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|music=*[[Neil Davidge]]
|music=*[[Neil Davidge]]
*Nathan Lanier
*Nathan Lanier
|studio= 3 (Live-Action Halo Series)'']</ref>
|studio= 3 (Live-Action Halo Series)'']</ref>     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ2mftZpfGE


==Synopsis==
==Synopsis==

Revision as of 14:45, May 9, 2014

This article is about the web series. For the UNSC ship, see UNSC Forward Unto Dawn.

{{Film Infobox |image=[[File:FUD-Poster.jpg|250px] |name=Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn |director=Stewart Hendler |producer= |writer=*Todd Helbing

  • Aaron Helbing

|starring= |music=*Neil Davidge

  • Nathan Lanier

|studio= 3 (Live-Action Halo Series)]</ref> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ2mftZpfGE

Synopsis

{{{1}}}

hey are caught in a firefight with Jackal snipers and Sullivan is wounded. After the Spartan neutralizes the Covenant sharpshooters, the group use the now-deceased General Black's Warthog to drive out of the academy toward the evac point.

The Warthog is ambushed by Jackals on the journey and becomes irreparably damaged, and the squad is forced proceed on foot. Silva realizes that she has taken a needler round to the stomach; the squad flees into the jungle as the Chief engages and kills a single Hunter. With all biofoam having been used to treat Sullivan's leg, however, Silva dies shortly afterwards. Having ran out of ammunition during the previous fight, the Spartan plans to distract the second Hunter while the cadets run to safety. Distraught at Silva's death, Lasky volunteers to take the Chief's place. As the Hunter is focusing on Lasky, the Chief successfully uses a grenade to neutralize the walking tank. The battered team makes it to the rendezvous point at dawn, where they are picked up by a Pelican carrying Kelly-087 and Fred-104. The Chief commends Lasky for valor under fire, and gives him an armor fragment from the Hunter as a memento.

Back in the present, Commander Lasky prepares to enter cryo while holding his dog tags; Silva's dog tags and the Hunter armor fragment are attached to the tags' chain, Lasky having kept them for over three decades. The Infinity and its escorts jump into slipspace, with Requiem as their destination. As the Dawn's wreckage is inexorably pulled toward the mysterious shield world, Cortana prepares to reawaken the Master Chief at last.

Spoilers end here.

Episodes

Production

[[File:FUD - CAMS comparison.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A comparison of an unfinished shot of Corbulo Academy from the official trailer (above), and the finalized version, with digitally added elements such as wind turbines, satellite dishes and a space elevator (below).]]

"We wanted to do something unique from a narrative standpoint that's big in scale."
— Matt McCloskey - Director, Franchise Business Development

According to director Stewart Hendler, time was considered the primary challenge when embarking on a production of this scale on a relatively short notice. Primarily written by screenwriters Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing, work on the script is noted to have began around December 2011. Production officially stated in late April 2012.[1]

Filming and effects

Filming, which lasted for a total of five weeks, started in April 28th, 2012 at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a popular filming location for many notable science fiction series like Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica. Since much of the series is set at Corbulo Academy, an actual, existing location was used to give the school a concrete identity. Although many other locations around the world were initially considered to represent the academy, the SFU was chosen because of its rugged, decidedly futuristic architecture.[1] For the filming, the campus was decorated with additional embellishments, including various UNSC propaganda murals and a statue of the academy's namesake, the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo.[2] Most outdoors scenes within the academy, as well as the establishing shots of the campus and select indoor scenes like the mess hall, were filmed on-location at SFU.[1]

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn screenshot
A production still of a filming session near a dam.

