View ByoLogyc’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on Youtube

On March 20, 2012, ByoLogyc Inc held an exclusive party for “investors” in the corporation. With ByoEnrich, ByoMate, ByoBreath, and ByoGrow on display and CEO Chet Getram giving his celebration speech, the event demonstrated ByoLogyc’s dedication to improving the human lifestyle through highly advanced biotechnology.

ByoLogyc Inc is an organization in the fictionalized live performance / interactive drama project being created by ZEDToronto. ZED.to has created a crowdfunding campaign through IndieGoGo to have the audience both support and participate in the endeavour, to experience the story over 8 months through online narrative and in 3 planned live events.
To take part and help fund this creative project, simply become a contributor through IndieGoGo donating any amount you choose from the available tiers – each successive amount provides increased immersion and rewards.

As for the party, after a short period of mingling in the Ingram Gallery with staff and trying out products, Chet arrived with Diva Capricia as his ‘special guest’, who gave a chilling performance of “Ebben? Ne andro lontana” from Catallani’s opera “La Wally” to help set the mood for the evening.  I can’t say I’m a fan of opera, but after being chilled to the bone by Capricia’s live performance, I had to research the song and find out what story it was that she was performing. The discovery did not disappoint.

That was only the beginning of the night, however, as more drama unfolded throughout the party – including a minor brawl with the bartender, and the removal of the contracted media coverage team for asking too many questions.  And sadly, Capricia was the one left behind at the party as Chet took leave early – with Olive Swift on his arm.

But what of the attendees? We were given the opportunity to try some of their products.  We were treated to catered oer d’oeuvres …from a biotech company experimenting with pharmaceutical drugs hoped to improve human lifestyle. Could we have really been labs rats? Two ByoLogyc scientists, including Davian Baxter, who were taking swabs from guests and asking a list of questions didn’t provide any comfort on that front.

The event was held at the Ingram Gallery in Toronto and was a live preview event executed as part of the ZED Toronto project. The full experience plans to ‘chronicle the end of the world’, in a zombie apocalypse as it were, with ByoLogyc at the helm. The finale event to be held in October promises to be a live, exciting and dramatic experience, and a struggle for survival at a yet undisclosed location.

What happens next? Sign up at ByoLogyc.com for the company newsletter, and follow @ByoLogyc, @ChetGetram, @OliveSwift, and @DavianBaxter on Twitter.

Please consider helping to fund this creative team of storytellers and actors by visiting indiegogo.com/zedto and pitching in — Campaign funding closes April 15th.

More information about the project is available at ZED.to and via @ZEDToronto

Check out many more photos from the event below, and at lisamorrismurray.com and these flickr galleries

“Ebben? Ne andrò lontana“ from Catalani’s opera “La Wally”

Ebben? Ne andrò lontana,
Come va l’eco della pia campana,
Là, fra la neve bianca;
Là, fra le nubi d’ôr;
Laddóve la speranza, la speranza
È rimpianto, è rimpianto, è dolor!

O della madre mia casa gioconda,
La Wally ne andrà da te, da te
Lontana assai, e forse a te,
E forse a te, non farà mai più ritorno,
Nè più la rivedrai!
Mai più, mai più!

Ne andrò sola e lontana,
Come l’eco è della pia campana,
Là, fra la neve bianca;
Ne andrò, ne andrò sola e lontana!
E fra le nubi d’ôr!

Rough English translation:

Well? I will go away,
As goes the echo from the church bell,
There, amid the white snow;
There, amid the clouds of or;
Where the hope, the hope
Is regret, is regret, is sorrow!

O my mother’s joyous home,
Wally will go away from you, you
Far enough away, and maybe,
And maybe, he will never return,
Nor see her again!
Never again, never again!

I will go alone and far away
As the echo of the bell,
There, amid the white snow;
I will go, will go alone and far away!
And the clouds of gold!

ByoLogyc Inc. is a pharmaceutical research company that is claiming to provide humanity with lifestyle enhancing drugs and technologies. Meet Chet Getram:

“At ByoLogyc, you’ll not only be investing in one of the most profitable, forward-thinking biotech and lifestyle enhancement laboratories available, you’ll be helping humanity fulfill its deepest desires, and unlock its hidden destiny.”

Chet is the CEO of ByoLogyc Inc, the central organization within  a 3-part theatrical storytelling experience being created by Mission Business, an “adventure laboratory” based in Toronto. This project, ZED.to, is being presented as a live theater, an immersive, interactive storytelling experience, which will include online components and 3 live events in Toronto, culminating at the final grand apocalyptic event in late October.

ZED.to is also asking for support via an IndieGoGo campaign, to help raise funds for the project and invite interested participants to experience the adventure and the story they’re planning to tell through the year. Online components help fill out the narrative and open the story to a much wider audience who won’t necessarily experience the live events.

You can visit ByoLogyc Inc’s website ByoLogyc.com. They also provide a call-in number 1-866-BYO-6090 for testimonials, and their Twitter account @ByoLogyc. Chet Getram, its CEO is also on Twitter, along with other employees, Davian Baxter – head of research, and Olive Swift – quality assurance.

ByoLogyc also provides details about some of their products:

• ByoMate, magnify your natural desireability
• ByoEnrich, all-day vitamin enhancements
• ByoBreath, get more oxygen from the air you breath
• ByoGrow, enhanced hair growth
• ByoBaby, biological and genetic enhancements throughout pregnancy

Surely, these products have been perfected… right?

The Invite: 20th Anniversary Celebration

On March 20th 2012, ByoLogyc is hosting an exclusive preview event specifically for IndieGoGo supporters and select invitees. ByoLogyc products will be on display for perusal and hands-on viewing. Chet will also be speaking in person following a special video presentation.

ByoLogyc is celebrating their 20th anniversary with an invitation-only soiree at a swanky art gallery. This is our first in-narrative event, and we’re going to make it count. The purpose of the event is twofold; we’re using it to avoid the notorious mid-crowdfunding-campaign slump, and we’re also initiating our asks for larger donors and sponsors down the road. To that end, we’ve invited a pretty hot crowd of influencers, connectors, and people-in-the-know who can help us take the project to the next level. The event is a small taste of what ZED.TO will be; we’ve got all our characters playing major roles, we’ve got actual ByoLogyc products for sampling, and we’ve got live opera.

