About the series
Q: What is Civil Protection?
A: Civil Protection is a comedy series based off the policing force by the same name from the computer game Half-Life 2. In the game, Civil Protection is portrayed as an oppressive policing force in a dystopian society ruled by aliens. In the series, Civil Protection has good and bad cops, like many law enforcement agencies. Some of them are power-tripping zealots, others, like the main characters of the show, Mike and Dave, are much more laidback and act more like regular people. The earth is still ruled by aliens, but it's not as depressing a situation as the game likes to suggest.
Q: Do I have to play Half-Life 2 to understand what's going on?
A: No, I intentionally write the scripts assuming the audience knows nothing about the game. While Half-Life fans may get a little more out of watching it, hopefully anyone can still follow it and enjoy it.
Q: Do I have to watch all the episodes to understand what's happening in the story?
A: No, each episode is self-contained, you will not have to watch any other episode to understand what is happening. As time goes on, it may help to have seen previous episodes to better understand later ones, but it will by no means be necessary.
Q: Are there subtitles for the episodes?
A: There are for some of the episodes. I did all of 1 myself and oversaw the subtitles for 2. Beyond that I got lazy and outsourced it all, so it may vary in quality. Here are the links:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Q: Can I buy Civil Protection on DVD?
A: No, I could get in all sorts of trouble if I did that. While the characters are mine, Valve owns the intellectual property rights to Half-Life 2 and the series is deeply entrenched in the game setting to sell anything without their permission. On top of that I use music from various soundtracks, some of which are copyrighted, so I would need their permission as well (though this is easy to change if there was a need).
Q: When is the next episode coming out?
A: I don't know either. I release them as soon as I finish them
Q: Why does it take so long for these to come out?
A: Until recently, it's largely been a one-man operation. There are hundreds of details to these and I can only do so much on the series in addition to my real life. Some machinima makers are able to come out with material much faster, but I don't know how to do that and retain the quality standards I've locked myself into.
Q: All these guys do is talk, are you going to have some action in the series?
A: Yes. Those episode ideas are harder to animate though, so I postpone some of them until I feel more ambitious.
Q: Where did you get the song "Fat People, Not Good!" from? I want to download it.
A: I got it off of MP3.com years ago, but the original homepage for the artist(s) is dead now. I've put the mp3 up in the main directory of the site
here, since it was free to begin with.
How it is made
Q: How do you make these episodes?
A: I use the Source Software Development Kit, which is a free download with Half-Life 2.
Q: What other software do you use to make these?
A: In episode 1, I used FRAPS to record the footage, Virtualdub to edit and encode the files, and Cooledit to edit the audio. For episode 2 and onward, I used the recording tool built into the Source engine to record, and used a combination of Virtualdub and Adobe Premiere to edit the footage.
Q: How did you learn how to do this?
A: I've been dabbling in audio and some video software for a long time. I learned the SDK primarily from reading the Source SDK documentation online, and various tutorials from other sites when I needed to know something specific.
Q: Do you use Garry's Mod to make these?
A: So far I have not used Garry's Mod.
Q: Can you teach me how to use the Source SDK?
A: No, I don't have enough time.
Q: Did you do all this yourself?
A: Valve software did most of the work by creating the game engine and the game Half-Life 2 in the first place. Beyond that, with the exception of voice acting help, I did every aspect of episodes 1-3 on my own. For episode 4 I had some help, but still did the vast majority of the work. For episode 5 and beyond, I hope to distribute the workload to as many people as is practical.
Q: How many episodes will there be?
A: As many as I can make before burning out. The more help I get, the less likely that will happen, I have NO shortage of ideas.
Q: Do you guys use your normal voices for the show?
A: Craig uses his normal voice for Dave. I have not yet used my normal voice in the show, though I may slip now and then when doing the voice of Mike. Other voice actors will vary depending on the role.
Q: Do you need voice actors?
A: Not right now, the only people I'd consider would be those who can voice some of the characters from Half-Life 2. Specifically I could still use Breen, Eli, and the G-man.
Q: Do you need any help?
A: Yes, with Faceposer animators especially and maybe texture artists.
About me
Q: Who are you?
A: I'm Ross Scott, the creator of the series and the voice of Mike, the vortigaunt, and various other sound effects. I am 24 years old and live in America.
Q: What do you do for a living?
A: Good question. I've been alternating between stopgap temp jobs and getting a degree. Right now I'm living off of money I saved up from my last job and doing misc manual labor jobs. I am hoping for contract or long-term work related to machinima, moviemaking, the game industry, or something else creative. If none of that works out, I have a degree in criminal justice and will probably join local law enforcement somewhere (however I won't be shooting pigeons).
Q: Do you make any money from Civil Protection?
A: None at all, but I hope to use the series as portfolio material for getting a job.[url][/url]
