Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’s producers talk about what it took to bring Master Chief to life

We got the chance to talk to the Executive Producers of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Lydia Antonini and Josh Feldman, about the fans' reception to the series, the challenges with the production of this high-budget web series, and the future of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.

With three episodes of the widely anticipated Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn web series released and the fourth set to debut this Friday, Digital Trends got a chance to talk to the show’s executive producers, Lydia Antonini and Josh Feldman about the making of it, how fans have been responding so far, and where the future lies for the series. With the help of Machinima, 343 Industries, and others, the first episode has rocketed to over five million views since the October 5 premiere, and leads up to the launch of the Halo 4 game for Xbox on November 6.

Set during the first days of the Covenant’s attack on humanity, the series follows a group of UNSC cadets training at a base on a remote human colony, unaware that they will soon be at war. Principle among the cadets is Thomas Lasky (played by Australian actor Tom Green), who is destined to become a leader in the fight against the Covenant, as well as an important figure aboard the UNSC Infinity, a ship that will play a crucial role in Halo 4. When the Covenant strikes, Lasky, along with several others including cadet Chyler Silva (The Chronicle of Narnia series’ Anna Popplewell) and JJ Chen (Osric Chau), find inspiration in the Spartan, John-117, who will soon be known more famously as Master Chief (played by Twilight‘s Daniel Cudmore). 

What’s the setting for the series and will we recognize some of the multiplayer maps seen in the previous Halo games?

Josh: The timeframe of the series goes back to the introduction of the human-Covenant conflict; we’re talking about an insight into a timeframe that to date hasn’t been explored. So we’re introducing some areas. We’re not revisiting areas that multiplayer gamers have previously seen.

Lydia: If you watched episode one, there’s the opening sequence with Master Chief and Cortana on Forward Unto Dawn, and that is a sequence bridge between [Halo 3] and [Halo 4]. The opening sequence picks up where they are and moves us along to the beginning of [Halo 4], and helps bring together the most sophisticated story line that we’re weaving with Thomas Laskey toward [Halo 4]. Forward Unto Dawn is a ship that preexisted.

What were the production challenges?

Lydia: Forward Unto Dawn couldn’t feel like a separate interpretation of Halo. This needed to be a complete, and parcel with the mythology. This was a collaboration with 343 Industries in the truest sense. So the story was broken with us and our writers, and 343, and they were completely involved in every iteration of the script. The biggest challenge is that there hasn’t been this length of live action. Fans have high expectations when it comes to the visual quality of Halo so we knew we had to have a stellar visual effects team that had to work quickly in order to have this launch before the release of Halo 4. So that challenge was aided by the immense design work that had existed by the virtue of the Halo franchise being around for 10 years. Each of the kinds of challenges is important. We had to respond to them by making sure we hired the best people for the job.

Can you divulge Microsoft’s budget for the production of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn?

Lydia: We can’t say, but you can tell that Microsoft gave us the resources to make something very special. They were not cheap at all about making sure that we can do everything that the brand deserves. But with that said we took every dollar and still stretched it much further than anybody thought it could go. So for example the long-form of all of the episodes will be available on Xbox Live on November 6, and plays as a movie, but I think you’d be astounded with what we pulled off with the money.

Was there a difference in the way you approached the development of the series, compared to a full movie for example?

Lydia: Because Halo is such an important franchise to many people and it has such an active fan base, we had to be extremely NDA. We had to be very, very secretive. I’ve heard stories about when they’re shooting an Apple commercial; they’ll actually have two different commercials going on. I personally never had to be that secretive of anything in a long time until this.

Josh: Microsoft had ambitious distribution plans. The first being that it’s going to be distributed as five episodes, and then it’s going to be available as part of the limited edition of the game as a long form piece, where it plays essentially in a feature style. And it’s going to be on Blu-ray and DVD.

Does the storyline follow a younger group of characters with a new target demographic in mind?

Josh: Master Chief is definitely in Forward Unto Dawn and he’ll do all of the things that fans expect of Master Chief, and that was an area that we paid a lot of attention to in building the suit with legacy effects and having a great actor who’s also a really skilled stunt performer to be able to do all of the things Master Chief could.

In terms of the series focusing on younger cadets, I think it adds an element that’s very relatable. Yes, our main characters may be of a similar age group to some of the fans of Halo. I think it’s an opportunity to look at characters that are on the verge of adulthood, when their identity is being forced. And to have a character like Thomas Laskey appear in Halo 4, it’s an opportunity to see the seminal moments in his life that would make the audience and players of Halo 4 that much more interested because they know this back story. This just happens to be that time, and that age that the events take place.

How have fans received the series so far?

Lydia: Overwhelmingly positive. It’s exciting as producers to be able to put something out into the world directly to the consumers and to have them comment and write and view and talk back to you in real-time, which is what YouTube allows. I’ve been reading people’s comments and they’re so supportive. They’ve been picking up on the little details that you knit into a story and that make you ask, “Gosh will anyone notice those?” But they noticed them, they loved it, and they appreciated it. They expect the best, and they really pay attention.

