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Halo 5 Opening Cinematic

Honestly, the biggest issue with it was that it was episodic, completely fucked with the pacing.

Other than that it was fairly meh really, not bad but not exactly great either. I much preferred Forward Unto Dawn.

Yep, paced terrible. Acting, idea, sets, production, all good. Editing and pacing blew.
 
Honestly, the biggest issue with it was that it was episodic, completely fucked with the pacing.

Other than that it was fairly meh really, not bad but not exactly great either. I much preferred Forward Unto Dawn.

I agree. It's structured as a film
 
It still bothers me that the IVs refer to each other as "Spartan" rather than rank or last name. They're professional soldiers who have been fighting for large parts of their adult lives, and addressing colleagues by rank (or sir, for officers) would come natural to them.

When the Spartans became their own branch, Spartan they stopped using ranks, for whatever reason.

They do have 'positions' though, like fire team leader, for example.
 
Noble Team would call Carter boss, Palmer has been called Commander. But yeah I don't think they do ranks much as Spartans. 'This is Sierra-117', 'Spartan Locke', etc.
 
Noble Team would call Carter boss, Palmer has been called Commander. But yeah I don't think they do ranks much as Spartans. 'This is Sierra-117', 'Spartan Locke', etc.

I think that's essentially an acknowledge ofment the fact that a Spartan's prowess and experience basically overrides the ranks of Junior Officers anyway; an important plot point in First Strike. where Lieutenant Haverson technically outranked the Chief. They all get orders from Officers from Commander up anyway.
 
How I want Locke and MC's final encounter to go:

Locke tracks the Master Chief to rocky outcrop and creeps up behind to take him down.

The Chief dissolves. It's a hologram. Locke turns just in time to be smacked in the face by the Chief, who says: "I'm the fu***ng daddy round here!"

The Master Chief at this point sounds exactly like Ray Winstone.
 
Noble Team would call Carter boss, Palmer has been called Commander. But yeah I don't think they do ranks much as Spartans. 'This is Sierra-117', 'Spartan Locke', etc.
The lack of ranks is new to Sparyan IVs, I believe they're classified as their own branch of the military as well. Palmer and fire team leaders are exceptions I guess.
 
The lack of ranks is new to Sparyan IVs, I believe they're classified as their own branch of the military as well. Palmer and fire team leaders are exceptions I guess.

Correct.

Spartan 4s come under their own command structure, not ONI, hence the equal rank positions, with the exception of Squad leaders/commanders, etc.
 
My favourite part of the cinematic is the very beginning right when the "343 Industries" logo appears. The piano notes right then are so awesome.

I also love how this team basically consists one black man, one black woman, one white woman, one white man, all bad ass.

Re: criticism on what is or is not realistic for Spartans, on Blue Team vs. Fire Team Osiris, I've only ever played Halo 1, so I can't relate. But the entire discussion in this thread (and this beautiful cinematic) has made me want to dive back into MCC very badly. I want to finish Halo 1-4 (+ODST) before Halo 5 comes out.

Question: I really want to skip Reach on 360 for the slim slim hope that it might be remastered for XB1. Do I need to play that game to get the full backstory on the four characters in this opening cinematic?
 
My favourite part of the cinematic is the very beginning right when the "343 Industries" logo appears. The piano notes right then are so awesome.

I also love how this team basically consists one black man, one black woman, one white woman, one white man, all bad ass.

Re: criticism on what is or is not realistic for Spartans, on Blue Team vs. Fire Team Osiris, I've only ever played Halo 1, so I can't relate. But the entire discussion in this thread (and this beautiful cinematic) has made me want to dive back into MCC very badly. I want to finish Halo 1-4 (+ODST) before Halo 5 comes out.

Question: I really want to skip Reach on 360 for the slim slim hope that it might be remastered for XB1. Do I need to play that game to get the full backstory on the four characters in this opening cinematic?

The only character from this cinematic that appears in Reach is Buck, and even then it's only as a potentially missable cameo. So no, you don't need to play Reach.

I would strongly recommend you do, though. It's campaign is great.
 
For a second there the music felt as if it was gonna turn into The Avengers theme.

Looks awesome.
 
It still bothers me that the IVs refer to each other as "Spartan" rather than rank or last name. They're professional soldiers who have been fighting for large parts of their adult lives, and addressing colleagues by rank (or sir, for officers) would come natural to them.

Spartans don't really use ranks they all consider themselves equal to each other besides their squad leader, and even then you won't have anyone being a dick about it.
 
My favourite part of the cinematic is the very beginning right when the "343 Industries" logo appears. The piano notes right then are so awesome.

I also love how this team basically consists one black man, one black woman, one white woman, one white man, all bad ass.

Re: criticism on what is or is not realistic for Spartans, on Blue Team vs. Fire Team Osiris, I've only ever played Halo 1, so I can't relate. But the entire discussion in this thread (and this beautiful cinematic) has made me want to dive back into MCC very badly. I want to finish Halo 1-4 (+ODST) before Halo 5 comes out.