After the first week of filming at the SFU campus, the second week was spent shooting the forest scenes, namely the cadets' training exercises and the final battle sequence, including the Warthog chase. The forest location was a woodland in a drainage basin north of Vancouver. Despite some logistical problems, the site attracted the attention of the crew because of its unique, almost otherworldly atmosphere. Most of the interior scenes at the academy were filmed on set during the last three weeks of filming. While the SFU campus is recognizable as a real-world location, the sets were designed with an emphasis on giving the series a unique signature aesthetic. The largest of the three major sets was a single 25-meter long hallway, which was used to represent many different hallways in the series, primarily the main corridor at the Corbulo Academy dorms. As part of the hallway set, a single dorm room was also created and was similarly used to depict several different rooms. The third major set was the cadets' locker room and cryo training facility.[1]

In post-production, computer-generated imagery was added to depict the Covenant aliens and enhance some of the environments. Many of the 3D and art assets came directly from 343 Industries, with most of the Covenant species designs being based on those in Halo 4. A number of visual effects were added to the SFU campus in post-production, most prominently the space elevator towering over the buildings. For the scene of the space tether being destroyed, the effects team made some research into the physics of how such a structure would collapse and created a computer-aided dynamic system to model the effect.[3]

Cast and characters

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn screenshot
A production still featuring most of the main characters.

While the role of the main protagonist is filled by Thomas Lasky, who is also a major character in Halo 4, Master Chief John-117 also plays a pivotal role in the series. Lasky is played by Australian actor Tom Green.[4] The Master Chief is portrayed by Canadian actor Daniel Cudmore, best known for his role as the mutant Colossus in the X-Men film series. Cudmore also performed the Master Chief's stunts, as he doubles as a stunt performer. He considered the role a challenge; as the cumbersome suit would significantly mute natural movement, Cudmore found that his physical acting came across more clearly by exaggerating his movements.[1] As Forward Unto Dawn is set thirty-one years before Halo 4, the production team originally experimented with de-aging Steve Downes' voice so he could voice the fifteen-year-old John-117; Cudmore would act only as the Spartan's physical embodiment. However, the team realized that Downes' altered voice sounded too high-pitched. Thus, a separate actor, Alex Puccinelli,[4] was given the role of voicing John, whose voice would evolve over three decades to possess the gruffer quality of Downes' performance.[5]

When the main roles were being cast, it was considered important that the cadets would appear believable as young and inexperienced teenagers forced into a life-and-death situation.[1] At the time of casting, there was a fair amount of secrecy surrounding the production, then known only as "Sleeper", and the actors were not initially informed that the series would be set in the Halo universe.[6][7] In preparation for their roles, the actors for the main characters were given a collection material to study, including the existing Halo novels.[8] Although basic background profiles had been created for the characters in advance, the actors were given a degree of freedom to build on the cadets' backstories themselves.[6] Over the course of the week before the filming began, the actors for the cadets of Hastati Squad underwent an intense basic training regimen, fashioned after military training, under the supervision of the series' stunt coordinator James Bamford as well as an additional military consultant. Taking place in a warehouse in Vancouver, the program consisted of basic physical exercises, various military drills, and even live-fire weapons training with assault rifles so the actors would be able to perform their parts in a more convincing manner and be acclimatized to moving as a unit. Stewart Hendler wanted Bamford to go as far as possible with the training, to the point of the actors vomiting and "calling their agents", although all of them endured through the process.[1]

HALO 4: FUD - Title Sequence - Making Of
Content

The following is a list of cast members in Forward Unto Dawn:[9]

Costumes and props

Concept art of the CAMS cadet uniforms.

The uniforms worn by the cadets at Corbulo Academy were largely based on existing UNSC uniform designs while taking subtle design cues from real-world military academy uniforms, particularly the minimalistic and slim silhouette of those used at US Military Academy West Point. Although other colors such as blue were initially considered, white was chosen as the primary color to convey an impression of formality and a "clean slate", corresponding with the series being a prequel centering around young cadets. In reference to a recognizable military motif, a subtle chevron pattern was incorporated to the front piece of the uniforms. The darker colored sections in the uniform's trousers are based on a similar dual coloration theme in the UNSC Marine BDUs in Halo 4; the battledress worn by the Marines in Forward Unto Dawn closely resembles the designs in Halo 4.[10]

