A while back, a series titled “The Freeman Chronicles” was announced and a fundraiser was started on Indiegogo. It raised close to a third of its $75,000 goal, and donations are still available on the official website. Apart from the “Escape From City-17” shorts, this is probably one of the closest thing we’ve had to a live action Half-Life series. However, less than a month ago, CoolBrosChannel uploaded a teaser for an upcoming project.
Let’s check it out.
Machinima Prime, a sub-channel of the popular Machinima.com gaming network , just uploaded a trailer for a fan-film named ‘Half-Life: Raise the Bar’.
The full film will be uploaded this Friday and can be viewed on the MachinimaPrime Channel on YouTube.
We’ve seen a lot of amazing fanmade Half-Life live-action films in the community over the years, but for the most part, these have been shorter, smaller creations developed on budgets ranging from “tiny” to “zero”. And while they mostly hit all the right notes even with these minimal resources, one just can’t help but wonder… what if a few of the community’s biggest and bestest filmmakers decided to aim higher than the rest–namely, by putting together a more sizeable budget–offering the fans a more substantial fanfilm than we’ve ever seen before?
Well, it seems the wheels are finally turning on a non-profit, fan-funded Half-Life webseries that might just give us what we’ve been clamoring for: 40 minutes of Gordon Freeman, fighting aliens and spec-ops soldiers on the surface of the Black Mesa complex! And no sword fights.
For years, we have entertained ourselves with thoughts of a Half-Life movie. However, time and time again, Gabe Newell has told us that he will protect his property fiercely, and until he gets a good movie script, a film will not be made.
Behind this lies a dark secret. A veeeeeeery dark secret.
Hit the jump to find out about that veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery dark secret.
Wow. “The Combine Interview”, at the time it was made, was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. Very well written, awesome acting, excellent production values and cinematography, and with some great action near the end, it was simply amazing. Even with recent fanfilms such as “Escape from City 17” and “Beyond Black Mesa”, this is still very awesome, and the way it was written to reflect Tom Cruise’s leaked Scientology interview is pretty amazing. Video is after the jump.
“Vae Victis” (Latin for “Woe to the Vanquished”) is a 2009 machinima series created by Eddie Smithson and published by Machinima. Vae Victis is well written and features a fairly equal mix of action and storytelling. With great filming and effects, but a disappointing ending, Vae Victis is still definitely worth checking out. More info and the videos after the jump.
“City 17” is a 2005 fan film made by Funatic Films. Shot entirely on location in Cologne, Germany with a Canon XL1 DV camera, this fan film features no CG effects other than the HL2 creatures and, of course, the Citadel. Video after the jump.
This particular version of it is the 2007 remake, featuring improved effects and additional CG clips.
“City 17” tells the story of a young citizen wandering a city that’s… changed. He will soon find himself confronted by numerous strange creatures and machines.
One of the first major HL-related videos, “City 17” is the original HL fan film. With great effects, awesome filming and an interesting storyline, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Beyond Black Mesa, the fan-film that stunned us all with an excellent trailer, is finally set for a release. BBM will be showing at the 12th Annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham, set to take place September 24th-26th, 2010. Tickets will go on sale on August 1st, 2010. More information after the jump.