Question: I really want to skip Reach on 360 for the slim slim hope that it might be remastered for XB1. Do I need to play that game to get the full backstory on the four characters in this opening cinematic?

Yeah Buck is the only person who was known to be active and it was a cameo anyway. All of these other characters a pretty new. Tanaka and Vale being identified the most recently.
 
My favourite part of the cinematic is the very beginning right when the "343 Industries" logo appears. The piano notes right then are so awesome.

I also love how this team basically consists one black man, one black woman, one white woman, one white man, all bad ass.

One blasian woman. ;D It's pretty neat to see a mixed team again, especially after Reach did a great job with that, too.
 
How I want Locke and MC's final encounter to go:

Locke tracks the Master Chief to rocky outcrop and creeps up behind to take him down.

The Chief dissolves. It's a hologram. Locke turns just in time to be smacked in the face by the Chief, who says: "I'm the fu***ng daddy round here!"

The Master Chief at this point sounds exactly like Ray Winstone.

Ha

Ha

..... 😴
 
How I want Locke and MC's final encounter to go:

Locke tracks the Master Chief to rocky outcrop and creeps up behind to take him down.

The Chief dissolves. It's a hologram. Locke turns just in time to be smacked in the face by the Chief, who says: "I'm the fu***ng daddy round here!"

The Master Chief at this point sounds exactly like Ray Winstone.

I just read that line inside my head in chiefs voice. Would be hilarious lmao
 
I also love how this team basically consists one black man, one black woman, one white woman, one white man, all bad ass.

WHY DO YOU HATE BROWN PEOPLE?!

I kid I kid...But what happened to the billion odd Indians plus hundreds of millions of other browns in the next 500 years? o_O
 
Obviously I need to know about blue team before actually getting this game

what material should I start with for back story, or should I just wiki them
 
That's definitely a cutscene.

So the odst guy was a spartan? Were all of them spartans? I just that they were some special ops team. Are any special teams none spartans?
 
That's definitely a cutscene.

So the odst guy was a spartan? Were all of them spartans? I just that they were some special ops team. Are any special teams none spartans?

He was not a spartan during ODST. His excellent service as an ODST made him a candidate for the SPARTAN IV program.
 
The Spartains move really weird in this. Like, not in a "they're too powerful and fast" way, but a "that's not how movement works" kind of way.

Most noticeable when they're dashing away from the falling ship, but really its throughout the whole thing. Like they're little puppets some times flailing their legs as someone is carrying them straight across the terrain.
 
Nah, I'll probably see if they are available as abridged audio books to listen to at work, thank you


Hopefully Hunt the Truth season 2 can fill me in more.

Yeah I wanted to reread reach but i was lazy so I listened to the audio books instead ( on youtube. If all else fails the Wiki does a decent job on each spartan.
 
The Spartains move really weird in this. Like, not in a "they're too powerful and fast" way, but a "that's not how movement works" kind of way.

Most noticeable when they're dashing away from the falling ship, but really its throughout the whole thing. Like they're little puppets some times flailing their legs as someone is carrying them straight across the terrain.
Yeah, the whole thing is a little wonky. It doesn't bother me much, but it does look weird. I still think the cinematic is bad ass.
 
The Spartains move really weird in this. Like, not in a "they're too powerful and fast" way, but a "that's not how movement works" kind of way.

Most noticeable when they're dashing away from the falling ship, but really its throughout the whole thing. Like they're little puppets some times flailing their legs as someone is carrying them straight across the terrain.

Vale's animation is really good - i'd say she had the most motion capture in the sequence (very obvious when she goes in the phantom). Locke however looks like he was entirely hand animated, as his movements are very rough throughout. In particular, he snaps towards the camera at 2:26, and when he rolls at the end of the clip, he glides along the ground. Their strides stop being natural in the ending and it does indeed look like they're being pulled forward to come into frame of the camera.

I mentioned in an earlier comment that it looks like this was edited heavily for the trailer (obviously because it's not the full thing). There are some shots that I don't think 343 would have done in game, and given the roughness of the ending, I'd assume that it's yet to be finished.
 
Vale's animation is really good - i'd say she had the most motion capture in the sequence (very obvious when she goes in the phantom). Locke however looks like he was entirely hand animated, as his movements are very rough throughout. In particular, he snaps towards the camera at 2:26, and when he rolls at the end of the clip, he glides along the ground. Their strides stop being natural in the ending and it does indeed look like they're being pulled forward to come into frame of the camera.

I mentioned in an earlier comment that it looks like this was edited heavily for the trailer (obviously because it's not the full thing). There are some shots that I don't think 343 would have done in game, and given the roughness of the ending, I'd assume that it's yet to be finished.
It sounded to me from Frankie that this is the cinematic, except there's more before and after (the last shot goes right into gameplay, apparently). Didn't sound like the actual part of the cinematic we got was chopped up throughout, but who knows. Could be.
 
