White Lite is a Left 4 Dead Machinima created by Singaporean animator Mohd Hussain, aka LoneWolfHBS
using Source Filmmaker. It is a retelling of the games with all different twists and turns from the original.
2 weeks after the first infection hit northern America, the once peaceful country became infested with hordes of humans infected with the unknown virus, known only as the "Green Flu". The violent infected attacked and infect other living beings and their ferocity was such that CEDA (Civil Emergency and Defense Agency), the local law enforcement and the military were forced to retreat and evacuate any remaining uninfected survivors. News got worse as there have been reports of the infected mutating and developing strange traits and becoming intelligent enough to coordinate with one another in their hunt for uninfected humans...
Among the last few remaining survivors left in the city is "Coach", a 44-year-old police officer who originated from New Orleans. Involved in a neighborhood exchange program with the law enforcement of Pennsylvania, he was suddenly shoved into a fight for his life when the infection began spreading the day after his arrival. He helped the law enforcement, the military and CEDA in their efforts to contain the infection but during a struggle, he got separated and fled to the forests to evade the infected.
During his separation, he encountered Zoey, a mute 19-year-old girl who was left all alone in her house and without anyone helping her evacuate. Due to her handicap, Zoey couldn't properly explain her predicament or how she survived without anyone helping her. Offering to escort her, he was surprised to discover that she can put up a fight and decided to give her some freedom in how she engages hostile infected. He gave her his personal, customized Magnum pistol and the duo fought their way back to the nearest evacuation center.
However, upon returning back to the city, the military had already evacuated a huge portion of Pennsylvania's population and it won't be long before the last chopper left them for dead. They rushed to the last known evacuation center and hoped that they would reach it in time. Little did they realize that they are not the only ones being left behind and the military isn't about to give up rescuing survivors that quickly..."The series has five chapters, plus two shorts, and a comic adding more depth to the story.
The series ran from 2014 to 2016 over three episodes, themselves divided into multiple parts, along seven shorts taking in the same universe. You can view the whole series here and the shorts here.
Tropes Associated with White Lie.
- Adaptation Dye-Job:
- In games, Zoey is a brunette and has two green eyes. Here, she's a redhead and has herechromia with one eye being green and the other blue.
- Ellis has green eyes, according to his bio, as opposed to blue like in the games.
- Adaptation Origin Connection:
- Prior to the events of the story, Zoey and Coach had been working together during the apocalypse unlike the games, where they didn't know each other existed until the Passing.
- Louis and the Francises were in group with Rochelle prior to meeting the heroes unlike the games, where they Louis and Francis didn't meet Rochelle until the Passing.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- In the games, Bill acts as a sort of surrogate to Zoey. They don't have that relationship here. In fact, the two don't interact with each other.
- Bill, Francis, Louis, and Zoey, despite their bickering, all have a close bond. Here, only Louis and the Francises have that kind of relationship.
- Similarly, Rochelle was a Team Mom and close companion of Coach, Ellis, and Nick. She isn't that close to them here.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Rochelle isn't ugly in the games but the series makes her more attractive. Notably, she lets her hair down here.
- Adaptational Friendship:
- Zoey and Coach have a father-daughter bond unlike in the games where they only met during the Passing and even then, the two barely interacted with each other.
- Louis, Rochelle and the Francises were all in a group before meeting the other protagonists, only Louis and Francis had any friendship in the games.
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: Rochelle has longer hair and she lets it down unlike in the games were her hair is shorter and wrapped up.
- Adaptational Intelligence: In the games, every Hunter pretty much sneaks in and try to jump on a survivor at the first possible chance. Throughout this series, there's a hunter that's constantly pursuing the protagonists and he's pretty cunning. He only tries to attack when one survivor is alone and when they're in a group, he screams to attract more zombies to help him. He even makes peace with Zoey at the end, something that no zombie, regular or special, have done in the games.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Zoey in the games may have been snarky, but she still valued other survivors and even complained to Bill in the Sacrifice about leaving other survivors. Here, she's really only close to a small group of people and is willing to kill other survivors if they cause more harm than help.
- Adaptational Job Change:
- According to his Left 4 Dead 2 bio, Coach was college football player turned health teacher and defensive coordinator. The only remnants of that here is that Coach briefly mentions he was on the football team. Instead, he's a veteran police officer who was transferred to Pennsylvania to help with the evacuation there.
- Downplayed with Bill. Like in the games, he's a Vietnam War veteran, however unlike the games, where he retired from military service, he's still an active member and was leading the evacuation in Pennsylvania.
- Adaptational Romance Downgrade: During the Passing, Francis and Rochelle seem to have a thing for each other, which she has none with either Francis here despite Rochelle being with them longer.
- Canon Foreigner:
- The Soldier is a mix of this and Decomposite Character with Zoey. She uses Zoey's beta model, has several of her lines and even a close bond with Bill but the games never had a female soldier character besides Annie from the comic and Bill is never stated to have had a female partner in the military in the games or comic.
- Lewis is also a mix of this and Decomposite Character with Louis. He uses Louis' beta model and has a very similar but unlike Zoey and the Soldier, that's pretty much the only similarites between Louis and Lewis with being a much more aggresive character and even leading a biker gang.
- Composite Character: The Hunter is a combination of not just his usual self but also a scrapped special infected known as the screamer, whose job was to scream very loud to attract a large group of zombies.
- Death by Adaptation: Coach, Ellis, both Francises, Rochelle, and Louis all die throughout the series unlike their game counterparts who all survive to the end.
- Decomposite Character
- Zoey from the games was split into Zoey and the Soldier. This Zoey has her game counterparts design, relationship with Ellis and is a major protagonist. The Soldier uses Zoey's beta design, say a lot of game Zoey's lines and has a close relationship with Bill.
- Francis was just one character in the games, but here, there two very similar looking individuals both named Francis. One using his final model and the other using his beta one. They both have the exact same personality though.
- Louis from the games was split in Louis and Lewis. Louis is pretty the same as his game counterpart but Lewis uses and game Louis' beta model and has a very similiar. Outside of that though, they have completely different personalities.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- In the Sacrifice, Bill sacrifices himself for the other survivors while facing three tanks. Here, he's fatally wounded by a hunter and it's Keith who puts Bill out of his misery.
- At the beginning of Crash Course, it's revealed that Zoey killed the News Chopper 5 Pilot after she saw him into a zombie. Not only does the Pilot never turn here, but he even managed to kill a charger and a tank before what was left of the zombies killed him.
- Disabled in the Adaptation:
- Zoey is mute in the series opposed to in the games where she talks just fine. We do get to hear her thoughts at various points though. Subverted in the final part where it's revealed that she is able to talk.
- Similarly, Wade is also a mute. He uses an Anarchist model from Counter Strike but in that, every character can talk just fine.
- Promoted to Love Interest: In the Passing, Zoey seems to like Ellis but she doesn't seem to have the levels of affection as Ellis. Here she very much loved him and his death plays a major part in her character arc.
- You Don't Look Like You: Most of the characters look relevantly similar to their game counterparts but then there's Rochelle. She got a completely outfit and hairstyle. Really, it's just the name and voice that makes her like her game counterpart.
