LONGTIME GAMING MAINSTAY HALO TRANSITIONS TO LONGFORM STREAMING By KEVIN H. MARTIN
Images courtesy of Paramount+ TOP, BOTTOM AND OPPOSITE TOP: During action scenes, live-action Spartans were often replaced by digital doubles, which required a deft hand with CG animation to faithfully reproduce each actor’s distinctive movements. OPPOSITE MIDDLE AND BOTTOM: The design and performance aesthetic for Master Chief and the other Spartans was assembled based on what had been established in the various Halo games, plus the physical limitations of shooting on set and location.
Science fiction has long been a key source for the gaming world, even prior to the advent of video games. A dice-based board game based on Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers novels arrived more than two decades ahead of Paul Verhoeven’s film adaptation, while at least a pair of computer games derived from Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama. Troopers, along with James Cameron’s Aliens, served as inspiration to various other properties leveraging off the ‘Grunts in Space’ concept, including the Wing Commander franchise and the Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as the immensely successful series of Halo video games. Set in the 26th century, Halo features a variety of alien and human factions in conflict, a premise that seemed ripe for cinematic adaptation. But an early feature attempt involving Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp and Alex Garland failed to pan out. Steven Spielberg later took an active interest in the property, and helped shepherd it along over a span of some years, even as the Haloverse grew to encompass novels, live-action shorts and animated features, all overseen by 343 Industries. The newest incarnation, debuting on Paramount+, is a series that retains the key heroes, antagonists and world-building of the games, but with a greater focus on characters, especially that of super soldier Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber). In addition to the many practical issues of production design, special effects and makeup prosthetics, a multitude of VFX challenges needed to be met, ultimately involving 14 vendors. VFX Producer Bill Halliday, while lacking credits in otherworldly science fiction, had overseen work on The Tudors, The Borgias, Vikings, Penny Dreadful and the futuristic Into the Badlands. Halliday boarded the project in June 2018, which, since the cameras didn’t roll until November of the following year, provided ample time for what he calls, “A very healthy prep, which was useful in helping us relate the series to the
70 • VFXVOICE.COM SUMMER 2022
PG 70-75 HALO.indd 70
5/2/22 2:12 PM