Upcoming campaign events

What’s in store for this entire production? Well, if you become a supporter of ZED.to’s campaign on IndieGoGo, you’ll have exclusive limited access to content and narrative elements.  Take a look at some of these tier perks:

• A personal call and thanks from Chet Getram
• Sampler packs of ByoMate pills
• Super-secret sensitive data from ByoLogyc
• A special limited key providing access to a restricted area at October’s finale event
• Become a part of the finale event; a custom experience and role, plus other luxuries
• A special extravagant dinner with Chet, on him, to talk the future of biotech
• …and more

With 27 days left in the campaign as of this writing [March 20], there’s still time to get your foot in the door of this fast-moving corporation, and help the project truly take off – whether you’re participating at the live events, or only online. Who knows what this corporation could do for humanity’s future!  Live events are scheduled for:

• July 4-15: Toronto Fringe Festival
  “ByoLogyc: Where you become new”
• September 29: Scotiabank Nuit Blanche
  “Patient Zero”
• October 17-Nov 3: Undisclosed location
  “End Game”

More details are available on their IndieGoGo project page, and ZED.to’s blog.

Relevant links:

• IndieGoGo Campaign page
• ZED.to / Blog
• ByoLogyc.com
• Twitter: @ZEDToronto, @ByoLogyc

The decision has been made.
Come 2012, the ever-awesome ARGFest-O-Con will be finding its place, once again, north of the border – to be hosted in Toronto, Ontario!

In its earlier years, ARGFest had one incarnation in Vancouver, British Columbia, but over the following years the fest has grown and mutated, filling out its amazepants of awesomesauciness.

If you’ve been to previous ARGFest events, you’ll already know how entertaining and enjoyable the conference is, even just by the community focus and social tomfoolery. But in addition to all that, ARGFest has become a hotspot for speakers and experience designers to share their studies, advice and woes, educate and entertain through their presentations and case studies in the Alternate Reality Gaming and Transmedia Storytelling space – from grassroots creators to mainstream media marketing campaigns.

Speaking for myself, it’s greatly exciting to finally be able bring this event which is dear to my heart to my home country (I hadn’t yet been sucked into ARGs back when Vancouver played host), and it pleases me to no end that the fest committee has chosen Toronto to host next year’s conference.

ARGFest 2011, Bloomington

I very much encourage you to consider attending this event — the gears are in motion and planning is under way, and as soon as more details are decided (such as the dates), you absolutely must mark them off on your calendar!  Whether you are a professional designer, transmedia producer, ARG creator, artist, storyteller, or especially a player of ARGs, or simply enjoy creative projects, stories, and games – this event is for you!

The ARGFest committee has more than proven their ability to create a conference that will impact in many ways, both in professionalism and social merriment. With games to play, puzzles and mysteries to solve, wisdom to soak in, inspiration to take home, and many friends to make, meet and greet (probably for the first time in meat-space), and a wonderful urban attraction (Toronto, remember?) to explore and discover, how could anyone not want to come and experience some Canadian hospitality?

As the exquisite J.C. Hutchins, who offered the keynote at last year’s ARGFest in Bloomington Indiana, said:

People, man. People.

Canadians are all over that :)   Stay tuned for more announcements as the planning progresses… Read the official announcement at ARGFest.com

And finally, don’t ever, ever watch this video to whet your appetite for Canada… seriously, don’t even think about it. Ever.

Also: Poutine. Tim Hortons. Mounties. Canadian Tire. C(anadian) N(ational) Tower. Maple Leafs. Igloos. Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto Island. Ontario Science Center. Skydome Rogers Center. Harbourfront. Hockey. Hockey Hall of Fame. And sooooo much more, eh…?

————–
Can you briefly summarize what your comic series is about?

Halo: A Fistful of Arrows attempts to fill in some of the questions Reach decided to leave open, as well as expanding and enriching the characters featured within the game.  The primary narrative of the comic follows the Spartan super-soldier “Jun” and Dr Halsey, creator of the original Spartan program, as they attempt to make it to CASTLE base before the planet Reach is totally destroyed.  During this, we learn through flashbacks more of the back-story behind Jun and his ill-fated comrades of Noble Team.

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What would you say is your artistic inspiration for this series?

My inspiration mainly came from boredom, hah.  After completing Reach’s campaign back in September 2010, I started doodling random things while I waited to be sorted into a Matchmaking multiplayer game.  The main thing that my brain kept imagining was what happened to Jun and Halsey after they left the rest of the main characters in the game.

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How did you decide on the story you wanted to tell? Was it more of a desire to explore visually, or to tell a story, explore characters?

Initially, it was going to be just an excuse to draw some spaceships blowing up and a Spartan kick’n butt.  I had about 13 or so pages doodled of Jun and Halsey’s Pelican avoiding a massive ship-battle and Jun fighting a back-against-the-wall battle at the footsteps of CASTLE base.

Then I sat down to actually paint the real pages on my computer.  Those original 13 pages did not appear!  Instead, I found myself beginning a much larger and deeper story concerning all of Noble Team, through a complicated narrative of alternating timelines.  (I’m sure having six seasons of Lost drilled into my brain helped that inspiration.)

Ultimately, the visuals mean nothing to me if there isn’t emotion behind them.  Those action scenes I initially doodled would have meant nothing to me if there wasn’t a real, believable motivation and emotional cause behind them.  So that’s why I ultimately extracted a 77 page story from my brain.  The main plotting came rather quickly, during that first sit-down. Since then, its mostly just been about nailing the details.

I thought Jun would be a great character to explore throughout this graphic novella, because his character in Reach sometimes feels almost contradictory in nature.  At first, that may seem like a flaw in the writing or the creation of the character, but I disagree – most people I meet in real life are full of contradictions.  That’s realistic.  Its human.  I tend to remember this quote from Walt Whitman:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

And so Jun was perfect to center a longer story about.  With each scene I could slowly build onto his character, and ultimately it will make his final decisions in the last pages of my comic seem all the more believable and powerful.

I hope!

————–
Is your series planned out to an end, or is it open-ended, creating each chapter as it comes to you?

During that first sit-down and inspiration-explosion, I planned out a rough outline of where I wanted to go.  A lot of the visuals that Ive just now gotten out there have been stuck in my head all this time.  But I’ve messed with the details and tweaked the dialogue a ridiculous amount since its inception.  I’ve switched locations, characters, etc. but still the main points have remained the same.

————–
What are your thoughts on working within the Halo canon? Do you have any qualms about contradicting canon, or are you vehemently adhering to it?

I try to vehemently adhere to it, actually!  I’m quite the canon-stickler in all stories I’m interested in.  Adaptations and other things are a bit different, but if you’re trying to tell a story that fits in with an established universe, you need to do your research, just as if you were trying to write a novel about say… solar flares.  You don’t just make stuff up!

