Chronicles of Crowman: Case of the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis

''"When the world goes wild, one man goes crow"

-Official movie blurb

Chronicles of Crowman: Case of the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis is an action comedy with thriller elements written and directed by Evan Ramirez. It is the debut of the Chronicles of Crowman, as well as the first film project created by Evan. Chronicles of Crowman stars Jacob Prather as the titular Crowman, a police detective for the LAPD, as well as starring Cressy Linnell as Candace Jones, and Evan Ramirez starring as the villainous and mysterious Red Baron. Crowman, while doing a case for the LAPD, is attacked by the terrorist group known as the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis. The film began production in late 2018, with almost all of the filming being done at the cast and crew's high school. The film was meant to be a high school project for the director's film class, where the first screening of the film had occurred.. Chronicles of Crowman was eventually re-edited and released onto YouTube in April 5th, 2019, alongside a trailer created by Jack Clock, who worked as an actor for the film. Currently, Chronicles of Crowman: Case of the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis has obtained 2302 views and 48 likes, as well as 27 dislikes. Many found the film to be favorable, with the film's biggest complaint being it's video and audio quality.

Plot
The film begins in 2012 at the opening of a DvD manufacturing company. Two police officers, Officer Dan and Liberal Cop, are investigating a dead body. Crowman arrives on the scene and is informed of the situation by Officer Dan. After Liberal cop takes an issue with Officer Dan assuming the corpse's gender and a disclaimer from the director, Crowman is assigned to accompany the night shift at the manufacturing company alongside Candace Jones, Jedediah Smith, and another security guard known only as 'Rookie'. Jedediah gives Crowman a shotgun, and tries to scare him with an idea for a film trilogy he had.

At the entry to the building, The Krooked Kalifornia Knazis are shown invading the premises. After being told off by Jedediah and Rookie, the leader of the attackers orders his men to gun down the two of them. Jedediah is the first to die, and an enraged Rookie is shot in the head soon after. Crowman, overhearing the noise, runs over to try and help the two of them, but panics and runs away. Candace, who is in the control room, sets the building on lockdown, giving the crime scene an eeiry red glow.

Immediately after the carnage, the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis talk to one-another. The Krooked Kalifornia Knazi known as Greg begins to pester the leader of the group about his German accent, to which the leader of the group threatens Greg. Greg and his friend, Antony are ordered to kill any surviving security guards while another member named Slick is told to get the building out of lockdown, and is followed by two elite Krooked Kalifornia Knazi Goons. It is revealed that the terrorists are looking for an item that they dub "The Maguffin", and the mysterious leader of the group "The Red Baron" wants it for unknown purposes. The conversation is interrupted by a man in a Ku Klux Klan outfit named Larry, who was hired by the Red Baron due to being a TV star. The leader of the group tells Larry to go away, and Greg and Antony follow him.

Crowman is shown hiding away from the terrorists in a panic, before Candace talks to him using the radio communication they are wearing in their ears. The leader of the terrorists takes one out of the dead body of Jedediah and introduces himself as Hanz Eichmann. Hanz learns where Candace and the source of the lockdown is, and tells Slick to retrieve her. Right after, Hanz learns that the Red Baron is arriving to the facility, and informs him that they are hunting down any survivors before finding the maguffin. Two terrorists are spotted heading Crowman's way, and he manages to kill both of them. Shocked that he had just killed people, Candace informs him that Larry is coming his way. He hides in a box in a panic, and Candace tries to encourage him as Larry is looking for Crowman to try and lynch him. Crowman appears from out of the box he hid in and begins to fight Larry. After killing his bodyguards, Crowman and Larry engage in combat with their shotguns. when they run out of ammunition, Larry lights a torch and tries to attack Crowman with it, only to trip over on his robes and burn himself to death with his own torch.

Crowman gets little time to breathe, as Hanz appears out of a wall, and attempts to kill Crowman. Crowman runs away in fear, and hides in another box. As Crowman and Candace argue, she notices that Slick and Goons 1 and 2 are breaking down the door to the control room, with her in it. Candace is captured by the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis. Crowman continues to doubt himself, as he feels like he isn't able to fight the terrorists. He begins a monologue about action movie heroes, and decides that it is up to him to try and face his fears and try to save Candace and solve the case that brought him here. his monologue is interrupted by none other than the leader of the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis, the Red Baron. The Baron and Hanz are about to kill Crowman when he throws his pistol at the enigmatic leader and runs away. Baron orders for Greg, Antony and Slick to kill Crowman.

