Fallout intro

The Fallout intro is the iconic opening of the classic game, created by Tramell Ray Isaac.

Summary
The intro begins with the song "Maybe" by The Ink Spots and a screen of a Radiation King television set showing a Vault-Tec Industries advertisement for Vault 13, featuring the Vault Boy watering plants and waving at the camera as the Vault blast door closes, followed by the "Vault of the Future" picture. Next, a Galaxy News Network (GNN) program starts, stating that "Our dedicated boys keep the peace in newly annexed Canada" and showing two American soldiers in power armor executing a Canadian insurgent and waving at the camera. Then a power armored soldier is shown in front of the American Commonwealth flag and a war bond ad. Next, ads for Chryslus Corvega and Mister Handy appear. The TV shuts down and the music fades, as the camera shows us ruins of a city. The city happens to be the futuristic Bakersfield now Necropolis as evidenced by the outro movie's picture of Necropolis.

Narration
After the cinematic intro, a series of still photographs with a narration by Ron Perlman follows.

Analysis
The juxtaposition of the short-lived television feed containing echoes of pre-War programming and the ruined Bakersfield serve as a storytelling device, introducing Ron Perlman's subsequent narration. The short CGI sequence speaks volumes of the Fallout world. The Vault-Tec advertisement introduces nuclear war and indicates that citizens were not only aware of the looming threat, but were also encouraged to secure their future underground, should the holocaust come.

The next scene provides context - the GNN newscast and the tone it's kept in portray a drastically different American society from the one we know. The average US citizen watching GNN is a fiercely nationalist xenophobe, who doesn't particularly care about the welfare of other countries or their citizens, long as his country's best interests are protected. The patriotic image of a T-51b trooper in front of a flag and the following PSA about war bonds serve a dual purpose: they establish that not only is the American citizen different, but the country is too, instead of 50 states, there are 13 Commonwealths, and that USA is not only occupying annexed Canada, but it's also engaged in a war with another country. Coupled with the Vault ad, this short sequence establishes that it was America's aggressive war mongering that brought nuclear devastation upon itself, and it certainly wasn't disappointed.

The last two advertisements also introduce the player to the retro-futuristic aesthetic and the technological level of the world of Fallout, where electronics are rare and bulky, but nonetheless, great advances were made. Finally, the TV cutting off in the finale as Bakersfield comes into view is a simple, but powerful message - the world and society as we know it has come to an end; pre-War America is not coming back.

Then the narration takes place, which is a straightforward storytelling device that glues together what was presented in the introductory animation, and completes the immersion of the player into the world of Fallout.

Behind the scenes
"We tried to model the power armor as T-Ray did in the opening movie and game, but he could get away with clipping that would look really bad at close distances or certain angles. Simply put, building the Fallout power armor as it originally looked would have resulted in a suit with a tiny range of motion or a hilarious amount of clipping. We changed as much as we needed to allow for more flexibility in movement, but tried to stay very close to the original design whenever possible."

- J.E. Sawyer, NMA