Half-Life: The Movie - What do you want?

  • Thread starter halflifethemovie
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riomhaire said:
So you think the guy that wrote the story for the games is wrong? That's nice.
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I never said that. I never saw a quote from Doug Lomardi saying that the Combine were never on Xen. Maybe I was disproven about the black mesa scientists going to Xen before the resonance cascade but I admitted that.

but let's not argue anymore and discuss the HL movie.
 
Shippi said:
That wasn't the point I was making at all. I was just saying that more happened in Black Mesa than just Gordon's adventures and the overall Black Mesa storyline might translate better onto the big screen if it's not constricted to just Gordon's adventures :dozey: Just my opinion, which is what he asked for.
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I get what your saying
But dont get me wrong the idea is good but the main hero is Gordon
You could have the others as sequels if anything
 
Ubik said:
I never said that. I never saw a quote from Doug Lomardi saying that the Combine were never on Xen. Maybe I was disproven about the black mesa scientists going to Xen before the resonance cascade but I admitted that.

but let's not argue anymore and discuss the HL movie.
Click to expand...

Why would Doug Lombardi say that the combine were never on Xen? Surely you mean Marc Laidlaw?
 
Okay, i see a whole slew of people discussing this topic on all forums. It is something i talked with my Co-Writers about very extensively. I will give you what we figured out in a nutshell about why it is not feasible to create a Half-Life film based on anybody other than Gordon Freeman.

1. You cannot call it "Half-Life" without Gordon. Take note that every game that is called simply "Half-Life" is about Gordon Freeman. We don't plan to sell a film called "Half-Life" that has nothing to do with the original games storyline. Having a similar event with different characters isn't enough.

2. Not only would Gordon Freeman have to be omitted, but all of his actions would have to be avoided by another character. So, no other character can kill the head alien or launch the rocket or be the one man killing machine that Gordon is. It would corrupt the games story line and confuse newer fans. The fact that Gordon Freeman, an MIT graduate turned Scientist, does all of this is one of the selling points of the story. I don't even want to mention the millions of fans who would threaten our lives for changing the story and marketing our film "Half-Life" which has nothing to do with what they loved about the game in the first place.

3. This leaves us without any established characters or stories to work off of. All we have is the major events of the main story. However, besides a few little details, the story we are left with is pretty much a carbon copy of other parts of Science Fiction stories such as 1984, Fahrenheit 451, War of the Worlds, Alien, Mist and the outer limits episode "Borderland". Thus, which begs the question, why hound Valve for rights to something they took and manipulated for themselves in the first place?

4. What makes Half-Life different and engaging in its own right is the story of Gordon Freeman. His journey is what the hook of the story is. The Resonance Cascade, The 7 Hour War and all that is just a backdrop for the more interesting journey Gordon takes. It is what the players felt in 1998 when they first played Half-Life, it is what the players felt again in 2004 when they played Half-Life 2 and then again in 2006 and 2007 for the episodes (besides of course the award winning game play, graphics and interactivity). That feeling of adventure and mystery is what we want to bring to a whole new audience.

5. Also, a decent enough comparison is if Peter Jackson in the 1990's decided he couldn't do Lord of the Rings (which was a harder task to tackle) justice and that he should just simply do a male soldier's journey and call it "A Middle Earth Story". Not only would it be completely useless to utilize Middle Earth because it would be like any other fantasy adventure war story, but he couldn't involve any of the central characters and events due to interfering with the original time line and plot. Thus, the marketability is gone. Also, if they started advertising it as a story from the Lord of the Rings universe (the only way to take advantage of the original material) people will wonder "where is Frodo?" "Sam?" "Gollum" and whoever else.

Basicly, the film would instantly go from being a potential "Event" movie that could be placed for release in the summer months to being a "Side project" film that would be placed in the Winter or Fall months. The budget would instantly be cut in at least half, if not more. You can no longer utilize (as much as you could originally) the sales figures from the games as proof the franchise can sell to a wide audience for potential investors. The budget would be significantly low, production values would be poor and it would have a B-Movie stench to it.

The audience loves to see ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary situations. Half-Life is an original story based off of that concept. That is what will sell. Not the 7 Hour War, not the Science Fiction stuff, not even the special effects, explosions or aliens or whatever. It is the story of an ordinary man doing extraordinary things. It is simple as that.

