Emesis Blue

Emesis Blue is a 2023 Australian animated independent psychological horror fan film based on the online shooter video game Team Fortress 2. The film was produced entirely in Source Filmmaker by the fan group Fortress Films and released for free on YouTube on February 20th 2023. Emesis Blue bases many of its assets directly on those of the original game, following the nine playable mercenary characters on a fictionalized depiction of the 2Fort multiplayer map, but maintains a mature, surreal tone with an original narrative. At a total of one hour and 48 minutes, it received critical acclaim for its high production value and its length, both of which were said to be closer to those of a feature film than a typical Source Filmmaker production.

Emesis Blue
Directed by	Chad Payne
Written by	Chad Payne
Based on	Team Fortress 2 by Valve Software
Production company	Fortress Films
Distributed by	Fortress Films (Through YouTube)
Release date	February 20, 2023 (2023-February-20)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English

Drawing on the backstory originally presented in Team Fortress 2, the film is set on Halloween night, 1968, during the fictional Gravel Wars between mercenaries of Builders League United (BLU) and Reliable Excavation and Demolition (RED). The film follows an otherwise original plotline that includes diegetic references to game mechanics like respawning, rocket jumping, or the capture the flag gamemode, focusing on a non-canonical "respawn machine" supposedly used in-universe to revive the characters in gameplay.

Plot

The BLU Scout visits the BLU Medic over the side-effects of an accident with the respawn machines. Scout complains of paranoia and nightmares in addition to the physical defects that got him fired from the team, and Medic confirms the machine has had disturbing failures before. The Scout returns home to his single mother, only for her to be murdered and dismembered by the RED Pyro and an unseen second assailant.

The BLU Spy and Soldier investigate the disappearance of BLU chairman and Governor of New Mexico Jules Archibald, tailing the Heavy Weapons Guy as he hands off a briefcase. The Soldier kills the Heavy in an altercation, but a mysterious figure escapes with the briefcase in a hearse.

The Medic wakes from an out-of-body experience with blood on his hands and receives an envelope of photographs of Scout's mother's murder, being directed by a bloody inscription to a RED base. At the base, the Medic narrowly avoids a seemingly undead Heavy while escaping to the basement. He frees the Scout, who mistakes the Medic for his captor, and runs off only to be recaptured by two Engineer brothers guarding the briefcase in the flag room. One of the Engineers manages to overpower and kill the Medic, only for the Medic to mysteriously resurrect and brutally kill both of them.

The Spy and Soldier find the Medic's bonesaw at the murder scene, tracing him to the base. They outwit and fatally wound the RED Sniper in the sewers, but Spy is captured after the two are separated by the Pyro. In the base's main structure, the Soldier experiences a temporal anomaly before freeing a wounded RED Demoman, who claims the base is no longer under RED's control as the two fight off a mutated Scout and a group of RED zombies. The Medic, now suffering a psychotic break, defeats a zombified version of himself and takes the briefcase where he meets Soldier and Demoman, where the trio are forced into an elevator further down to escape the Heavy. The Spy escapes and fights the Pyro, but is burned in the resulting gasoline fire.

All four mercenaries begin to lose their grasp on reality as they move deeper into the base. The Demoman meets a third Engineer whom describes the Limbo-like eternity mercenaries experience between respawns. The Soldier and Medic find evidence of Archibald's initial experiments with respawning and the extreme toll it had on subjects. The Soldier then finds the Demoman frozen to death in a cloning lab before he and Medic defeat the resurrected Sniper and Pyro. The Spy finds Archibald confessing to war profiteering with the respawn machines over the phone and shoots him, then forces the Medic and Soldier to play Russian roulette, killing the Medic. The Soldier narrowly avoids being killed himself while pursued by the Heavy. The Soldier finally escapes the base as it burns down, and the Heavy is killed by falling debris.

At Archibald's funeral, attended by the rival CEOs Blutarch and Redmond Mann, the Spy gives a cover story of the Medic murdering Archibald and committing suicide, installing himself as Archibald's successor. A resurrected Medic suddenly rises from Archibald's supposed coffin and shoots the Spy, battling his way out. The Soldier defects and hands Medic the briefcase, helping fight off the Mann brothers' bodyguards and killing Blutarch. The Medic escapes the police in an ambulance, running over Redmond in the chaos, only to die in a car crash outside the city. He meets Archibald, Scout, and the RED Engineer in purgatory. A mysterious figure is seen emerging out of a flaming respawn machine.

Cast

• "JazzyJoeyJr" as the Soldier
• David Love as Jules Archibald and Blutarch Mann
• Cameron Nichols as the Scout
• John Whinfield as background voices
• Anton Pelizzari as the Engineers and background voices
• Chad Payne as the Medic, Demoman, third Engineer, Redmond Mann, Spy, Sniper, and Heavy Weapons Guy

An honorable thanks was given to late voice actor Rick May, whose legacy voice acting in the original game was occasionally used for the Soldier's screams.

Production and style

Emesis Blue was developed over the course of four years in Source Filmmaker, led by Australian writer and director Chad Payne. The film combines 3D Source animation with strong, neo-noir lighting, focusing on authenticity to the original game's assets and acknowledging the technical limitations of the software. Sharp red-and-blue lights are used over otherwise desaturated sets to emulate in-game team differentiation, while policemen and other background characters not readily available in the original assets are shaded out as silhouettes to distinguish them from the canonical cast of Team Fortress 2 models.

The film is the second in a duology of animations from Fortress Films, being closely related to a previous animation titled Spy's Disguise. Both animations feature mentions of a similar "respawn machine" that is seen more frequently in Emesis Blue, they both also mention the fictional company "Helix" which has greater importance story wise in the second film, being directly mentioned by the RED Medic. It should also be noted the BLU Medic in Spy's Disguise and Emesis Blue are explicitly Christian in the story and do the same hand gestures in relation to Christianity. The plot of Emesis Blue might be a direct consequence of the events in the first film, as the RED Engineer destroys the respawn machine in order to kill the BLU Spy and BLU Engineer permanently.

A second Team Fortress film by the creators is "all but confirmed" under development as of 2024, currently titled Murder Inc.

Reception

Emesis Blue has been lauded as the first mainstream feature film to have been produced with Source Filmmaker, and the first Source project of its kind since Darkest Days, an earlier hour-long musical fan-film based on Left 4 Dead 2. Praise was directed towards the film's tone, visuals, voice cast, and technical ambition, while its narrative was described as reliant on mystery, nonlinear storytelling, and audience engagement through fan theories. Some background details of the film's universe were noted as overly reliant on familiarity with the original game's story, but the experience was otherwise described as appealing to general horror fans as well.

Film journalist Kayvon Bumpus noted some remaining budgetary constraints placed on the film, but nonetheless considered Emesis Blue a potential "crowning achievement" for both machinima and Source Filmmaker, writing that "countless projects with more budget, staff, and polish have failed to impress like this animated indie gem does". Gaming critic Yahtzee Croshaw praised the film as an engaging noir narrative and an example of what he coined as post-punk, arguing its production and tone subverted mainstream filmmaking standards by instead relying on the punk art practices of earlier satirical works like Heavy is Dead.

See also

• M (1931)
• The Jaunt
• Saxxy Awards

External links

• EMESIS BLUE official upload on YouTube
• Emesis Blue on IMDb