Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Freeman's Mind



Youtube version

640x480 WMV (82MB)

Well this is the pilot episode of my side series I'm experimenting with. It isn't Civil Protection, but it's in a similar vein of humor. Basically the premise is that in the Half-Life series, the protagonist Gordon Freeman is entirely silent the whole time. So what this series aims to do is fill in the silence with his thoughts. I tried to make this as entertaining as I could, but the format is very different, so I'd like to hear feedback on this.

This was an experiment, and I think it may have some shortcomings. The format of this added many constraints on what I was able to accomplish with the writing, and may have made the humor suffer somewhat as a result. It made me realize just how much more freedom I had with Civil Protection. Unless I get waves of support to do this along with CP, I’m probably going to discontinue this. But feel free to check it out anyway.


70 comments:

Anonymous said...

machinima dont work me for again >.<

i can only download it but cant watch it there

shall i upload it to divx stage6 ?

Anonymous said...

just watched these episode

and...

its not that funny :x

and i also discovered one of the problems why it isnt that funny

its just a monolouge hes talking with hisself

a dialouge would improve this and would make room for more jokes


but still its well done and i cant wait to see more of things like that

maybe nexttime with dialouges

Gareth said...

Hey Ross,
Very good! Very inventive, yet simple! I think everyone who plays the half-life series will have had different opinions on what goes through Gordon Freeman's Mind during the story, but this will now probably become what everyone who watches these will hear in their heads as they re-play these levels.
Oh and pixel, there is only one person in Gordon Freeman's Head, so a dialogue would be a bit difficult.....

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha. I loved this one. Great monologue. Perhaps you should do Half-Life 2's beginning too? Or the episodes?

Ah hell, can't wait to see more! Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

real nice and yet so simple.

keep it up. :)

Anonymous said...

This is hilarious, please continue this series! I lol'd at most of the lines :D

Anonymous said...

It doesn't make much sense because it seems like it's his first time entering the facility.

It should also be much more of what he's thinking, whereas you had him basically talking to him self and answering other people in his head.

Anonymous said...

First of all, i'd like to say that you have an amazing imagination and very original ideas.

I really wasn't expecting it, so i laughed my ass off. The humor is good enough for a pilot and i'm sure you can do way better. The "sucker" part is absolutely amazing. I thought i was going to fall off the chair.

It's a somewhat boring monolouge because it practicaly takes place in the same place :) I'm sure that with action, it will be a lot more funny since you will have a lot more to work with :)

Selfish suggestion: It would have been reeaaaally funny for the first loading screen to come up, after starting, and for Gordon to lose track of what he was thinking, or if he would have said, startled: "Whoa, what was that?!" :))

The most pleasing fact about this new series is that it takes practicly no work or efort to be done :) You could churn out 2-3 episodes a week if you have the inspiration for writing it :)

Good luck, Ross. Keep this show comming, it has AMAZING potential :)

Anonymous said...

This is actually really good! I originally thought that it would be a secondary thing, a kind of bonus, but it turned out great. Just your voice cracks me up, so imagine the excellently written monologue! I encorage you to continue with this one, if you can manage making this and Civil Protection. If not, just choose whatever you want, they're both great.

Anonymous said...

i lov it already, finally gordon freeman, a once voiceless protagonist, now has a voice that i can truely understand and laugh at. :D

Otto said...

Well, this was just the Tram ride, I am very much looking forward to the actual play through.

I did like it, and would definitely like more. :) Nice work!

Anonymous said...

I laughed quite a bit at the entire episode. First time I heard "Whoa... We're gonna crash!", along with Gordon's jump to the back of the train, I could not stop laughing. I missed seeing G-Man the first time, I was laughing so hard. Very well done, given the constraints of the HL one engine (inability for poser and the like). Very well put together. I enjoyed very much and would like to see more if you choose not to discontinue it. :D

Dan Nugent said...

