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What’s in the box?

Posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

What’s in the box? We’re honestly not sure. This 9-minute first-person short film has appeared on YouTube this week and is beginning to gain some traction in the Alternative Reality Game world. What we do know is this: The short was shot in the Netherlands, Nijmegen to be exact, using a bunch of assets taken directly from Half-Life, and music from the television show Lost. The YouTube page says that “This is a early temp version. Will be deleted soon” and the video’s title is What’s in the Box? - Test Film 2009.” The informational sidebar also provides the following url: www.whatsinthebox.nl. When you go to the site, you will find a box with a blinking question mark which sporadically glows red. Many people think it’s the start of a viral. Some have even suggested it is for Half-Life 3… but I think it might actually just be a very well put together special effects demo. Either way, it seems to me that whomever created this, put a lot of time and effort into it. Thanks to /Film reader Zach for the tip.

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  • shadow
    It's an effect demo reel, you can tell because evertim he had an effect shot planned he subcounsiouly focused the camera on it. An example being when the helicopter fires on the street in front of him or when he pans up to the traffic light.

    Still, damn entertaining short, just wish he used less HL2 assets.
  • Colin
    Very cool.
  • interesting...
  • Episode 3 hasn't been released yet, so I doubt it is HL3.
  • technically it should be Half-Life2 - Episode 3 (yeah, yeah...they really screwed up on the naming)
  • The Iron Avenger
    It'd better not be Justin Timberlake's dick....
  • Thank you for that. I nearly did a spit take on my Dr. Pepper.
  • Jordan
    IN A BOX!
  • some duderino
    from the page source:
    <!-- Every medium, as its ancestors -->
    <!-- Every pro, has his anti's, now you think about that -->
  • Anon
    No clue if this means ANYTHING but..

    From - http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/pro

    /* CSS Document */
    body {
    height:100%;
    background-color:#000000;
    }
    #antiPaine{
    display:none;
    }
  • tim
    Not sure it's an fx piece--most fx reels I've seen have the layer by layer breakdowns and aren't this intensive...
  • Chris
    I saw this a few night ago when it first appeared, and it didn't have the website (whatisinthebox.nl) in the info box then
  • This could definitely be official for HL2. Episode 3 will *probably* be released this year or early next year, and I'm not surprised at all about the LOST music. It's known that Valve (or someone at Valve) are LOST fans. They've put dharma symbols in their games as easter eggs.

    That said, this was a lot better than that other short live action Half-Life that came out around a month ago, which I also enjoyed.
  • Dorkbot
    The website "box" will flash red when you mouse over it. Not to mention several of the letters on the Credits on the botton get quetion marks over them at the same time. At the bottom. The Question marked letters AREN'T random. So there is something there. Not sure what it all means though
  • deadcowporn
    was working for me and now its not again. doesnt appear to be on youtube. any idea where i could find it again?
  • Gordon Freeman
    I think this is for HL3 because it mentions Black Mesa on the bottom.
  • Gordon Freeman
    Oops, I probably should have watched the entire thing before i posted.
  • Pandora is in the box.
  • Fsdf40
    Pandora's "Box" was actually a vase...
  • No company would use other works' assets (HL2 models, Lost music) in making a video, no matter how underground or viral. Just wouldn't happen. They'd open themselves up to legal action, cease & desists, it wouldn't be worth it. Seems like this is just some smart guys who did a good job of creating some buzz about their short. Copyright date on the website seems to be 2007, interestingly. It's in very small type at the bottom of the page. I could be reading that wrong.
  • filmkid
    it seems like an advert for a phone plus on the website www.whatsinthebox.nl if you put your mouse on the BOX and turn red if you look down on the production team red "?" appear on the letters of the production team. maybe when you look on which letter the "?" covers take each letters down and make words out of them and hopfully you find out whats in the box.
  • oton-nt-st-what-s-in-the-box-s-ti-cre-te-o-ctr-ph-bau-msm-s-th-ims-eeu-s-dt-ims-c-c-mi-t-dit-r-ere-u-oos-d-r

    Those are the covered letters. I can't make anything out of it.
  • filmkid
    guys on the html code on the website it has an text sayin this.

