Synopsis
The Legacy of Arrow Development tells the story of an American manufacturing company that revolutionized the amusement industry. Founded in a small machine shop in Mountain View, California, Arrow made a name for themselves by inventing the log flume, corkscrew element, and most-notably, popularizing the use of tubular steel for roller coaster track with the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland in 1959. They built nearly 100 roller coasters over a 50-year period.
Produced in less than a year, this project tested me as a documentarian, considering that the film’s 72-minute runtime was more triple the length of the longest Lost Parks episode. Thanks to funding provided by the American Coaster Enthusiasts, we were able to film across the United States in as many parks as possible to showcase Arrow’s impact on ride innovation.
The film debuted to an audience of nearly 400-patrons at the Montgomery Theatre in downtown San José, California on January 23, 2016, and since its release on YouTube in February that same year, Legacy of Arrow has amassed over 1.5 million views. The film is well-known in both the enthusiast community and the themed entertainment industry at large, and has been regarded as one of the model documentaries among coaster historians and aficionados.
Project Highlights
- Roles: Producer, Director, Editor, Camera, Researcher
- Filming required nine flights over three weeks, and about 1,500 miles of driving, with a 3-person crew during the summer of 2015
- Over 30 industry professionals interviewed
