Local film-maker to direct Halo film
Jared Pelletier grew up in the small town of Aurora, Ontario. Developing an interest in film at the age of six that grew steadily into an all consuming passion, Pelletier first delved seriously into the industry when he wrote and directed the short film The Collision at age 18. The Collision earned a shortlist nomination at Cannes Film Festival that year.
Capitalizing on the momentum of what already promised to be a wildly successful career, Pelletier followed up this effort with In The Hearts of Men, which went on to win several major production awards at the Arizona Film and Media Expo Festival (AZFAME), being one of the only Canadian films to do so.
Pelletier graduated high school in 2008, going on to attend Brock University to study sports management. Quickly realizing that his passion remained with film, he left the university, and in 2010 graduated from the Toronto Film and Media College. Pelletier will now continue his education at the University of California Los Angeles.
Currently, Pelletier is focusing his efforts on the film Halo: Faith, the first film based on the popular Halo video game series. Production on Faith began in late 2010, and in April of 2011 Jared signed a major directing contract with Machinima.com Los Angeles to direct original content.
Speaking to The Cord, Pelletier explained what originally drew him to the project. “The idea came from seeing the success of other films based on popular video game content,” said Pelletier.
“Halo was a concept that would be logistically challenging, and would require unprecedented visual effects work for a low budget film. These challenges made Halo the right movie to make.”
Although the film will certainly appeal to the already widely established fan base of the franchise, it is not necessarily a fan film. “We’ve taken some significant creative liberties in adapting the content to the screen,” said the director.
“The main crew, myself included, were not huge Halo fans coming into the project. Our unbiased views allowed us to take more liberty than one who is attached to the established franchise,” he went on. Several crew members of Halo: Faith were students and recent graduates of Wilfrid Laurier University.
The majority of Halo: Faith was shot in Pelletier’s hometown of Aurora. According to the director, “The small town atmosphere didn’t really limit or help us in that sense, although it was nice to shoot in familiar territory. A hockey arena from my childhood even acted as our green screen stage for one of our shoot days.”
Techniques for filming were similar in process to such films as Sin City and Avatar.
The filmmaker, despite his great successes so far in the industry, is only 20 years old. “I think being this young has both limitations and opportunities. Many people admire what I’ve been able to do to date, while many others are reluctant to give me a serious budget considering my age,” Pelletier said of his young age.
“With my body of work increasing, I find some of the limitations disappearing, but it’s definitely a challenge.”
Halo: Faith has a set release date of Nov. 20, 2011. After the project wraps up, Pelletier said, “I’m currently in the early stages of a feature film to shoot in 2012.”