An insecure student with a crippling crush must find the courage to be seen
Featuring SYML‘s haunting cover of “Mr. Sandman”, TIM brings us to an high school setting following an insecure student who tries to find the courage to be seen. ‘The Invisible Me’ may sound like a superhero film at first, but we quickly realize that it’s just about a regular student and the common issues they often face – a story that unexpectedly blemishes into a strong statement.
As a father, I found it a curious thing to step back into a school environment with my children. I forgot how complex a world that can be. It was impossible not to notice how some kids made choices (with hair or clothing) to stand out while others were doing everything they could to hide or “disappear”. With TIM, I wanted characters from each end of that spectrum to confront each other, but I wanted it to happen in a way that showed empathy to both. TIM is a story for anyone who’s ever felt invisible.
TIM (The Invisible Me) has it all, a chilling soundtrack, visual effects, high school emotions captured in slow motion and a twisting and uplifting ending. But all this was only possible from John Grammatico and his team’s incredibly talented work. The charming photography takes great advantage of its depth and colors to create a sympathizing harmony with the evolving storyline.
TIM was filmed with an Alexa Mini and Cooke Anamorphic/i lPrime lenses by Cinematographer Luca Fantini. The character of TIM was dressed in a head-to-toe green suit and plate shots of every background TIM was in were meticulously captured so that my team at The Mill, Chicago could remove the green body parts, replace missing backgrounds and then rebuild pieces of clothing that were covered by TIM’s green face, hands, etc. The vfx work was a mix of 2d compositing from practical elements I shot on set, such as replacement clothing and fabrics, glasses, etc. and then 3d modeling of anything that could not be handled in 2d, such as TIM’s hat, glasses, certain fabrics and the way they move, etc.