It seems “adhering to canon” does sound a bit scary and/or boring to some authors and artists.  But I don’t actually believe canon is in any way constricting to a storyteller.  It means you have a whole world, a whole system of logic supporting your story.  I think if a writer breaks canon, it might just be they’re not thinking creatively enough.  You can always think your way out of a situation when making a story!

I also love working with canon because I don’t just have other stories enriching mine, I get to enrich others.  If I make a nod to Reach, Fall of Reach, or First Strike, it makes the whole universe stronger I believe.  Hearing Halsey say, “Whatever It Takes” to her A.I., Kalmiya in my comic, and then seeing that again in the First Strike novel where you realize that’s actually a code for Kalmiya to break her ethics protocols… I just think that’s a really cool thing to do.  Its like building a spiders web to ensnare the reader into this universe.

————–
Are you an active Halo community member? Do you play online often?

I think so, when I feel like it, hah.  I enjoy hanging out at the Halo.Bungie.Org forums and lurking at the Waypoint forums.  I like to keep tabs on whats going on with my Twitter too.

I play XBox usually a few times a week, when I have time for it (and I’m always wanting more time!) and play a Halo title pretty consistently.  I mostly play campaign and Firefight Matchmaking, but I also like going in with friends for multiplayer playlists.

————–
How have your fans supported you?

Besides just discovering that I actually had fans, they’ve been awesome.  I get to constantly hear reactions back from consistent readers at the HBO forums, DeviantArt, and now at Leviathan.Bungie.Org.  Its all very humbling and encouraging, and really helps me keep going on a big project like Fistful of Arrows (its the most ambitious art project Ive done so far).

A guy who goes by Arithmomaniac also created a petition to try and get me a job at 343 Industries or Fistful of Arrows published, which was super awesome of him. It’s got over 140 signatures now and has a ton of nice things people have said.  [Ed: Here's the sign-up if you'd like to add your support]

As well, Sean Mortensen wrote and recorded an awesome soundtrack for the comic (available here), and Matt Turney (OneBitRocket) offered his web-design services and completely revamped Leviathan.Bungie.Org including interactive flip-book style viewing formats of the comic.

————–
Do you feel like there’s added stress or expectations to create something they’ll like, or is your art and story purely going in the direction you want it to go, uninfluenced?

Yes, the latter. The story is the story.  I cant change it.  I feel like I’m merely discovering it.  When I know that’s whats supposed to happen, or that’s what a character would truly say here – something clicks in my brain and then I cant change it.

But I do definitely feel some stress to just make sure the work is of top-quality though.  I cant cheat, I cant take corners.  Every panel has to be beautiful.  That’s my goal, at least.

————–
What are some of the challenges you face in creating a series like this?

I’d say some of the biggest challenges for such a long-term project is finding the time.  Then if you’ve found the time, how do you instantly switch to productive-mode?  Art is a fickle thing and you cant just jump in the chair and watch magical unicorns appear out of nothingness.  So sometimes it doesn’t feel like play, it really feels like work.  My sore back and red eyes can attest to this.

————–
How much of a passion is art in your life?

Its a big part of me.  Its what I do everyday.  For the most part, its what I always have done.

When I was very young I started carrying a pencil, paper, and a clipboard everywhere I went, restaurants, Wal-Mart, etc.  My first love was drawing comic book characters, then anime like Dragon Ball in elementary school, and then designing my own video games in late elementary/middle school.

High school I took a big break from art for the most part and got a girlfriend.  Once she was securely ensnared, I slowly revealed all my nerdiness and eventually went back to art in college.  Initially I thought about a journalism major as I love writing as well, but I found myself in the art department and spending hours and hours to get better.  And thus, I’m calling myself an artist once again.

————–
What was the first piece of Halo-inspired art you created?

This is one of the earliest I can remember doing, while staring at the EGM issue that covered the Halo 2 reveal:

————–
Have you created anything like this comic series in the past? Did you submit any entries for previous Halo art contests or community collections?

I created “A Sanghiellis War Is Never Over” a few years ago, as well as illustrating an adaptation of the beginning of Ghosts of Onyx by UNSC Trooper.  They were definitely stepping stones to what Fistful of Arrows became.

The last Halo art contest I remember entering was the Halo Evolutions Community Art Contest, where the winners would get their illustration in the pocket-size reissues of Halo: Evolutions.  I won for the story “Pariah”, my favorite in the novel, and it was quite an honor to see my name in the contents, just a few lines from the Famous Frankie!  I also had a completed illustration for Dirt, but ultimately didnt enter it (I could only enter one). I believe both images are on my portfolio website or DeviantArt.

————–
Will you continue making other comic series set in the Halo universe once this is done?

Its very likely, I’d say.  I already have a number of stories from various parts of the Halo universe in my head (I have all of the missing time between Halo 2 and 3 thumbnailed in my sketchbook for example, my version of Halo 4 is already storyboarded, too).  But after Fistful of Arrows, Ill be taking a break and working hard on some other projects of my own creation for a while.

Someday, I’d love to be able to live off this kind of thing so I could spend all my time making art!

For part 3 of this series on grassroots storytelling in the Halo universe, the creator of one of the most ambitious live-action Halo films to date, Jared Pelletier, answers a few questions about his film “Faith”.

But first, sit back and enjoy this brand new official trailer released today, for Halo: Faith!

————–
Can you briefly summarize what Halo: Faith is about?

‘Faith’ is about a group of Spartans sent to defend power generators on the planet Reach as the Covenant begin their first wave of attacks.

————–
What inspired you to take on this particular project?

In early 2010 I was approached to direct a short project based on James Cameron’s “Avatar”. The goal of the film was to showcase unprecedented visual effects for a micro-budget film exhibited exclusively on Youtube. That project never came to be, but the idea of creating something incredibly ambitious and revolutionary was inspiring. I wanted to set the standard in this category. I believe this will be greatly beneficial to the professional careers of everyone involved.

————–
Jake Commons was initially involved with the writing for the story, but early on it underwent a full re-write. Can you describe your process for the writing of Halo: Faith story?

Jake wrote a fantastic screenplay based on a few drafts I had been working on earlier in production. We actually had a total of 17 drafts before the final product. During our first days on set, we shot exactly to the specs of Jake’s script. Unfortunately during the dailies and early edits, the script did not translate to a coherent narrative on screen. I then went back with Erik Tallek to come up with a new script which works as a better picture, while still maintaining Jake’s touches.

————–
Did you have any concerns about what should or shouldn’t be included, how the story might interact with Halo canon, and how fans might react?