It sounded to me from Frankie that this is the cinematic, except there's more before and after (the last shot goes right into gameplay, apparently). Didn't sound like the actual part of the cinematic we got was chopped up throughout, but who knows. Could be.

I don't think it was chopped up, but i do think it was edited. The shot when Vale goes into the Phantom and the camera zooms in very close - i think that was done to avoid showing the gun shooting the Elites. A similar trick is employed before where a lens flare flashes when Vale points her gun at the Elite on the Wraith.

Also, there is no purple alien blood from any of the kills.

The last two could be placebos, but the first one is a really bad shot and I can only assume it was done that way specifically for the trailer. There is enough room in the Phantom to zoom the camera out a bit, so it wouldn't make sense to me to cover the entire frame like that.
 
I don't think it was chopped up, but i do think it was edited. The shot when Vale goes into the Phantom and the camera zooms in very close - i think that was done to avoid showing the gun shooting the Elites. A similar trick is employed before where a lens flare flashes when Vale points her gun at the Elite on the Wraith.

Also, there is no purple alien blood from any of the kills.

The last two could be placebos, but the first one is a really bad shot and I can only assume it was done that way specifically for the trailer. There is enough room in the Phantom to zoom the camera out a bit, so it wouldn't make sense to me to cover the entire frame like that.
Oh I gotcha. The Phantom bit was nauseating to me by how badly it was done, so I really hope you're right.

Is this the same cinematic team that did the Halo 4 and Halo 2 Anniversary cinematics? Forget their name at the moment. Because all of their stuff has been really spot on in the past.
 
Oh I gotcha. The Phantom bit was nauseating to me by how badly it was done, so I really hope you're right.

Is this the same cinematic team that did the Halo 4 and Halo 2 Anniversary cinematics? Forget their name at the moment. Because all of their stuff has been really spot on in the past.

Exactly, it's nauseating. Even if it were done as a soft censor (which is just a theory and probably unlikely), they could have framed it better.

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The first zoom is okay because it shows her reacting to the Elite. The second zoom shows her back... for no reason.
 
Is this the same cinematic team that did the Halo 4 and Halo 2 Anniversary cinematics? Forget their name at the moment. Because all of their stuff has been really spot on in the past.

This Cutscene was done by Axis Animation.

H2A Stuff was done by BLUR Studios.
 
I don't think the zoom is intentional about hiding gunshots or blood etc. It's framed close because the action moved to close quarters combat. The direction here shows that and I think the shot is executed well for it's purpose.
 
I don't think the zoom is intentional about hiding gunshots or blood etc. It's framed close because the action moved to close quarters combat. The direction here shows that and I think the shot is executed well for it's purpose.

That's just me trying to understand why they framed it the way they did. The concept is good, but I think the second zoom isn't.

That and the "puppetmaster" stuff at the end are really the only problems I have with the trailer (aside from the whole Locke shenanigans that happened a few pages ago, but I'll give that a rest until I can shoot him myself).
 
There's plenty of ways cinematic language can handle close quarters without feeling like the bad cameraman was tripping over himself and missing all the important action.

Wonder why they switched teams. People making the "Avengers" analogies are spot on. Feels just as lifeless to me as well.

Don't wanna harp too much on such a short cinematic, but the previous cinematics in the 343 titles are so good. :(

edit: And if the goal was to make them look badass, then "over-the-top superhero action running through rocks" isn't necessarily the best way to do it. I mean, even that small little segment in Halo Wars made those three spartans look way more interesting and "cool" with a much simpler premise and design.
 
There's plenty of ways cinematic language can handle close quarters without feeling like the bad cameraman was tripping over himself and missing all the important action.

Wonder why they switched teams.

I think because most cinematics and cutscenes are in-game/in-engine for Halo 5, they probably felt they could do most of the grunt work themselves with their own designers and the help of Axis Animation for things like this as opposed to contracting Blur Studios again. Blur also had H2A on their plate which was at least 2+ hours of new cutscenes just the past year etc. I imagine they don't come cheap as well.
 
I think because most cinematics and cutscenes are in-game/in-engine for Halo 5, they probably felt they could do most of the grunt work themselves with their own designers and the help of Axis Animation for things like this as opposed to contracting Blur Studios again. Blur also had H2A on their plate which was at least 2+ hours of new cutscenes just the past year etc. I imagine they don't come cheap as well.
Ah, makes sense.
 
You know, I was interested when 'forerunner in origin' came up, and then I'm watching some extending TMNT (the movie) Michael Bay money-shot that manages to make the elites look like a joke, randomly has an ODST as a Spartan (apparently? When and how? Oh wait I don't care) and is basically just that without being subtle or giving any sense of being in danger.

I switched to "Rich Evans watches trailers" mode about 2 minutes in. I just don't care anymore. And I cannot see myself caring about this at all.


Half the things you are complaining about happened over the span of like, six years.

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I kinda wish this was going to be a playable sequence. After seeing that concept art of Osiris airdropping I was hoping for another ODST-esque intro.
 
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