Crowman decides to construct a hybrid of an assault rifle and a shotgun with nearby tools, and steps out to face Antony, who challenges him to fight with their fists. They begin to fight one-another until Antony gains the upper hand and is given an axe to finish Crowman off with. Crowman refuses to die, and fights back. Antony nearly chokes Crowman out until Crowman slams the head of the broken axe into Antony's neck, killing him. Greg and the other terrorists run away, and Crowman is left to mend his wounds. Greg meets up with Hanz, and informs him that Antony is dead. They all try and regroup with the Baron, and as they begin to argue, Candace tries to escape, but fails.

Crowman is looking for the Red Baron, when the Red Baron finds him. He reveals everything to Crowman. The Krooked Kalifornia Knazis were merely a front for their true purpose. He unveils his red mask to reveal that he was secretly George Lucas, and that this manufacturing plant contained the flash drive holding the unedited copies of the original Star Wars trilogy. Before killing Crowman, Crowman shoots Lucas and runs away.Meanwhile, after shooting Greg for correcting his grammar again, Hanz and the others meet up with the Baron with the maguffin. Candace is relieved to hear that Crowman is still alive. Meanwhile, Crowman and Slick meet and begin to fight. Since Slick stole Crowman's hybrid gun earlier, Crowman has a difficult time trying to dispatch his opponents, especially when Slick uses his signature knife to begin stabbing at Crowman. However, Crowman reaches for his reclaimed gun and fires a shot at Slick, killing him. Just before he dies, Crowman asks Slick if they killed the man that Crowman was solving the case from, to which Slick replies that they did not. An enraged Crowman, realizing that this fight had nothing to do with his case, unloads a magazine of his rifle into slick, a barrage that the rest of the terrorists hear. The Red Baron opens the box containing the flash drive, and wants to destroy it so none can use the power it contains within. Meanwhile, Crowman finds a L.A.W inside of a box labeled "Foreign account; do not open!" The rest of the Knazis convince him to watch it one last time. They set off to their HQ, with Crowman in hot pursuit, until he realizes that his car is out of gas, to which he has to follow them on foot.

Eventually, Crowman reaches their destination, and manages to sneak in while Hanz and the Baron are giving a speech. Crowman tries to kill both of the terrorists by shooting a rocket out of his L.A.W, which barely misses them when Hanz pushes both him and his master away from the blast. Crowman manages to dispatch them by-one, eventually reaching the ground floor of the base. He threatens to kill the two leaders, but they trick him by asking if he wants to watch the film with them. Letting his guard down, Crowman is taken prisoner.

Inside, Crowman finds himself tied up next to Candace, as they are forced to endure two speeches given by Baron and Hanz. When they attempt to start the film, it causes a power outage, which is quickly fixed. When the movie begins playing, it is obvious that there is something wrong. Quickly, it turns into 'Star Wars- the Holiday Special'. This causes an eruption of green fire to consume the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis, causing them all to be burned alive in an inferno, all while a disembodied voice chants the letter 'H'. Crowman and Candace survived, and free themselves to escape.

Much later, Crowman is talking to a mysterious figure, who tells him that the flashdrive is being watched by Top men. The flash drive is being shown locked into a Disney vault.

Cast

 * Jacob Prather as Crowman and Krooked Kalifornia Knazi Goon 75
 * Cressy Linnell as Candace Jones
 * Evan Ramirez as The Red Baron, Antony the Giant Knazi, Jedediah Smith and Officer Dan
 * Jack Clock as Greg the Grammar Knazi, Liberal Cop
 * Andrew Lozowski as Slick the Gang Knazi, Larry
 * Peyton Agne as Hanz the German Knazi, Dead Guy
 * Christian Nicholes as Krooked Kalifornia Knazi Goon 1 and Rookie
 * Katie as Krooked Kalifornia Knazi Goon 2

Production
Development

Chronicles of Crowman was a concept created in late 2017 by Evan Ramirez. Before Crowman would be created, the original idea was to create a Friday the 13th school project, but due to multiple reasons such as school rules, lack of props and general time constraints, the concept was scrapped, and the idea of Crowman was brought up instead.

