Museum

Museum is a live-action TV trailer that was part of the Believe advertisement campaign for Halo 3.

It takes place in the Museum of Humanity and concerns an interview with a retired UNSC soldier who fought in the Second Battle of Earth. The soldier in question is Major Pawel Czernek who served from 2551-2581.

In the trailer an unknown voice questions the retired soldier, whilst he views a minature representation of a battle between UNSC and Covenant forces.

The text "Next Halo 3 Video Premiere: 9/14/07 9 A.M. PT" appears at the end of the video.

Transcript

Note: The dialogue in this video is not seen - it is heard as a voiceover while Czernek (and the camera) looks at the diorama.

(cut to a dimly lit museum room. An elderly man walks towards a glass case in the centre of the room. The words Maj. Pawel Czernek; UNSC (ret.)
active duty: 2551-2581
loc: Museum of Humanity appear)

Interviewer: Can you tell us what you remember about the battle?

Czernek: We'd been fighting for a while. On the seventh day we ran out of ammo. We had to scavenge all we could from the weapons that had been left behind. Pistols, shotgun rounds, a handful of grenades...

Interviewer: Do you remember where you were?

Czernek: When Master Chief armed his grenade, I was in the back of an overturned Warthog, firing an M41.

Interviewer: How did you manage to keep it together?

Czernek: We knew Master Chief was still in the fight. He gave us hope.

(Czernek sees the figure in the diorama representing himself, and is silent in thought. Fade to black. Tagline "BELIEVE" fades in)

Analysis

• Pawel says "When Master Chief armed his grenade" The use of his in this statement may indicate that this grenade plays a significant role during the battle and possibly the war.

• The Major retired in 2581, thus implying that humanity survives the war. However, Bungie representative Frank O'Connor recently assured gaming website Kotaku that the ad's creators do not know Halo 3's ending, so any information it gives is purely speculative.

I asked Frankie about the concept, if they were worried about the reaction it would get from fans of the game. If people might think the ads are spoilers. He said that the ads were created by a marketing team who had no idea how the game ends and that it is not meant to be part of the game's canon.

-- Brian Crecente, Kotaku.com

Trivia

• Pawel Czernek mentions that "on the seventh day we ran out of ammo," this is possibly reference to Bungie's "obsession" with the number 7.

See also

• Halo: Arms Race, a separate series of short live-action clips also created to promote Halo 3.
• Côte d'Azur, the location of the museum in which the Covenant found the coordinates of Installation 04.