Those, among other reasons is why a Half-Life film not based off of Gordon Freeman is completely useless and wouldn't add anything to the franchise. Non-Half-Life fans would ignore it and it would be quickly forgotten. As much as we want to please the Half-Life fan base, we want to stretch out the property to new markets and demographics (without altering or sacrificing the source material). That is the primary goal of our project.
 
Xendance said:
Why would Doug Lombardi say that the combine were never on Xen? Surely you mean Marc Laidlaw?
Click to expand...

It's Doug Lombardi. See the Marc Laidlaw Vault thread.
 
halflifethemovie said:
Take note that every game that is called simply "Half-Life" is about Gordon Freeman.
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Half-Life: Opposing Force is about Adrian Shephard.
Half-Life: Blue Shift is about B. Calhoun.
Half-Life: Decay is about Gina Cross and Collette Green.

But I do understand your point of view and your other arguements are well made.
 
When are you actually planning to pitch the movie to valve anyways.
 
Mellish said:
When are you actually planning to pitch the movie to valve anyways.
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Before the end of the year. We are tied up with other productions now that are taking us into the summer months with a busy schedule, so we want to be able to focus on this rather than working it in between some other stuff we are doing.
 
For me, the ideal is not to make a HL movie, its extremely hard to adapt a videogame to cinema like history proves, simply because in a videogame we are active participants in the action, and in a movie we are only viewers. In HL case, is even more complicated, because we dont know Gordon's personality, the games are made so that each one of the players reflects his own personality on Gordon.

But if a movie had to be made, and if it had to be around Gordon, i would prefer a movie that evolves around Gordons inner conflicts. This is an ordinary guy that suddenly sees himself surrounded by all kind of trouble. A normal guy would question himself "what is my role in all this?", "Why me?", "What pushes me forward?". He is not a bad ass marine, he is a person like all of us, scared like shit. Its that human side that i would like to see in him.

In style, directing, etc i think an intimist, slow budget, clearly far from a blockbuster mentallity would be better, the less big special effects and CGI the better (well except Xen i guess...). I like a lot Alien, and i see its one of your influences, and i think the claustrophobic and psicological horror would fit perfectly in a HL movie, the secret is not to show your fears in camera, but rather make the spectator think what is around the corner.

I think its all, but like i said i would prefer not to see a HL movie.

Sorry my poor english:eek:
 
I was thinking about Gman's possible presence in the movie, and the closest resemblance I could think of was Cancerman from The Xiles - especially from the first episodes, you know, when Molder talks with Skinner in his office, there's always that mysterious guy, smoking his cigarette, never talking - close but distant. Now, I'm thinking of Gordon as Molder, talking with some superior and Gman present like Cancerman. Also, he could show up from time to time later in the, talking with someone, just as Cancerman from later episodes. I don't say, spoof the hole thing, but this is very good model on how to do that "important, but we don't know anything about him" character.

One more thing - I know you said we shouldn't discuss possible actors for the roles, but I saw Underworld again recently, and I must say - get that guy who played Victor for Gman! Bill Ninhy is the name. The resemblance is remarkable! :D

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/1/1f/Bill_Nighy.jpg
http://www.a1vox.com/images/Gallery01/pnighy.jpg
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/01/11/blueorange460.jpg
 
Wleikko said:
I was thinking about Gman's possible presence in the movie, and the closest resemblance I could think of was Cancerman from The Xiles - especially from the first episodes, you know, when Molder talks with Skinner in his office, there's always that mysterious guy, smoking his cigarette, never talking - close but distant. Now, I'm thinking of Gordon as Molder, talking with some superior and Gman present like Cancerman. Also, he could show up from time to time later in the, talking with someone, just as Cancerman from later episodes. I don't say, spoof the hole thing, but this is very good model on how to do that "important, but we don't know anything about him" character.

One more thing - I know you said we shouldn't discuss possible actors for the roles, but I saw Underworld again recently, and I must say - get that guy who played Victor for Gman! Bill Ninhy is the name. The resemblance is remarkable! :D

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/1/1f/Bill_Nighy.jpg
http://www.a1vox.com/images/Gallery01/pnighy.jpg
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/01/11/blueorange460.jpg
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The hollywood guy said he doesn't want to talk about casting yet.

This post has never contained anything that would make me look stupid or make a tiny little manhack feel good about himself....ingnore that edit thing below this.
 