Josh: We were hired by 343 and followed their marching orders, and we know where the buck stops, and that’s with the fans. That was constantly in the back of our minds.

After your experience with Forward Unto Dawn and based on your background in traditional film and TV, what’re your feelings on original programming and would you distribute future content as a TV show or as a web series?

Lydia: Personally I’d like to experiment with doing both simultaneously. I still watch television and I watch shows digitally. They’re both great viewing experiences and they both offer a different amount of interaction, so it would be really fun to play at the intersection of the two to give people a really full 360 degree experience of being able to watch and engaged with the show on their own terms with the environment they choose.

Do you think a web series at the caliber of Forward Unto Dawn can replace a consumer’s TV viewing habit?

Josh: I think in some way there are some people who are going to look at this and be motivated to become a cord cutter, or any of the terms used for people who like access content via digital means, but that’s not a bad thing. But I personally think it speaks more to giving consumers choices with how they access the shows that they love, and each of the different formats offer a different viewing experience. When you watch something digitally or something online, you’re immediately thrust into a forum to debate, talk, compare, argue, critique, and praise alongside fellow members of the community. When you watch something in other formats, you trade some of that interactivity for a greater emphasis on the presentation quality. At a point there’s a convergence to all those things. Until we hit that convergence each venue has attributes that make it appealing to different people.

343′s Kiki Wolfkill mentioned in an interview that Forward Unto Dawn is supposed to make Halo accessible to its users. Was he hinting at changes to Halo 4’s game play?

Lydia: A lot of that detail is really under wraps, but one of the goals that we agreed upon when it was just Josh and I working on the project with 343 is that we wanted a show that could excite the core fan base that plays the games and gets excited that could also evolve and be relevant to the casual Halo player, who doesn’t maybe know all the granular details. There’s a third audience of people, those who don’t know Halo at all but who should enjoy the story for what it is.

And is that why you took the character development approach to the series?

Josh: Absolutely. [We had the] opportunity to convey more of the life-changing events of a character, and the people who see this and never played Halo before will have a really cool perspective. We’ve checked out the game and the people at 343 have outdone themselves, and so it’s a real thrill to be a part of something that adds a little insight into one of the characters that’s going to be featured in Halo 4.

How about the Covenant’s appearance? We see a glimpse of them in episode three, but what will they actually look like?

Josh: Whatever you see, we knew the onus was on us to have them exist in the real world and be completely believable.

Is there any validity to the Halo film rumors, and what’s next for the Halo franchise as a web series?

Lydia: We certainly can’t speak for what their plans may be. They haven’t yet indicated to us if we’ll move forward, but my personal feeling is that the fans have been so excited and interested in this particular project… I’d be surprised if there weren’t more things happening in the near future with Halo live action.

Josh: If there’s one thing that history has shown is that 343 is not going to stop innovating and stop finding ways to build out the Halo franchise. So if Lydia and I – we are fans – just get to experience new avenues that Halo goes down as fans that would be great. If we’re lucky enough to be a part of them, we’d be thrilled. This was an amazing year to be very temporary custodians of live action Halo, and there’s just so much there that they’d be crazy enough not to explore.

Are there any games you’d like to translate into a Web series?

Lydia: Red Dead Redemption and Diablo.

Josh: Halo 5.

Lydia: That goes without saying, we’d love to continue working on Halo.

The episodes will be released in full on Xbox Live November 6 as a long-form 90 minute film, and sold on Blu-ray on December 5. Halo 4 will be released as an Xbox 360 exclusive on November 6. You can check out the first episode of the series below:

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Watch a 13-minute promotional short for 1982′s Blade Runner

In an effort to promote Blade Runner, the producers had this 13-minute short created for distribution at sci-fi conventions.

Let’s say you’ve been tasked with marketing a movie. It’s an ambitious film, one that simultaneously hopes to live up to the lofty standards of one of Philip K. Dick’s most beloved novels while also creating a vast, dystopian world that is equal parts unimaginably different from our own and a logical extension of current and near-future technology. In 2012 that wouldn’t be too difficult — just capture a few seconds of bombastic CGI, hire a deep-voiced narrator and cut a TV commercial that may or may not accurately reflect the film (but who cares as long as it puts people in the seats?) — but way back in 1982 it was a whole lot more difficult to entice notoriously picky sci-fi fans into the theater.

Thus, when faced by a similar situation for Ridley Scott’s phenomenal Blade Runner, the crew at M.K. Productions opted to put together a short, promotional movie to be distributed at various conventions around the country. According to Open Culture the short was a hit, and was widely circulated among sci-fi, horror and fantasy fan groups prior to Blade Runner’s theatrical debut. Whether or not it directly contributed to the movie’s success and current status as one of the all-time greatest sci-fi films Hollywood has ever created is debatable, but the vignette does serve as an undeniably cool look back at the creation of the film, and that’s a solid enough reason for us to embed the clip at the bottom of this post.

