Pijama

Alright folks... Let us give a look at this, shall we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_reTt7Hj4

At first glance, it looks pretty much like a fanmade film. However, the obvious references to Half Life may suggest something more. The "Black Mesa Event" in the news header when our protagonist puts the brain computer interface, the Overwatch, the "Singularity" that evokes the energy rifts from the games... Could be something more regarding the Half Life universe?

Well, production (and the video description shows it is a test version) demonstrates that it is more likely to be a fan made. However, for a test version, I must say it looks pretty damn good - perhaps if it is truly a viral, it might just have enough polishing later on. Comments from the interwebs also suggest that the place where the protagonist is in the beginning is of difficult access - the NanoLab of the Radboud University at Nijmegen, Netherlands. Of course, one could say that with the help of students it would be easy to goof around and do a little filmmaking - but personally I doubt that without some backing and guaranteeing the university would let anybody go in such an environment, mess around with equipment that might cost thousands of dollars and do a film, hehe.

After finishing seeing the video, let us look at the website:

http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/

With the exception of the "film description header", for me, it has "VIRAL WARNING" all over it... Including, a-ha...

http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/anti.jpg

...One of those infamous "what lies beyond it" images/descriptions/*thing* that any respectable viral site has since the beginning of them.

Your thoughts? A mere film, or Valve trying something new and sneaky upon us gamers and fans of the Half Life series?

ZellFish

A friend of mine just linked this to me on MSN. I wouldn't doubt Valve is behind this, though. The nods to Half Life are everywhere, and a bit too obvious. Then again, it may also just be a fan-made video, done for fun. A few things that seem too be related to other virals, is the quality. Yes, like a fan-made video, but also like a semi-professional "we don't want it to look tooo real" type. The timestamp, "Missing Audio" thing, and the "Exterior Radiation (?) Lever" sign. Especially that sign. Looks like the same artwork that was done for the "Caution: The floor here is deadly" signs from Portal.

Malarky

I was expecting 2 things...

1.Cybermen to be roaming the streets.
2.Millions of Daleks to fly out of that singularity.

If it's from valve... can't wait for whatever they're releasing comes out.

Pijama

Heh. Didn't think about that... I mean, deliberate "amateur-ish" production would make a lot of sense for a viral.

Heretic

TheDeadlyShoe

Half life - the MMO! Combine versus the multiverse. ;D

***

i must say, actor-person, that was impressive desk smash.

Malarky

I'd buy that.

Tiresias

I reckon prequel set in the 7 days war bundled with episode 3 like portal was :P

ÜberJumper

2:33, bottom of the frame, "Largest Single Collapse In History Since Black Mesa"

(Viewed in the HQ version)

Giant Moth

That would be 7 hour war, old chap.

ÜberJumper

why are the Red Question marks over those letters on the "red" version of the website?

What signifcance is "59462"? (That's the password he enters in the phone)

ZellFish

The following are the letters that become blocked by red "?"s when you mouse over the box on their website. The letters are taken from the credits. The letters with brackets around them denote letters that may or may not be intended to have been covered, and were thus noted regardless for possible uses.

O(T)ION NT (S) ST

"WHAT IS IN THE BOX"

ST(IM) CREA TE (R)O (C)TOR

PH(Y) BAUT MSM

S Th IMS EEU SM EDI-(Possibly DIT from the
word EDITOR) CE ED MIT UT

DITO R ER ELS OOS(T) D R


The word scrolling in quick succesion are the words
EAST, WEST, OWNR, SAGA, and 2347. It stops on random numbers
every now and then.

Colonel Temp

It's just a random set of numbers. Why do you think it has any significance?

hermanJnr.

Very interesting

Haven't finished watching yet, but it does have a lot of blatant Half Life 2 references. The "radio" of the suited guys is just Metrocop speech it seems, plus all the other obvious HL 2 sounds.

I think, if it is anything Valve based, it is perhaps related to Portal 2.

