COOL SHORT: GUESS WHAT’S IN MY BOX
03.19.09From what I can tell the video below the cut, “What’s in the Box?”, first showed up on /Film. It’s some kind of futuristic, first-person short film, but beyond that, no one’s entirely sure what it is yet. /Film thinks it might be an SFX demo reel, but it looks a little too polished and big budgeted. To me if smells like viral marketing of some kind.
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.”
In any case, it’s pretty cool. I recommend watching it next time you have nine minutes to spare. It’s sort of like Children of Men meets Cloverfield, but shot with a steadicam so it’s not so vomit-inducing, and without all the annoying douchebags talking to the camera. I hate that. Far as I’m concerned, the only thing annoying douchbags are allowed to talk to is THE HAND. *snaps fingers in a circle*


I bet there’s a shoelace, a duck, and Richard Dean Anderson’s career in Vince’s box.
hehe…..Box.
It should always be Gwyneth Paltrow’s head in the box. Every movie, every situation.
Courtney Love’s box would have biohazard symbol on it.
“What’s in The Box” is the name of the new Japanese game show featuring Paris Hilton and grown men dressed as sperm.
Nic Cage: Whatsinthebox?Whatsinthebox?Whatsinthebox?Whatsinthebox?Whatsinthebox?
The only films I’ve ever seen them shoot in the Netherlands usually always involved an almost too fat to fuck blonde with bad teeth a sheet of plastic and poo.
I believe the answer is David Blaine penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which is secured against direct interference by Blaine): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that Blaine still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead Blaine (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.
It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a “blurred model” for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. In this model, David Blaine is both alive and dead at the same and while he is therefore in a state of quantum indeterminacy, one thing is certain and that is that no one fucking cares.
Yeah. What Rotty said. Although I believe it was originally meant to be a retarded cat.
David Blaine, retarded cat, whatever. You say potato…
Why do I feel like I now owe Rotty some money?
Yeah, third Rotty. And also a set of anal eggs.
Step one – cut a hole in the box.
McDonald’s is selling the hell out of their Happy Meal toys nowadays.
*wants Hooters*
You’re all over analyzing the concept. There’s nothing in the box but a 1920′s era picture of a naked lady. And when you look in it, the box leaves a black ring around your eye.
I know. I bought one just like it at a garage sale.
Just for the record. The movie seems to be kind of inspired by the video game Half-Life 2. The big skyscraper thing is based off of a building in the game called the Citadel.
I was thinking that too, DaDude. The whole thing has a Half-Life feel to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were an early viral for something Half-Life related.
Ok…professional nerd in me coming out…you’ve been warned. Shit like Colverfield has fucked everyone’s perception of what good VFX work is anymore. This is actually very amateurish. Not that it isn’t well done for what it is, but it’s just some guy with Combustion playing with the camera tracking tools. The compositing and modeling itself is actually pretty eh. The software is so good at camera tracking these days you can pretty much just press a button, even on the shakiest of footage. They lost me with the cell-phone-Dr.-Who-raygun. PEW PEW!
True – also, I wasn’t praising it for the effects, I just found it entertaining on a story level.
Also, for the record, I believe the Half-life connections were noted in the original post.
I find it pretty hard to believe that this is some viral marketing thing for an upcoming valve game. I guess it’s possible, but I just don’t see it as that being the case.
It’s a promo for Red Ring Of Death The Video game.
The final battle with Kurpal from Indian outsourcing on the Microsoft Customer Help Hotline is epic.