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Re: Thank you, Microsoft.
Posted By: Cody Miller	Date: 4/20/12 1:59 p.m.
In Response To: Thank you, Microsoft. (Vandle Valsher) : I'm glad that Microsoft took the approach they did. If they backed down on : creative control... I don't even want to think about what sort of disaster : we would have had if Hollywood had its way. As the article points out, what does Microsoft know about movie making? What does 343 or Bungie know? LOOK at the Halo story you see in the games, and realize that it would need a lot of work even to just begin to get it ready for the screen, if that were even possible at all. Why would you give creative control to someone who doesn't know about writing and shooting for the screen? Hollywood knows how to make good films. There are several problems though: 1. Good stories are hard to come by. It's really hard to write a good film. Hollywood is always on the lookout for great stories, and when they find them, they pick them up. They fight over them. The idea of the brilliant screenplay that can't be sold is purely fantasy. If Garland's script was any good, then Hollywood could have done a good job. 2. Because good stories are hard to write, both American and European cinema has been trying to compensate for that in various ways. Hollywood tries to wow with effects, sex, and profanity, while European cinema tries to dazzle with set design, costumes, pretentiousness, and locations. As you all probably know, these things without substance don't make a great film. Europe in particular is in a crisis. They wonder why their films can't distributed? It's simple. Most of them suck. SO, you mostly get garbage. But don't think for a second that Hollywood will 'ruin' a good script. I am as cynical as they come, but believe me, from what I've seen it's not the studios that are the problem. It's the script itself 99% of the time. The studios do not usually put their hands in and meddle with what master artists and craftsman do. Nolan said no to Warner Brothers when they asked him to do the next batman in 3D. He said no when they asked him to remix Bane's voice so as to be audible. And guess what? Nolan got what he wanted. It does happen, but usually the changes are small (cuts to go from NC-17 to R for example). It's a shame MS was so insisting, because you've got to let the people who know what they're doing have the freedom they need. : In the end, I think Microsoft did the exact right thing. No Halo movie is : better than the garbage that Blomkamp was thinking up. Post-steampunk and : gritty? NO THANK YOU. This I agree on. : So a big thanks to Microsoft for protecting our beloved franchise and not : just selling it out to the wolves. Microsoft could have made a huge amount : of money if they compromised a bit, but I think, in the end, fan backlash : would have blown up in their face and it would have hurt them as a whole. It's just my opinion, but a successful adaptation to the screen of a Halo film is very very tricky. You would need change so much, but everybody always complains when you change from the source material. The main problem is that great films are about the conflict between ideas. None of the Halo games are. For example, look at Titanic. What ideas are being juxtaposed? Rich vs Poor, free choice vs duty, freedom vs conformity, ID vs Superego, appearance vs reality, selfishness vs selflessness, public vs private, free in death vs bound in life, etc. All of these are explored through the story's conflict. And it is a beautiful film, that many many people connected with. I just saw it for the sixth time in theatres, and I still get teary! What ideas do any of the Halo games juxtapose? Halo doesn't do this. The conflicts are purely physical and no deeper. The Arbiter is the only character who has a meaningful conflict: tradition vs truth. Nothing else in the story opposes any two ideas! In every case, the characters in Halo never have to wrestle or question the values that they hold. They don't change values, nor are their existing values strengthened through conflict. They are simply left alone; and the characters at the beginning and end are exactly the same people. Except the Arbiter! Conflicting ideas make the resolution stronger. If you have a good man, who is good throughout the whole story and by the end chooses to remain good, that's a stinker. However if the good man is tempted by evil, truly tempted, but refuses, then his choice to remain good is stronger. Likewise an evil man can choose to turn good, with the same effect. The key is conflict between opposing ideals. The stories in so many video games are interesting only on the level of curiosity over what's going to happen next. This works great for a game, since you will then play to move forward and see it. That's not so great for a film though. Sure, you can have a little mystery to keep the audience guessing, but the audience is watching a movie (and not playing a video game) so that they can connect emotionally to the characters. The best characters are the ones whom the audience knows so well, that none of their choices seem strange. We feel like we already know what they are going to do, because they are so rich to us. In this sense, many good films are the opposite of the video game story - driven not by mystery, but by emotional growth. In Halo (not counting the arbiter's story), the setting - the war with the covenant, is the story itself rather than a backdrop for the real story. This is boring. Stop the covenant, save Earth. If that's all there is going on, it's like a history textbook: "In 2553, the Master chief returned to Earth. He followed the covenant through the portal to the ark, and defeated The Covenant and the Flood there". Titanic is likewise set against an epic event, but the setting is in support of the real story. The story is of Rose, not of the ship. A history book describing the sinking would be radically different than the story Rose tells, whereas what we see in Halo would be very well described by a history book. As a bonus, the setting is itself a symbol of Rose and Cal - Lavish and luxurious on the outside, but fragile and unstable within. This is the crux of why Halo's story isn't suited for the big screen: Halo's story is for the most part a series of events, rather than a conflict of values. So, to create a Halo film would be a huge undertaking, requiring the writing of totally new characters who have ideals. I've always though that the story in Legends of the captured kid escaping to go find his family again would make a really great Halo film. Just in that premise you already have so many opposing ideals already that the main and supporting characters could wrestle with: physical identity vs experiential identity, greater good vs good for one, duty vs conscience, ect. The setting would support, rather than be the story, and you would have plenty of opportunities for fun action sequences and the like. I think it could be pretty good, but it wouldn't resemble 'Halo' would it? I'll tell you what, MS / 343, when I'm done with my current project of adapting a certain video game to the screen, call me instead of that e-sports guy :-p

Message Index

Why the Halo movie failed to launch	ElzarTheBam	4/19/12 6:34 a.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	mc_leprechaun	4/19/12 7:09 a.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	DEEP NNN	4/19/12 7:12 a.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	bryan newman	4/19/12 7:44 a.m.