That was pretty good, however, unless you've got a "Gordon do this, Gordon do that, Gordon save the world, Gordon get me a latte, Gordon walk the dog." bit later on, it won't be accurate to *my* experience with the game.

Anonymous said...

I think its very well made and witty with its comments. It's no CP but its a good side story. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how many positive comments you need to be inspired to continue, but I really hope that you do. I thought the whole thing was really funny. And as others have noted, that's impressive considering the material you were working with--a long ride in by monorail to Gordon's work.

If nothing else, please go with this idea long enough to see how it goes when you start dealing with aliens and whatnot. I think that some of those battles could offer great material for Gordon's inner monologue.

Anonymous said...

Yo ross after watching your newest video again, i cant help but notice that gordon has some pretty bad ADD and ... EWWWW LOOK A ROBOT!!!11!ONE!

Anonymous said...

*waves of support*

I really liked it. :D

Anonymous said...

All of your clips have talent. I've shared your CP pieces with several dozen people. But I agree, in principle, with pixel. The format here gives you less material to work with, and the humor is good, but it doesn't compare well with CP. A two-way conversation has much more room for conflict, misunderstanding, confession, irony -- the things that fuel humor.

CP is genius. Stick with it.

Anonymous said...

i think you should just do this for you spare time.
civil protection is better becouse it has two main carecters which talk to one another, this has one man with his own thoghts, basicly his talking to himself.
i say you should stick to CP for longer.

Anonymous said...

This was very interesting. Simple yet entertaining I thought it was good. But will Gordon Freeman be thinking and firefighting cause I think that would be funny.

Anonymous said...

Nice! I hope you at least continue it for a little while I got a good laugh out of it.
"fascist!"
;p
keep up the good work yo!

Dante the Jedi said...

A very good idea, I can see it becoming very funny, not to say that this was not funny. I support it.

Anonymous said...

This was so funny! But I also think you should try make him talk with other characters in the game, like for example with the medics when they give him instructions (but this was just the train ride so maybe you had this in mind already)

Anonymous said...

You should have Freeman cross paths with Dave and Mike!

Anonymous said...

Nice. Very nice. I always like your sarcastic tone to anything. I loved Freeman's take on life and Black Mesa. He's always so quiet...
When will the next one come out?

Anonymous said...

Absolutely Brilliant!

I remember thinking during the part where the lady says we can't miss any scheduled urinalysis tests... I thought to myself... if Gordon had done all the drugs in the world the previous night, it would not have mattered. Go Gordon! Smoke that reefer!

Anonymous said...

Greatest machinima I have seen in a long time. You did that perfectly. If there is anyway I can help you with the project, send me an email at ryanpo@msn.com

Anonymous said...

Woo Ya, Go Ross

I like the idea but the voice needs to be tweaked. Make it more varying in volume. Also put a bit of an echo as a sound effect into the voice to make it sound like a thought. It currently sounds like he's openly saying those things.

Over all I find it funny and as the series progresses, it will be nice to hear the commentary during combat sequences.

Katana said...

Kinda have to agree that this isn't something you shouldn't continue with. I don't blame you for doing something different though; I too have trouble focusing on one thing though.

Ross Scott said...

pixel/rpg48: I prefer CP anyway, but it just takes so damn long.

d-ex: It will be more rapid than CP, but I couldn't produce it that fast. Though it is easier, it's not just record, voiceover, and I'm done. I wish it was that fast.

jmv: Well that's good, that's what I sound like normally.

pepper: Well if you can do audio editing, email me.

katana: You're using negatives that cancel each other out. Literally, it says you're in favor of it. And it's not that I can't focus on one thing, it's just that the time ratio on CP is a lot higher.

Anonymous said...

That was pretty funny actually! I'd forgotten how long the tram ride is (damn, I'll have to play HL again now!) but that cracked me up. Would be cool to see the rest of the game (or at least the "highlights") done - hearing Gordon's humorous reactions to the various aliens and grunts.