I want flying shit like headcrabs and perfectly realisticly modeled crows and pidgeons that Gordon shoots from the sky at will. I want it also to be completely silent. Like one of those movies from the old times where it's black and white and it has those little black scenes where it says what the people are saying.

Make it in 564d.
 
GordonFreeman911 said:
I want flying shit like headcrabs and perfectly realisticly modeled crows and pidgeons that Gordon shoots from the sky at will. I want it also to be completely silent. Like one of those movies from the old times where it's black and white and it has those little black scenes where it says what the people are saying.

Make it in 564d.
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This, but with Snarks. A LOT OF SNARKS.
 
What about an Aperture Science refrence? There was a Black Mesa refrence in Portal. I would like to see an AS refrence somewhere. But don't make it obvious. It will only be something people who play the game's get.
 
Shoes_Buttback03 said:
What about an Aperture Science refrence? There was a Black Mesa refrence in Portal. I would like to see an AS refrence somewhere. But don't make it obvious. It will only be something people who play the game's get.
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On his way to the test chamber, Gordon walkes past a couple of scientists engaging in a conversation:

Scientist 1: "Why has Breen felt it to be so necessary that we do the experiment now, and not later?"
Scientist 2: "Hell, if I know, but at least the success of this experiment should steal away whatever government funding Apurture Science has left."
Scientist 1: "If it's a succuss..."
 
Shoes_Buttback03 said:
The hollywood guy said he doesn't want to talk about casting yet.

This post has never contained anything that would make me look stupid or make a tiny little manhack feel good about himself....ingnore that edit thing below this.
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Whaaa?
professor-hubert-farnsworth-3996.jpg



Yes, I know, but I just couldn't help myself but to express my overjoy when I saw Gman in Victor! :cheese:
 
I have another question for everyone. You have been doing well with the information you all gave us.

Name what you believe to be the most memorable/important action sequences in the game. Name between three to six. Explain why and decide from how memorable they were and the importance to the plot line and story.
 
Garg sequences; plotwise they aren't that important, but they are oh so sweet, and therefore memorable.

Street fighting sequence; I don't know if any of you guys remember, but in the chapter "Surface Tension" there is an awesome sequence where you can just watch a bunch of Humans and Aliens go at it in a street from inside a building, ah yes, and also a Human grunt gets thrown through a wall by an Alien grunt. Plotwise, this sequence isn't very important, but its a nice way to show off Human versus Alien combat.

Nihalanth fight; whatever anyone might say about the Nihalanth basicaly being a big baby, I still think the image of Freeman flying through the air smashing the Nihalanth's brains out is classic. Oh yeah and I love at the begining when he says "FREEMANNNNN!". Plotwise, this sequence is VERY important.

Just my two cents.
 
I wrote in the very first post that this isn't where the fans can express their hatred for Hollywood ruining their favorite video games by making movies based off of them. We are tackling this enough getting finance and getting people to back the project, not to mention Valve will also be giving us trouble, which we welcome, since we don't want to ruin a film based on their franchise as much as they do. We are completely aware of Valve's current standings on Hollywood when it comes to their franchise.
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Without Valves full involvement and blessing its not happening, so you should probably worry less about farming forums for originality and working towards getting Valve to give you guys the time of day.

As for this thread being about what us fans want (and not about the OP and his point of discussion) as I said, this was covered in a prior thread, so I won't repeat myself. :)
 
Street fighting sequence; I don't know if any of you guys remember, but in the chapter "Surface Tension" there is an awesome sequence where you can just watch a bunch of Humans and Aliens go at it in a street from inside a building, ah yes, and also a Human grunt gets thrown through a wall by an Alien grunt. Plotwise, this sequence isn't very important, but its a nice way to show off Human versus Alien combat.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree with this. Freeman in focus, with Human-Alien battle in behind. Very cool.
Maybe some bodies thrown in a Freeman's direction.

Also, the very first time a headcrab attacks Freeman. Introducing the aliens.

The Blast Pit and the tentacle - Very scary, especially when the tentacle grabs the scientist through the window.

Gman, and desperatly trying to shoot him :p
 
I would prefer to see the battle from "On a Rail" between Human soldiers and Vortigaunts rather then the Human v Xen grunt battle. But I like the Vorts more then Grunts anyway so take this as prejudice.

I liked seeing the Xen grunt's deploying from Manta ships. (yes this goes against the statement above)

And the Lambda complex in general was a fun experience. Hope all that helps.
 
