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January 25, 2011 8:18 AM   Subscribe

Fallout: Nuka Break is a short fan-made film set in the Fallout universe.

Written by Brian Clevenger from a story by lead actor Zack Finfrock, it tells the story of Twig, desperately scouring the wasteland in search of a bottle of Nuka-Cola.
posted by jbickers (32 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
Related (thematically): “Fallout State of Mind” by Adam WarRock
posted by Legomancer at 8:35 AM on January 25, 2011


This is really very good.

And now I want the option to tape a bottlecap mine to an eyebot.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:38 AM on January 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


This is pretty well put together, but everyone and everything should be much, much dirtier. Who's washing when all the water is radioactive?
posted by The Man from Lardfork at 8:46 AM on January 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


I liked that it merged Fallout 3 references with New Vegas (the Eyebot is playing President Eden's propaganda, yet the mercs are collecting on a Caesar's Legion bounty) to really put it smack bang into the mythology.

Yesterday we get Half-Life fan-flick, and today Fallout, what's tomorrow? Syndicate?
posted by Molesome at 9:11 AM on January 25, 2011


Okay, I'm definitely playing some Fallout this afternoon.
posted by tdismukes at 9:15 AM on January 25, 2011


This is really fantastic. If a real Fallout film is made I hope it's as playful and funny as this.
posted by azarbayejani at 9:18 AM on January 25, 2011


This is adorable. The ghoul should have his own series.

Could've used some more Three-Dawwwwwg, though.
posted by fight or flight at 9:19 AM on January 25, 2011


I feel bad that the entire time, I kept thinking that the color palette was all wrong, it was way too bright and that I never remember seeing a blue sky during the entire game. And what are plants doing there?

Fan video or not, I spent 100 hours + in this video game world. This is like when you see a television show that's suppose to be set in your hometown and you're like, "Why does my hometown look so much like the San Fernando Valley?!"
posted by geoff. at 9:31 AM on January 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wow, awesome.

I've been playing my way through new vegas the past week and so my head is so here. Geoff, at least the plant life is semi-"New Vegas"

Also, did anyone else catch some Firefly musical quotes in there or is my brain just crossing some of my favorite things?
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:34 AM on January 25, 2011


Don't get me started on how the misplacement of metro stations across the Fallout 3 map.
posted by stratastar at 9:44 AM on January 25, 2011


...never remember seeing a blue sky during the entire game.

You haven't been playing with the right mods, then.
posted by Iridic at 9:47 AM on January 25, 2011 [3 favorites]


This is so good that I will sacrifice my pure and virtuous first comment to say so.
posted by Nutri-Matic Drinks Synthesizer at 10:02 AM on January 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


I would expect nothing less than playful and funny from the guy who writes Atomic Robo.

(It's a really, really good comic book. Nazis get punched. Action science gets conducted. Things blow up. It's charming and witty and appropriate for all ages.)
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:09 AM on January 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


That was likely the best fan movie I've ever seen.... though admitedly the bar is pretty low.

That being said, and though she totally had the body for it, I still can't help but think ladies walking around in costumes like that look stupid. Even in video games. Maybe I'm just not the target audience?

(And am a the only one who notices superheroines wearing high heels all the time and thinks that it is also really stupid looking?)
posted by Alex404 at 10:37 AM on January 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


Hey kids! Watch the credits! You'll unlock an achievement!

That was way better than it had any right to be.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:39 AM on January 25, 2011


the color palette was all wrong, it was way too bright and that I never remember seeing a blue sky during the entire game. And what are plants doing there?


Pretty sure it was the world/landscape of New Vegas, which did have a blue-ish sky and plant life and that kind of color palette.

When the guy was so obviously pleased as hell to find that tiny length of rubber tubing, I almost lost it. However, nuka-cola bottles just don't look like that. It made me sad.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 10:44 AM on January 25, 2011


Give me the naughty nightwear!
This was way better than I expected but I kept thinking, "Take a frickin'RadAway already!"
posted by hecho de la basura at 10:47 AM on January 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


No one in the film had decent PER. At least the protagonists had good AG.
posted by ersatz at 10:50 AM on January 25, 2011


Could've used some more Three-Dawwwwwg, though.

