Patreon and the state of things

So first off I'd like to apologise for the delays in getting Unforeseen Consequences out there - I'm dealing with some unforeseen consequences myself at the moment and things have slowed down a bit. I also made the mistake of starting Dark Souls for the first time recently, and anyone who has played Dark Souls knows exactly what I'm talking about when I use the term "time sink".

Pictured: This generation's Simon and Garfunkel.

You may have noticed that a couple of days ago I uploaded a video in which I sat in front of the camera and stumbled over my words about setting up a Patreon account to help continue making this series. I also mentioned that I would elaborate in a blog post, so here we are.

It's been recommended to me numerous times, both via comment sections and by people I've spoken face to face with about this project, that I get on board with Patreon. After humming and hah-ing about it for a while I decided to take the plunge.

So far I've spent over twelve hundred hours in SFM alone making the first two episodes of Half-Life - something I never really expected to happen. It began as a little bit of fun and has since evolved into a full-blown obsession and an artistic commitment I truly want to take to its natural conclusion. This is down in no small part to the huge amount of encouragement I have received from an ever growing group of viewers.
However, the making of Unforeseen Consequences Part 1 has been an incredibly long and arduous process, and has made me realise that this is not something I can continue in the way that it is currently going. Animating alone has taken between six and nine months, and at this rate I'll never get anywhere. Without using motion capture equipment and software, the quality of the animation will never be up to the standard that any of us would like to see from such a big project and would take far too long to produce, and so I have decided that until I am able to afford to get the necessary gear I will not be continuing to adapt Half-Life.

This is not a demand to be repaid for the work I am putting in, but a request for help to continue a project that is now very close to my heart and allow it to grow into something bigger and better than it currently is.

For anyone who would like to become a part of this journey, my Patreon is here:

https://www.patreon.com/pinwheelarts

A Half-Life fantasy casting!

I'm taking a break from SFM for the next week or so to finish some work contracts, and to get my energy back for the animation of the final (!) scene and the extensive post-production work involved.

But in the meantime, let's have ourselves a little Half-Life fantasy casting. I've always wanted to make a live-action Half-Life film, and it's still a bit of a pipe dream of mine. I almost see this SFM series in some respect as an animated storyboard of sorts.

So if money was no object and the film could be made tomorrow, here are my picks for Half-Life's leads. Feel free to give your suggestions in the comments below!

Gordon Freeman: Bernhard Forcher

 

Star of the absolutely INCREDIBLE web series The Freeman Chronicles, Forcher is already everything we want from Gordon Freeman. Taciturn and intense, he injects the right mix of fear and determination into our favourite blank-slate hero. Watch The Freeman Chronicles here:

http://www.thefreemanchronicles.com/

Runner up: Keanu Reeves, the blankest of blank slates.

Alyx Vance: Alia Shawkat

 

Youthful and wide-eyed, the Green Room and Paint it Black star would do justice to both Alyx's kind, warm-hearted demeanour and her tough, determined spirit without ever being relegated to a sexy damsel for Gordon.

Runner up: Adriana Lima, because what better way to ruin Half-Life for the fans by taking influence from Cinematic Mod's worst excesses? 

The G-Man: Peter Capaldi

 

Capaldi has been on our screens recently as the enigmatic Twelfth Doctor, but it's his portrayal of the terrifying, sinister government DoC Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It that would lend the G-Man a suitable sense of menace. That, and he literally looks exactly like him.

Runner up: Christopher Walken - he's so bizarre anyway it wouldn't take much effort to portray someone who may or may not be an alien impersonating a human without total success.

Barney Calhoun: Paul Rudd

 

Like Barney, Rudd is just too damn likeable. He could always be counted upon to provide some levity and friendly camaraderie against the backdrop of a disastrous global nightmare.

Runner up: Robert Downey Jr, who seriously needs a break from the endless stream of shite that Marvel is churning out with no sign of stopping any time soon.

Eli Vance: Clarke Peters

 

Sorry, literally everyone on the internet, Morgan Freeman is just lazy casting. Clarke Peters stole so many scenes in The Wire as Lester Freamon - a father figure of sorts to the Major Crimes Unit, and an indispensable detective and strategist. His leadership and quiet dignity is perfect for Vance Sr.

Runner up: Fine, it can be Morgan Freeman, okay?

Isaac Kleiner: Kevin Spacey

 

Bear with me on this one. An odd choice, but Kevin Spacey is such a talented, diverse actor that he could nail basically any role. It would be great to see him play against type as the neurotic, excitable genius Kleiner and he'd make the perfect foil for Clarke Peters' Eli.

Runner up: Woody Allen, who Kleiner must have been influenced by to some degree. Neurotic? Check. Jittery? Check. Intelligent? Check. Big forehead? Check.

Wallace Breen: Bryan Cranston

 

Sure he'd be a bit underused, but he was underused in Godzilla as well, and was swiftly dropped in favour of the cast of a late 2000s Call of Duty title and the Olsen that no one's heard of (she's the talented one). He would nail Breen's insincere smile, and could do despotic madness pretty well.

Runner up: Malcolm McDowell, because he's all kinds of sinister.

Judith Mossman: Gillian Anderson

 

She's a cult hero in science fiction already - imagine the cheers from the audience when she appears on screen for the first time in Black Mesa East. Anderson could be uptight, duplicitous and endearing for one of Half-Life 2's underappreciated characters.

Runner up: Gillian Anderson. No one else gets to be Mossman.

I could go on. There's a whole host of supporting characters, such as Father Grigori (Alfred Molina), Odessa Cubbage (Alfred Molina), the All-Knowing Vortigaunt (Alfred Molina)...but this entry is clearly reaching tl;dr territory and it's 3am so I should probably go to bed.

As I said, feel free to agree, give suggestions or tear me a new arsehole for not casting Morgan Freeman in the comments! And think about other characters too. I personally would like to see Clint Howard as a headcrab.

P.S. As a thank you for everyone's patience and further support while I battle on with episode two, here's a little teaser image for future work demonstrating some model replacement and custom texturing...

HECU Fire Team Heron 1-1 en route to a mission whose brief is as yet unknown.
L-R: PFC David Nielsen, Pvt Martin Rosenthal, SSgt James Levine, Cpl Laura Walko

Some evidence

See! Told you I was doing something!

"Catch me later and I'll buy you a beer."

Blog Material Inbound

So it's time to start a blog about this whole Half-Life thing. The success of the first episode (which I made essentially as a bit of a fuck-about when I was ill) has made me feel that people might just want to see more of this series.



The principal animation for Unforeseen Consequences Part One is about 90% complete, but it's a long process. After that there's still sound engineering and mastering to do so I can't promise a full episode quite as soon as I'd expected.



As well as the main story episodes I'll also be releasing some much shorter side story episodes which look at certain aspects of the disaster from the perspective of other characters, such as unwitting security guards or HECU marines conflicted by their orders. Every now and then I'll do one of these if a story episode is taking too long as a bit of an apology.



Anyway, here's episode one again, because why not?