| In the early 1990's, we set out to make a low-budget horror/sci-fi movie
titled The Raven and The Archer. It had a nice concept, concerning the moments in
which a suicide must make the ultimate choice, to live or die. The choice was aided
by two warring beings (obviously, the Raven and the Archer, thus the title). Nice
concept, huh? |
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We put the script together, found our talent, and started shooting. Spring was in
the air, and within the first few days, we had shot a good chunk of the movie. Things
seemed to be going well. I should have known better. The concept was just too much for
our budget. But, we had some nice effects and some cool fight scenes. Then something really
bad happened. |
| The weather changed on us. Drastically. A cold front moved in and lasted for weeks.
Our schedule was going to be blown completely. We decided to persevere, to continue shooting.
Several of our extras decided it was just too cold to continue. They stopped showing up on
several nights when we really needed them. Crowd scenes became a few people standing around.
It got so cold that fake blood started freezing in the pump and two-hour batteries became
twenty-minute batteries. We started re-writing the script to cover our
losses. |
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I used to think that was the beginning of the problem, that re-writing the script hurt the
storyline. There's a deeper truth, though. The problem was with the original story. It was
just too big for what we were capable of. But we tried. We continued shooting and continued
re-writing the screenplay to fit the problems we encountered. The movie helped me to
develop the ability to see a problem, and move beyond it as quickly as possible, while still
keeping the story intact. However, that became increasingly difficult in this case as events
piled up. A specialty costume was destroyed by carelessness, and we couldn't repair or replace
it. Another actress fell out. However, the core people were still there. |
| That shows something. Maybe that we were all just gluttons for punishment. But hopefully it
shows how much people believed in the vision of the project. Who knows? In the end, though,
we wrapped up the movie and found it...lacking. We watched it, only to find it wasn't what we had
set out to do. It had become something quite different from The Raven and the Archer. |
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It took us awhile to figure out what to do. Our choices were simple enough: scrap the project.
start over, or somehow salvage the movie. Luckily, we low-budget moviemakers come from hardy,
"never-say-die" stock. We decided that the story had changed too dramatically to be The Raven and
the Archer. It was a shadow of its original. It was Shadowman. We re-wrote the
opening and ending, added a voiceover in certain parts, and shot a few key scenes. |
| Now the story was about two beings fighting through an alternate universe (we'll come back to
this in just a moment, it's sort of funny) for the soul of a young lady while being pursued by the
lost souls who had gone before. Still a cool idea, okay, but it has never really meshed as a movie
for me. |
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We made many copies and sold them all at the various conventions we were constantly visiting. While
feedback was always positive, it just wasn't the movie we had set out to make. It was okay. But
just never the same. I thought it could have been awesome, and it could have been. It just wasn't. |
| We took Shadowman to cons for several years, and everywhere we went, we sold copies. I told
this story every time. I learned exactly how a big-budget movie can go wrong. Instead of
having to deal with the problems that came up with our little feature, big movies must
deal with every executive adding their two cents, with money thrown at every change until
the movie has become too big to give it up, it's cost so much that no one dares say,
"Hey, this wasn't going to work from the start." |
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When we put the website up, I wondered if we should include Shadowman, a movie I was never really happy
with, that had a great deal of potential, but still had several incoherencies within the meshing of two
stories. I decided to put the screenshots up, tell the story of how the movie was made, and pull the
movie from distribution. |
| I still get people asking to see it. Instead, I hope you all will look forward to the very near future
when we will be making the original screenplay as it was meant to be seen (Oh, yeah, remember when I
said I'd tell you something about the alternate universe in which Shadowman is set? Well here's the
funny thing...we called that alternate universe...The Matrix!). |
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