How I played Fallout 3 the second time, all the wiser:
  • Exit vault, leave radio OFF.
  • Start working way DIRECTLY to GNR Radio Station. Mission complete.
  • Shoot Three Dog right in his stupid over-acting face.
  • Take his magic +1 glasses and hat. Enjoy them.
  • Finally, turn on radio for first time and enjoy life with Margaret, the much less-annoying replacement DJ.
It's a wonderful world.
posted by rokusan at 11:06 AM on January 25, 2011 [14 favorites]


Why, in this world over saturated with tie in junk, can't I buy a bottle of Nuka Cola? You'd think it would be an obvious marketing moneymaker for them.

Alex404 No, I agree completely. It's one of the obnoxious parts about the new Fallout games. Stripperwear is great on strippers. Not so great in non-stripping circumstances. Definitely not so great for exploring a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Shorts in the middle of a desert filled with cacti, yucca, bright sunlight, vicious animals?
posted by sotonohito at 12:11 PM on January 25, 2011


And what are plants doing there?

The setting seems to be the Mojave area, represented in the New Vegas game, which has plant life.
posted by NationalKato at 12:40 PM on January 25, 2011


(And am a the only one who notices superheroines wearing high heels all the time and thinks that it is also really stupid looking?)

It's never just you.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:48 PM on January 25, 2011


Yeah, if you aren't playing Fallout 3 and New Vegas with the Fellout and true night (which Fellout may include now?) then you're doing yourself a grave disservice.
posted by Justinian at 1:01 PM on January 25, 2011


That was awesome.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:36 PM on January 25, 2011


That was well done!

Also, during the opening scene of New Vegas when the courier gets shot, my very first thought (and, thus, mission objective) was to somehow get Benny's suit. Needless to say, when I had the option to kill him later, I did. I just want to let everyone know that it wasn't for revenge. It was for fashion.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 2:53 PM on January 25, 2011 [6 favorites]


That was excellent. I've enjoyed Brian Clevinger's online comics for years now, especially 8-Bit Theater, but I was sorely disappointed with his book "Nuklear Age", which was given to me as a present one year. Really terrible writing, in my opinion. Good to see he's improved.
posted by starvingartist at 4:43 PM on January 25, 2011


This week's been short fan-made film week, it feels like. First, the Half-Life short, then the Lazy Teenage Superheroes one on Boing Boing, now this. Frankly, out of all of them, I enjoyed this one the most.

It feels like most "LOOK WE PRODUCED THIS FOR $200!!!" films rely too heavily on overproduced effects, filters and a focus on fight scenes. Not to mention the obligatory scantily clad hot girl and quirky oddball with absolutely terrible jokes. These kinds of short films tend to suffer in the story, acting, and the places that actually matter.

All in all, these "budget films" all look the same to me, and aren't particularly memorable. If that $200 was spent on taking the time to make the script and acting really airtight, instead of a copy of AfterEffects and (IMHO) lame looking special effects, we'd have a lot of winners. Yet, the same people who go "Michael Bay is a garbage filmmaker who relies on explosions and hot women" go ooooh and aaah over these short films, which essentially do the same thing.

This Fallout one though, was actually pretty decent. Like the Half Life short it remained faithful to the source (all kinds of tropes and references, along with sound effects). But unlike that Half Life short, it also made the characters kind of interesting and even invented a pretty quick but clever story with the Vault. Not just cheap philosophical lines ("Everything has changed... you have to fight to survive!... blah blah blah")

If big budget movies based on video games were done in a similiar fashion, they could make a mint, at least with our kinds of communities. Of course, that's where we're stuck. Scott Pilgrim and Tron were super lackluster in terms of sales, which is really what makes or breaks this class of film. Although a full two hour Fallout movie in this style would make us go absolutely nuts, everyone else would just go "What?" and move on. It would bomb. So, you keep seeing video game remakes that are terrible and adapted to movie tropes. It irks me, but I have a feeling this is how it will remain for all eternity.

