Q: What is "Colin Clarke's RAVEN 2"?

A: RAVEN 2 is the sequel to the highly rated "Colin Clarke's RAVEN", which debuted on the Internet film site IFILM.COM in October of 2000, where it remained in the Sci-Fi category's top 20 for more than 7 weeks, attracting over 8000 viewers to date.

Like it's predecessor, RAVEN 2 was created entirely on home computer systems using off-the-shelf software, including Curious Labs' Poser, Adobe After Effects, Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge and Adobe Premiere.

Q: Ok, so what is it about?

A: RAVEN 2 follows Lucas Foster, once a decorated homicide detective, now a private investigator. He spends a most of his time running errands for members of the Mafia.

But his life is about to change.

What seems like a routine missing persons case begins when a wealthy lawyer hires Foster to locate his beautiful client's runaway daughter. But The case takes him through the dark labyrinth of the city's occult underbelly, into a world where nothing is what it seems and diabolical forces lurk around every corner.

For Foster's agenda runs parallel to that of another dark figure who roams the shadowy streets; a resurrected being from the pits of Hell - the one called Raven . . .

Q: How long did it take to finish?

A: About a year and a half.

Q: Why did it take so much longer to make RAVEN 2 than it did to make the original RAVEN?

A: RAVEN 2 is more visually complex. It was rendered out at broadcast resolution, with extra detail in character textures and shadowing. Some of the effects sequences required multiple renderings (of individual elements in a shot) that could be composited together afterwards with effects elements sandwiched in-between. All of these things put a drain on system resources.

Q: What kind of hardware did you use to do the animation?

A: A home-built PC system consisting of a Pentium III 550mHz processor, 512MB ram, a 10GB system drive and a 20GB storage drive, 16 bit sound, and a 16MB 3Dfx Voodoo 3 video graphics card. A Pinnacle Systems DC30Pro capture board was used for compression and editing of the video files, and output of the finished movie to tape.

Q: The movie looks kind of dark. Is it supposed to be that way?

A: Yes. The movie is deliberately steeped in shadow for atmosphere. What you see is not what was rendered out of Poser - it was taken into After Effects and desaturated by 60%, and a film grain filter was applied to give it a more film noir-ish look and feel.

Q: So how can I see it?

A double feature DVD featuring both RAVEN and RAVEN 2 is available for $9.99. Click here for details.

RAVEN 2 is currently available online in both downloadable and streaming video. Find out where by visiting our online Theatre

On the festival circuit, it has been shown on the big screen as part of Renderfest in Toronto; the Rock River Film Festival in Illinois (where it won Best of the Fest Runner Up); the Saints and Sinners 2 film festival in Florida (where it won 4 awards - Best Direction (Animation), Art Direction, Visual Effects, and Musical Score), and the 2002 Midwest Music Conference and Film Festival in Lexington, Kentucky.

Q: Will there be a RAVEN 3?

A: A completed screenplay, dated 07/02/03 does exist, but there are no plans to develop it further.