Q&A: Kacey Fifield is Channeling Her Inner Final Girl in ‘OUT OF MIND’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY NATALIE D.C. ☆
Photo by Cassidy Morris
KACEY FIFIELD IS TAKING THE PHRASE “OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND” TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL—On Halloween of 2025, the LA/NYC-based actress, singer-songwriter and filmmaker released her pop-rock anthem and slasher-inspired music video “OUT OF MIND,” which was recently selected by indie film festival DANCES WITH FILMS (DWF:LA).
The day before its world premiere on June 26, Luna spoke with Fifield about everything “OUT OF MIND”—from her edgy musical aspirations to her horror/thriller narrative inspirations to her experience working with an independent, all-women crew of fellow student filmmakers on a passion-project-turned-indie-success.
Read Luna’s conversation with Fifield below.
LUNA: Congratulations on the release of your single and music video “OUT OF MIND!” For readers who are unfamiliar, could you briefly introduce yourself?
FIFIELD: I’m a singer-songwriter and filmmaker. I started off acting when I was super young. I was born in Chicago, but I moved to LA when I was 8, and did a lot of acting in various short films, commercials. I was in a few episodes of some Nickelodeon shows, some true crime stuff. Nothing too crazy, some short films that got selected for film festivals, also. Throughout all of that, I was also always writing my own stuff. I loved writing feature films—even when I was super young, I'd be writing the craziest plots, and then I'd be shooting stuff on iMovie and editing it together.
I also got into making my own music. I released my first song when I was 10, which is crazy. It was such a little kid song. It was called “When I Grow Up.” I started taking music really seriously when I was around 16. In college, I got the opportunity to explore filmmaking more, specifically with working on my music videos. I directed the music video prior to this one called “JANE AUSTEN READER.” So, this one was a really fun challenge. It was my second time ever actually directing a project. After that, I started working on other people's music videos as well, and also short films for friends. Now, I'm working on writing some stuff that I'm hopefully going to be able to produce in the fall, and then also some more music videos.
LUNA: Thank you for that introduction! I love that you’re so accomplished at such a young age. How would you describe the sound and style of this current project from your perspective as writer, co-director and co-editor?
FIFIELD: When I was working on this one, it was last year over the summer. From the get-go, I wanted to make something that was pop-rock. The previous single that I'd made, “JANE AUSTEN READER,” was pop-rock, but more happy, like Disney Channel pop-rock vibes. So I wanted something a little bit more edgy.
When we started working with the producer, Riley Aki, immediately he started playing some synth sounds that felt very haunting to me. So, when I was writing the song in the studio with him, I already had the ideas for the visuals. I already knew that I wanted it to be a Halloween release and something that was more spooky. In the chorus, there's this crazy guitar part that comes in, this crazy drumbeat that turns the spooky, eerie atmosphere to something that's straight up rock shredding type vibes.
I knew I wanted there to be a transition totally in the visuals as well so I worked with my amazing DP [director of photography] Varvara Aristakesyan who I've worked with on a bunch of other projects as well, and we really wanted to create a visual look and also a storyline. I wrote a script even though it's a music video. I really wanted…to match specific parts of the song with specific parts of the visual story.
LUNA: As you touched on, “OUT OF MIND” is a catchy pop rock anthem with edgy lyrics and a slasher-inspired narrative. What is the origin story behind this song’s lyrics?
FIFIELD: “Out of sight, out of mind” is the thesis statement of the song. It's basically saying that, when this person's out of sight, they're out of mind. Like, the first verse is literally saying, “I stay up all alone, I never think of you. I watch our favorite show and each episode is a rerun, but I don't really care.” But then, when this person's encroaching back on your life, you kind of feel like they're almost a stalker—you're seeing their Instagram posts, maybe they're texting you again, and it feels the same way as it feels when you're being haunted by a killer or stalked by a serial killer. So, that's the parallel there. In the chorus, it explores more of, “Dang, now that I've seen it, and now I'm actually in it, I'm like, ‘I don't stand a chance against this anymore because that previous love and that toxic relationship is all coming back full force now that you're in sight and you're in mind.’”