    <!-- Every medium, as its ancestors -->
    <!-- Every pro, has his anti's, now you think about that -->
  • eh?
    Maybe JJ Abrams is backing something for Half Life
  • Bart-Zina
    I also noticed pieces of music from the very first Star Trek teaser. Its more atmospheric sounds than it is music. It starts at around 2:35
  • Trino
    Also,
    http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/anti.jpg

    The text in the image seem to be from this paper here:
    http://www.stormingmedia.us/58/5893/A589303.html

    Not sure about the math, though.
  • The scrobbling letters spell out words like:
    read, boxr, fast, saga & wsad.

    Smells like a fps, since wsad is the typical keys used in fps-games.

    But still I read out some gibberish like:
    uuuu, qwer, jfsd

    perhaps it means something, maybe not
  • My first guess was a cake but, since we all know "the cake is a lie." I'm outta guesses.
  • Larry
    wasnt james cameron talking about his first person shot quibbles lately? maybe an effect reel from whatever vfx studio got the gig?
  • Trino
    --About my last post, I looked up some of the names.
    Frank ter Elst and Steven Routers collaborated on this video here -- note the last few frames are a box with a ? in it. Also has a little plug for graphics before that.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sIB2kL-BWc
  • The question marked letters, as far as I can tell, are pretty damned random. Unless it needs to be rearranged, that is. Here is what is covered:
    oton-nt-st-what-s-in-the-box-s-ti-cre-te-o-ctr-ph-bau-msm-s-th-ims-eeu-s-dt-ims-c-c-mi-t-dit-r-ere-u-oos-d-r

    Each dash separates words in the credits. If anyone can make anything of this, please let me know.
  • rowbaldwin
    hey...
    So after watching this quite a few times... I've found...
    1. on the door when he exits it says "laser beam deflection."
    2. when he goes outside the car company has a website... this is it..
    http://www.vanzwaaij.nl/index.html
    3. The website above = seems kind of fishy???
    4. i too noticed the letters (questions marks) on the website! funny
    - R
  • I'd appreciate it if Slashfilm could keep us up to date with this. :)
  • Oh my god, that was amazing. If this was made into a feature length Half-Life movie I'd be one happy sumbitch. Kind of reminds me of Cloverfield.
  • Tom
    Intense. Familiar territory, but they made it feel fresh.
  • Felipe
    It reminds me for some reason with the District 9 thing...
    Or maybe a viral?
    No idea but I liked it... I'm a lost a fan of LOST and Cloverfield.. maybe thats why.
  • Wow, seriously loved this. Was glued to the screen the entire time. I see a lot of Cloverfield ref's but no, this is HOW Cloverfield should have been done. Great job to whomever did it and whatever it's for..


    hopefully D-9 :)
  • AntiHero78
    There is a picture if you go to http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/anti.jpg I tried different combinations with "pro" (Because of the view source clues) also but found nothing.
  • Where's the image? Do you have a cached copy of it?
  • At around the 3:29 mark. Why would that bag say BLACK on it? It caught my attention and I wonder if that could mean something as well.
  • That was a lot of fun! Wow!
  • back to black mesa we go.
    valve going viral on us. i like it.
  • Josh
    Avatar.
  • Andyrooskie
    Anyone else think of JJ Abrams' TED conference talk? About the mystery of "what was in the box"? The point being that it was about the mystery, not the reveal?

    Seems inspired, if not by that talk, then by that line of thinking.
  • pretty cool... i haven't played hl2, so my guess is it wouldnt be hl3, unless this black box thing has something to do with it? my guess would be some other new game by valve. if someone could find a way to isolate those 4 quick moving digits at the bottom of the box, it would probably be a good clue... looking close for a minute i saw a few words "read" being one of them, and i could have sworn i saw "box" and even "sega" though that could have been my eyes playing with me.
  • that is EXACTLY what i was thinking. i wouldn't put it past JJ to have something like this produced for a viral marketing campaign.
  • Did anyone else's speakers pop during the video and on the website too?
    At the bottom of the website it says copyright 2007 in the credits. Is that true?
  • That was awesome! It would be really awesome if it is a test for a full-length film for HL. I mean, the tower and the cloud, the gas masks, them talking to each other and the first person view really felt like HL.
  • Ok, after rewatching, and if i was smart enough to do it the first time... if you want the bottom scroll one of the "news" stories says "largest collapse since Black Mesa" so it's definitely HL related.
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