According to Peyton Agne, the character of Crowman has been created by Evan before the film was conceived.

The script was written by both Evan Ramirez and Peyton Agne.

Casting

Before filming took place, Evan Ramirez looked in the school for anyone who wanted to be involved with the project. According to him, he tried asking for anyone in the school's drama class, who he was well acquainted with for casting in the films, but all of them turned him down due to the Nazi antagonists. He then turned to many of his friends outside the class, but many of them turned him down out of disinterest. Eventually, Evan settled on seven of his friends, and work quickly began afterwards. All seven actors were to write down their names in a contract for the film.

Filming

During the waning months of 2018, work was made on Chronicles of Crowman, with the majority of the filming taking place at the high school of Evan and the rest of the Cast. Some scenes were filmed in an office rented out by Evan's parents.

Filming would wrap up after a few months, and was relatively smooth due to Evan talking with the teacher to have the Janitorial staff protect them from unwanted attention. There was one incident in which, during the filming of the final fight scene, a large crowd of parents arrived at the location due to the middle-school event happening in the drama building, which was right next to the filming location. some of the parents proceeded to call security on the cast, but nothing further came out of the incident. On-set troubles would mostly consist of Andrew Lozowski often arriving late, or Cressy Linnell and Jacob Prather breaking up during filming, but otherwise filming was mostly a jovial occasion for the cast/crew.

Post-production

Evan Ramirez served as the sole editor of Chronicles of Crowman, and insisted that nobody else edit the project. Editing occurred for a few months, and was mainly done in the school's computer lab, during free hours.

Music

All of the music from the film was found off of the internet, with the end credit "Mystery Sax" theme song being found on royalty-free music sites. The rest of the soundtrack were taken from films such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark. The classical song "Requiem" from Mozart was used as well, and the song "cotton-eyed Joe" sang by Rednex, featured in another scene.

Visual effects

The effects for Crowman were all done by Evan Ramirez in Adobe, and many effects were pulled off of the internet.

Release
Premiere and Official release

The film was originally made for the director's film classes as a finished project for the finals. during the one of the last months of 2019's school year, an incomplete Chronicles of Crowman: Case of the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis was shown to the class. Critical reception was unknown. Evan passed the class. Jacob Prather, Peyton Agne, and Jack Clock were there to watch the premiere.

The film would be edited for the short remainder of the 2018 semester, with Evan making more edits and additions, like Oscar Myer. Chronicles of Crowman: Case of the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis was released on YouTube on April 5th, 2019.

Marketing

Originally, a teaser trailer was released by Evan Rami and released by Jacob Prather in 2018.

The day of the film's release, the actor Jack Clock would release a full trailer of the film alongside the movie. Evan'sTwitter account was reconstructed to become a Crowman-themed account.

Reception
Critical Response

Crowman so far has not had any reviews. Many YouTube comments on the movie have expressed positive reception towards the film, with the movie sitting at 34 likes and 6 dislikes.

Controversy
Taking down the film

A few months after the film's release, the school of the cast of Crowman sent private messages to both Evan Ramirez and Jack Clock, as well as their parents, requesting for the film to be deleted off the internet, as well as Jack's trailer, and a few unrelated videos on his channel. This incident occurred a month or so after a few students were caught writing pro-Nazi words and symbols, as well as anti-Semitic phrases, which had the school worried about any other similar incidents. Many of the cast members and their parents complained about the requests that the school made, but the videos were set to private, and were released again on June 24th, 2019.

Disclaimer: Crow-ductions do not condone, empathize with or endorse any form of bigotry, from racism or antisemitism, or homophobia. Evan Ramirez and those behind Chronicles of Crowman did not tell a story about Nazis, and especially did not glorify them in any way. Characters like Liberal Cop are not mockeries of any group of people, and those behind Chronicles of Crowman do not wish to alienate any potential audience members.

Legacy
Future Crowman film

The Twitter account of Evan Ramirez and Jacob Prather posted on April 12th, 2019 announced a film simply known as "Opposing Force". Little else is known about the film, aside from introducing a few new characters, as well as finding out more about the Krooked Kalifornia Knazis.

Crowductions

A few months after the film was released, the official producer of the Crowman film and upcoming series 'Crowductions studios' was created for all Crowman-related works.