Freeman's Mind

''Freeman's Mind'' is a machinima series created by Ross Scott using the Source remake of the 1998 video game ''Half-Life''. It follows the protagonist of the game, Gordon Freeman, also voiced by Scott, who acts as a combination of narrator and running commentary, often criticizing and satirizing the game world's conventions in a style similar to that in ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. The series ran from 2007 to 2014 and consisted of 71 episodes. The series was hosted on Machinima until 2014. A sequel series, titled ''Freeman's Mind 2'' set in ''Half-Life 2'', debuted in 2017, and is ongoing with 19 episodes being released . The most recent episode of ''Freeman's Mind 2'' was released in October 2023. In total, 90 dedicated episodes exist across both series.

Character differences

Ross Scott describes Gordon's personality as having "shifting paranoia, egomania, mild schizophrenia, over-aggressiveness, petty motivations, and immaturity in general", and that "the only hint I thought they gave to his personality was how proficient he immediately was in weaponry for being a physicist."

Emily Rose, writing for ''Ars Technica'', used "neurotic panicked narcissist" to describe the character; this is a depiction she noticed in a similar series—'' Half-Life VR but the AI Is Self-Aware''.

Filming techniques

Structurally, ''Freeman's Mind'' is filmed from the first person perspective of Gordon Freeman. All of the visuals and most of the animations come from the original game; however, many scenes of the series are manipulated through the use of cheats or modifications to the game's engine.

Often in the series, Gordon avoids places where the player is usually forced to go. For example, Gordon performs pull-ups throughout the series to navigate to otherwise inaccessible areas. A typical way to film this is through the use of the noclip mode.

''Freeman’s Mind 2'' also features modifications to the original maps, adding new or changing existing set pieces and adding entirely new areas.

Spinoff series

The success and popularity of ''Freeman's Mind'' led to many other creators adopting a similar format to make ''Mind'' series of their own, in other games that feature a silent protagonist in the first-person view. Some of the more notable examples of ''Mind'' spinoffs include ''Shephard's Mind'', created by YouTuber Krim, featuring the character Adrian Shephard from the game '' Half-Life: Opposing Force''; ''Barney's Mind'', created by YouTuber IRAMightyPirate, with the character Barney Calhoun from the game '' Half-Life: Blue Shift''; ''Felix's Mind'', created by YouTuber corky064 (since deleted), featuring Gordon Freeman's fictional brother Felix, in the game '' Half-Life 2: Episode One''; ''Chell's Mind'', created by YouTuber CyhAnide, starring as Chell from the game '' Portal''; ''Kane's Mind'', by YouTuber ChunkBoi (formerly CptCool2), featuring the character Matthew Kane from the game '' Quake 4''; and ''Parker's Mind'', by YouTuber LordPsymon, featuring the character Parker from the game '' Red Faction''. These creators all appeared alongside Scott in an interview dubbed "Meeting of the Minds", hosted by Ian Riley, the creator of ''Barney's Mind'', which was posted on Riley's YouTube channel on May 28, 2011.

Notes

References

External links

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{{Half-Life series

Comedy web series
2000s YouTube series
2010s YouTube series
Machinima works
Works based on Half-Life (series)