This is always something we keep in mind, but not our primary focus. At the end of the day, we have to make our movie. This is a completely independent vision of this universe. Some aspects will be significantly different from the games, other areas will remain exactly the same. We’ve maintained the integrity of Bungie’s work, which was most important for us. I believe that all of the changes made were necessary in adapting this material to the screen. From the very beginning my goal was not to take the games and turn them into a movie, but rather to create a realistic interpretation of what this universe may really be like.

————–
Was Halo: Faith always going to be a free, grassroots production for the Halo community?

Absolutely! The goal of Faith is to deliver an incredible cinematic experience, while furthering the careers of us as filmmakers.

————–
Has your fan community, or the Halo community in general, played a role in the development of your film?

The fan support has been instrumental in bringing key members to our team. Our visual effects are the key aspect and driving force behind this project. We’ve been able to bring major players from ILM, Digital Domain, and Weta to the film – largely in part to the following and buzz around the project.

————–
How did you go about forming the team that would work together to create this film?

This process has been long and involved. We began in September 2010 and to this day we’re bringing new people on board everyday. It’s all about selling ourselves as filmmakers and selling the project as being worthwhile. The response to our requests has been incredible. Some of the most talented people in the world are working on this film on volunteer hours.

I think forming any great team comes down to having a great product and vision people believe in.

————–
It has to be asked: If you could film Halo: Faith as a 3D movie, would you?

I would have loved to shoot ‘Faith’ in 3D. My cinematographer is familiar with the format, and has experience on 3D set ups. I think 3D is a valuable asset if it helps tell your story, and in our case, it definitely would be a great asset. We’ve explored some fantastic 3D conversion techniques, but I can’t confirm that Faith will be getting a 3D release. In any case, this is a medium I plan on exploring with future projects.

————–
What would you say is your favourite moment so far on set?

I think every moment on set during ‘Faith’ was fantastic. We had a great energy from the cast and crew, tons of dedicated people, all with the common goal of making something significant. I think everyone had the feeling that we were doing something very special, not even regarding the end result, but just our process. The challenge of shooting a live action film which ultimately consists of about 95% CG was an amazing experience.

————–
What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in this production?

Continuing my last thought, over 95% of this film is CG. This process is incredibly consuming and involved, especially when just about everything in this Halo world is being created from scratch. Once you start seeing the results, it’s instantly worth the seemingly endless hours of work and late nights.

————–
How are you working with your composers in creating the musical soundtrack for the film?

OST tracks on Youtube: The Destruction of Reach [Ciurlizza] FAITHception [Ciurlizza] Never Outnumbered [Ciurlizza] Bullet Holes [Ciurlizza] Anton’s Theme [Feltrin] The Landing [Feltrin] Scarab [Feltrin]

Both Daniel Ciurlizza and Giancarlo Feltrin are working on the OST. This is an interesting process, as we’re trying to maintain the familiar sounds of Halo while also bringing something very cinematic and fresh. I try to be very flexible with the music. I’ll give an idea as to what I want, and let them work it as they interpret my direction. I think this is important with all creative aspects of the filmmaking process. I don’t believe in limiting the abilities of anyone, as I don’t think that’s the best way to get the very most out of creative individuals.

————–
What is it like working with a team of creative minds, and Halo fans, to bring this film together?

That has been one of my favourite parts of this production. The team is incredibly dedicated, and everyone really believes in the product we’re creating. Without all of these talented people, the film doesn’t happen. A picture like this requires an incredible team, and I’m lucky enough to be working with one.

————–

————–
What are some past projects which you’ve created that have brought you to this point?

I’ve worked on a number of films over the past 3 years. In March 2010 I had my first experience with visual effects on a movie called ‘The Haunted Soldier’. The film went on to win some awards, and I instantly fell in love with the freedom visual effects can give. You’re really only limited by your own imagination. Another more recent film ‘In the Hearts of Men’, a WWII epic, premiered at the AZFAME Film Festival in Arizona this past March. It went on toe win Best Director, Picture, Editing, and Cinematography. That film added a ton of credibility to my name, which has helped in the recruitment of large visual effects studios.

————–
Earlier this year you revealed two other videogame related film projects in the works to follow Halo: Faith. What’s one thing you’ve learned in creating Faith that you can apply to these?

As per request, I can’t discuss any projects at the moment or confirm that any are officially green lit. All I can discuss about my next film is that it’ll be presented in 3D!

In part 2 of this series on storytelling in the Halo universe, I check in with the puppetmaster of a grassroots ARG named “Bzzt!“.  Mike Morgan, aka ‘Dagoonite’ began creating his ARG long ago, and after some growing pains it was soon launched and picked up at the HBO forums and Args.bungie.org.

Before it settled down, players had discovered some controversial elements that prompted some debate — Mike opted to have his story purposefully contradict some established Halo canon in order to tell the story he wanted to explore. Over time, his team had also dwindled to just himself, making running it practically a full time job. The focus of his project was a story- and dialogue-driven experience centered around a Spartan named F484, and allowed the community to interact with some characters. All this unfolded in parallel with a narrative timeline of events occurring in the future.

I chat with him below about his experience as a first-time puppetmaster, a Halo fan, and about storytelling unofficially within the Halo canon. Mike is a passionate writer – his detailed responses are certainly a testament to that!

————–
First, can you briefly summarize what your ARG was about?

The UNSC Theseus comes to an uninhabited star system to build an unmanned space station, reportedly to listen in on Insurrectionist communications.  However, two crew members are in a hold when a mysterious explosion is going on, and appear to have disappeared.  On one datapad is some basic information on F484, an Orion IV.  (This setting’s version of Spartans, effectively.)  When the Captain questions HIGHCOM about this, he’s given a stern “none of your business.”  Soon after, an ONI operative contacts the Captain, “leaking” information to him about F484.

As time goes on, strange things continue to happen, with fortunately fewer deaths.  As the story of F484 unfolds, the crew’s own stories become apparent: a survivor of an incident hundreds of years in the past; a woman all too familiar with [post-traumatic stress disorder]; an unorthodox but idealistic XO; a marine engineer who has SPECOPS in his blood; a poor guy who just wants to run his RPG despite claims that he’s lost it; and more, if you read closely enough.

As things begin to get serious, the ship receives a supplementary AI from ONI who is less than helpful.  Though through the quick thinking of the Captain and the history of his own AI, the ONI AI calms down and becomes a valuable member of the crew.  Together, they achieve extremely limited communications with the forces disrupting their ship, and appease them.  This comes as the truth is revealed about F484, how he (almost) single-handedly wins the Human-Covenant war, and even the true mission of the ONI operative that’s been in contact with him.

A short synopsis that doesn’t answer much, but a more detailed version would take quite a while to go through.

