Mothership

Genre: Science Fiction/Adventure.

Studio: Unknown.
Production Company: Apollo Films.

Project Phase: In Development.

Who's In It: Unknown.
Who's Making It: Martin Duffy (Director, Screenwriter); Tom Conroy (Production Designer); Andy Probert (Visual Consultant).

Premise: Somewhere in the darkness of space, a vessel ferrys a group of ten children toward a lost destination. Two of the group, a boy named Ben and a girl named Han, set out on a quest to learn the answers to the many questions they have about the Mothership - before their time runs out.

Release Date: Unknown.

Comments: This is Martin Duffy's second stint as director and screenwriter, his first being The Boy From Mercury. This project, Mothership delves further into Duffy's affinity for science fiction and for telling a strong story from a child's point-of-view.

Two subtle and nice touches we enjoyed were in making the children varied in their dispositions, reactions and motivations, as well as having the children come from many different nationalities.

Pre-Production Design:

Martin Duffy has sent in to CA some of the production designs from the pre-production phase of the project. The illustrations were created by Production Designer Tom Conroy and help to illustrate some of the technology, look and atmosphere the two want to convey toward the film:

A 'suspended animation module' used on-board the ship. Such futuristic equipment and tools, like this sleep module, a 'spider' probe and weapons based upon sonics are highlighted throughout the story.
Looking down at the life support chamber containing the suspended animation modules.
Ben and Han have a dangerous encounter with Jones.

Note the large open area off to the right, illustrating the mammoth size of the colony ship.

The ship is divided up into different zones: sleep, recreation, consuption of food and so on each have their own assigned area. In this illustration we are looking at one of the recreation zones where the children play their games. Notice in the background the viewscreen where a movie is currently being played.

As well, Conroy storyboarded some of the action sequences from Mothership. Duffy plans to utilize both traditional models and computer-generated imagery to create the film's special effects.

Developments:

March, 1997... Andy Probert has contributed new color design work for the film's look. His efforts can be seen on his web page at DesignR/Mothership. October, 1996... Development of Mothership continues on. Financing for the film is nearing completion, and Duffy is attending the EuroAim Rendezvous to meet with additional investors. Illustrator Andrew Probert has also contributed design work for the project.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

March 11, 1997... Andy Probert has contributed new design work for the film's look. His color designs, as well as his previous twenty years of designing the look for science fiction films (such as the Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation series and Doc Brown's DeLorean time machine from the Back to the Future films) can be seen on his web page at http://members.tripod.com/~DesignR/Probert_1.html. Go check it out!

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks is owed to Martin Duffy and Apollo Films, who graciously allowed CA access to the art development material, and for allowing CA readers the opportunity to look behind-the-scenes. We'll be keeping you informed on the development with the project - and hopefully get some photographs when principal photopgraphy commences!



Have a Scoop/Information about a New Film Project? Copyrights and trademarks for the film and related entertainment properties mentioned herein are held by their respective owners and are used with permission or solely for the promotional purposes of said properties.
All other text and images copyright © 1995-98 Corona Productions.
Last updated: Sunday, 12-Jul-1998 17:58:09 PDT.
webmaster@corona.bc.ca