CLASSIFIED

A Common Vision

 

With a shared appetite for innovation, we set out several years ago to conceive a new way to bring action to the audience.  After all, “Action Design” shouldn’t just be about duplicating the status quo.  It should be about providing the director with new options to tell the story differently than ever before.  The world doesn’t need another car chase, but it does need a new way to experience that chase.  Both of us were aware of the existing forays into this arena.  We studied and documented what we liked and what we didn’t like. Cloverfield was innovative, but left the audience with motion sickness.  Silent House was impressive, but asks the viewer to suspend their disbelief that the person holding the camera would actually be doing so, instead of dropping it and running. We were both fans of the supernatural genre and wanted to explore those types of ideas and techniques further. At the same time, we studied audiences to see which ones we wanted to impact. The paranormal thrill seekers were high on our list. Military action lovers are our kind of people, and we know they are looking for new ways of experiencing the action. Then, we came across a segment that isn’t really a film audience at all. Gamers and their voracious appetite to be in the mix of the action, seemed ripe for targeting.  We saw an opportunity to provide this set of thrill seekers with an edge-of-your-seat, total immersion experience that they are yearning for. Now, it will be on the big screen, and not a gaming console. Ultimately, we made the decision to merge all three of these audiences into one and attempt a story that would satisfy them all.

Traditional storytelling in film has involved the use of third-perspective POV views that the audience excuses as part of the deal. More recently, films have tried to take this away with the use of  “in-story” cameras that make the viewer feel as though what they’re seeing is real. Part of the challenge in this is making the camera use in the story believable.  Our goal was to create a story and film approach that didn’t ask the audience for any of this suspension of disbelief.   With this in mind, we began the long process of crafting a story that would be worthy of carrying the weight of our intentions. Over the course of many drafts and re-writes, we developed the gritty, disturbing, military dark-ops-meets-paranormal activity story we call Classified.

We needed cinematic-quality cameras to be a justifiable part of our story. Instead of being on the outside looking in, we wanted the opposite. GoPro style cameras may have cracked the door, but they lack the required resolution for the big screen. Our quest brought us into contact with some of the most respected DPs and camera-tech companies in the industry. Many returns to the drawing board were challenging but undertaken for the good of the project. After a five month R & D, the result was the creation of a state-of-the-art, completely self-contained backpack system that our actors would wear as a part of their costume. Cinema-quality 4K cameras embedded into the actors’ costumes would capture their carefully choreographed movements. Much like Birdman, our sequences and sets will be pre-lit from start to finish, allowing for continuous, uninterrupted action.  Excited to test our approach, we pulled together our resources and executed a test shoot. (See Classified Proof of Concept video) The result was better than we could have expected, and left us with little doubt that the audience will agree. 

 

Individual Back Stories

Andy Dylan- Since I can remember I have been a competitive performer. Most likely because I was the youngest of three boy, so being noticed was my driving force. In Jr high school I began been drawn to the visual arts, mostly as a photographer.  Excelling in sports was what directed my path towards stunt work, although I have always found a way to incorporate my love and knack for the visual arts into my path. As a newbie stunt man with an extensive background in acrobatics and high diving, (3x CAA Champion and USA Diving Top 15) surprisingly my most valuable skill was my ability to shoot and edit video, a skill I had picked up because of my love for creativity. My way of bringing my creative spirit to a project was to shoot live action previsualization content, edit a nice piece for the stunt coordinator to present. I was one of the first to offer fully edited sequences, which could then be directly story boarded and re-shot with the actors.   As the technology of cameras and editing programs advanced, so did I, earning the respect of the Directors DPs and Editors meant, to make sure I could also speak their language. Many producers I have worked for also began to see the level of efficiency it brought to the creative machine. No more showing up to set the day of a fight or complicated piece of action without knowing exactly what the plan was. I have been of assistance to directors such as Brian Singer, Steve McQueen, Deni Velanou, Luis Prieto, and most recently Greg Yatanius to name just a few. I also have a love for acting, and have had the great fortune of playing roles in productions such as 12 Years and Slave, Indiana Jones, The Crystal Skull, Die Hard 4, and most recently on The Black List. I have found the best way to communicate with actors is to know where they are coming from. I have taken many acting classes and workshops over the past 15 years, and worked with countless actors, often times helping them through very tough sequences. I pride myself in being a well rounded creative professional who is ready to bring a super high level of communication to a project. After all,  providing the actors with the tools needed to perform it, and the crew the tools needed to build it, is the ultimate goal.

 

Steven Ritzi- My journey in the film industry began with performing arts. My father was an accomplished jazz drummer, entrepreneur, and a true Renaissance Man in every sense of the word. Following his inspiration, I played drums in junior high and high school band, which led me to drama and musical theater in high school and college. I was driven by the desire to perform and be involved with performing arts production as a career. Living in Florida, I was not exposed to the film industry until my senior year of high school. My father took me with him on a business trip to Los Angeles where we experienced the backlot tour at Universal Studios. At that moment, I knew I had to be part of the film industry and stunts in particular. That was 1979. After college, I pursued stunts and acting in central Florida. Being raised on the water and around boats my entire life prepared me to land the lead role in a stunt boat show at the brand new Universal Studios Florida. That is where my film career really began. Due to the influx of film and TV production in Florida in the late 80's and 90's, I was able to hone my craft as a stunt performer as well as learn from some of the greats. After working with several legendary Stunt Coordinators, I knew very early that I wanted to take the lead and be coordinating myself. I was fortunate to create that opportunity early in my career and have been coordinating ever since. My philosophy as a Stunt Coordinator has always been not just designing and executing great stunts, but to enhance and motivate the story telling with stunt performance. The stunts must have true meaning and play a part in driving the story, otherwise they're just fluff. My desire to compose a journey by weaving strong actors and great action together is what ultimately led me to directing. It's been my good fortune to learn from many visionaries over my 28 years in the business. Robert Redford, Frank Darabont, Denis Villeneuve, Rian Johnson, James Cameron and John Woo are a few of the inspirational talents I've worked with side by side. There's no school like experience. Because of my performing arts background and passion as a performer, I've always had a strong connection with actors and a sensitivity they trust to guide them through the emotions and details of a performance. Over my many years as a DGA Director, I've been extremely fortunate to have directed accomplished actors on my second units such as Josh Brolin, Halle Berry, Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis to name a few. In every instance, they conveyed their appreciation for my intuitive nature, attention to detail and clear communication. In addition, they all expressed an interest in seeing me direct a movie, adding that they would gladly work with me as a main unit director. My love of performance and devotion to creating an exciting and memorable experience... This is what inspires me to direct.

 

Wrap it up

 

We feel very fortunate to be at this step of the process with an idea we dreamt up five years ago. We also truly enjoy the co-creative process with each other. We have both been in many creatively collaborative relationships, and have found ourselves faced with challenges, which result in an unbalanced final answer. Together we have always found it easy to find a compromise to any creative differences, which result in a better, more flushed out, path for the story to progress.More people then we had ever expected, in a very competitive industry, have come out of the woodwork to say, “It’s about time!”