"Saving Lt. Fox" was a collaborative student film created for a Mass Communications course at MSUM in Spring 2006. Though I wasn’t enrolled in the class, I was brought on to help a friend bring his vision to life: a Halo 2-based machinima short about a group of characters staging a dramatic rescue mission for a friend who clearly didn’t need rescuing.

At a time when in-game recording was virtually nonexistent, we had to get creative to capture gameplay and tell a coherent, cinematic story using the tools available on early-2000s hardware.

To make the project possible, I developed a dual-Xbox setup: one Xbox hosted the multiplayer session, where players acted out scenes, while the second Xbox served as a “camera rig,” controlled by another player and routed into a digital video capture device connected to my computer.

We rehearsed blocking, timed movements, and coordinated character actions in Halo 2 to match the story’s script. After capturing footage, we recorded voiceover dialogue with our friends and layered in additional audio elements during post-production to complete the piece.

This approach, commonplace today thanks to built-in game capture tools, was incredibly novel for its time and pushed us to problem-solve in ways that felt ahead of the curve.

Despite being a non-enrolled collaborator, I heard from the class that the project was a hit. It was later submitted to a student competition, where it reportedly earned top marks and won in one or more categories, though I don’t have documentation to confirm the specifics.

Even so, it remains one of my favorite creative collaborations, showcasing what can happen when you mix humor, resourcefulness, and a willingness to experiment.

• Technical Problem-Solving
Dual-console setup for virtual camerawork in a non-cinematic game

• Cinematography via Gameplay
Innovative framing and movement within Halo 2 multiplayer

• Audio Direction & Post-Production
Dialogue planning, voiceover sessions, and layered sound design

• Collaborative Storytelling
Translating a humorous script into a playable, viewable short film

• Creative Pioneering
Implemented machinima techniques before tools like game recorders became standard