Unbelievable Machinima Project Done By A Halo Fan

Here at the Game It Up Initiative we believe fanart is a great project type for the young and old, er…young at heart alike.  When Halo 3 came out, back in 2007, I was amazed at the options available to fans to create art based upon the game we were playing. One of my first projects was a poster I called, “On the Hunt.”  I took multiple screenshots during a game play session, exported them out of the game, and then used a photo-editing tool to layer the shots into one.  Here it is:

Or click here for the full size version.

We had a lot of fun exporting screenshots and turning them into posters, or desktop wallpapers etc.  But it doesn’t stop there.  People used the same tools to create fan films of the game as well.   Machinima, or the process of filmaking the using real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production, has produced some great projects over the years. We can do that at home? Yes.  Halo, and many other games, comes with very robust video capture and directing software built into the game itself.  People can use the game, and a computer to create some great art…while also learning technical skills as well.

Which brings me to the above film:  Halo: Eye of the Storm.  This fan created masterpiece is a 22 minute campaign tribute film composed of hundreds of hours of in-game footage.  While this kind of project is extremely more exhastive that what I would normally recommend for students…just on the issue of time alone…it shows an attention to detail that is rarely seen on a project of this funding level:  It only cost $540 in hard costs to make this film.

Other fun film facts:

• HALO: Eye of the Storm took just under two years to complete.
• Each 1-3 second shot took on average 5 hours to capture.
• The first 2-minute scene is made up of 58 shots. That’s approximately 290 hours of capture time.
• HALO: Eye of the Storm is the only Halo machinima of its scope to ever be completed entirely in Campaign mode.
• It was done by one guy working alone (not counting voice actors and titles).

The creator is Philip Kang aka XBL JEFFR1ES

Philip Kang…you are awesome.  :)

Any parents reading this, if I can help you come up with some projects for you and your kids to work on…let me know.