After surviving serious damage, a clone soldier finds himself outside of the war he’s fighting and is left to rediscover his humanity and learn what’s really behind the war.
The Film Production
Oxygen Wars is being developed as a combination live-action and CGI motion picture. The talent would most likely be photographed in situations that can then be composited into the computer generated imagery, as opposed to modeling the human faces as part of the 3D rigs. A similar technical approach is seen in the EVA sequences in Gravity with Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and the other actors in those scenes. In that film, the space suits were practical, physical props or costumes while the rest of the environment around them was generated as 3D animation (the space station, the Earth, the debris field).
Another example of the approach of our production is the short film Irradiation, by the filmmaker Sava Zivkovic. This making-of video shows how we would approach producing Oxygen Wars.
Please watch Zivkovic’s impressive film on his Vimeo channel. It’s very cool.
We are in the early pre-production stage for Oxygen Wars, developing concept art, character designs, 3D rigs and leading up to test shots or scenes. To that end we’re launching multi-pronged fundraising efforts for what realistically could be a final $30M budget. However, the fundraising target we currently have is under $100,000 which would augment and expand the development work we’ve already begun and would help in the larger process of putting together the complete budget.
The Colonial Militants, the human clones in Oxygen Wars, are bred and then encased in armored space suits, as seen in these images. They’re permanently encased in these suits that augment their movements and protect them from the caustic environment of the planet that has basically become their home.
Their sole purpose is to fight battles, and they have no hope of ever getting out of these suits. In fact, they’re so guided by the system that controls everything that they have no concept of even wanting to leave their suits. That is, until Angus gets damaged and forced out of that same system, and he discovers ideas of his own.
So these Colonial Militants are basically atrophied 90-lb weaklings in big bulky, scarred metal suits that turn them into lethal fighting machines.
The Screenplay
The current draft of the Oxygen Wars screenplay is 90 pages. If you’d like to read it, please use the contact form below to get a link.
A draft made it to the second round at the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriting Conference, and in 2022, the latest draft reached the semifinals in the Stage 32 Sci-fi/Fantasy Screenwriting contest.
As a movie project, it’s designed to be a rock-em, sock-em science-fiction war movie while having a socially redeeming story of how a system of enslavement can get dismantled and outgrown.
The Novel
Oxygen Wars is an idea that first took form as a screenplay by Daniel Merritt and Melton Cartes. Since then, Melton adapted it as a novel that is currently available in paperback, ebook, and on Audible.
As time goes by, this concept gathers more and more pertinence, particularly as the world becomes more aware of the privatization of security and military forces.
If you’ve read Oxygen Wars, please write a review, on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever and let us know.
“This is a daringly inventive dystopian vision of a future era of complete planetary colonizations, organized by (surprise!) corporations rather than states. Amid wars that are systemic and endless, one soldier finds himself partly disconnected from the program, and the novel follows his gradual realization of what has happened, as well as his discoveries, here and there, of fragments of pre-corporatized humanity within himself. Allegorically, it’s a powerful warning of the forces released by the convergence of capitalism, militarism, and data-driven systems of control. It also reminds us, in nicely nuanced ways, that the hunger for freedom is not extinguishable.”
David Robbins
About the Author
Melton Eduardo Cartes is an art director/designer in advertising and animator/illustrator. He has written over twenty-five feature-length screenplays, three of which reached the semifinals in two different contests, twice in the Austin Film Festival and once in the Nicholl Fellowships. In 1997 he wrote, produced and directed a short subject entitled ‘Roy’s Heart‘ that can be seen on YouTube.
“…the strength of this book is in the themes the author has selected. Specifically, rather than going with the typical good v. evil plotline so common in science fiction, the author chose to explore something much deeper: are we objective thinkers or merely doing as we’re told; do we live to work or work to live; the power of questioning society to assert our personal freedom. Although there’s plenty of combat and action in the book, it’s these solid themes that the average person will relate to.”
M. Rozmarin
More information!
To get more information about the Oxygen Wars project, please use this form. We’ll respond by the next business day.