(I mean no disrespect to the guys who take the time to make short and fan films. It does take work, and I'd be immensely proud of producing something like that Half Life short. But I just think that the focus is going in the wrong places sometimes.)
posted by Askiba at 5:22 PM on January 25, 2011


Although a full two hour Fallout movie in this style would make us go absolutely nuts, everyone else would just go "What?" and move on.

Most people would probably think it is a Mad Max rip-off/tribute, as MM was after all the inspiration for many tropes in the Fallout setting. I don't know if the Fallout community is big enough to support a full-blown movie, but it's all up to the implementation, not the setting alone. Even The Road IMO left a lot* to be desired despite having the book to lean on, scriptwise.

*still a good film.
posted by ersatz at 6:42 PM on January 25, 2011


Why, in this world over saturated with tie in junk, can't I buy a bottle of Nuka Cola? You'd think it would be an obvious marketing moneymaker for them.

Well, the radiation poisoning is kind of a downer.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:58 PM on January 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


It would be next to impossible to make a Fallout movie. The Fallout universe blends a lot of genres: science fiction, horror, comedy, action, etc. Tonally, it's all over the place as well. Usually it's lighthearted, but can go deeply poignant and/or disturbing without warning (I remember exploring an abandoned house and finding a child's skeleton on the floor next to a teddy bear, after which ! stopped playing for a few days).

You could maybe do it as a TV series, though. Although the world of Fallout is a horrifically violent place, even without the Bloody Mess perk.

I like that somebody cared about Fallout enough to make a short film about it, but I didn't think the film itself was that great. Some things were really well done - props, costumes, VATS mode - but it wasn't very well written. The actors were doing their best to sell the dialog, but they couldn't help the fact that the dialog was boring. The characters as written weren't interesting (yes, I know it's only 15 minutes long, but a decent writer can make you care about characters in much less time than that). I feel with a lot of these fan films the makers start shooting stuff before they have a solid story to motivate the images.
posted by Ritchie at 3:04 AM on January 26, 2011


Ritchie Hmmm, maybe an HBO series taking place in the Fallout universe? I could see that working well, they'd be able to get away with gore and cussing and whatnot that you can't do on network television and tell a longer, more involved story.

As for being all over the place tonally, I think that's one of the things I like best about it, and it's why Firefly stands out so much.

Most TV shows are monotone, and life isn't. If you have a sitcom it's got to be funny all the time (except for Very Special Episodes). If you've got a drama it has to be drama all the time. Most science fiction television (I'm looking at you Star Trek) is dreadfully serious except for a few episodes that are all sitcom all the time.

Firefly wasn't like that. It had humor, but it was organic humor, people doing silly and funny things like they do in real life not in the contrived sitcom style. It had drama. It had moments of seriousness. But like life it wasn't monotone. And that, I think, really confused the hell out of the marketers, which is one reason why sometimes it seemed they were billing Firefly as a sitcom, it's got funny parts so it must be a sitcom, right?

Same with Fallout. It's got grim, gritty, gory stuff aplenty, but people also do stupid silly funny shit because, even in a post apocalyptic wasteland people are going to do silly stupid funny shit.

Which is another reason why I think HBO could do pretty well. Most of their "drama" shows weren't monotone. Six Feet Under, the Wire, etc all had moments of organic humor in between the drama, violence, action, and gore.
posted by sotonohito at 12:33 PM on January 26, 2011


Scott Pilgrim and Tron were super lackluster in terms of sales

Pilgrim, sure, but Tron Legacy has grossed about $350,000,000 so far. That's at least twice its budget just on box office take.
posted by Justinian at 3:27 PM on January 26, 2011


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