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What was it that inspired you to create this type of interactive fiction?

Halo, naturally, especially [Eric] Nylund’s books.  But explanations like that are a dime a dozen. I got turned onto ARGs with The Beast, the ARG for the movie AI.  Since then, I’ve always been a passive participant.  I either didn’t have the technical skills to solve a puzzle piece on my own, or somebody would post an answer to it before I did, so I pretty much kept quiet and enjoyed the stories.

The wonderful Enkidu ARG and ilovebees were two other great inspirations. A good fusion of two things that I love: ARGs and Halo.

The wonderful Enkidu ARG and ilovebees were two other great inspirations.  A good fusion of two things that I love:  ARGs and Halo.  How could I not love it?  I’m a sucker for a good story, what can I say?  Halo Fanon also inspired me quite a bit.  I’m hesitant to share most of my work for various reasons, but to see so many people working at it and interacting…  It was an oddly huge inspiration.

I’ve done plenty of roleplaying, both at a table and online.  I was an AST for White Wolf’s moderated chats for some time, and am both a participant and a room-level moderator for a chat-based roleplaying site.  I don’t mind interaction, and enjoy the challenge of working with somebody else to tell a story, especially when that story can change greatly in no time flat.

I’m hesitant to share most of my work for various reasons, but to see so many people working at it and interacting… It was an oddly huge inspiration.

Lastly, the desire to stick my neck out.  I want to be a full-time writer.  The only way that I’m going to become better at the craft is to do things that I haven’t done before.  To push my limits and see what I need to work on, or discover that I can do something that I wasn’t sure of before.  This project was one way for me to do that.

Perhaps the most important thing, though, was that I had a story that I wanted to tell.  Several stories, actually.  This was an effective way for me to tell a lot of stories at once, in a way that people might enjoy.

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How did your story come about? How much did you plan ahead of time, and how much was written dynamically as the community interacted with characters and played through?

I was playing Reach and was a little dissatisfied with certain aspects of the story.  As usual when I have this problem, I started thinking about how I would have done it differently.  That started with my tag, F404, as the main character.  That mutated into F484 (4+8+4 = 16, 1+6 = 7) and the F404 became a bit of a joke.  But as I worked, I realized that I needed to go back further than that.  All the way back.  With that, I sat down and started to write the story of F484.

This started with research.  Reviewing the books and the games.  Analyzing everything that I could on Halopedian.  I don’t even want to try and count the hours spent researching.  With that, the story of Chair (the ONI contact) virtually wrote itself.  When I got to the end, I raced back and rewrote sections to give subtle hints as to her relationship with F484.

And then, when I adapted the whole thing for the HBO forums and it went live, I tossed most of that right out the window.

While I had some people reviewing that, I went back and started to work on the story of the crew.  I created a core cast of characters that “interesting” things would happen to, what their motivations were, and how I could work in more nods to the community.  From there, I wrote out a basic set of scenarios and interactions, taking breaks only to edit the core story of F484.

The character of Raschad was created from all the time I’ve dealt with people who suffered from PTSD.  I saw how they could appear to the average person to be a normal member of society, but yet they could be terribly haunted by it.  It also helped to have a different viewpoint; all of the ship’s cast were written as people who had come after the Human-Covenant war.  I liked the idea of there being somebody there for whom the Rainforest Wars meant as much to as the H-C war meant to the rest of the crew.  He was actually kind of bitter about that, though the circumstances for him to address it never came up in the game.

And then, when I adapted the whole thing for the HBO forums and it went live, I tossed most of that right out the window.

Ask any RPG game master and they’ll tell you that people do crazy stuff that you can never anticipate.  It happened before the game even went live.  I created Hive, fleshed out Helen, and watched as the players proceeded to do things that I could never have anticipated.

I’m glad I had that core work done, even if most of the crew stuff was rewritten on the fly.  Scenes were shuffled (with some meant for early on appearing late in the game and visa versa), deleted, or completely mangled beyond recognition.  Almost every aspect of the crew portion went through at least partial editing during it.  A great deal was rewritten completely.

Surprisingly, the base Chair stuff stayed the same.  I added supplementary communications with the emails and other communications, but a great deal came from one of three drafts of the script, the majority being the first draft.  Though it was more rough, it was also the most familiar to me, and would lend itself to the fastest adaptation.  Because when you’re hammering out replies as fast as you can, familiarity is vastly important.  I also found that the roughness worked for the character of Chair.  With who she really was, reliving all of this was hard on her.

Of the crew stuff, I’d say that in the end 70% was written or rewritten within 48 hours of it being posted.  Of the Chair stuff, only about 10% in total was written dynamically, but part of that number comes from the sheer amount of text that was in the total Chair stuff.

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There are some elements of your story that don’t quite jive with official Halo canon. Can you expand on your choice to take some creative liberties? What are your thoughts on working within the Halo canon?

Perhaps the most important thing to me was showing this man who had been all but destroyed when made an Orion quickly degrade, while the players knew that it was happening to all the Orion IVs.  That it wasn’t the Covenant that was destroying them, but the fact that their bodies had been pushed farther than they could handle.  It’s a potent thing to me, and perhaps the most interesting aspect of a super soldier program.

The most interesting aspect of a character in my mind isn’t what they accomplish, it’s what they fail at. Or accomplish despite their flaws. I like to see people fall and get back up. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, seeing people get back up is really what makes me feel for a character.

Of course, Spartans don’t have this problem.  They’re perfectly balanced, assuming that they survived the augmentation process in good enough condition to graduate.  That has never sat well with me.  Though some of the supplemental information has shown that this isn’t quite the case, I never really felt that it was handled with the horror necessary.  Honestly, that’s the core of the entire story that I wrote.

The most interesting aspect of a character in my mind isn’t what they accomplish, it’s what they fail at.  Or accomplish despite their flaws.  I like to see people fall and get back up.  Emotionally, physically, spiritually, seeing people get back up is really what makes me feel for a character.  In real life, all of us are broken in our own ways, but we push forward.  I like to see that in fiction as well.  Therefore, I had to break the Spartan II program.

However, I tried to make all of the changes make sense within the Halo universe as best I could.  That was one of the initial rules: none of this is actually broken, don’t fix it if you don’t have to.  For example, I considered making a small tweak to the Rainforest Wars but decided against it.  On one hand, it’s so far back that it would hardly make any ripples.  On the other hand, what would be the point?  Better to work within the confines given me than not.  Besides, outsmarting your constraints can be fun!  Even if they are self-imposed.