UNSC officer uniforms seen in the series are largely derived from the designs seen in Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, but are given an olive drab coloration as opposed to the blue-gray or white typical of UNSC Navy uniforms. Although it has been previously established that unaugmented humans must enter cryo-sleep fully naked, this was circumvented by giving the cadets dedicated "cryo-suits" to wear in scenes involving cryo-stasis. The suits were created by a Vancouver wet suit company and were designed to be skintight with the requirement they could be removed on camera for the scene with Lasky removing his suit in the shower to reveal his blisters.[10] However, not all of the cadets wore the rubber suits in the cryo scenes,[6] and would instead use a similarly colored bodysuits made of fabric.

Most props, including the Master Chief's Mark IV MJOLNIR armor and the body armor sets and weapons used by the cadets and Marines, were created by Los Angeles company Legacy Effects, which has previously worked on major film productions such as Iron Man, G.I. Joe and Pacific Rim. The MJOLNIR armor is visually based on the design from the Halo Legends short The Package. Realizing the suit physically proved to be a challenge, as the original model was not designed to be worn by an actual person. Built specifically using Cudmore's body as a template, most of the armor components are actually made of a flexible material to allow more unrestricted movement. Due to sweat building up in the heavy and fully enclosed rubber suit, the suit was cleaned with vodka after each filming session. The visor was separately processed by eyewear manufacturer Oakley, Inc. to give it its iconic, golden reflective coating.[10]

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn screenshot
The Warthog featured in the series.

Although Halo-themed weapons and other items existed as leftovers from prior live action projects, Legacy built most of the weapons from scratch with additional attention to detail such as LED lights and a tactical flashlight in the MA5 assault rifles.[1] In addition to these new props, Forward Unto Dawn also reuses a number of props and costumes from previous live-action media. The ODST armor from The Life is seen in several episodes. Additional ODST and Marine Armor was possibly borrowed from Halo: Landfall. The MJOLNIR armor worn by Kelly-087 and Fred-104 originally appeared in Deliver Hope, in which the suits were worn by Kat-B320 and Thom-293, respectively. The suits and helmets were repainted and physically altered to distinguish them from the Mark V armor they originally portrayed; for example, the jowl and forehead armor guard on Kelly's helmet are taken from one of the suit's FJ/PARA knee guards.

The Warthog featured in Forward Unto Dawn was originally created by WETA Workshop for the Halo: Landfall live action shorts used to promote Halo 3. With superficial renovations, the vehicle is reused as General Black's personal transport and later as the centerpiece of the climactic Warthog ride sequence. Action shots of the Warthog driving across the forest road were performed with stunt doubles, while close-ups of the actors in the car were shot by towing the vehicle by a rig in the back of a slower-moving truck with camera equipment. When attached to the trailer, the Warthog's own front wheels had to be removed and replaced by smaller ones. This and many other maintenance operations on the Warthog were performed by WETA technician Peter Osbourne, who was largely responsible for engineering the vehicle in the first place and has been said to be the only person in the world truly capable of operating it.[11]

Promotion and trailers

A teaser trailer for the series was released on Halo Waypoint and on YouTube by Machinima on July 2, 2012.[12][13] A series of short featurettes were also filmed back to back with the series to flesh out the setting and to provide an insight into everyday life at Corbulo. These featurettes were directed by Jamieson Fry, who was picked partly because of his prior knowledge of the Halo universe.[14] The following trailers were released prior to the release date of the webseries:

The McFarlane Forward Unto Dawn statue.

