Warning: If you are a die hard fan of Battlefield 3, then this movie might not be for you. ;-)
myth1485 recently published an article, every Battlefield player should read - http://bit.ly/Qc0D7K
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THE BACKSTORY:
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We are Battlefield gamers since 2002, when Battlefield 1942 was released. But our all time favorite Battlefield game is Battlefield 2.
During the last years, CoD became a real phenomenon, breaking it's own sale records year after year.
Because CoD is such a cash cow, EA (and other publishers) try to change pretty much all of their first person shooter franchises, to make them appeal to the CoD fans,
in oder to get more sales.
While I can understand that plan from a business perspective, I totally hate turning franchises into something the name never stood for.
Anyone played "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier", or seen the next "Splinter Cell"? Even BioWare said that they wanted to have DragonAge2 appeal to CoD fans.
If publishers want a piece of the CoD consumer cake, then they should just create a new franchise to do so!
And not RAPE their existing franchises and ruin them for their original fanbase.
So up until Bad Company, Battlefield and Call of Duty, despite both being FPS, did not have a lot in common.
Starting with Bad Company, EA&DICE went a new, more casual/arcade way. That was all perfectly fine! And actually would follow my suggestion to create a new (sub)franchise.
So all was *fine*, until Battlefiel 3, the advertised "true successor" to Battlefield 2.
When we look at Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2, then Battlefield 3 clearly does not follow the old gameplay and gamedesign.
So while Battlefield 3 still is a very good game, it is also a casual shooter from top to the bottom.
EA even said many times that they want to *Kill Call of Duty* with Battlefield 3. So this already tells the shift for the target audience.
During the last year there were many petitions, articles, blogs and videos made by "Battlefield Veterans",
explaining how much richer the experience was in the old games, and showing that there are still a lot of players who are in love with that kind of game.
So there was that. And we did not want to do any "documentary".
In February 2012, we then started to wonder: "What would happen if you throw an Battlefield 2 player directly into Battlefield 3"?
And this is what we now did in Battlefield:Crossover. We tell the story of an Squad Leader who suddenly finds himself inside Battlefield 3.
While at first being fascinated by the visuals and sound, he soon starts to discover that this is no longer his Battlefield anymore.
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PRODUCTION:
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We had the first idea in February 2012. Then we started to write a basic script, which (as always) grew and grew.
For the Battlefield 2 scenes I created a modification to make shooting the screens easier, but to also highlight the mod support Battlefield 2 has - and Battlefield 3 has not.
There were 3 scenes for which I needed a greenscreen, so I built a mobile one inside the modification, which I could then use anywhere on the map. :D
Shooting all scenes took about 28 hours in total. Battlefield 3 is much more exhausting and frustrating to shoot because it does not have an demorecorder like Battlefield 2 has.
The most time was then spent on the post production. The editing, CG effects, audio effects and all the voice acting.
I can't even estimate how many work hours we put into this. But it will be well above 240 hours.
What I do know quite exactly is what the movie cost me. ;-)
BF2&BF3 Server rent, software, hardware and music licensing costs pile up to 497,- Euros (or 649,78 USD).
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Battlefield Trivia:
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- BF2 Commander: http://bit.ly/SQJ24q
- BF2 Flight Physics & Stunts: http://bit.ly/SKARW6
- BF3 Beam Knife Glitch: http://bit.ly/TXdWG0
- BF3 Jet Bounce: http://bit.ly/SKBdff
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SUPPORTERS:
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- Mario Weiss Yellow King Productions http://bit.ly/SByvbV
- BF-Games (the last, huge, german BF-Community site!) http://www.bf-games.net
- http://www.battlefield2lebt-community.de
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VOICEACTORS:
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- Missy Chrissy http://bit.ly/SpmlnH
- Matthew "@PhantomFHarlock" Kraft http://www.alphacounter.com
- Sean Ryan http://www.alphacounter.com
- John Paul http://www.fightbait.com/
- Veggie https://veggie55.deviantart.com/
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MUSIC:
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- Advait Nemlekar - Battlefield 3 Cover http://bit.ly/yGbHAW
- Joel Nielsen - Black Mesa Soundtrack http://www.joelnielsen.com/
- Rechyyy - Fading http://bit.ly/SH9AUc