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Half-Life: Escape from City 17

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Half-Life: Escape from City 17
The opening shot of the film, a panoramic view of City 17.
Release date
February 13, 2009
Running time
5 minutes, 30 seconds
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
BudgetC$500

Half-Life: Escape from City 17 is a short film set in the Half-Life universe. Part one was released on February 13, 2009. Part two is in production.

Plot

The film is set during the events of Half-Life 2: Episode One. Isaac Kleiner is making his "Kleinercasts" on City 17's PA system, warning that the Citadel is set to explode at any moment, destroying much of the surrounding area. Members of the Resistance are fighting their way out of the city as Civil Protection holds them back. Metropolice are seen executing captured rebels. Two rebels are introduced escaping through a train-yard. Through radio communication, the two discover that the last evacuation train has already left, and are urged to escape the city on foot through the canal system. Civil Protection officers appear and fire on the two. The rebels return fire and manage to escape. As they flee, a Combine hunter chopper appears and shoots at them, and the film abruptly ends.

Production

The first part of the film was created by Toronto-based David and Ian Purchase, who use the professional name of the Purchase Brothers.[1] Before Escape from City- 17, the Purchase Brothers had directed several commercials, including one for Coca-Cola.[1] David contended that they worked as commercial directors in order to support their independent projects.[1] They were both fans of the Half-Life series, and decided to start Escape from City-17 as a way "to showcase and promote their talents further, and experiment with several post-production techniques they had developed."[1]

The two had a budget of C$500; the computer equipment and software employed for the development of the film belonged to the Purchase Brothers from previous projects.[1] According to David, the money was spent on the live-action elements of the film, saying that "The costumes, and used/broken airsoft guns made up the bulk of the budget."[1] The two had no crew to support them, and were not paid for their work.[1] Many of the elements of the film, such as the background, were extracted from Half-Life 2, "graphically enhanced, and incorporated into the live action with 'a lot of complicated tracking and rotoscoping.'" [1] The background city used at the start of the film is Riga.

Release

Upon the film's release to YouTube it garnered thousands of views very quickly, but the film's exposure was skyrocketed when Valve, developers of the Half-Life series, promoted it with a news post on Steam.[2] It was quickly featured on many popular gaming news websites and had surpassed 1 million views within two days of release. As of July 20, 2009, it has almost 3 million views.

Reception

Barry White of Citizen Game stated that the first part of the film "[blew] my mind" and "Considering the comparitively [sic] paltry resources [...] at [the Purchase Brothers] disposal this short still manages to be better than every video game movie currently in existence."[3] Wagner Au of NewTeeVee contended that the first part "is one of those rare viral videos that seems destined to launch a breakout success", and added "non-gamers are likely to be impressed by its rollicking action and bravura special effects."[1] Au believed its popularity was due, in part, to the fact that the video is adapted from Half-Life 2.[1] Patrick Goss, writing for Tech Radar, said the in-game footage from the Half-Life 2 series "blended almost seamlessly into [the] live action footage" in the film.[4]

Valve, developers of the Half-Life series, approved of the film and publicised it in an announcement on Steam, saying "we were blown away -- the production quality certainly exceeds that of the usual community-made movies we see."[2]

Part Two

The Purchase Brothers planned to release the second part of the film in early to mid March 2009, but the large amount of emails and phone calls the two have received regarding the first part has slowed development of the second.[1] According to teaser clips at the end of the first part, the two rebel soldier characters will be joined by a heroine, and will come into contact with headcrab zombies.[1]

Escape from City 17 part one on YouTube

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wagner, Au (2009-02-19). "Interview With David Purchase, Co-creator of Escape From City 17". NewTeeVee. Retrieved 2009-02-22. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b "[[Steam (content delivery)|Steam]] news post about the film". Valve Corporation. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-07-20. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  3. ^ White, Barry (2009-02-15). "Escape From City 17". Citizen Game. Retrieved 2009-02-22. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Goss, Patrick (2009-02-16). "Unofficial Half Life film becomes internet hit: Escape from City 17 hits YouTube 1 million mark". Tech Radar. Retrieved 2009-02-22. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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