Prior to and during the initial online release of Forward Unto Dawn, Machinima released a 13-part series, Halo After Dawn. Hosted by Mr. Sark and Adam Kovic, After Dawn featured interviews with the Forward Unto Dawn cast and crew, with the episodes discussing various aspects of the series, including behind-the-scenes insight.[15]

Soundtrack

Main article: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Original Soundtrack

The musical score for Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn was composed by Nathan Lanier and officially released on July 10, 2013.[16] A 26-track isolated score is also included as a bonus feature in the Blu-ray/DVD edition of the film.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Limited-Edition Statue

The Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo Deluxe Edition.

During the final episode of Halo After Dawn, Todd McFarlane, creator of McFarlane Toys, announced the unveiling of the company's first-ever Halo resin statue.[17] The highly detailed, hand-painted, cold-cast resin statue depicts the climactic scene where the Master Chief attacks the second Hunter with a grenade. Only 500 pieces were produced and each statue and its box were sequentially numbered. Each statue includes a certificate of authenticity hand-signed by McFarlane. [18]

Special editions

The extended edition, available on Halo Waypoint to owners of the Halo 4 Limited Edition, contains an alternate cut of the series itself as a single continuous film, totaling 90 minutes in length; this includes a "Prelude" segment featured at the beginning of the film and a blooper reel at the end. The film remains largely identical to the webseries, aside from moving the "present-day" portions chronicling Cortana's descent into rampancy aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn to a single sequence in the beginning of the film, whereas in the webseries they were splintered into individual scenes featured in the opening of each episode. The online extended edition also contains various pieces of bonus material, including interviews with the main characters, additional videos and behind-the-scenes footage, including Awakening a Sleeper, a 20-minute "making of" documentary of the series.[19]

A Blu-Ray/DVD combo "Deluxe Edition", containing additional exclusive material including art cards, a poster and over 100 minutes of bonus content, was released for Region 2 on May 27, 2013.[20][21]

Appearances

Characters

Equipment and technology

Weapons

Locations

Species

Events

Organizations

Vehicles

Trivia

Miscellaneous

  • A mural of an ODST seen at Corbulo Academy is a heavily stylized version of a piece of concept art for Halo 3: ODST.[2]
  • Frank O'Connor, Franchise Development Director at 343 Industries, makes a cameo appearance in Episode 2 as a janitor at the academy, spectating the fight between Lasky and Vickers.
  • The famed Wilhelm Scream can be heard in the classified video Sullivan shows to his fellow cadets. The scream is heard as an Insurrectionist is thrown against a wall, just after John announces an unknown hostile.
  • Forward Unto Dawn received numerous awards and nominations at the 3rd Streamy Awards. It won the categories Best Drama Series, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. The series was also nominated but did not win Best Action or Sci-Fi Series and Best Writing: Drama. Tom Green and Anna Popplewell were nominated for Best Male and Best Female Performance: Drama respectively.[29]
  • Forward Unto Dawn was nominated in the category "Outstanding Main Title Design" at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Mistakes

  • In Part IV, John-117 tells the cadets to address him as "Master Chief" despite the series taking place in 2526. Halo: The Fall of Reach indicates that he was still a Chief Petty Officer in 2535; the original printing of The Fall of Reach refers to him as "Master Chief" during the prologue, but he is also referred to as "Master Chief" in the revised Definitive Edition. [30] His title could possibly be for the benefit of newcomers to the franchise: he is almost unanimously known as "Master Chief" among mainstream gamers.
  • When John protects Sullivan from the needle rifle projectile, the shard shatters upon impact. In gameplay, needle projectiles tend to remain lodged in MJOLNIR armor for a few seconds before detonating, even if the suit's shields are fully charged.
  • In Part 5, the M41 LAAG's barrels do not cycle when firing.
  • The Spartans' Pelican dropship is a D79-TC Pelican, the post-war replacement to the older D77-TC Pelican. The dropship also incorrectly sports the post-war version of the UNSC insignia; the rest of the series consistently uses the original UNSC emblem. This is most likely a result of reusing a high-detail 3D asset created for Halo 4's cinematics, similar to how the Covenant species in the series appear like their Halo 4-era versions.

Gallery

  • The series' first teaser image.

