Out of Sight Out of Mind

 

Out of Sight, Out of Mind a film by Brian Follmer

 

United States, Mexico

123 Minutes, color, English, Spanish with English subtitles

Produced by Brian Follmer, Adam Leotta, Blake Adams, Asiel Norton

 

Travis Porter's tight group of friends and lovers splits apart when his childhood friend, O'Brien, becomes severely mentally ill. Now alone, the characters go their separate ways: Travis helps crowd-fund a socialist revolution in Mexico, O'Brien succumbs to mania and becomes a satirical Youtube celebrity, Kate seeks stability in online dating, and Lox embarks on his first indie rock tour. Their lives continue to cross paths and reconnect through the internet.

"This film is a satirical documentary about the world I lived in between 2009 and 2017. It's a personal story containing a blend of documentary and scripted footage that was hot internationally: Los Angeles, Yucatan, Mexico, New York City, San Francisco, and more.

 

Through the ensemble cast of characters, we tied together a wide array of themes: internet communication, socialist idealism and Imexic and the USA, Youtube celebrity, online dating, social justice warriors, society's treatment of the mentally ill, fear of illness, health obsession, social media obsession. But at its core, the film is a personal story of existential growth and human relationships.

 

Brian Follmer (1990) was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with a degree in English Literature. As a student he began writing novels and screenplays, and eventually srated producing and directing his own film projects. After graduating colege he lived in Ecuador and Peru. He shoots documentaries as well as fictional narraiges, sometimes blending the two in a single project. He has worked as a teacher, freelance writer, and freelance filmmaker.

 

Producer/Lead Actor Biography

Adam Leotta was born and reared in Los Angeles, California. He attended Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and was awarded Best Actor by NoBudge Film Festival for his role in Merely Players (2014).

 

Producer Biography

Asiel Norton is a producer and director living in Los Angeles. He is committed to the independent film movement, won the Jury Prize at Raindance and was nominated for the Someone to Watch Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards for his film Redland (2009), and was nominated for the Grand Prix des Ameriques at the Montreal World Film Festival for the same film.

 

 

What was the inspiration of the story?

In December 2012, I was living in the South American Amazon (Ecuador), and I wrote down the first basic outline for the story "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," which evolved over the next three years into a 550-page screenplay about my personal experiences between the years 2009 and 2014. The story focuses on a character (O'Brien) who becomes mentally ill, and the way his best friends react to this personality change. The character O'Brien is inspired by a handful of very close friends of mine who have had psychotic episodes. The character of Travis (the narrator) is a satirical version of myself, and the rest of the main characters are inspired by myself or people I know. This feature length cut of the film omits many hours of the 500+ pages of the screenplay, almost all of which we shot. The original vision expands on the main characters and their relationships with one another, and we currently have an episodic cut of the film, including 8 chapters, which will premiere in 2019.

 

What was your filmmaking process on set?

We had a small crew (usually between two and six people) and focused mostly on working with the actors. I encouraged them to improvise dialog, because although the script was detailed, I much preferred the realism and spontaneity of their performances when improvising, which I never could have written. I also shot a lot of documentary footage before and after shooting scripted scenes, which is some of my favorite material, and some of which is included in this cut of the film. I tried to constantly shoot the actors, just in case something interesting happened. The actors quickly became annoyed with me, but they also loved it.

 

What filmmakers influenced the film?

My influences were wide, ranging from John Cassavetes to Terrance Malick. The Dogme 95 and Mumblecore film movements were very influential, in their guerilla filmmaking techniques and improvisational atmospheres. There were also a lot of films I talked about during pre-production which weren't direct influences, but were films I really loved at the time, often because of their production design or sense of surrealism or realism: Vincent Gallo's "Buffalo '66", Zach Braff's "Garden State", Cristian Mungui's "Beyond the Hills," The Dardenne Brothers' "L'Enfant", etc.

 

Zander..Blake Adams

Vivian..Katie Booth

O'Brien..Brian Follmer

Lox..Geordie Kieffer

Travis..Adam Leotta

Octavio..Jose Martin

Gavino..Tiburcio Nac

Sammi..Julianna Pirillo

Kate..Katie Singleton

Paige..Oonagh Tunney

Music Journalist..Martin Pobutsky

Record Label President..Eric Roberts

Drew..Anthony Gros

Freddy..Phillip Andre Botello

Christian..Cole Carter

Jordan..DeOtis Tole

Blake..Joshua Krumbein

Obilobe Fans..Alexes Shears/Harpal Khosia/Jasen Talise

Socialists..Aurelien Favere/Yoe Carrera/Fable Alejandro/Marcial Chan/Highlander Pat

 

Director..Brian Follmer

Executive Producer..Brian  Follmer/Adam Leotta

Screenplay..Brian Follmer

Producer..Brian Follmer/Blake Adams/ Asiel Norton

Co-producer..Brian Esquivel/Nick Antonyan

Producer (Mexico Unit).. Gabo Ximinez

Unit Production Manager (Mexico Unit)..Albert Ochoa

Production Assistants..Kevin Liu/Tyler  Haberman/Mary  Mondrus/True Shields/Carina Glasser

First Assistant Director..Immanuel Baldwin

First Assistant Camera..Matthew  Hardesty/Tamara Santos/Javier Santos Audera/Jenny Baumert

First Assistant Camera (New York Unit)..Vadim Goldenberg

Gaffer..Albert Ochoa

Additional Cinematography..Adam Eurich/Donald McKinnon/Nicola Newton

Camera Operators..Vlad Ionescu/Brian Follmer/Alex Choi

Steadicam Operators..Vlad Ionescu/Michael McDonald/Stefano Ben/Mike McGill

Editors..Asiel Norton/Tomer Almagor/Spence Nicholson/Gavin Segall-Abrams

Digital Effects..Valentin Guereque

Casting Director..Candido Cornejo

Casting Assistant..Maiya Ventus

Sound..Don Abernathy/Mitchell Toller/Rommel Suniga/Sam Farahmand

Sound EditorTadahisa Yoshida 

Music..Mitchell Toller/Jordan Kaufman/Mac Sinise

Three of the principal actors, Julianna Pirillo, Geordie Kieffer, and Brian Follmer, played characters who are musicians in the film. The three actors used their musical talents to create original music that was eventually used in production, including the songs:

 

"Electric Angle"

Written and performed by Brian Follmer and Jordan Kaufman

 

"Red Line"

Written and performed by Geirdie Kieffer

2016 BadPlanProductions

 

"Running Out"

Written and performed by Julianna Pirillo