VidViz: Planning the Heist for June July
- Christopher Nichols
- Feb 4
- 5 min read
Hollywood is dying. This is how we are making something new.
We are in the early stages of making a feature film called June July, and we want to bring you along for the entire journey as we build it from the ground up. This post marks an important moment for us, because until now we have been holding back on sharing details while an exclusive article was being prepared.
That article has now been published by Carolyn Giardina on The Creative + Tech Blog, and it offers an excellent first look at what we are doing and why. If you want a broader industry perspective on June July and our approach to virtual production, we highly recommend starting there:
👉 Carolyn Giardina, The Creative + Tech Blog
With that piece now live, we can finally begin sharing our side of the story in more detail, starting here.
June July is a classic Western in the most mythic sense of the word. It is a gritty tale of vengeance and justice that could have been shot in the 1970s when American cinema was at its boldest.
When her son is murdered by hired gunmen, a hardened seventy year old farmer named June July comes for vengeance, cutting down each man who wronged her one by one. The only thing standing in her way is the town’s bright eyed young sheriff who quickly discovers he is in far deeper than he ever imagined.
It is a story about courage, corruption, and the cost of justice. And because it demands an honest, unvarnished approach to filmmaking, we realized we had to build it in a way that rejects the bloat and chaos of modern Hollywood. What used to be an industry of craft and intention has become a production line of smash and grab filmmaking. Crews run in, shoot everything, spray coverage all over the room, and hope the edit can dig out the truth later. It is filmmaking without a plan, and the system is collapsing under the weight of that approach.
We do not want to make movies that way.
In truth, no filmmaker ever really did.
That is where VidViz comes in.
What VidViz Is
VidViz is a method we have developed that brings filmmaking back to its roots, but with a modern twist. If you know the early rehearsal traditions of filmmakers like Sidney Lumet, you will recognize the spirit instantly. Lumet believed a film should be discovered before the camera rolls, not after. He would rehearse the entire movie on its feet, finding the rhythm, the truth, and the intention of every scene long before stepping on set.
VidViz takes that same philosophy and adds the worlds of the film to the process. The actors do not rehearse in a bare room. Instead, we use simple bluescreens and fast live compositing to drop them into rough versions of the world of June July. Nothing here is meant to be final. We do not polish keys. We do not chase perfection. We do not stop to fix technical hiccups. Those things do not matter at this stage.
What matters is the filmmaking. The framing. The blocking. The timing. The tension. The emotional truth that makes a scene worth shooting in the first place. VidViz is the Lumet Method translated into the digital age, a development tool that lets actors explore character while the director and DP explore the early language of the film.
Smash and Grab vs Heist Filmmaking
This idea of planning with intention became even sharper thanks to our Director of Photography, Richard Crudo, ASC. Richard has lived through every phase of this industry, from the tail end of the great 1970s to the digital explosion of the last two decades. He spoke about the way movies used to be made in the 70s and 80s, when filmmaking was essentially a heist. Film stock was expensive. Crews were lean. Every shot had to be earned. You did not dare walk onto set without a plan because you could not afford to waste a foot of film.
Digital cameras changed that culture. Suddenly you could roll endlessly, and planning disappeared. Productions began to overshoot everything. Choices moved from pre production to post. Scenes were built on hope rather than intention. It became smash and grab. Rush in, shoot everything, and pray it cuts together.
The industry still works that way, and it is bleeding out because of it.
VidViz is our way of going back to the heist. We are not turning back the clock. We are using modern tools to restore the discipline and clarity that once defined great filmmaking.
How VidViz Helps the Development of June July
Before going further, we want to share the first real look at this process in action.
Alongside this post, we have released a video that shows our VidViz workflow and offers the first visual glimpse of June July. It captures how we explore scenes, test performances, and validate creative decisions long before production begins.
👉 Watch the VidViz process and first look at June July:
This video shows exactly what we mean when we say VidViz is not about polish, but about truth. It is where we discover what works, what does not, and what the story is asking to become.
One of the clearest examples is the character of Ross, played by James Blevins. On paper, Ross was a small supporting role. But once we started working through the VidViz cowboy scene, something deeper emerged. James brought a history and presence that reshaped how we understood the character. VidViz revealed that truth early enough for us to respond to it, expand the role, and strengthen the story.
VidViz showed us who Ross actually is, and the movie is better for it.
The Money: Why Planning Early Pays Off Later
A major goal of June July is to embrace virtual production, a tool that has traditionally been seen as expensive and out of reach. We believe it does not have to be.
Because everything we do in VidViz is built in Chaos Vantage and translates directly into Chaos Arena for virtual production, none of this work is thrown away. Every decision we validate early becomes part of the final pipeline. And because we are planning so carefully, our time on set becomes focused and efficient rather than reactive.
Based on our past experience, this kind of preparation consistently cuts shoot days by at least thirty percent. That is where the real savings come from. Fewer days. Fewer surprises. Fewer expensive mistakes. We believe this approach allows us to make a rich, cinematic western at a fraction of the traditional cost, without sacrificing ambition.
This Is Only the Beginning
Now that the exclusive article is out and our first video has been released, we can finally begin sharing more openly.
This blog marks the start of a longer conversation. Over the coming months, we will continue to document the making of June July, sharing more VidViz sessions, behind the scenes material, and the creative discoveries that shape the film as it evolves.
Hollywood may be dying, but filmmaking is not. It is changing.
Stay tuned.
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