Keep it up I say!

Anonymous said...

Funny stuff man keep it up

Anonymous said...

I love this new idea! Please make more! It made me laugh very, very hard! Keep up the good work Ross!

Anonymous said...

this certainly has possibilities.

I can see the challenge in maintaining the humor for any length of time and keeping the viewer engaged when it is just the inner thoughts of a single character.

Still, it is amusing, especially his more neurotic qualities...it is the sort of ongoing internal monologue most neurotics manage to keep up on a regular basis...I have some experience w/ that.

I like it.

Anonymous said...

nice but maybe if it was in hl2 ? with CP ???!!! that be cool

Anonymous said...

Love this! Excellent job. Can't wait for the next episode!

Anonymous said...

That was ridiculous...

ly funny! Dude, that had to be the best machinima I've ever seen! Robots rule! Hehe...

My favorite part was about the armed missile. Please, please, PLEASE continue this! But first, make some tutorials maybe?

Ostracized Gamer said...

Good luck when you get to Half-Life 2 there is no time to think shoot and run!!!

Anonymous said...

I have never played any half lifes, and I think you did an excellent job keeping to the story. However, I would like to see both this and civil protection too. They both are good, and should not be abandend.

Anonymous said...

ross, if you DO continue freemans mind, PLEASE DO NOT ABANDON CIVIL PROTECTION!
like someone else said, freemans mind is just about one man who thinks. thats it. cp on the other hand, could have 3 or 4 people actually talking to other people, interacting with other people, turning into a ragdoll when they die, it's all endless of what you can do in half-life 2 and what you can't do in half-life 1.


(also, my nickname is my username for almost every single thing i register for. for example: my website, canucks board, the snarkpit, my second website, my host-a-hosting account, gm-off topic, and plenty of other places too.)

Anonymous said...

oh, nearly forgot, my third website too.

Anonymous said...

I for one thought this was hilarious, I really hope you do more of these.

Anonymous said...

i personaly think this is better than civil protection. i like episode 2 best so far. dont get me wrong i like civil protection, but i like this better.

Anonymous said...

I like CP, but this is simply amazing. This comment is a bit late, but I just discovered Freeman's Mind the other day and did a google search. *Please* continue with it, I really like it. I've watched 1-4 three times now.

parlope said...

your videos are great, keep them comming!

Anonymous said...

I discovered Freeman's Mind a couple weeks ago & have since watched all four episodes several times. The first time I nearly hurt my self from laughing so much. I really encourage you to continue onward with these. They're so much fun.

Anonymous said...

Discovered Freeman's Mind when Machinima posted the 4th recently.
I have to say, they make me and three of my friends, all HL fans, laugh like drains. Whether or not you continue it (hope upon hope that you do :) ) just wanted to say thanks.
Incidentally, the first starts slowly, but that's logical, there's not much to talk about. The other three are great, the technoroom is a great touch. Awesome stuff, we'd love to see more of it.

Anonymous said...

wow

In MY opinion its better than cp

I laughed through the wholething amazing

CP is still cool though

Anonymous said...

Ah, Freeman's Mind. This is one of the best Machinima's I've seen so far.

Both this series and CP are excellent because they're two very different styles of humor and are incredibly well done. Throughout Half-Life, I always imagine Freeman as some silent, seriously minded scientist with a knack for weapons. Turning the guy upside down was an awesome idea, and you have done it very, very well. Congratulations.

Episodes 1-4 of Freeman's Mind are awesome. I really, really hope you continue with this.

Quote:
"No... I DON'T WANNA BE A SCHIZOPHRENIC!"

Anonymous said...

Scoot. Your work on Freeman's mind is pretty awesome. I really hope you continue this series. I'd love to see Gordnon's reactions to the crap that hit the fan at Black Mesa.

I also see how you could continue this into Half Life 2 if you wanted to. so many spots for your ideas there.

Anonymous said...

