Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn character interviews

The character interviews are a series of short videos featured in the bonus material for the Special Edition of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn viewable on Halo Waypoint, focusing on the main characters of the film. There are seven videos in total, including interviews with cadets Thomas Lasky, Chyler Silva, April Orenski, Michael Sullivan, Walter Vickers, Junjie Chen and Dimah Tchakova.

Parts of the interviews are also featured in the Squad promotional video, as well as the "Prelude" segment used as a prologue in the DVD and Special Edition version of the film.

Transcripts

Cadet Thomas Lasky

"My name is, uh cadet Thomas Lasky, and I'm, uh, a cadet....freshman. My older brother he's a....who's on duty at the moment, uh, fighting. Not sure where he is actually, but he, uh, he trained here and he studied here as well. It's a little tough following in, uh, in Cadmon's footsteps, y'know, he was quite popular here he kinda kept his head down and he really pushed through and he, um, I think he was, y'know, a lot of the teachers' favorites, as opposed to me. Sometimes I have second guess things and second think a lot of the stuff that I'm learning here. Of course I'm no, I'm no Cadmon Lasky. I'm just, you know, I'm me. The academy is tough in itself it's such a strict and hostile environment, y'know, we're trying to learn how to go into battle and essentially kill somebody, um, and we don't really have a choice. We're killing them so I guess that's why they're killing us. Y'know, in ten years time, we could still be....I could be dead by then, I could have gone into battle and died for a cause that I don't really believe in."

Cadet Chyler Silva

"I'm Chyler Silva and I'm a freshmen cadet at Corbulo Academy of Military Science. I sorta always knew that I wanted to be military. It was a pretty natural choice given my parents, I suppose. I mean, if you know that you want to be on the battle field then everything you do here is not just school, it's training to stay alive and to be able to do the job that you need to do to protect the lives of other people. Corbulo is one of the best places to do it. Uh, it's tough, I mean it's tough to get in but if you know that you want to be a soldier then it's a pretty great place to be. I grew up around a lot of Innie violence, um, and not just violence towards military targets. Civilians where I lived really had to learn how to protect themselves. We had a bomb shelter where we lived. There was one for the people in our neighborhood and, um, he wanted us to be able to get there quickly in the event of a real bombing. So, my dad would race me and my brother Grayson and if you beat him then you got to stay up half an hour past bedtime. Y'know, it was....it was just part of life on Cygnus. My cousin's school was bombed when I was around ten and hundreds of children were killed. It's not the kind of war that we should be fighting but it's the kind of war that they're forcing us to fight now. Physically, it's tough. It's demanding, I mean basic training is pretty grueling and, y'know, a fair number of people leave during that initial phase. But it should be tough! I mean, as soon as I lose a bruise, another one appears. And that's the way it should be. They're like little purple merit badges that mean you're doing a good job. Because it shouldn't be easy to be a soldier. It should be difficult and that's what makes it such a great job. That's what makes me proud to be training to do this. It's because it is hard. And that means that the end result is gonna be something to be proud of."

Cadet April Orenski

"My name is April Orenski. I'm a senior cadet, I'm the squad leader for Hastati Squad. I've seen what can happen when, y'know, there's no discipline when people are allowed to just, y'know, let their ideas run rampant. When things go badly, I've seen it happen over and over again. Being a squad leader means that I have a team of cadets. It means that I am in charge of making sure that they follow the rules, know the rules, they know how to be good soldiers. It's up to me to make sure that, y'know, when they do things that are out of order, when they are misinformed or they go and ignore commands that they know what they've done is incorrect. They have to learn it the right way. The UNSC way. The Corbulo way. And it's my job to make sure that my squad performs at its optimum level, the squad doesn't always perform at optimum level. Uh, no, in fact there are few cadets in my squad that think that their way is more important than what we've been doing for years and years at Corbulo. They think that it's okay to run off and ignore orders and....and it's not okay. I'm responsible for them and if they mess up then it looks badly on me. And it's important to me that I, y'know, I do my job here and I do it well so that in the real world, y'know, when we're out there in the battlefield and we're fighting for the UNSC, it's important that they know that I am their leader and that they are to follow my commands."

