Have you seen the trailer for “Beyond Black Mesa”? Do you even remember seeing it on the interwebs before? Well if you haven’t, that’s good, because if you did watch it you’d be uber pissed off because the finished product wasn’t complete. And guess what? It finally is.
For seven friends, one Canon HV20, $1,200 dollars of their own money, an addiction for playing the Half-Life series, this movie was a labor of love. How much love? Well, all that stuff I mentioned previously and 2 or more years worth of time to bring this to your computer screen. That’s dedication.
The story is an 11-minute long action packed short film called Beyond Black Mesa about the lives of Adrian Shephard and a band of resistance fighters trying to send a warning out about the invasion. It doesn’t fit into the story of any of the games per se (Half-Life, Half-Life 2 or Opposing Force), but it’s simply just a fan film based inside the Half-Life world. This way the creative team was able to do what they wanted, keep their creative voice and vision, and still enjoy shooting the movie they spent their hard-earned money on. It’s a completely independent fan film, and you can see the love in the details. So to these gentlemen and ladies right here below, I’ll start the slow clap.
Directed by Brian Curtin
Producers: Matt Hall, Mat Powell
Actors/Grips: Joy Gravel, Walt Thomas, Andrew Gothard
Special Tracks: Nate Quarterman
Narrator: Taylor Robinson
Audio Mastering: Eric Chapman
Check out Beyond Black Mesa’s official website for more.
Way to go guys. That was awesome. Especially for a low budget. It beats the socks off Ankle Biters