In the end, I kept the changes as minimal as possible, and let those major changes leave their ripples.  The first was that the Orion program was never shut down.  This would negate the Spartan program completely.  The second was changing the dates of the Human-Covenant War.  I achieved this by having the Elites smarten up a little bit early and turn against the Prophets.  Unlike in canon, the Prophets were caught by surprise with this, causing a much quicker shift.  Without the truth about the Halo array, however, they continued on with business as usual.

Some people may think that I threw around changes willy-nilly. This was as far from the truth as possible.

Was changing the dates so important?  Yes, but not for reasons that anybody ever realized.  Nobody did the hard math or caught subtle clues that I threw out there.  Maybe they were too subtle.  It’s a risk that you run in a project like this.  One that I didn’t fully appreciate until I was up and running.

Each change was debated, and only after analysis of the canon version.  Many “ripples” were negated entirely because I could see how things would end up the same.  Some were caused by the necessity of it not being a game — that which makes a compelling video game plot does not necessarily make a good writing plot.  (Again, much credit goes to Nylund.)

This is how things like Myung, the Guide, and Monitors being rebooted every so often came into being.  I still haven’t had a chance to read Cryptum, so I had to take a logical approach to the Forerunners as I saw them.  Since then, I’ve learned that some of my guesses were off course, but I tried as best I could.  I tried to have the Forerunners have, I dunno, foresight?  (Yes, you may beat me for that.)

For the events on the ship, I just tried to make a slight and general progression in technology.  Seven years for a Smart AI became 25.  (Another seven reference.)  I found something to do with Smart AIs who had thought themselves to death.  That sort of thing.  Changes, yes, but more of a sense of progress than anything revolutionary.  If a game happens 60 years after the canon end of Halo 3, it has to show some sort of progress in technology.

Some people may think that I threw around changes willy-nilly.  This was as far from the truth as possible.  Believe me, each change was agonized over for far longer than I’d like to admit to.

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Are you an active Halo community member? Do you play online often?

I play Reach almost every day, but rarely multiplayer.  I’m not very good, so I stick to what I’m best at: single player and firefight.  (Best implying that Heroic didn’t take me a week to pull off.  Which it totally did.)  That and I guess I’m still stuck in the days where you said “Good game” at the end of a match.  I try to be a polite guy, and I suppose I expect others to be as well.  When they aren’t, I tend to become very discouraged.Since the ARG finished, I’ve been getting into more community-driven games.  Honestly, I really enjoy them.

I regret having been so quiet. I’ve already made some friends, and have gotten to play with some amazing people. People seem to actually read what I have to say

But the community beyond just the games?  I love it.  I’ve lurked on HBO since before Halo 2 came out.  I was unemployed when ODST came out, and I clung to HBO for information and the chance to live vicariously.  There’s so much talent within the Halo community in so many diverse ways.  There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t been able to find something entertaining put out by the community.  Be it forum posts or videos, or reviewing costumes and playing flash games, or even the fan fiction, the community never ceases to amaze me.

I never really said much though.  Two posts, I think, before Bzzt.  If memory serves me correctly, they were both about the Enkidu ARG.  I’m not much of a forum guy, and the chats were kind of…  I had the feeling that it’s where the cool kids hung out.  I usually have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the initial interaction by somebody else.

Now?  I regret having been so quiet.  I’ve already made some friends, and have gotten to play with some amazing people.  People seem to actually read what I have to say and not start out with the insults — a huge change for a guy who used to write stories for the most hostile and abusive site on the internet.  I really wish that I would have started talking in the community sooner.

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What were some of your favorite moments during Bzzt’s run?

I wish you could hear me laughing as I read this.  Since “the whole thing” is an awful answer that’s horribly overused, I’ll break it down by category.

Jaded: The day after it finished.  I came home from work exhausted.  I looked longingly at my bed and realized “Oh, hey, I can go to bed now if I want to.”  And I did.  And a full eight hours of sleep never felt so good.  As much as I loved Bzzt’s run, it did a number on my sleep.

Gleeful: Every single time that somebody said that they didn’t care if it was canon or not because they enjoyed the story.  That’s when I knew that I wasn’t wasting my time and my chest puffed with pride.  I’m not fragile, but I occasionally like to know if I should keep going or not.  I think we all like to know that our work is appreciated.

Amazed: The moment when people started researching real-life military protocols to use as ammunition against Helen.  Wow.  Above and beyond the call of duty?  A little bit, in my opinion.  Appreciated?  Greatly.  I felt that I had to change the game a bit in order to accommodate that level of dedication.  There was supposed to be greater fallout from that situation which I kind of smoothed over.

Jaw, Meet Floor: When a certain player wrote a certain speech to the crew.  I know that the player didn’t think that it was going to cause that big of a stir when he wrote it, but there’s one speech that completely changed the game.  It made me take every plan that I still had for crew mutiny and toss it right out the window.  It was that point that the character of the Captain completely solidified for me.  Looking back and reading it, it may not seem like much, but at the time it was a total game changer.

I’m man enough to admit I cried.

Though the sleep deprivation probably helped with that.

Content: After the game ended, I chatted with the players, the people who put up with my madness and inability to spell.  I liked hearing back from the people who participated and enjoyed it.  It was like sitting around with a bunch of old friends…  on the internet.  And to think that some of them are still writing stuff about it.  It completely blows my mind.

Awww: I kept on expecting people to break up Raschad and Wolfe.  They didn’t.  Yes, the two were eventually going to be separated, but not immediately.  Every time they were allowed to spend some more time together, I felt my heart grow a size.  I’m a sucker for romance, and I’m always glad when players foster it.

Endgame: When it ended, the players did some things in-character that were…  unexpectedly sweet and touching.  They reached out to F484 and Myung in a way that I didn’t expect.  They honored Helen, and comforted Hive.  That last day will always hold a special place in my heart.  The things that they said they believed the Captain would do were magical to me.  I’m man enough to admit I cried.  Though the sleep deprivation probably helped with that.

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Can you describe some of the challenges you faced in the execution of this ARG?

The ARG was supposed to be rather…  different.  It’s own website, an internal “email” system for communication with Chair, daily reports, everything needed to really make you believe that you were the captain of the UNSC Theseus.  The transcripts were supposed to be actual audio logs.  There was supposed to be limited machinima involved.  Hidden pages, puzzles, a separate website for a Prowler where you had to use the puzzles to find pages, images, a subplot about a computer tech aboard the ship trying to figure out what was going on…  The works.

To make a long story short, all of that fell apart.  I don’t blame anybody; I doubt that most people knew the scope of what I was asking when they signed on.  Even the voice actors.  Which is fine, honestly; I’m used to rolling with the punches.  It’s when I do some of my best work.