    The series' first teaser image.

  • Series logo

    Series logo

  • Initial promotional image for the webseries.

    Initial promotional image for the webseries.

  • A promotional image for the series.

    A promotional image for the series.

  • Jacket cover for the DVD release.

    Jacket cover for the DVD release.

  • A promotional shot of Lasky, Silva, Sullivan and Orenski.

    A promotional shot of Lasky, Silva, Sullivan and Orenski.

  • John-117 in MJOLNIR Mark IV armor.

    John-117 in MJOLNIR Mark IV armor.

  • A production image of the cadets with the Master Chief.

    A production image of the cadets with the Master Chief.

  • A production still of the cadets during a morning drill.

    A production still of the cadets during a morning drill.

  • A production still of the locker room set.

    A production still of the locker room set.

  • Filming for the mess hall scenes at Simon Fraser University.

    Filming for the mess hall scenes at Simon Fraser University.

  • A production still of the space elevator destruction scene being filmed.

    A production still of the space elevator destruction scene being filmed.

  • A production shot of the cadets in a Pelican in the ending scene.

    A production shot of the cadets in a Pelican in the ending scene.

  • A still of two cadets in Corbulo Academy's training grounds.

    A still of two cadets in Corbulo Academy's training grounds.

  • Frank O'Connor with Daniel Cudmore in Master Chief costume.

    Frank O'Connor with Daniel Cudmore in Master Chief costume.

  • A still of Gen. Black's Warthog passing by two cadets.

    A still of Gen. Black's Warthog passing by two cadets.

  • The Warthog secured to the filming rig.

    The Warthog secured to the filming rig.

  • The cryo chambers in the locker room set.

    The cryo chambers in the locker room set.

  • A conceptual model of the Corbulo Academy corridor set.

    A conceptual model of the Corbulo Academy corridor set.

Sources

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Awakening a Sleeper
  2. ^ a b Kotaku.com: First Look at the "Set" of the Halo 4 Live Action Series
  3. ^ YouTube: Halo After Dawn - Episode 11
  4. ^ a b Microsoft Game Studios: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Series Credits
  5. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named THB 7.18.12
  6. ^ a b c YouTube: Halo After Dawn: Episode 4 - Cryo
  7. ^ YouTube: Halo After Dawn: Episode 3 - The Haircut
  8. ^ YouTube: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Anna Popplewell (Exclusive Interview)
  9. ^ Microsoft: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Series Credits
  10. ^ a b c YouTube: HALO 4: LOOKS THAT KILL
  11. ^ YouTube: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Behind the Scenes - "Shooting the Warthog Chase"
  12. ^ Halo Waypoint: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Teaser
  13. ^ YouTube: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Official Teaser Trailer
  14. ^ YouTube: Halo After Dawn: Episode 7 - Lecture
  15. ^ YouTube: Halo After Dawn
  16. ^ iTunes - Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn by Nathan Lanier
  17. ^ YouTube: So Who Died?
  18. '^ Spawn: Halo: 4 Forward Unto Dawn Limited-Edition Statue
  19. ^ Halo Waypoint: Forward Unto Dawn
  20. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named cvg
  21. ^ Amazon: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Deluxe Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo
  22. ^ a b The Angeles Times: Hero Complex: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ will be the first ‘Halo’ movie
  23. ^ a b IMDb: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Full cast and crew
  24. ^ a b Halo Waypoint: The Halo Bulletin: 7.12.12
  25. ^ YouTube - Exclusive Clip Halo 4 - Forward Unto Dawn Episode 4 HD
  26. ^ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Sparkast 14
  27. ^ Mediafire - Hunter screenshots, FuD Episode 4 credit previews
  28. ^ Halo Waypoint - Waypoint Schedule: Sept 24-30
  29. '^ Streamy Awards Official Website: 3rd Annual Nominees & Winners
  30. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach - 2010 Edition - page 9

Template:Film

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