Killzone: Intercept | Date: 2012 | Category: Short film | Client: Guerrilla Games (Sony)
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Inspired by Sony's popular video game series, this short film was commissioned by Guerrilla Games in 2012. The developers stumbled upon our previous Half-Life film 'Beyond Black Mesa' which had a similar tone to the 'Killzone' world. You could say we were a good fit, Steven Ter Heide was the mastermind behind that. This project all came together with a great collaboration and mutual creative freedom between us and Guerrilla.
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Production
8 Shoot days. 3 Different locations. 20+ Cast and Crew. Most of the battle scenes were shot at a Sand & Gravel Factory and a historic steel mill called Sloss Furnaces. We were efficient with our small budget to create as many practical assets as possible, only using green screen when we needed the scale of the environment to be larger than we could recreate. Thanks to Gary Barth (Creative Director - Sony), who was the mastermind at creating the majority of the costumes and props. I'm still amazed at how accurate they looked on camera. Sebastian Downie was our inside man at Guerrilla who provided tons of graphics and references to insure accuracy creatively.
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Behind The Scenes
I wish every film or commercial was required to release a BTS. There's a million ways to approach the same problem and it's fun to see how filmmakers do it. What you see on screen in the end is often very different from what was captured on set. Here's a small glimpse.
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Artwork
Our DP and Photographer Jason Wallis helped shoot some beautiful studio photos of our characters. Aaron Gresham (Creative Director) was able to take the images and build a very clean and iconic series of movie posters with a technique of blending of brush strokes and deliberate use of white space.
The elusive Capture Trooper is my favorite and most frightening Killzone character. It was exciting to bring that same feeling of being hunted to live action. Anthony Kitchens was tasked with the costume creation and he nailed every detail. After filming, Guerrilla Games wanted the suit for display in their Amsterdam studio. I couldn't let go of the original, so Anthony created a second full outfit for them, free of the wear and tear of production.
Print may be dead, but it's always nice to see a spread dedicated to our work in the Official Playstation Magazine.
THE CAST
Director: Brian Curtin | Executive Producer: Taylor Robinson | Producer: Lisa Harris | DoP: Jason Wallis | Casting: Hannah Francis | Produced by: Six Foot Five Productions
MAIN CAST
William: Russ Hobbie, ISA Heavy: Gerhard Mathangani, ISA Sniper: Michael Walters, ISA Rifleman: Don Cano, Mother: Shannon Hoppe, Helghast Commander: Kevin Wayne Young William: Finn Steward, Tortured ISA Soldier: Cris Morriss, Helghast Soldiers: Ryan Whaley, Logan Huggins, Ben Moon, Kenny Glover, Capture Trooper: Walt Thomas
CREW
First A.C.: Bill Schweikert Audio: Eric Chapman Gaffer: Seth Newell and Jerry Kelly Key Grip: Sean Kirby Grip: Ned Boggan Costume/Props: Gary Barth and Martin McDonald Make-up: Kathryn Petras PA/Craft Service: Jonathan Hoffman and Jackson Leach Art Dept: Matt Hall, Mat Powell, Walt Thomas Audio Mastering: Eric Chapman Editor/Visual Effects: Brian Curtin 3D/Special Effects: Goran Zovkic and Michael Eves Visual Artist: Daniel Enrique De Leon Capture Trooper Suit Artist: Anthony Kitchens
Special Thanks to: Sloss, Wade Sand and Gravel, Kel Roberts, Ford and Karla Wiles, Guerrilla Games