My poor netbook! It wanted to kill me! I had Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Notepad, WordPad, OpenOffice, and Widows Media Player open all the time.

After moving it to the forums (and then the ABO forums) I had brand new challenges.  I moved up the interaction quite a bit, since players no longer had a database to search.  So I had to rewrite most explanations to fit from Hive’s POV.

The name Bzzt comes from Hive’s unique method of communication, prefacing each paragraph with a variation of Bzzt that indicated the importance of his message.  (Thank Louis Wu for that — my name for it was always Orion IV.)  I’ve described him in different ways, but I think the best description is of a person who desperately wants to be liked so he tries to be helpful any way they can despite being a little on the innocent side.  Writing for Hive was an unexpected challenge because of this, but I enjoyed it greatly.  I think he’s my favorite character.  He’s like a little kid that just happens to be the brain of a space ship.  Maybe the heart of it, too.

One major unexpected challenge was that I honestly (mistakenly) expected players to catch onto the fact that this wasn’t canon early in the game.  I tried various ways to reinforce this, but with limited success.  I had to teach players their limits without stating the rules, and I mangled it on occasion.  I learned a lot from it, and know how to handle it better in the future.  I hope.

One of the “star” characters was Raschad.  I wanted to make a tragic guy who came off as completely normal at first glance.  A bit of a jerk at times, but an all around good guy who wanted to help out people.  Sure, he got some of the best lines, but I also had to reel him back a lot.  With the lines being the facade that he wore, I couldn’t make them too natural.

In one bit of stupidity on my end, I never made it clear that the Captain could request people report on their fellow crew members or talk to them in depth.  (“Hive, send this person this message and return their response.”)  I had various things written up for all the “star” characters, I had both shifts of the bridge staff, and a lot of really good stuff that never got used.  One thing that would have come to light had the Captain asked around was that Raschad never gave the same background information twice.  I had some extremely good stuff about McAllister, the XO.  I still regret not doing more with her, but I misjudged what the audience wanted in that regard.

(And no, I’m not sharing these, because they’re perfect for recycling into other things.)

Another challenge was a purely technical one.  My poor netbook!  It wanted to kill me!  I had Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Notepad, WordPad, OpenOffice, and Widows Media Player open all the time.  I kept begging it to last just a little bit longer.  It pulled through, but even after a format I don’t think it’s forgiven me.

The greatest challenge, however, was staying a step ahead while still, you know, sleeping.  At one point I was getting about three hours of sleep a day, just so that I could get stuff typed up in advance.  I had tons of flow charts, if/then statements, record sheets, and notes that I updated constantly.  An offhand comment could cause me to have to change three things.  Everything rippled, and not in obvious ways.  One time, as I was typing out a lengthy post, somebody said something that made me delete it all immediately.

And I loved it all.

All in all, this was perhaps the most all-around challenging project that I’ve ever done.  And to think that I’m not opposed to doing it again.  I might need therapy.  I wonder if there’s a real-life version of Dr. Muldoon…

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How big was your team? How did you communicate and plan out the content?

In the end, it was only me.  All of it.
Tip:  Don’t do that!  You’ll kill yourself!

I had a great crew of people helping me. Psychologists, physicists, engineers, military personnel, people in various medical fields, historians, a politician, a sociologist, an environmental historian who works for lobbyists…
But, sadly, in the end it was just me.

In the beginning, though, I had a great crew of people helping me.  Psychologists, physicists, engineers, military personnel, people in various medical fields, historians, a politician, a sociologist, an environmental historian who works for lobbyists…  There isn’t one aspect of the story that I didn’t talk with somebody over in some form.  There were aspects of the story that never made it to the public eye that were discussed and researched in rather great detail.  The research that went into it was insane.  My third biggest project yet, in terms of research.  I wanted it to feel as real as possible.

The people who reviewed the story for me were also wonderfully helpful.  They caught that my spell-check somehow turned Corps into Corpse, amongst many other things.  (I kant spel.)  Serdar Yegalup offered me so many story insights despite not actually being into either video games or ARGs.  So much, in fact, that I have to call him out by name.  The fact that he doesn’t do any of this stuff actually helped out a lot.  When he responded to one draft that it almost put him in tears, I knew I was doing the right thing.

Some of the people brought in for voice acting and image editing helped out greatly even after they bowed out for various reasons.  The machinima crew were also very responsive, even if we were never able to coordinate.

I was making notes and rambling plans out loud during a haircut.

But, sadly, in the end it was just me.  Which saves me a lot of trouble on the communication part, but the whole “life” part kind of went to the wayside for longer than anticipated.  My roommates can tell you, the few times they saw me I was constantly muttering to myself trying to plan out the next two steps.  One of my coworkers is a beautician, and she will attest to the fact that I was working on Bzzt as she was cutting my hair.  Think about that a moment.  I was making notes and rambling plans out loud during a haircut.

Man, I wish I could have had somebody else manage it for at least an hour or two every day.

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How pleased are you with how your story and this project played out?  Would you do it again?

Mistakes were made.  Lessons were learned.  And I had a blast.  The term “labor of love” gets thrown around more often than it should, but it’s true.  You don’t put so much of yourself into a project like this if you don’t love it and believe in it.  You laugh, you live, you learn, and you have fun with it.

If I could go back and do it again, would I?  Do you have a time machine handy?

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Have you created anything like this in the past? Do you have any plans for future projects?

An ARG?  No.  But I write constantly.  A short a day, sometimes it only qualifies as flash fiction.  Sometimes I write multiple stories a day.  Sometimes I’ll devote a week or more to writing something bigger.  There are places where I’m relatively well known, but I don’t share most of my work; more that I keep my ideas for bigger projects.  I love writing, and I’m always paranoid that the well will run dry.  So far it hasn’t.  I hope to keep it up.

F484 is still out there, and his story isn’t done.

As for future projects, I’ve currently got a good foundation for a sequel in mind.  F484 is still out there, and his story isn’t done.  I’m still debating if I should go for it, though.  I’d like to do this one properly, but if everything fell through again, I’m not sure if I could bring myself to do it.  I’m desperately trying to get published or get a job writing for the industry, and that takes a lot of time and effort when you have to build up the courage to send the email.

Of course, I also have ideas that are more canon.  If I had the finances/skill, I even have a very short Halo-related fan-film I’d like to make. (And a Bzzt! one too, of course!)  So who knows?  I might do any number of projects next.

To begin this series on grassroots storytelling in the Halo universe, I caught up with Peter Cooper, writer and director of the upcoming fan film Operation Chastity, who answered some questions about the production and his perspective as a fan on the Halo storyworld and franchise.

