Man Conquers Space

Man Conquers Space
Teaser poster
Directed by	David Sander
Written by	David Sander
Country	Australia
Language	English

Man Conquers Space is an upcoming alternate history feature film in development, chronicling the fictional conquest of space along the lines of the famous series of articles "Man Will Conquer Space Soon!" by Collier's Magazine, published between 1952 and 1954, and edited by Cornelius Ryan, supported by Dr Wernher von Braun along with a team of experts, and illustrated by famed space artist Chesley Bonestell.

The project began development in early February, 2000. As of July 2010, it is still in development, with four teasers and an hour's rushes already completed.

The film has been written and directed by David Sander, director of the short war film Ghosts of War (2010), and owner of visual effects house Surfaces Rendered, based in Sydney, Australia. The original concept for the film was developed by David Sander with Boyd Britton.

Synopsis

The dawn of the Space Age is amidst the crucible of World War II. Prompted by gaining pre-eminence in the high-ground of space, the world's triumphant superpowers race to dominate orbit, the Moon and beyond. To this end, the United States government under President Truman commits to founding the National Council of Astronautics (NCA) and the United States Space Force (USSF) in 1949. After a period of technological development and installation of infrastructure, Eagle One lands the first men on the Moon in July 1963. With continued lunar operations, the eyes of the NCA turn to Mars, landing there in 1968. The 1970s and beyond are devoted to technological expansion and the privatisation of space, leading to a very different modern day. The film is told through the eyes of those who witnessed and lived through these historical events.

Development

Man Conquers Space initially existed as an independent short film project, however in mid-2001 the scope and scale of the subject matter prompted a re-think and a restructure into a feature-length production.

The screenplay originally existed largely as a series of notes, as interviews with some of the characters were to be conducted as if everything had happened for real, prompting the actors to ad-lib their lines (after a process of indoctrination during rehearsals), and then the rest of the film structured around those interviews in a similar fashion to techniques used in actual documentary film production. During the project's early formative period, a series of policies were established for the film - namely: not one frame of the film was genuine archival footage - everything had to be made for the film; it all had to be shot close to hand in Sydney, consequently far-flung locations such as Cape Canaveral, Moscow, Europe, the surface of the Moon and the terrain of Mars all had to be recreated somehow; it could not star known actors, otherwise the believability of the characters as being who they say they are is not going to work (unless certain actual historical figures agree to play themselves); and it had to be an appropriate tribute to the vision and dreams of the post-war world, enough to bring teary-eyed nostalgia back for those who remember those days of promise (and who may very well constitute a sizeable percentage of the viewing public for a project such as this). Each of these policies has been rigidly adhered to, which while complicating the process (including making it more expensive), is considered a better way to achieve an authentic result.

To illustrate the project to potential investors, a fully fleshed out screenplay was required, and by 2005 a first draft of that document was completed. Since then there have been numerous revisions, and in May 2008 the project was packaged and taken to the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, for assessment and consideration by motion picture industry representatives. The consensus was that the project was very strong and solid, but despite his years of industry experience, Sander had insufficient background in the appropriate areas (namely feature directing) to warrant the handing over of the substantial budgetary sums required to bring the entire vision to life. Consequently the project was put on hiatus so other projects of more modest approach and scale could be developed to make up the experience shortfall. These projects include the First World War short film Ghosts of War (2010); a second short film (currently in development and due for completion by the end of 2010); and a low-budget feature film (also currently in development, scheduled for completion by mid-2011).

The hiatus from Man Conquers Space has not been complete however, as more content is continually developed, including a new teaser (release pending) and other tools designed to promote it to appropriate parties.

The sporadic and erratic rate of progress of the film's development is a direct consequence of priorities that Sander is required to address in his professional capacity as visual effects and graphic artist for the television and motion picture industries. The project's website is only occasionally updated, partly due to the rate of progress, but also as a consequence of a policy within the production of only releasing a very narrow wedge of information and produced material prior to the film's completion and official release.

External links

• Official website