Project reflection
Looking Back at Dawn Under Heaven
When we started Dawn Under Heaven in 2010, I do not think any of us expected it to take nearly nine years to finish. It started as a Halo fan film and eventually included armor, costumes, weapons, an ODST drop pod, production days, editing, and a lot of visual effects.
While we were working on it, I rarely stopped to think about how much better we were getting. Most of the time I was looking at whatever was still unfinished. A helmet needed more sanding, armor needed paint, or a prop needed to be rebuilt because the first attempt was no longer good enough.
That could be discouraging. Every time we learned how to solve one problem, we became better at seeing the problems that were still there. The standard kept moving, and from inside the project it often felt like we were falling behind instead of improving.
The tools changed during those years too. We started using 3D printing, better digital references, and more reliable finishing methods. The later props were cleaner and better built because they carried everything we had learned from the earlier ones.
Looking through the old photos now, the progress is obvious in a way it never was while we were making everything. Dawn Under Heaven was difficult to finish, but it also gave us years to become better builders. That is the part I did not fully appreciate until I could look back at the whole project.