‘Halo’ Fan-Film ‘Operation Chastity’ Headed to Machinima

Machinima is quickly becoming the go-to place for video game-turned fan-fueled film adaptations. Last week, Mortal Kombat: Rebirth director Kevin Tancharoen’s Warner Bros. sponsored web-series (and proof of concept feature film pitch) Mortal Kombat: Legacy debuted on Machinima’s YouTube channel.

Now, it sounds as if another fan-favorite game franchise will get reinterpreted for the small (computer) screen in the form of Operation Chastity – a Halo fan-project.

First time director, and hardcore Halo fan, Peter Cooper is behind the production which, according to the Operation Chastity Facebook page, is “A planned film made for fans by fans set in the Halo Universe.”

On Saturday, Latino Review noticed a series of Halo set photos that had appeared on the Machinima Facebook page – speculating that a Halo webseries, similar to the recent Mortal Kombat project, might be in the works.

However, Machinima addressed the growing speculation (and slammed Hollywood’s inability to get a Halo film off the ground) with a message on the Operation Chastity Facebook page, as well as a link to a behind-the-scenes video for the fan-film:

“Hollywood isn’t giving us the Halo film we’ve all always wanted, so these guys are doing it themselves! Take a sneak peek behind the scenes of Operation Chastity, a Halo live-action fan film exclusively on Machinima.”

Check out part 1 of the behind the scenes look at Operation Chastity below followed by the full synopsis:

Operation Chastity is a planned film set in the Halo universe, centring on a platoon of Recon Marines of the 267th Marine Regiment. They operate in Argentina within a UNSC cordon, set up around the wreckage of the CCS-class battlecruiser “Chaste Ascendancy” following its crash-landing on Earth. Operation Chastity is their last mission in this forgotten part of the Human-Covenant War.

For a fan-film, there’s no doubt that the aforementioned director/producer Peter Cooper has put a lot of work into props, concept art, and other pre-production elements. However, based on the early behind-the-scenes footage, it’s definitely hard to imagine Operation Chastity as a buzz-worthy property that will satisfy fans of series – in place of a studio-produced webseries or feature film.

Admittedly, the project isn’t aiming to succeed in place of a blockbuster film (currently being developed at DreamWorks) but, without even a basic glimpse at how covenant forces might come into play (even in concept art from), Operation Chastity looks more like Call of Duty with UNSC gear than a film set in the Halo Universe. Hopefully, as more information is revealed, we’ll get a better sense of the larger Halo connections.

We’ll get our first official glimpse at Operation Chastity this summer when a teaser trailer for the film is released. In the meantime, we’ll just have to settle for the rewatching the live-action Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach commercials.

Check out Game Rant for our coverage of the Halo video game series.

Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick and let us know what you think of Operation Chastity.

Source: Operation Chastity [via Latino Review]