I raelly can't see HL going into a movie. Mostly because we haven't encountered a studio that is an equivalent to Valve in the film industry. What studio are you part of anyways?
 
Main action sequences I think need to be in the movie-

nihilanth's chamber
crawling through the desert chased by helicopters
assassins followed by the knockout and into the trash compactor

and by main action sequences, I really mean cool scenes that I would like to see but probably won't be included (not counting nihilanth)
 
L3N!N said:
I raelly can't see HL going into a movie. Mostly because we haven't encountered a studio that is an equivalent to Valve in the film industry. What studio are you part of anyways?
Click to expand...

See, the film industry works a lot different than many outside of it perceive how it works. Nowadays, however this has been like this for years, independent production companies, which i am apart of, develop projects themselves and go to studios for financing, distribution or both. This is not how every film is made but many are made in this fashion.

I am not prepared to give everyone here a lesson on the logistics of the studio system and such, so i won't divulge in any more details from there. I as well don't want to explain our business affairs that i have no permission to talk extensively about, but what i just did explain is nothing new and exciting.

The point is, we are not part of any major studio. We plan to develop the project ourselves and will only go to the studio for distribution and maybe financing.

I wouldn't go as far as to call ourselves the "Valve" of the film industry, however i wouldn't mind admitting we are taking that outlook when doing this project, since that is one of the perspectives we need to get the sense of quality Valve brings to its gaming franchises.
 
The same guy should play all the security guards. :) Same with the scientists. It will make it more like the game. /jk
 
Shoes_Buttback03 said:
The same guy should play all the security guards. :) Same with the scientists. It will make it more like the game. /jk
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This is something i don't like speaking about cause its a decision we have no reason talking about right now, but i will humor everyone anyway.

We will probably do something fun (not that) as far as casting the extra scientists and the guards. The ones that don't involve as much acting or speaking we will probably give to Valve staff or possibly the original voice actors. We will do something funny. We plan to put many inside jokes for the fans in there, but not at the expense of the movie or the enjoyment of the viewer. Most will be subtle or something you won't even notice unless you find out online or however.

To reply to your post, I'll just say its safe to assume we are going to have fun with some casting and production design in that regard. I promise we won't go overboard though, cause i can see some film makers overdoing that just to have a few laughs and kiss up to the fan base.
 
Needed sequences
Cliff
End boss
Garg

And many others but i just cant think of them atm
 
How about not having a movie?

Okay, if there was to be one, the script would have to be written by valve, and Gordon woulnd't be the star.
 
Yeah, c'mon guys. This thread isn't about saying to not make a hl movie, it's for discussing what we want to see in one.
 
You know, what I'd like to see in a Half-Life movie? Half Life 2. A movie of the first would suck imo, HL2 would be awesome.
 
Ubik said:
sorry man but you're wrong.
Click to expand...
Friend, you're new here, so I'm going to go ahead and give you a free, good piece of advice that most people learn only with time: don't question Darkside. He's never wrong. Ever.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand:

Can I ask WHY you're making this movie? You didn't answer me in your reply to my other post, instead opting to dodge the question by saying "we don't know if this movie will get made," "I understand people are scared," "I don't feel like explaining it again," and the absolutely wonderful reassurance that you and your team are, indeed, PROFESSIONALS WHO KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING, despite the fact that you're on an anonymous internet forum.

But I don't care about any of that.

What I want to know is why you even want to do this movie? Are you just trying to cash in? Are you a fan of Half-Life? I wonder how much of a fan you can be if you're posting on here for ideas. I wonder what you even have in mind, because you keep vauguely alluding to things you want the movie to have, but then you're going back and asking for input. It seems like both pandering to fans so that you don't screw it up, but more than that you only have the basest outline set up. So I'm wondering why you're even bothering in the first place.

As it stands Valve's probably not going to OK your project. Nothing ventured nothing gained, sure, but this whole thread--and ALL threads on a Half-Life movie--amount to nothing more than a grunion run. "Let's throw out ideas we want to see in a project that will ultimately never come to fruition." Nor would anyone ever really want it to. Despite anyone saying how often they've thought of a potential script for a Half-Life movie, how much they'd love to see it done on the big screen, this that and the other thing, no you wouldn't. You wouldn't.