It's been a while since the first, and it was very popular...since the Portal and HL 2 world tie together, plus Portal seemed to be big on cubes (*hugs companion cube etc.* ) the black box thing would also make sense from that view.

Also, Aperture Science were the owners of the whole mysterious ship thing mentioned in Ep. 3 right? Eli mentioned repeatedly that something with dangerous powers was on it and needed to be destroyed, maybe it's something to do with the black cube?

All speculation though, I bet this is just some random fan vid someone made xD

ÜberJumper

If it's a viral, it'll have significance.

iamme

It's made by a Dutch student as a demo reel - I doubt Valve's involved in the least.

Guilliman

I doubt it's fan made, look at the dozen streets with doors, cars open. Not a single person? That sounds a bit too difficult for a mere fan flick. I doubt valve's legal department would be happy about a fanflick being put into the light as a real movie :P (unless they know and gave the green light) which brings us back to, valve.

Imperial Dane

Hmmm.. perhaps, perhaps not. Hard to say whether this is Valve or not. On the one hand it is obviously half life related.. but on the other hand, it doesn't really make much sense if valve actually made it... I mean, who are the guys in white hazmat suits ? .. stuff like that make me wonder, of course the red box is interesting, and the website as well..

And guilliman has a point.. Of course on the other hand, unless valve really has had this underway for some time, i doubt this actually has something to do with them, i mean look at the profile, over a year old with a bunch of other not so related stuff :P

Melonplant

The scrolling letters on the website tell me to READ FAST

TheDeadlyShoe

http://whois.domaintools.com/whatsinthebox.nl

^whois information

Nothing jumps out at me.

This website is mentioned though...

http://www.markup.nl/

I'm not sure what they do. They might just be web hosts, but their site does mention '3d animation and virtual reality'. Anyone?

***

A well motivated film student could have put something like this together. But it would have taken money.

Malarky

Either they are being financed by a rich gaming enthuthiast or it's got Valve all over it.

Imperial Dane

.. or government funding and some good talking skills :P

dave_bqvst

<!-- Every medium, as its ancestors -->
<!-- Every pro, has his anti's, now you think about that -->


that's in the html-sourcecode of the webpage. whatever that means...

ZellFish

If you invert the colors on the box, yuo can read the words "Now I (I'm) (Can) comprehend", and "Bred", along with the words "No" and "Can"

This screams Viral WAY too hard to be an individual, fan-made, or student-made film. At all. This is a viral campaign for something. We just have to figure out what. Also; Colonel Temp, I'm going to assume you don't know much about Virals. This is exactly how ILoveBees started, almost. This is quite similar to the Cloverfield one, as well.

Imperial Dane

And finding all that stuff hidden would speak for it being more than just some fan video.. unless it is part of a really elaborate hoax

Kapyrna

Copypasta for easy reference.

Melonplant

Viral things frustrate me to no end. I'll investigate them only to find out that 15000 people have already discovered what I have hours ago. I usually just ignore them until they blow over.

Also, I know what's in the box.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

ZellFish

http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/anti.jpg

Everything on this picture seems to be talking about a rather advanced form of solar energy, or some sort of technology we found, which references a solar technology. From what I can tell, the text is simply about increases efficiency of an existing technology through some sort of dye. An increase of up to 87% apparently, and further on down the page, the words "Making it credible as a source of (Energy, I assume is the next word), are seen.

Pijama

"An elaborate hoax" it is a possibility, but heck. IMHO, if it was *only* that, the website would have been enough.

TheDeadlyShoe

I just noticed that Markup is credited on the Whatisinthebox image.

I've been googling a few other names on the credits.

There is a Dutch fashion designer named Tim Smit who made this:



But I can't find any organization or anyone that sounds like they would be involved in making a film. I think the fashion guy is just a coincidence.

Zir

Pretentious. Won't be long before ice cream is launched on the back of an apocalyptic code hunt too.

Br41nfr33z 1mm1n3nt---tr4n5m15510n 105t. #####^

Malarky

Cool. I want one.



