Halo 2 storyboards

The Halo 2 storyboards are a early version of Halo 2's story. The storyboards were created by Lee Wilson.

Overview
"I am Lee Wilson, and yes I did do the storyboards for Halo 1, 2, and 3. Halo 1 were all on paper like traditional movie shooting boards. Halo 2's story went through a lot of changes and so I ended up doing them in a comic panel style, since we weren't in a place to do shooting boards. Halo 3' boards I did in color to work out the lighting and inform my final cinematic lighting. By Halo: Reach, I was directing the story and cinematics, so they were mostly scribbles and notes in various notebooks. It's certainly a trip down memory lane, and I little tough to look at some of my old artwork."

- Lee Wilson discussing his work on Halo 2, in a comment on YouTube.

When Lee Wilson started the storyboards, it was clear to him that the script was not ready for shooting boards due to the numerous script revisions at Bungie. This lead to Lee boarding up the entire cinematic script two to three times. What he opted to do was present the boards in a hybrid storyboard/comic panel style, drawing them in pen to "remove the temptation of erasing and redrawing them until they looked good to me". These boards were for simple communication, not to be displayed on a wall.

E3 2003 boards
These boards were also drawn by Lee R. Wilson. These were for the Halo 2 E3 Demo.

First revision storyboards
These storyboards represent some of the oldest work done by Wilson on Halo 2, and bear the least resemblance to the final product. These storyboards are characterised by simple linework and shading often done in pen, moreso resembling the storyboard work done for Halo: Combat Evolved. Due to these boards being produced early in the development of Halo 2, they take many cues from Combat Evolved such as Master Chief, Arbiter and UNSC Marines all using armour derived from their Combat Evolved-era counterparts, as their Halo 2 incarnations had not been designed in full yet.

The Heretic
The early storyboards for the The Heretic cutscene differ little from those in the final game, though have some minor differences. The council chamber of High Charity bears a heavy resemblance to the House of Lords, and the opening panning shot of the city is complete with an excerpt from the Writ of Union. Some camera angles are different, and the Councilors do not bear their distinctive headdresses seen in the final game.

The Armory
The storyboards for the The Armory cutscene display only minor changes from the final game, such as the arms master carting away the old battered Mark V suit from Combat Evolved, and a very different design for Cairo Station - referred to here as Torres Vedras. The strike fighter is also present in these storyboards.

Cairo Station
The level Cairo Station has an opening cinematic mostly similar to that found in the final game, though with one major difference - the has a vastly different design and bears the name Torres Vedras, rather than the final game's Cairo. The opening cutscene opens by focusing on a tram on the station's exterior, and the rest of the cutscene proceeds mostly as in the final game. Notably, Lord Hood is shown wearing a cape, and Cortana is shown with short-cropped hair akin to her original Combat Evolved appearance. The cinematic ends with Hood departing the assembly hall and a fade to black for gameplay, and no focus on the UNSC fleet overhead.

Earth city
Following on from the destruction of the Covenant ship in the prior level, the Master Chief is evacuated from New Mombasa via Pelican dropship. The Pelican ascends into space to dock with the, as the frigate begins to join a UNSC task force. Johnson and Master Chief enter the ship's drop pods as the human battlegroup engages the Covenant fleet, and the In Amber Clad begins to rocket ahead to try and catch up with the Prophet of Regret's ship, Solemn Penance. The carrier creates a slipspace portal, and the In Amber Clad is able to enter it before it closes - being teleported to places unknown.

alphamoon
A set of storyboards for the cut alphamoon level can be found in Wilson's post, showcasing an encounter between the Arbiter and the Heretic leader Sesa 'Refumee similar to that of the gas mines, but instead taking place in the wreckage of the control room of Installation 04. The storyboards showcase a struggle between 'Refumee and the Arbiter, with both stopping their fighting as 343 Guilty Spark enters the room. The two would begin listening to Spark, only for the crack of a carbine to interrupt Spark, and the camera pan down to showcase the Heretic lifting a blood-soaked hand from his chest. The shooter would then be revealed to be Tartarus, who subsequently captures Guilty Spark and then executes the now-injured heretic leader before walking away.

Delta Halo
The early sequencing for the Delta Halo opening cutscene showcases a small space battle between In Amber Clad and two CCS-class battlecruisers.

Quarantine Zone
An outro cutscene for what appears to be a heavily altered Quarantine Zone can be found in the earliest revisions. The outro cutscene begins at one of Installation 05's "thermal outtake platforms", near the site of a crashed Pelican dropship. Around the crash site are Miranda, Johnson, Master Chief and a small handful of Marines seemingly trying to repair a damaged radio, to little success. The group are ambushed by the Arbiter, who proceeds to engage Chief in hand-to-hand combat though the scuffle is soon interrupted by the arrival of a Phantom and several Brute troops led by Tartarus. The Brutes encircle the group, and are themselves interrupted by the arrival of a "Flood hulk" - bearing a design very close to the known concept designs of the Sharquoi from Halo 2. The hulk begins to smash through the group and swat aside one of the Phantoms, before falling to sustained fire and crashing through the thermal vent - bringing the Chief, Arbiter and several Brutes with it. This encounter would have presumably resulted in Miranda and Johnson being captured by the Brutes, as in the final Halo 2.

forerunnertank
A set of storyboards publish coincide heavily with the few details known of the cut forerunnertank level also cut from the game. Following on from the radically altered Quarantine Zone cutscene above, the Brutes die from their falls though the Spartan and Elite survive and are now stranded in the underbelly of the ringworld. Master Chief picks up a Brute Shot and the cutscene fades to gameplay - presumably lining up with the details of Forerunner Tank recalled by Joseph Staten in the Halo 2 developer commentary.

The Great Journey
Early storyboards released for The Great Journey showcase a slightly different series of events for the Tartarus boss battle at the end of this mission. With Johnson and Miranda having been captured by the Brutes, Arbiter enters the control room with only his Sangheili allies and no Johnson aid. The control room's layout in these early storyboards matches that of the design used in Combat Evolved and Halo 3.

Second revision
The second revision storyboards resemble the final game more closely, featuring designs mostly similar to those found in the final game and a drastic reduction of scope compared to the original outline, including the cutting of the majority of the third act to be replaced with the game ending found in the final product. The design of Anodyne Spirit in these storyboards has evolved from the frigate-like entity shown prior to a large tower, though would later evolve again to resemble the Keyship design familiar to fans now.

The Heretic
"Cleaning out basement closets, found some of my #Halo 2 storyboards tucked into a random box. Setting aside embarrassment at my "art" skills: Interesting to note elements that didn't make it into the final version. For example, we decided not to build a 3D model of the broken ring, opting for simpler matte elements instead--which meant we couldn't pull of the rotation reveal of the broken section. Indeed, Halo 2 had so many complex cinematics that matte paintings were essential in many places. I think our brains would have exploded (in a good way) had we known that, someday, all our work would be remastered in full 3D glory."

- Joseph Staten, regarding the Heretic storyboard featured here.