Halo: Reach storyboards

This article is part of a series on
Halo: Reach cut content

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Cut content

Cut dialogue
Cut ambient life
Cut levels
Cut vehicles
Cut weapons
Cut armor

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Development

Halo: Reach development
Concept art
Design documentation
Storyboards
Title updates
Multiplayer Beta

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To check out cut content for other Halo games, see here!

v • d • e

The storyboards were a series of production artwork produced by Bungie artist Lee Wilson during the development of Halo: Reach. The project was notable as, despite Wilson's contributions to the series going back to Halo: Combat Evolved, this was the first time he had been in charge of both narrative and storyboards. Writing on ArtStation, Wilson noted:

“

Halo: Reach was my first game project where I drove the story AND the cinematics. It was by far one of my favorite productions to work on, mostly because it had fantastic leadership; the production grew organically, starting with a small core team; and that we pretty much shipped what we had set out to make (which can be somewhat rare in AAA). The task was to make a Halo game that would appeal to the fans but NOT feature Master Chief (that trilogy had literally been put to bed). It would be a full title and Bungie's Halo swan song. I'm very proud that we delivered. From my perspective, a prequel made sense - something that could expand the universe by looking inwards. I loved the idea of focusing on what it felt like to be a Spartan with their boots firmly on the ground. Themes of kinship and self-sacrifice led to decisions to remove Spartan helmets on poignant occasions and to shoot the cinematics in a grounded style where every camera was justified. When it comes to these very rough notes and scribbles of mine, you may notice that many of the shots are out of order. This was due to me often having a crystal clear picture of shots in mind but had yet to figure out the sequence at the first pass stage. I also chose to draw everything in pen (a Pilot Razor Point) so as not to labor anything just to make it look good. And, they didn't need to look good because when we first started out previsualizing the cinematics we were a cinematics team of two, who were also learning how to use Motion Capture for the first time. We even built a trackable virtual camera out of a marked up 2X4. Crazy. You'll also notice that I made a lot of character blocking diagrams - they were not just used for working out camera placement but also for our motion capture sessions. Since we only had two suits, any scenes that featured more than two characters required careful choreography. On most occasions, I donned the spandex and played all the male characters. Believe me, the novelty soon wore off. I hope you enjoy browsing through this sampling of Behind the Scenes sketches. You may even shed a tear for the two Spartans (Rosenda and Thom) that never made it into the final game, along with an awesome boat mission that was too technically expensive at the time. Spartans never die. They're just missing in action.

”

Noble Actual

The storyboards for the game's intro cinematic, Noble Actual, mostly reflect the scene as-presented in the final game. The largest differences come from the inclusion of Thom-A293 in the scene, with NOBLE Team themselves presented with the work-in-progress name "HYDRA Team". In the storyboards, Carter-A259 announces himself as "Hydra One" and Thom as "Hydra Two" (instead of Noble One and Two, respectively), with Thom replacing Catherine-B320's role in the final game.

• HR NobleActual Storyboard 1.jpg
• HR NobleActual Storyboard 2.jpg
• HR NobleActual Storyboard 3.jpg
• HR NobleActual Storyboard 4.jpg
• HR NobleActual Storyboard 5.jpg

Winter Contingency

The storyboards for the level Winter Contingency are more or less true to the vision realised in the final game. One storyboard for the opening cutscene depicts Rosenda-A344 in one of the Falcons, while the closing cutscene storyboards are almost identical to their final game iterations.

• HR WinterContingency Storyboard Intro 1.jpg

  Storyboard for the opening cutscene. Note the presence of Rosenda-A344.

• HR WinterContingency Storyboard Outro 1.jpg

  Closing cutscene storyboards.

• HR WinterContingency Storyboard Outro 2.jpg
• HR WinterContingency Storyboard Outro 3.jpg
• HR WinterContingency Storyboard Outro 4.jpg

ONI: Sword Base

The storyboards for the level ONI: Sword Base depict the level's closing cinematic: the meeting between NOBLE Team and Catherine Halsey. The only major deviation from the final game is the presence of Sára Sorvad in the scene. According to Isaac Hannaford, Sorvad originally would have played a much larger role in the game's plot, serving as NOBLE Team's science advisor, somewhat of a rival for Dr. Halsey, and a more "human" voice in the player's ear comparable to Cortana's role in the prior games.

• HR ONISwordBase Storyboard 1.jpg
• HR ONISwordBase Storyboard 1.jpg
• HR ONISwordBase Storyboard 1.jpg
• HR ONISwordBase Storyboard 1.jpg
• HR ONISwordBase Storyboard 1.jpg

Nightfall

Only one storyboard note has been provided by Wilson for the third level, Nightfall. It consists of a list of required motion capture shots during the game's planning stages. The listed shots match up with the mission's opening cutscene.

• HR Nightfall MocapList.jpg

Tip of the Spear

The storyboards for Tip of the Spear are mostly true to those seen in the final game. The largest difference, in the first cut, lies in how the Warthog crash in the opening cutscene is noted as being started by a Banshee crashing into a Warthog in front of the player vehicle. The second revision revises this to an artillery round striking the bridge, as in the final game. The outro storyboards depict UNSC Grafton's destruction of Spire One, Six's escape, and Grafton's destruction by Long Night of Solace more or less as-depicted in the final game.

Intro storyboards

• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Intro 1.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Intro 2.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Intro 3.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Intro 4.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Intro 5.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Intro 6.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Intro 7.jpg

Outro storyboards

• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Outro 1.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Outro 2.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Outro 3.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Outro 4.jpg
• HR TipOfTheSpear Storyboard Outro 5.jpg

Long Night of Solace

The storyboards for Long Night of Solace depict the opening cutscene, with Kat explaining her plan to destroy the supercarrier to Noble Team. While the storyboards depicted here are more-or-less accurate to the final game, their basic concept is lifted from the cut boat level, whose storyboards can be viewed further down this page.

• HR LNoS Storyboard 1.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 2.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 3.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 4.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 5.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 6.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 7.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 8.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 9.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 10.jpg
• HR LNoS Storyboard 11.jpg

New Alexandria

The storyboards for New Alexandria depict the level's closing cutscene and Kat's death at the hands of the Field Marshal Orsu Lar 'Ahtalee. This premise was reused from the death intended for Rosenda in the first draft (detailed further down this page), in which Rosenda was to have suffered a death by sniperfire.

The Package

Storyboards for The Package depict the level's middle cutscene (with NOBLE Team riding a tram to Halsey's underground lab) and final cutscene (with the group's departure from SWORD Base). The cutscenes were faithfully realised in the final game.