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''Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn'' is a military science fiction web series set in the universe of the ''Halo'' franchise. ''Forward Unto Dawn'' consists of five 15-minute episodes released weekly starting on October 5, 2012, and was later released as a single film on DVD and Blu-ray and was later put on Netflix in 2013. The series was produced as a marketing effort for the video game ''Halo 4'' intended to widen the audience of the ''Halo'' series and as a stepping stone to a potential ''Halo'' film. It was written by Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing, and directed by Stewart Hendler. ''Forward Unto Dawn'' was shot in Vancouver over 25 days in May 2012 on a budget just under USD $10 million. It has just under 500 shots with computer generated imagery, approximately a quarter of what a feature film would have, but the visual effects received praise from reviewers. A coming-of-age story, ''Forward Unto Dawn'' follows a cadet, Thomas Lasky, at a twenty-sixth century military training academy as it is attacked by the Covenant, a religious alliance of aliens. Lasky is unsure of his future within the military but feels pressured to follow in the footsteps of his mother and brother. Lasky and his surviving squad mates are rescued by the Master Chief and, after the death of his romantic interest, Chyler Silva, Lasky is inspired by the Chief to take initiative and aids him in saving the remaining cadets. ''Forward Unto Dawn'' received a Streamy Award and several of the crew received awards for their work editing, producing and filming of it. The series also won a Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for sound editing. Reviewers were impressed by the special effects and action-packed second act, but found that the plot was too slow in the first half and most of the characters were under-developed. The series was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for main title design. ==Development== After the success of previous live-action promotional shorts, ''Landfall'' and ''The Life'', 343 Industries, the studio in charge of development for the ''Halo'' franchise, wanted to use a live action series to appeal to an audience of people unfamiliar with the ''Halo'' games.〔 The director of franchise business management at 343 Industries, Matt McClosky, explained the intended audience by saying that, "You see something that looks like a video game, you're going to get the same crowd you always get."〔 The live-action format was also chosen for its ability to better develop characters; the series is used to introduce the character Thomas Lasky to the ''Halo'' universe before his role in the video game ''Halo 4''.〔 The developers wanted a protagonist with more emotion than Master Chief (whose face is never seen), to not only convey an understanding of the universe, but to better engage unfamiliar viewers.〔 Microsoft considers the series "the next step" between advertising material and a full-length film after the failure of a previous effort, and aimed to produce a standalone series that could be enjoyed without necessarily playing the games.〔 The budget for the series was almost USD $10 million, Microsoft's largest investment in a live-action promotion.〔〔 Director Stewart Hendler said "We're either the best-funded web series of all time, a sort of mid-road healthy TV pilot, or a super-low-budget movie."〔 When the idea of directing a video game based web series was pitched to Hendler he declined, saying he was not interested in video game adaptions unless the subject was ''Halo''. Hendler was already a fan of the series, having read the novels and played the games.〔 Potential writers were interviewed by 343 Industries, and some were selected to write a draft of a script. Aaron and Todd Helbing wrote a pitch set on Harvest, the first planet to be attacked by the Covenant (see ''Halo: Contact Harvest''). Although 343 Industries decided not to use it, the Helbing brothers' script was the most complete and demonstrated the best understanding of the ''Halo'' universe so they were chosen to write ''Forward Unto Dawn''.〔 The final plot was developed by 343 Industries, Frank O'Connor, and the Helbings with the intention of introducing a new character to tie-in to ''Halo 4'', which their Harvest script did not, and to explore "the least-well-known part of the ''Halo'' universe".〔〔〔 In addition to providing input on the script, 343 Industries had a representative on set at all times to ensure that the series did not break canon.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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