The 7 hours war plus some kind of resistance I'd bet.

Nurizeko

Its a viral but for what?, did they use the HL2 sound effects randomly, with permission or for a Valve product?.


As far as I am aware Valve have never done the whole viral thing, so who knows, at the moment I am going to assume it has nothing to do with HL2, and carry on as I ussually do in regard to virals.

Ignore them.

TheDeadlyShoe

I'm starting to think the Timsmit thing is bullshit. Having "Timsmit", "Timsmit Thibaut Niels" and "Thibaut Niels Timsmit" in the same credits is just odd.

Imperial Dane

Well it does seem weird

But those guys in hazmat suits makes it rather hard for me to believe it is actually valve related, plus the whole broadcast system as well. Those are the things that really make this hard for me to believe it is a viral video.

Mnementh

It also uses some Lost music, so I doubt its a viral. Most likely fan made

Zwebbie

It's definitely filmed in the Netherlands; Dutch license plates and Dutch text on the bus, so that's all in line with the hosting. That makes me somehow doubt Valve is behind it, seeing as they're based on another continent.

I figure it's the guys demo video for getting him into advertising jobs or something like that, and he uses Half-life sounds because he's a graphics guy, not a sound guy.

TheDeadlyShoe

I bet the text is cribbed from some policy paper.

Melonplant

If valve did this, it's been planned for a long time. This vid was uploaded by the same user back in 2007 of November.

TheDeadlyShoe

The other videos on the guys account (I can't believe I didn't notice the name was Timacious - that's probably Timsmit right there) make it clear that he's got film skills. But they're all much lower budget and less ambitious than the 'demo vid'.

Soo.. *shrug*

Pijama

I noticed about the Lost music too. However, deliberate "crappiness" (in a way to put it) makes for some nice marketing stunts. I will try to find the one about a massive fair that happened in São Paulo a few years back and used similar methodology.

TheDeadlyShoe

Is the music actually composed for Lost, or is it classical?

***

Jumper's right about the "Biggest disaster since Black Mesa" text. Then there is the portal cloud, the combine voices, and the science-gone-wrong theme. If it's not a Valve viral, it's very cheeky!

Malarky

If the music is from Lost then i'm pretty sure it was made for Lost... unless I'm thinking of BSG music.

Melonplant

If anything, it's to announce another lost installment.

Pijama

Giving a quick check in the "author's" name from the alleged credits... I don't think it is a name per se - but rather, a crafted pseudonym from the names of more known personalities. Sure, might be going a stretch here, but with the whole thematic, could have some relevance. (not paying attention to the order)

Thibaut - The only name I could vaguely attach to was George Thibaut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Thibaut), an Indologist famous for his contributions regarding Indian science and mathematics. Perhaps one of his studies might had something to do with?

Niels - DAMN easy, if we go for the most obvious name regarding the "science!" theme - Niels Bohr was one of the greatest physicists to live and made fundamental contributions to quantum physics.

Timsmit - Couldn't find anyone of relevance with THAT name, but Tim Smit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Smit) is a businessman of some renown who created the Eden Project in Cornwall. Hardly of any relevance, unless domes holding different biomes can get related here...

MadCatChiken

http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/anti.jpg

Well those formulas on the cube, the one of the bottom left, looks like a sequence formula. Top looks like some sort of intergration type formula, dx, dy, thats differentiation and the bottom right is just some random sum. Though i could be wrong, just a guess on what the formulas could be.

Also the website, look under the red cube, the fast changing 4 letters, from it i managed to see, the following words. "read, fast, saga, just, Boxr(i think)"

Zwebbie

Pijama - both Niels and Tim are very common names in the Netherlands, and Smit is the Dutch version of Smith... so it's as standard (and plausible) as they come.

reki

It's a fan film, guys. Check the guys other videos, he's even done a swede of T2. Valve wouldn't release something with such low quality effects & costumes anyway.

Pijama

@Zwebbie - I imagined. However, due to the order they are presented in the credits... Just made some extrapolation.