Along with the expected images and footage from Blade Runner, the short includes interviews with director Ridley Scott, special effects artist Douglas Trumbull and “futurist designer” Syd Mead. Normally we wouldn’t be this excited about what we now call a “behind the scenes featurette,” but in this case we’re utterly stoked to hear what these people have to say. If you’ve seen Blade Runner you know how masterfully crafted its futuristic world is, and there’s a very good reason why so many sci-fi movies, novels and video games created since 1982 have blatantly lifted ideas from Ridley Scott’s film.

More impressively, Blade Runner was created in an era where computer generated graphics weren’t really something Hollywood studios could use. They existed, certainly, but any CGI work was exorbitantly expensive, and few people had any idea how to effectively use the technology for making films. Thus, when you’re watching Blade Runner and being drawn in by the hyper-detailed detritus of that cyberpunk universe, everything you’re seeing was created by old-school practical visual effects work, making the film that much more stunning a feat.

Before you hit play on the embed below, we will give you a heads up that the footage is not exactly crystal-clear, 1080p HD quality. It is, after all, a 16mm movie from three decades ago, that was never really intended for public consumption. Thus, just be happy that this thing still exists, and that we can all use it to avoid dirtying our hands with any actual work on a lazy Tuesday afternoon.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Top 10 Printers For Apple Mac PC’s

The majority Mac users are happy with their machines. The problem begins when they can’t configure their machine with gadgets from other producers. Perhaps, it is the highest standard of Mac that doesn’t appear to incorporate the ordinary features of a strange constituent. The proof is the better performance of Mac machines when employed with parts, which are completely well-suited with Apple configuration. The following are some of the best printers that work faultlessly with Mac PCs.

Canon MP 560
For a selling price of only one hundred fifteen dollars, this all-in-one printer is a typical deal for customers. This printer is valuable for printing very huge amounts. Its double tray employs auto-document feeder that is administered by a big multipurpose two inch LCD display. The reader of media card is well prepared to manage most kinds of USB devices, MMC, micro SD cards, and memory sticks.

Epson Stylus NX420
This is among the best Wifi enabled printers. It is produced to scan and print best quality images. With an approximate scanning ability close to 2400 dpi, red eye removals and auto image correction, the 4 ink cartridge reacts with speeds starting from three point three ISO ppm to six point four ISO ppm. It is a very helpful instrument for Mac users who may desire their images to dry immediately. All images and photos can directly be printed using memory cards without using the computer.

Lexmark C510N
It is produced for business users; it prints documents with an image quality of 2400 dpi. The 500 MHZ processor administers the mechanics of picture resolution to provide excellent outcomes at a speed of 8 ppm in color and 30 ppm in monochrome.

Samsung ML 2525 W
If you aren’t happy with printer’s noise, this is among the silent gadgets accessible for Mac clients. This printer is very simple to arrange and can print heavy graphics with no blotching. As said by the producer, the toner cartridge mostly lasts following printing of nearly 2500 pages. A wireless connectivity, USB, Ethernet, and small footprint make it a very important machine.

Epson Artisan 710
This printer isn’t only compatible with any MAC PC on design; however, it also offers quick laser quality at a speed of 9 ppm. Two sided automatic printing and two paper trays can print everything from custom-made CD to coloring books. For instance, the 4 x 6 inch photos of ultra high definition can be printed in below ten seconds.

Canon L170 Laser Fax Printer
This is the most important type of laser fax printer for businesses that are small. It can simply print heavy pictures with a speed of nineteen ppm. Very large memory and the G3 fax speed adds to directory search options and 32 speed dials. This is a moveable printer, which is able to print high quality pictures resembling its desktop siblings.

Brother HL 5370 Black & White
If you ever require a simple yet great printer to deliver uppermost quality monochrome outcomes then there is not anything better than this printer. Mac customers may like its fast printing speed and easy setup. The automatic duplex printing attribute can print double sided papers with a 32 ppm speed. This printer comes with a one year guarantee and is loaded with features, for instance 32 bit memory, built-in wireless, and 300 sheet standard paper capacities.

Brother HL-2140 Personal Laser Printer
This high-class resolution printer is able to print twenty three pages in a minute. The two hundred fifty paper tray can manage most kinds of legal papers. It is well-suited with both Mac and Windows, users will be pleased to become aware of toner saving mode.

Konica Minolta Magicolor 1600W
The lightweight and compact design of this printer is equally appreciated like its performance. Using the technology of plug and play, it can create both color and B&W prints. Its USB printer interface is able to print at 20 ppm speed. With an utmost capacity of two hundred sheets and sixteen MB memory, it is in fact a great value for your money.

Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com