You know why Half-Life's successful? Because it's an interactive narrative. It tells a story from a first-person perspective that never breaks. Guess what a movie does? It puts the viewer in the backseat. So creating a Half-Life movie to rehash what you've already played through, what's the point, y'know? So you can watch some people act out what you've already done in a condensed form? So you can watch CG vortigaunts getting blasted? Ultimately it'd be a disappointment anyway because crowds would walk out of the theater saying, "That might've been cool, but that's not how I did it in the game." Cue nitpicking.

It's just not something you should aspire to translate to the screen. It reeks of "Man, there's this game I played, I bet it'd make an awesome movie!"

It wouldn't.
 
I didn't read whole thread but.. I think it should be like the movie "the fifth element". We have our hero, aliens, futuristic elements, some humor, a little romance.. I don't think it needs to be from first person perspective all the time, that wouldn't work. Maybe a bit zombie massacre like in resident evil, but not too much. I would say just keep the main characters and premise, create a new story (don't try to duplicate what's already in the game). IMHO.
 
Just please make sure to use special effects to the best of your ability to make the Xen creatures, without making them seem 'invincible' (A common trair in alien-themed movies). Don't make the plot too hard to follow, which could be a problem with a story like Half-Life. I agree with other people in the aspect that you should keep the perspective from Gordon's eyes. I am quite excited at the prospect of a HL movie, as do many others, so don't mess this up.
 
halflifethemovie said:
This is something i don't like speaking about cause its a decision we have no reason talking about right now, but i will humor everyone anyway.

We will probably do something fun (not that) as far as casting the extra scientists and the guards. The ones that don't involve as much acting or speaking we will probably give to Valve staff or possibly the original voice actors. We will do something funny. We plan to put many inside jokes for the fans in there, but not at the expense of the movie or the enjoyment of the viewer. Most will be subtle or something you won't even notice unless you find out online or however.

To reply to your post, I'll just say its safe to assume we are going to have fun with some casting and production design in that regard. I promise we won't go overboard though, cause i can see some film makers overdoing that just to have a few laughs and kiss up to the fan base.
Click to expand...

Valve used real people to model the face's of ingame characters for HL2. Heres a picture of real/ingame.
hl2raisingthebar1223mt.jpg


And it would be a holy super epic win to get the people that modeled Barney and Dr.Breen to play them selves in the movie. But you don't use there real voice's. What you do is dub over there lines with the actual voice actors they use in HL2. Trust me this will make fans worship you. And I feel make Valve really trust you with the movie. I'm am very serious about this idea and I'd bet money it will work 100% better then just getting actors that kind of look like them but sound nothing like them. They will be instantly recognized by fans opon seeing them and we will love hearing the ingame voice actors. DO IT! Oh and sorry for this really big picture.
 
Shoes_Buttback03 said:
And it would be a holy super epic win to get the people that modeled Barney and Dr.Breen to play them selves in the movie. But you don't use there real voice's. What you do is dub over there lines with the actual voice actors they use in HL2. Trust me this will make fans worship you. And I feel make Valve really trust you with the movie. I'm am very serious about this idea and I'd bet money it will work 100% better then just getting actors that kind of look like them but sound nothing like them. They will be instantly recognized by fans opon seeing them and we will love hearing the ingame voice actors.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it sure would be super awesome to watch actors being dubbed over with other actors' voices. I know that every time I watch a dubbed foreign film with terrible sync that it's always the greatest thing ever and totally not something I'd mock or be disturbed by.

Also I'm totally with you on getting the actual face models to be in the movie. How awesome would it be to see Scott Lynch, the REAL Barney, and Ted Kohrt, whom Isaac Kleiner took his face texture from, acting on the big screen? Because Valve's chief operating officer and an accountant would make for the BEST actors. After all, all they have to do is stand around moving their lips and someone else will provide their dialogue!

Oh man, let's not forget to include the repatriated citizen, who was a bum standing outside Valve's offices. I'm sure he'd be an AWESOME actor.











In case you're slow, I've been making fun of you this entire post.
 
Lol dont be so hard on him Darkside he is just excited at the idea of a HL movie
As are.....most.....of us
I mean dont get me wrong the idea of a HL movie would be awesome but its just....something like that is to easy to **** up
i mean look at the doom movie
Lots liked the game
99.9% hated the movie
Here if they dont do it right it would be
Most play the game
All hate it

Also shoes can i get a link to those pages?
 
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