Cadet Michael Sullivan

"My name is Michael Sullivan, and I'm a freshmen cadet. I'm following the footsteps of my dad. He's a researcher for the UNSC, er, was a researcher. We're training to fight Insurrectionists. There is a lot of weapon's training, assault rifle training and whatnot. Would I be able to take another life? I just don't know if I could do that to someone else's family. And I don't know if I could lose another person that I love. So, I guess I'm not really able to answer that question yet. I see myself in ten years probably researching, following in my dad's footsteps. I love to do what he loved to do, y'know. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, y'know. I'm probably going to go into some researching, hopefully for the UNSC if I continue to fight this war."

Cadet Walter Vickers

"Walter Vickers, freshmen cadet. I was always supposed to come here with my brother, actually. Um, he-he didn't make it but it was always something that it been planned for me. Socially, I don't, I don't think I fit in all-all-all too well. But I don't necessarily think that's what Corbulo's for. I don't think we're supposed to fit in or necessarily make friends, as long as we work together and we work hard and we do what we're supposed to do; in that sense I fell like I fit in great. I feel like I'm meant to be here. I think at first it really scatters your brain like you don't really know where to look, or who to look at, or what to be doing. But, I mean, if you're on the battlefield and you're hearing guns going around and there's explosions happening that way, you can't let this throw you off, right? So, I think it's distracting but eventually you learn to focus in on what you are supposed to be doing. Ten years? Goes like a long way away, um, I don't know. I can see myself doing something like General Black is doing. Just help prepare people. Get people ready. I think we need to be the best. And I'd like to help out as much as I can to make that happen."

Cadet Junjie Chen

"My name is Junjie Chen. I'm a freshmen cadet. The physical training that we do is something that I've been prepared for but it's more of the, uh, the emotional stress that gets to me, I guess. I'm-I'm not... well, I'm used to it. My Dad's kind of the same way as a lot of the officers. He's very proud of me - as long as I keep my grades up. But... yeah, my, I mean... I guess I'm here for my Dad. For my Mom. She died five years ago. I think she'd be very proud though. I miss Earth. Just somethings about it that... you know it's - I guess it's home. It always will be home no matter how long I'm away. Even if I don't go back the rest of my life, I still... I think I'll still consider it home. Out on the field, training, I... I guess that's where I feel the most comfortable. It's the only time I feel like I'm doing something right, I guess. It's out there on the field. You really break a sweat. I feel like I'm working hard. It's just... you know sometimes when we go through the tactical stuff, I- you know, it really doesn't matter how much I try. I just don't have that background, so I really have to go back to my room and study it on my own. I don't know if I'm prepared to go to war yet. I think it's still early on in training. I-I feel like there's a lot I still need to learn. I'm not excited to kill anybody or anything, but... you know, hopefully by that time they'll have trained me to-to be otherwise."

Cadet Dimah Tchakova

"My name is Dimah Tchakova. I'm freshman cadet. My mother, she's, uh, Secretary of FLEETCOM, and, uh, my father, he's also high ranking intelligence officer at FLEETCOM. I... don't know if I really fit in. Um... my parents, they're-they're very well connected, and, um, I think most kids know that... and I don't know if, um, some kids might look at me differently. I don't get special treatment, but, I-I do feel different than everybody else. In my family, um, our family motto is: 'People who get ahead in life, they make sacrifices and they go to extremes.' This training, it's-it's part of who I'm about to become, and, um, I remind myself of that every day. It's gonna make me stronger and better, and, uh, a better soldier. And, uh, it will help me advance later on in my life. I-I want to make my parents proud. I'm, um... the only child. And, uh, I-I want them to be proud of me. I don't see myself working on the field. I think one day I'll be working in the, uh... in an office, as a high ranking intelligence officer, or, uh, maybe I'll follow my mother's steps and become Secretary of FLEETCOM. I don't really see myself working on the field. I, um, I don't-I don't see myself doing that."