The associate pastor at my church gave me a copy of TPD. I had only accepted the Lord a month or so before and my pastor knew about my dreams of becoming a director. He also knew how I felt about the state of Christian media in general. I’d only been exposed to Christian films, music videos, and comics for a short time, and what I was seeing was extremely disappointing. The quality of the best productions was poor and the performances of the actors were unbelievably bad. Though some of the concepts and stories were interesting; at least it seemed they had potential when I’d read the back of a VHS boxes, however, I probably should have left it that. The best word to describe what I experienced with the majority of Christian entertainment was, ‘cheesy’.

All that being said, my pastor handed me the Peretti novel and smiled, “One day, John, this will be a breakthrough film on all levels.” Now, I know this sounds cliché, but once I started reading, I could not put this book down.    

Over the years I heard rumblings of a TPD film in the early stages of development. I started researching to find out who was involved. Not only was I excitedly anticipating the film as an audience member, but truth be told, my secret desire was to be involved in some way with the movie production itself. In those days, the internet was barely out of its infancy. Netscape was the new kid on the block, replacing my good ol’ Mosaic browser. Remember the days when you did a search on Gopher (not Google) and maybe 50 items returned at most? Then there was the promise of different variations of JPEG on the horizon. The viral video of the day was an ACSII based animation of a character in a walk cycle! Needless to say, it was next to impossible to find any specific information about TPD on the web. 

In the late 90′s, there was only one visual effects house that could take Peretti’s written text and breathe life into Tal (Captain of the Host of Heaven) and Rafar (Prince of Babylon). That studio had three simple letters to it’s name; I–L–M. The geek boy in me flashed back to the final space battle scene in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Seeing the swarms of Rebel X-Wing fighters engaging Imperial TIE fighters at break neck speeds, I envisioned them transforming into Tal’s army of angelic warriors slaying the demonic minions of the Strongman of Ashton. George Lucas’ arsenal of artisans and technicians, from Industrial Light Magic, were the only ones who could elevate the written text of that final epic battle between good and evil, to cinematic art.

There were a few make-up studios that could probably deliver the highly detailed prosthetics, full body suits, and animatronics necessary to bring Peretti’s vision to life. But one stood out among the rest, Stan Winston and his team would be on the ‘A’ list. Both ILM and Stan Winston Studio collaborated and awed audiences world wide with their work on James Cameron’s T2. It was several months later, after I had read TPD, that Jurassic Park premiered and revolutionized both visual and special effects, raising the bar for all films to come. 

Advancing technology and the high level of cinematic artistry that is pushing the creative envelope today have liberated all storytellers’ imaginations beyond the confines of what was possible in the near past. ILM has now become an option and not necessarily the absolute. There are new players, boundless visionaries, like Weta Digital and Weta Work Shop, who have allowed us to journey with Frodo from his home in the Shire, to the uncharted prehistoric jungles of Skull Island, and into the magical land of Narnia.

Over a decade ago I needed to contract several conceptual designers for a production at the studio where I worked. I was reviewing resumes and portfolios in our conference room when I came across a simple bullet point that brought that geek boy bubbling out of me. There, right after that simple black bullet point, was the holy grail of all word-searches I’d ever done – Conceptual Designer for: This Present Darkness. The studio was 20th Century Fox and the director was Charles (Chuck) Russell. As I read on it was like following the dotted lines on a treasure map that takes you to where ‘X’ marks the spot. At the end of the sentence was an internet address to the artist’s on-line portfolio. I don’t even remember how I left the conference room and ended up in my office in front of the computer. I typed in the url and waited breathlessly. On my screen concept art and storyboards came up. They were from well know blockbuster films. You’d think I’d have been impressed… awestruck… but all I cared about was finding even the smallest thumbnail sketch of TPD – to see what could have been. As I scrolled down paintings of angelic warriors and demons began appearing with small text beneath, This Present Darkness. 

I gathered enough information to use in the search queries which then lead to the mother load. Though, I never found the secret animation tests that have been rumored about over the years, I did come across many more concept illustrations and paintings. At one point in my quest I stumbled on several storyboard layouts and sculptures, or what are known today as maquettes. I saved everything on my computer and burned a CD. As time moved on, the computer eventually died and the CD became a coaster.

Fast forward to today

If you want to see the very cool novel by Frank Peretti “This Present Darkness” made into a comic book/graphic novel. Then this is the group for you. Here you’ll find concept sketches of some of the characters in the book that I will present to Frank and his manager early next year. But to help this happen I need supporters. Our voice must be heard. And as always feedback is appreciated. Invite your friends. Let’s start a revolution! I really hope you all like the direction I am going with this so far. PEACE! – Shard