Boolean Union Studios

Teufelsbauer Archive

 

“Teufelsbauer” has the most complicated history of Boolean Union Studios’ projects. It was born out of the constant redrafting and re-envisioning of the “Bruder Gegen Bruder 2” script. The first major overhaul of that script resulted in a new script that was internally referred to as “Bruder B,” as opposed to “Bruder A,” which was the original “Bruder Gegen Bruder 2” storyline.

 

“Bruder B” altered major elements of the story, the most obvious change being that Abel, dead in the original, was now an active character. A back story involving an apocalyptic cult, headed by the terrifying Ezekiel Oberwald, was developed as well. Further revisions turned Abel into a woman, now renamed Emily (though called “Abeline” internally for quite some time), and added the character of Sarah to be Bryan’s formerly nameless girlfriend.

 

This version of the script began to go in a completely different direction than the earlier “Bruder 2,” as Bryan went from being the primary antagonist to a sympathetic character to be saved at the end, while the cult came to take on more and more importance. Eventually the staff realized that the story no longer had any real connection to the original “Bruder Gegen Bruder” short and thus required a new title. “Teufelsbauer: Devil’s Pawn” was thus born.

 

However, the problem of scale that had dogged the earlier “Bruder 2” script remained. “Teufelsbauer” was simply too long and complex for a small studio and a staff with limited time and expertise. In an effort to at least tell the story, the studio attempted to create a webcomic, with the assistance of artist Christopher Paulsen, creator of Precocious. The existing two pages of the comic give some idea of what the completed project would have looked like.

 

Unfortunately, the comic had an extremely involved production process involving three different people. This was the result of the studio’s inexperience with the format. In a world where webcomics live and die by their regular updates, each installment of the Teufelsbauer webcomic took far too long to produce. This touched off a reexamination of what Boolean Union Studios was all about. It was decided the studio would focus on animation above all else, and specifically on shorter pieces that could be completed with fewer man-hours instead of longer, more epic films.

 

Of all the projects in the Dead Letter Office, “Teufelsbauer” is one the studio would most like to revisit, given time and resources. Perhaps one day some form of the story will see production.

 


Chapter 1

#1 Somewhere in Baltimore...
#2 An Unexpected Discovery