Ewww	davidfuchs	4/19/12 8:11 a.m.
They would have been 2 different kinds of film	bryan newman	4/19/12 8:26 a.m.
Re: They would have been 2 different kinds of film	davidfuchs	4/19/12 11:13 a.m.
Re: They would have been 2 different kinds of film	bryan newman	4/19/12 12:43 p.m.
Continue the storylines of...	thebruce0	4/19/12 1:39 p.m.
Re: Ewww	bluerunner	4/19/12 9:48 a.m.
Re: Ewww	Ibeechu	4/19/12 12:12 p.m.
Re: Ewww	agdtinman	4/19/12 5:29 p.m.
Re: Ewww	Miguel Chavez	4/20/12 2:50 a.m.
Re: Ewww	SonofMacPhisto	4/19/12 10:29 a.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	Louis Wu	4/19/12 8:16 a.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	serpx	4/19/12 8:25 a.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	Anton P. Nym (aka Steve)	4/19/12 9:26 a.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	Ibeechu	4/19/12 12:37 p.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	serpx	4/19/12 3:14 p.m.
Re: Why the Halo movie failed to launch	TDSpiral	4/19/12 12:38 p.m.
Thank you, Microsoft.	Vandle Valsher	4/19/12 8:35 a.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	PyroSporker16	4/19/12 9:01 a.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	Vandle Valsher	4/19/12 9:13 a.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	mc_leprechaun	4/19/12 10:03 a.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	Vandle Valsher	4/19/12 10:17 a.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	SonofMacPhisto	4/19/12 10:32 a.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	mc_leprechaun	4/19/12 10:38 a.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	PyroSporker16	4/19/12 10:26 a.m.
Microsoft Film Studios?	Vandle Valsher	4/19/12 12:12 p.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	General Vagueness	4/21/12 7:59 p.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	DEEP NNN	4/21/12 8:10 p.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	General Vagueness	4/22/12 10:41 p.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	Someone	4/19/12 12:14 p.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	Vandle Valsher	4/19/12 12:25 p.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	Someone	4/19/12 12:56 p.m.
Much better.	Vandle Valsher	4/19/12 5:05 p.m.
Re: Much better.	SonofMacPhisto	4/19/12 6:38 p.m.
Re: Thank you, Microsoft.	Cody Miller	4/20/12 1:59 p.m.
Boy, you sure do know a whole lot! *NM*	Vandle Valsher	4/20/12 4:01 p.m.
The script...	bluerunner	4/19/12 10:05 a.m.
Re: The script...	mc_leprechaun	4/19/12 10:39 a.m.
Yes, here it is.	Bryan Newman	4/19/12 11:10 a.m.
Re: Yes, here it is.	bluerunner	4/19/12 11:31 a.m.
Re: Yes, here it is.	Bryan Newman	4/19/12 11:37 a.m.
Re: Yes, here it is.	davidfuchs	4/19/12 3:26 p.m.
Re: Yes, here it is.	Bryan Newman	4/19/12 5:22 p.m.
Re: Yes, here it is.	Tex	4/19/12 2:13 p.m.
Re: Yes, here it is.	Cody Miller	4/20/12 2:02 p.m.
Nope	Cody Miller	4/20/12 2:17 p.m.
Re: Nope	General Vagueness	4/21/12 9:03 p.m.
This is still possible. See The Avengers.	Joony Joon	4/19/12 3:12 p.m.