I'm sure Valve had something to do with this.....maybe? If it's fan created, then HOLY SHIT! It took some $ or some major time. Awesome video, wish the guy would have fought back like I do in HL2.

I can't believe this would be fan created, half of a small town would have had to be shut down, and where would the money come from?

This is a fantastic video though.

Only Samsung phones worked...?

DEFINETLY fan created, alternativly cleverly disguised viral marketing (for what?). Nothing in there that would cost alot of money, only skillfull use of effects. The props used in the other HL2 fan movie had alot higher quality, although this one had alot less crappy acting which is good.

*future *dark *fear *mystery

Adding video to channels (Dark, Fear, Future, Mystery) - requested by calvados.

cool, thats actually my hometown (nijmegen, NL),

the youtube is promoting www.whatsinthebox.nl but not really any clues there. i'm guessing it's a viral for a new phone or maybe just some arty math-obsessed student project, great viral either way.

also: they must have watched J.J. Abrams: The mystery box http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpjVgF5JDq8

Can someone explain to me why everyone in the Netherlands keep their mobile phones in their backpacks?

I went through the source and found this image:
http://www.whatsinthebox.nl/anti.jpg

solar powered samsung phone?

Guys, seriously? Valve had nothing to do with this. Anyway, it's pretty boring. It could have done with some creative editing to speed things up a little. Doesn't help that it's all first person perspective.

If something like this were to be made into a movie, I don't see it doing too well, or honestly being any good.

Apparently, Tim Smit and Steven Roeters (seen on the 'movie poster') are the same guys that did the original Mythbusters phonebook fan myth: http://www.campus.tv/?p=1044

Cool video, but totally a commercial. The last year Samsung has been uping the ante on their viral marketing campaigns, and this seems to be another ramping up. To what, who knows yet. The reason it is Half-Life inspired is probably because the theme hits the target consumer base. Remember Gabbo, anyone?

The guy who made the effects (Tim Smit) was just on a Dutch talk show. He's a physics student with a passion for film, and this is sort of an experimental video to see what he could do. It is a concept for a longer movie, hence the poster and the website etc. It was made on a 150€ budget, 3 days of location shooting, and from what I understood, a few months of tinkering with special effects. He's been studying and replicating visual effects as a hobby for years.

The link with the game wasn't really explored (presumably because the talkshow host didn't know), but he did briefly mention that the sound effects (and thus, probably the whole HL2 inspired setting) were 'off-the-shelf', and that he would do all that differently if he ever had a chance to make the 90-minute movie version.

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