Probably not legal?

G

googalizer

Member
Just finished a sloppy copy for a 30min movie I wanna shoot. It's an action adventure, with three friends who are avid Halo fans. (that's Halo the x-box game) In the story a military scientist (who conveniently lives next door) develops a battle suit very similar to the suit worn by Master Chief in Halo.

Anyways the suits get stolen by "bad guys" and the scientist barely escapes with his life. To make things right he builds some more suits for the three friends to wear in order to take on the "bad guys" and save the day.

Cheesy I know, but it should be fun to shot. Anywho, so should I change the name of the game from Halo? Or would it be ok to actually say the name of the game. Also some scenes will take place around where the friends would be playing the game, and I'd like to have a few quick shots showing the game and maybe audio from the game like "Killing spree!" But I'm not sure if that'd be ok to do.

Thanks
 
You could probably get away with using the design of the suit as a parody or homage (depending on the tone of your film). Actually using shots from the game and sound effects would border on copyrights, but you might still be able to get away with it if you are making this as a fan film.

I would suggest running this by an IP lawyer first just to be safe.
 
This will get you sued by the richest man in the world. My advice: come up with your own idea or make sure you change it enough that it looks and sounds completely different.

Might try an open engine that lets you import your own player models and build levels. Change it enough it's not recoginseable.

Microsoft owns the IP of Halo (Movie in development) and will defend it, but they don't own the concepts of a sci fi power suit and the first person shooter. (Tribes!) You could also fake it in 3ds Max or Maya.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top