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Can you briefly summarize what Operation Chastity is, what it’s about?

Operation Chastity is a feature length film project set at the very end of the Human-Covenant War, February 2553. The Covenant have long since fled Earth and the UNSC are mopping up what’s left. Lieutenant Ashton and his group of hardened Marines fight in the final operation of the Human-Covenant War, knowing the war is almost over and longing to go home. But when the Marines cross paths with an ONI agent and a Spartan on a top-secret mission, Ashton is torn between his duty to his comrades and suicidal orders.

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The initial concept began quite small. The idea was to build the Warthog, a few costumes, then do a series of comedy shorts. As time went on and we built up a head of steam, however, more and more people suggested we build on the idea and push it a little bit further. So, it went from being comedy to action-drama, and from shorts to extended shorts, and eventually evolved into the full-scale feature project we are working on today.

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How did the story for Operation Chastity come about? How did you decide on the time and place in which to tell the story?

My academic life was spent largely studying military history, so I spent a lot of time learning about conflict and how it affects the human condition. The core story of Operation Chastity draws on that knowledge, looking at the Halo universe and exploring the experience of regular ground troops within the conflict – the trials they endure, the dangers they face, and the challenges they overcome. That helped me immensely in choosing the specific time to set this particular piece.

Some of the greatest acts of heroism in war have come on the eve of a conflict’s end. There is no greater tragedy than for someone to lose their life when a war is about to finish, and it’s even worse for those involved when they’re aware of the fact the end is so close. That sentiment set the tone I was looking for – if there was a story to be told, it had to be at the moment. A closing statement to the human experience of war against the Covenant, looking back on the pain inflicted upon them and as well as humanity’s hope for the future.

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Operation Chastity: Behind the scenes:

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Did you have any concerns about what you should or shouldn’t include, how you might interact with Halo canon, and how fans might react?

As both a fan and an aspiring film maker there was a lot of personal struggle to temper my desire for “cool” things and fitting in with continuity. All the time I was busy looking over my work ensuring that whatever I did would not incite some kind of fan rage. I approached it as though it was another piece of official literature, and gave the canon the respect it deserves.

It’s one thing to take the story in a new direction and another to fly in the face of established fact within the canon. Fans appreciate this and so did I. I avoided making up new Spartans and other issues that many fans have held as contentious, but was also eager to push the story to the limit to make it a dramatic and compelling experience for everyone.

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Did you look for any support from Bungie Studios or 343 Industries when you began the project?

Most of our interaction has been with 343 Industries, who have been very supportive of our endeavour to bring a fan-based story within the Halo universe to the big screen. Our project began after Bungie’s handover of the rights to 343 Industries post-Halo 3, so while we have had little contact with them, we are doing everything possible to do justice to their universe.

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Was Operation Chastity always going to be something created for the community, for the fun of it, to share freely?

We always intended Operation Chastity to be a gift for the fans, our way of giving something back to the community. On a personal level, the Halo community has kept me entertained and given me so much pleasure over the years, so there’s always been a drive to give something back.

Partnering with such a reputable company as Machinima to bring our film to the web has enabled us to branch out to a much broader audience, including fans not familiar with Halo. We hope that by creating a solid piece of dramatic entertainment, we won’t just be giving back to the community, but perhaps introducing new fans to the community and helping to expand it.

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What sort of technical challenges have you faced in creating this film?

The technical challenges have been great, from replicating the look and feel of Halo through costumes and props to shooting big action sequences, right through to recreating all of Halo’s iconic vehicles and ships as part of our ground breaking visual effects work. We’re aiming for a production that is of a Hollywood level, and that inherently makes our project more challenging because where something might be forgivable in an average fan film, it’s totally not for us.

Were it not for our producer, Nicola Instone, we wouldn’t be able to aim for that target. I am a first time filmmaker, and her knowledge and experience has meant we can push for that Hollywood quality. Thanks to her exhaustive skills in the fields of production and visual effects and the team she has assembled for the teaser, every single challenge has been met and overcome, and the results are stunning.

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Can you describe some of your favourite moments on set?

Every moment on set filming the teaser was an amazing experience for me as it was my first time on a production of that magnitude. Having so many experienced industry professionals give up their weekends to bring my story to life was something I will never forget.

Perhaps one of the funniest moments came in rehearsals. One of our actors, Vin Hawke, knew I was a big fan of District 9. We were going through one of our scenes, and on his cue, rather than shouting out his proper line, he shouted “YEAH! TAKE DET YOU FOKKEN’ PRAWNS!” I totally cracked up.

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What was it like working with your team of creative minds, and Halo fans, to bring this film together?

Collaborating with so many wonderful people has been an absolute dream, and a lot of our team are film industry professionals as well as being Halo fans. That love of the source material has ensured that, with the teaser as well as the coming feature, we stay true to the universe while at the same time finding new and interesting ways to push it forward.

Our propmaster, Ed Woodward (who recently finished work on Ridley Scott’s Prometheus), is a massive Halo fan and brought a great depth of industry knowledge as well as a love of Halo to help build props that looked straight out of the games, using concept art and in-game stills to help in fabricating realistic Marine armour.

Our visual effects supervisors, Richard Briscoe (Iron Man 2, V For Vendetta, The Bourne Ultimatum) and Sean Farrow (Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code, 1408) have been performing miracles in bringing the Halo universe to life through our visual effects, and the teams working for us (including major names such as Digital Idea, Lipsync, Malditomaus and Bleed VFX) helped us really push the boundaries of what is possible in low budget projects.

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What are some other past projects you yourself have created? Do you have plans for any future projects?

For a time I worked in a special effects studio and helped make props that were used in Doctor Who, and Ive also worked within the wardrobe and props departments on a variety of independent films including the sci-fi miniseries Trenches. Operation Chastity is my first feature film project as a filmmaker, and I’m hoping to build on that.

Right now all my energy is primarily being invested in getting Operation Chastity on the big screen as a feature film. We are frantically working at finishing the teaser, which will be released in the coming months, and collaborating with Hollywood screenwriter Marvin Willson in editing the script ready for production of the feature length version of Operation Chastity.

I also have several original scripts in the works, and working on a graphic novel with a phenomenal artist named Adam Burn, who I had the pleasure of working with on Operation Chastity.

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Are you planning to attend any shows to promote the film and meet fans before release?

Closer to the release of the teaser we will certainly be attending events and beginning promotion for the feature film.

We’ve been involved with the community for some time, running Reach tournaments and competitions. Our involvement with the community is something we enjoy and are very committed to.