I've been making things since 2006. Director, art director, animator — the job has different names depending on the project, but it's always been the same thing: figuring out what something should look like before anyone builds it.
Pre-production is the hardest part of filmmaking and the least visible. You're trying to hold the whole film in your head — casting, locations, shot design — before a single frame exists. Professionals solve it with massive crews and weeks of reference. Independent filmmakers solve it by guessing.
I got tired of guessing. I wanted to see my film before I shot it.
Ozu is the tool I built for iPad. It takes a script and walks you through Writers' Room, Recording Booth, Script Breakdown, Director Review, Storyboard, Editing Room, and Export — so you leave with cast, sets, boards, sound, and a first cut. Ozu delivers the first cut. You make the final cut.
The AI does the extraction, the generation, the sequencing. You direct. Every decision about what your characters look like, what your locations feel like, how your shots are framed — that's yours.
I'm based in Los Angeles. This is my fourth major project as a solo developer and my first as a filmmaker-first builder. The studio is called Inner Circle. The legal entity is Cloud Creator LLC, incorporated in Wyoming.
Ozu is built for filmmakers. Not everyone. That scope — film, pre-production, script to first cut — is where the tool stays.
— Wes Kandel