Haha, I gotta tell you man. This was great. When I first saw the link, I wasn't sure what to expect. Then I watched it and I was laughing through out the entire series. This actually made me go out and get HL1 to play. Just so I know the layout of the game, then I can sit there and imagine now what freeman would be thinking at that time lol.

I've seen some of CP and <3 that too. If you can keep up with both of these, it'd be great. And as some of the comments have suggested, I'd love to see this carry on to HL2. This has great potential =P

Good Luck mate!

iamnotsteve said...

Love the series. Keep them coming.

Unknown said...

I'm a Half Life fan and I really enjoyed this. It's very simple, it's like you are Gordon Freeman and just trying to survive this as a cynical commentator in the thick of it.

Rather than playing this like a game, exploring the area, looking for ammo... you're just trying to survive and we get to enjoy all the humorous commentary on the way. I really hope you continue this. Thanks for making my day a happier one.

Anonymous said...

great
thats the funniest hl machina i´ve ever seen

Anonymous said...

hi greetings from germany... i really love this series. please continue it... :)

Unknown said...

God, Freeman's Mind is the funniest freaking thing I've seen in a long time...I've watched the entire series twice and will probably go back for a 3rd...

You've got a great take on the character: whiny, self-indulgent, self-obsessed...in other words, a real dick. ahahahahaha

Anonymous said...

Love Freeman's Mind!!! Keep 'em coming! Can't wait for episode 9.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I love Freeman's Mind! I can no longer play Half Life without thinking of Freeman's Mind! Keep making episodes they are awesome!

Ben : )

Anonymous said...

Hello Ross,

I just wanted to say I love the Freeman's Mind monologues. I really love them. So does my girlfriend. We're big Half-Life fans, and this brings a sense of humor and light onto the game, making me want to play it again. Don't quit at it, keep it coming, we love you, just look at how many views you have. :)

Jordan Jones said...

Ross you have to continue this, it is something I pray to see every time I open up youtube. The latest episode was probably the funniest i've seen, made me lol about 5 times. The scientist jumping through the window was genius, you've really reawoken the series for me and by watching these episodes, its made me go and play half life 1 through again. I really love what you're doing with the seies, keep it up (Y)

Unknown said...

i dont care what they say all these eps are good!!

Anonymous said...

KEEP DOING ITFreeman's mind is one of the funniest comedy series ever. It's funny in how it's exactly what I wouldn't expect from Gordan Freeman and exactly what I would expect from him.

Anonymous said...

Freeman's mind is Epic.

I went and bought Half-Life Source (HD)because of these, and whenever I play I can hear your voiceover, and I often think about what comments you'd have on the various obstacles Freeman faces. (When I got to the trash compactor, I died of laughter simply from the thought of you voicing that point) It would be amazing to see you do the entire game. Please continue making these!

Anonymous said...

Your series rules, I hope that it isn't over. I'm anxious to see what happens next.

Anonymous said...

Freemans Mind is awesome keep making them please

Anonymous said...

Dear ross plz dont ever stop freemans mind until its complete i think what ur doing is awsome and very funny and cant wate till episode 12 im english and i still find it funny so thats sayin somthing all my mates whov played half life love it and so you wouldnt want to let them down would you lmao plz ceep up the good work ps nice april fools joke

Anonymous said...

Dude, whoever said this series isn't funny... Is a serious freakin' moron without a shred of humor in their entire being. This series kicks some serious ass! Funniest thing I've seen in ages! Please, man, I BEG of you, continue! Keep up the EXCELLENT and VERY funny work!

The Dead Man said...

Awesome videos, there is nothing wrong with just monolog; dialog would not make it any better. In my opinion it would subtract from the originality and simplicity, which are two of the things that make this so good. The fact that there is no dialog is a joke in itself, in the game Freeman doesn’t talk at all.

Keep up the good work.

Unknown said...

this was fucking amazing

Anonymous said...

This is a game right were can I find it in a playable foarm