Melbourne-based company Film’D Media is getting into the feature film business with an original science-fiction drama, Animals.
Animals (working title), currently in development, is being touted as “the next Mad Max for Australia” and has been written/produced by Joel Mitchell and Edward Drake, with Drake also undertaking directing duties on the project.
Shooting is expected to take place in September and the team – which also includes producers Timothy Ratcliffe and Hannah Brown – is set for a first-quarter release next year.
The film will expand on the world introduced in Where Were You – the team’s highly-successful short film which was a finalist in the 2010 Movie Extra WebFest competition.
WebFest’s executive producer Christopher Berry said at the time it was a solid performer throughout the competition and that the team “has great potential as exciting content creators in the future”.
That time has now come.
The film, set four years after a pandemic, follows youngster Marcus Young, who launches a courageous bid to rescue a former lover from the perils of the Red Zone. Told over two time periods, the film explores the ways our ethics and morals quickly fall to the wayside in times of chaos and war.
Drake said the sci-fi drama was influenced by Albert Camus’ The Plague and other literary sources rather than genre films.
“I want to place the story within a real world environment, with characters you can connect with,” he said in a statement.
“No matter what happens during times of war, the world keeps turning. The same problems are more or less still there, people just lose sight of what’s important.”
Founder of Film’D Media and Skipjack Productions, Timothy Ratcliffe, said it was a “genre-defying film that will set a new bar for independent Australian productions”.
The first round of funding has been completed and product placement has been sourced. No roles have been cast yet.
Another science-fiction film, Popbot, is set to be shot in Melbourne later this year.
Film’D Media was established last year and does corporate videos and commercials for such brands as Mercure Hotels, SRC Sports and the Rothcorp Group.
Keep up to date with the film's production status here.