I have a good idea of what it will be based around and some of the details, but as I said I am still reading through the books and trying to finally Finish Halo 1 via XBOX so I can keep my storyline from deviating from Halo's history. I am however, very decided upon the story of Halo 2 NOT being incorporated whatsoever. Basically I will be taking the story of Halo 1 on a different route, rather than Halo 2.
Although it isn't much, the year I am planning for the story to take place is 2603, approximately 50 years after Halo 04's destruction and the assault upon Earth.
I'm probably forgetting some stuff, so if anyone has questions, feel free to ask.
