A group of friends made this video on a budget of $500 to test their skills. They said they were picked up by Steam a while ago for who knows what. The result is an epic 5 minute short (watch in HD!):
I'm not a hardcore fan of the HL story, but this looks like it is going to be great if it turns into a movie or series. These kids are doing better than the team making the Dragonball movie. It is amazing what really talented people can pull off nowadays without thousands or millions of dollars.
Edit: Yeah this could probably go in the YouTube thread, but I thought this worthy of it's own because the quality is just mind-blowing.
that was nice. the costumes and the set and the graphics were very nice for $500. they need to get better actors tho. i hope something will come out of this. i like the halflife story
I can't believe this was done on a $500 budget. The props were dead on target for matching the game, the animation was flawlessly comp'd, the acting was good, and the lighting was fantastic!
My god. And CharlieMurphy, I can't believe the CG is straight from HL2, as the models look higher poly and with higher res textures.
I could be wrong, but it looks like they did it all themselves.
500? amazing haha. I never really got into the half life series but the movie was pretty amazing. Hopefully someone pics this up and gives them more money. The acting was good imo, I dont see how that was terrible? Amazing graphics and lighting could work on the zombies? sounds and better sounds for the characters.
Wowow. 500$? Mad skills. Only thing really lacking was the acting, but even then that was epic as fuck. Awestruck by this movie. How long have they been making movies?
"The short film Escape from City 17: Part One, viewable on YouTube via the link below, was inspired by the Half-Life 2 episodes and chronicles the escape from City 17 by some members of the citizens resistance. It was created by The Purchase Brothers, a commercial directing duo, and their small team based in Toronto, Canada. They have been Half-Life enthusiasts from the start and have created this short, the first in a series, on a shoestring budget using handmade costumes, some donated equipment, and the Source SDK, not to mention lots of their own blood, sweat and (we assume) tears. It was sent to Valve unannounced, and we were blown away -- the production quality certainly exceeds that of the usual community-made movies we see. We're told the second episode is nearing completion, and we can't wait to see what's in store. We hope that you enjoy the series.
PLEASE NOTE! This live-action video contains scenes of blood and harsh violence, and may not be appropriate for younger audiences or sensitive viewers."
Yeah, managed to find it. That was absolutely insane considering the $500 budget.
The action got a bit lame after a while, though...four guys shooting at each other in a narrow alley between trains with automatic weapons can't land a single hit? Aside from that lack of realism...everything else about that video was amazing.
I would LOVE to see a HL movie...though I hope they do an adaptation of the first one first.
so many movies can be made on a similar budget if you completely ignore copyright. What's the biggest cost to any movie maker? licensing. In fact, that's so expensive, that you're often better off doing much of it yourself, which of course raises your costs immensely.
On February 14 2009 10:10 Phrujbaz wrote: so many movies can be made on a similar budget if you completely ignore copyright. What's the biggest cost to any movie maker? licensing. In fact, that's so expensive, that you're often better off doing much of it yourself, which of course raises your costs immensely.
A lot of it goes into paying the staff and whatnot as well. Paying salaries and whatnot stacks up very quickly.
If everyone is volunteering, that's a HUGE amount of money you save.
Man I love the eye of Sauron in the background and the way this underscores the original HL2 plot. Hopefully they can work in some more references to the happenings in the original game.
I hope Valve takes this and makes it into a separate game like Blue Shift and Opposing Force.
Hahahaha this looks so much better than some big budget movies, amazing. With a bigger budget + decent script and good actors they could do incredible things.
Yah, the $500 budget isn't that impressive, i mean if you were to factor in the programs and equipment needed, not things that they already had lying around because they were a production company. Now I guess if they rented the equipment cheap I guess that's cool, but again if you were to shoot that in a city and make money off of it, you'd probably need a license or permission or what not from the city me thinks.
I was severely disappointed when I reached the credits of Half-Life 2 and the 'story' I was waiting for the whole time never actually happened. These guys should have directed Half-Life 2 ;p
Wonder what software they used...but from the quality of it that must have cost more than a couple thousand, not 500. Still just as amazing of course, but not because of the budget...
The acting could be improved, but overall it was really impressive. They've captured to mood of the game, which is something that rarely happens in movies that are based on games.
On February 14 2009 16:33 Phantom wrote: Yah, the $500 budget isn't that impressive, i mean if you were to factor in the programs and equipment needed, not things that they already had lying around because they were a production company. Now I guess if they rented the equipment cheap I guess that's cool, but again if you were to shoot that in a city and make money off of it, you'd probably need a license or permission or what not from the city me thinks.
so it's not impressive they can do better with scrap (and let's say it was 5k, or 500 big deal); than some movies that have millions put into them with teams. =/ What's impressive is their designing capabilities- amplified by how little they apparently spent.
On February 14 2009 17:52 aseq wrote: Wonder what software they used...but from the quality of it that must have cost more than a couple thousand, not 500. Still just as amazing of course, but not because of the budget...
Well considering they're professional commercial directors, they probably already have/have access to most of the equipment needed. So the $500 most likely went into things they didn't already have like costumes/props or whatever.
but as you said, impressive regardless of their budget.