The Hunter and the Hunted

The Halo: The Master Chief Collection announcement trailer, officially named The Hunter and the Hunted, is a pre-rendered trailer produced by Digital Domain, a visual effects company based in Los Angeles and Vancouver.^[1]

First shown at Microsoft's E3 2014 conference, the trailer features a remastered cutscene from the level Cairo Station from the Halo 2 campaign. The trailer shows John-117 dragging a Covenant antimatter charge through one of the hangar bays in Cairo Station to "return" the bomb to a CAS-class assault carrier. Arbiter Thel 'Vadam provides a voice-over for the trailer and it is revealed that Spartan Jameson Locke is searching for the Master Chief.

Transcript

Open to John-117 dragging an antimatter charge across a floor in Cairo Station.

As the charge scratches across the floor, the Master Chief opens a door to enter an airlock. He looks through a window to view the space battle occurring over Earth. He opens the airlock door and holds onto a handle and the bomb to prevent being sucked out of the station. He looks down at a Covenant assault carrier and launches himself, with the bomb, from the station.

Thel 'Vadam: "To find him you have to forget the stories, forget the legends."

Master Chief floats through space, towards Earth. He aims the bomb towards the carrier. Nearby, a Marathon-class heavy cruiser is destroyed by an off-screen vessel while the carrier fires its ventral beam at the planet's surface.

Thel 'Vadam: "You'll have to do more than walk in his footsteps."

The Spartan continues through the field of debris from the destroyed cruiser. Several Longswords pass nearby.

Thel 'Vadam: "For he is more than the sum of his actions."

The Master Chief nears the assault carrier, as several Seraphs fly under it.

Cut to Jameson Locke viewing the Spartan entering the assault carrier with the bomb, as several Longswords fly beyond the ship.

Thel 'Vadam: "I tell you this, not because I trust you, Agent Locke..."

The Master Chief activates the charge and kicks it into the carrier. The entire ship bursts into flames and explodes. The Master Chief covers his visor as the explosion's light blinds him.

Thel 'Vadam: "... but because all our lives are at stake."

Cut back to Locke closing the holographic video, with several more still active in the background. He walks towards a window, which it opens and reveals a desert world, Sanghelios,^[2] and turns towards the Arbiter, who is standing at his right. The Arbiter's face reflects in Locke's visor.

Thel 'Vadam: "Because the seeds of our future... are sown in his past."

Cut to a close-up of Master Chief's original Mark VI helmet:

YOUR JOURNEY BEGINS

Trivia

Near the end of the trailer, before Locke closes the holographic video, John-117 was shown to activate the charge of the Covenant bomb and kicking it into the carrier. This is a minor discrepancy as in the original Halo 2 cutscene, John-117 activates the Covenant bomb when he floats inside the assault carrier and kicking it to distance himself from the eventual explosion and demise of the assault carrier.
The other holographic videos were broadcasting several scenes from previous Halo games that feature the Master Chief:
- John-117 watching the UNSC Infinity entering Requiem, from the Halo 4 level Forerunner.
- The Master Chief wielding a BR55HB battle rifle, from the Halo 3 level Sierra 117.
- John-117 in an M12 Chaingun Warthog, from the Halo: Combat Evolved level Halo.
- The Master Chief looking at a Guardian, from the Halo Xbox One announcement trailer.
If one clicks on a hidden annotation in the Xbox official youtube video for the trailer, the annotation will send whoever clicked it to a webpage that says that one needs to find three more hidden items, three in total, all being annotations. The annotations can be found at 0:10, 0:18, and at 1:08 in the video. If all annotations are clicked, a download will appear. The download being various "cover" photos of the Master Chief collection, called "the Four Horsemen", for Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and regular wallpaper use.^[3]
Although the music used in the trailer was never officially released, a recreation of the track was made by YouTube user Steven McDonald, who used a variety of programs to accurately recreate the track.^[4]