Head of the week: Mister John Doe

 
Marco Lutz won the jury and audience awards at the Swiss Film Awards in Solothurn with a trash video. 
The audience and the jury were unanimous as they rarely are at a festival. Marco Lutz from Winterthur won both first prizes in the "Sound & Stories" category for his "super lowbudget" trash video "Ah Ah Ah Ah" with the one-man band "Urban Junior". Public recognition that comes late for a 36-year-old who took his first step towards world class at the age of 17. Back then, however, it was still in sport. But let's take a look back at this un-Swiss success story of a trendsetter, entrepreneur and film director. "I'm a late bloomer in everything I do," says Marco Lutz. The snowboard pro and former eighth in the world rankings only started snowboarding at the age of 17. During his commercial apprenticeship, he needed "an outlet" for his desires. After that, he was on the board "every free minute" and only lived for snowboarding. Soon he was also able to live from snowboarding. "That was in 1988. I was lucky enough to grow with the first push of this new sport." As a result, the talent "got into contracts pretty quickly" and won many professional freestyle competitions around the world for nine years.
At the same time, Lutz and three colleagues founded the snowboard and skate store SigSagSug in Winterthur in 1995. "There was nothing else in this sector and the demand was huge." The young entrepreneurs quickly became one of the best-known retailers on the scene. The company is embedded in the umbrella company John Doe Ltd. "That's a term from American criminology," explains Lutz. John, or Jane Doe in the case of a woman, is what the police call people who cannot be identified. "We liked the name because we started out with a small store and didn't know where we were going."
Today, John Doe employs 18 people. The company is divided into three branches. In addition to the SigSagSug store, there is the wholesale business JD Distribution. Marco Lutz added JD Pictures as a third pillar in 1998. Through this film production company, which does not have its own technical infrastructure, Lutz now markets himself primarily as a freelance director for commercials. JD Pictures is still housed in the large store in the middle of the storage racks with all these props from the skater and snowboard scene. Marco Lutz feels like an entrepreneurial "maverick", but still enjoys being with his people. The entire John Doe business is rented in a former post office transhipment hall near Winterthur railroad station.
It all started with filming when Marco was still on the road with the snowboard circus: "I had an insanely crazy life back then." Snowboarding in July on the glaciers of New Zealand. Or at two o'clock at night in the mystical glow of the midnight sun in Sweden. In between times back home in Winterthur, he told his friends about such adventures. "But it all sounded so unbelievable." That's why he finally wanted to record his experiences.
Lutz bought one of the handy DV cams when he was 26 and had it with him all the time from then on. He showed the first video with snowboard footage as part of a customer promo in the store. Although the 40-minute film was "very amateurish and full of mistakes", people reacted enthusiastically and wanted more.
The self-taught filmmaker shot his third film in 16-millimeter format. He incorporated more and more "in-between stories and weirdness" or visual effects, for example with dynamite, until his snowboard films finally showed an unmistakable signature. He was able to market the films in Japan as well as in the USA. His last snowboard movie "Kingsize" (2003) sold 42,000 DVDs. And in Russia, the boom for such action sports videos is only just beginning. Marco Lutz's films are naturally at the top of the charts.
In the meantime, however, the director has changed the scene. Lutz no longer sees spontaneous action as a new challenge, but rather meticulously staged cinematic art. He has been shooting commercials, corporate films and music videos since 2003.
His first music clip was for the Grisons hip-hop collective "Sektion Kuchikäschtli". Since then, he has also filmed for DJ Tatana, Dada Ante Portas and Züri West. Lutz believes that one recipe for his films, which are celebrated by the industry, is that he does not want to imitate the style of the much more expensive US clips. "The problem is that in Switzerland we always chase after what's already out there. That's why one cliché follows the next in these videos." Lutz is trying to break this trend.
This image of being different has also earned him the corresponding specialized jobs in advertising. With Advico Young & Rubicam, Marco Lutz realized "EAR'Dis" for Sunrise. He is currently working on a similarly trendy project for Goldbach Medien. But he can also bring his style to bear in an "Employee Film 2007" for the Clariden Leu bank or an image film such as "Dubai Pearl".
The commercial director, who has a background in action and music films, is convinced: "You can turn any storyboard into something that makes people say: I've never seen it like that before." Lutz prefers to get involved at the creation stage. But there is also the usual way, where he is presented with a finished script.
Marco Lutz has so far worked with Absolut Turnus, Chocolate Films and PingPong. In Germany, where he attracted attention with a commercial for Ikea, he is represented by Markenfilm and BM8.
What attracts him to the commercial is "that you have to get to the punch line in 30 seconds". The whole focus is on that. "You have to work very accurately and precisely."
And the feature film? Of course, someone like Lutz has his dreams here too. But he wants to take his time. "I can't stuff my backpack with enough know-how until I dare to make a feature film." For him, this includes "a perfect book". Lutz doesn't want to write it himself, because he is convinced: "If you want to save Swiss film, it will only work if you take and support people who write good scripts and stories. I find it very tricky when directors start filming their own stories."
The "workaholic with a passion for this lifestyle" no longer seeks respite from all these activities by snowboarding, but rather by surfing. This text reached him in Costa Rica for proofreading. Over the next two weeks, he plans to introduce his two daughters - seven and nine - to the world of the boards that mean life to him.
Andreas Panzeri