LUNA: As you mentioned, you co-directed and co-edited the “OUT OF MIND” music video with fellow student filmmaker Varvara Aristakesyan. What was it like collaborating with her on this project alongside an all-women crew?
FIFIELD: It was amazing. The whole crew was 4 people, including me, all of whom are like my amazing, super talented filmmaker friends, and they are all women. The cast was literally also just me and then 3 different people who played the serial killer at different points in the video—they're similar enough, so it doesn't really catch your eye unless you know.
When I'm directing, and also in front of the camera, it's really important for me to be able to trust the crew. Because it was people who I had worked with before—also people who I know are very passionate and serious about what they do—it was really great to be able to make a shots list and then see the shots [without] hav[ing] to reshoot it a ton of times. I'm watching it back and it looks exactly how it looks in the script, exactly how we described it in the shots list. Then, later when I'm editing it, it’s perfectly in sync with the storyline and where it's supposed to be.
Also just having friends with different talents! For example, I edited the video on Adobe Premiere Pro, but I don't know anything about color grading, so Varvara color graded it. It was just really nice having that collaboration, and then also having everyone be willing to do whatever is necessary. When we were shooting the scenes in the venue, there were only 3 of us, and I'm in front of the camera, Varvara's holding the camera, so we only have 1 person to manage everything else. We really wanted the spotlight, so she had to be running back and forth to physically hold the spotlight and then come back down and slate the video—that was my friend Marie Louisa, who was the first AD [assistant director]. Having everyone be super on board to do anything necessary to get the shots. Especially since we're operating on [a] very, very low budget—literally just a couple hundred dollars and a dream. It was really great to have people like that in my corner.
LUNA: You star in this music video as not one, but two versions of yourself! How did you prepare for these juxtaposing roles?
FIFIELD: I really love slasher movies and horror movies, and I haven't really had the opportunity to act in many, so it was fun for me to be able to do that for my own music video. It was just a mindset thing, because I think, for a lot of my other previous music videos like “JANE AUSTEN READER,” that one is very lighthearted and fun, so my acting doesn't really matter as much. We're goofing off when the camera starts rolling, and then I just do the scene.
But here, especially when I'm supposed to be acting scared and running from this person, I know it's actually my friend in the suit, and then my other friends are behind the camera and they're also making jokes, and I have to actually seem scared. I definitely had to take a few moments to get into the mindset, and switch mindsets when I was going back to Crazy Kacey. The costume changes definitely helped. When I was in the stage outfit—I had the giant jacket and I was doing hair flips—all of that definitely helped me get into the vibe of that character. Versus the other one—I'm wearing a hoodie, I'm closed-off. Those physical things definitely helped with changing characters.
LUNA: The “OUT OF MIND” music video was recently selected by indie film festival DWF:LA and is slated for its world premiere this Friday at the TCL Chinese Theater. Could you describe how this achievement came about and what it means to you and the crew?
FIFIELD: It's really exciting. It means a lot, especially since the festival's been going on for the past week, so I've been able to attend some panels and events and talking to some of the people there is insane. It just makes me think, “Wait, this festival is actually [an] even bigger deal than I thought it was.” Some of the people there are super accomplished filmmakers—people who work with big studios as directors—but now they're submitting their short films to the festival, and coming to the same panels as me. Watching the films has been so inspiring, because it's fully independent, and it's incredible what people are able to do with the limited resources that indie filmmaking offers.
In terms of submission, I just submitted [“OUT OF MIND”] online, not really expecting much. I got an email a few months ago that it was selected, which was super exciting. I attended DANCES WITH FILMS 10 years ago as a little actress. So, it was on my radar from that, and I knew that the festival was amazing, and I had a great experience back then. I was doing some Reddit digging, and people were saying, “Oh, it's really hard to get in. It's one of the higher tier festivals.” I'm like, “OK, whatever. I'll just submit, and I'll submit to a few other places and see where it hits.” So, it was a fun, exciting surprise, and a really incredible opportunity because the team there was very passionate about every single project—they don't just have AI screen or anything. They watch it, they take notes, they are excited about everything that they select. They also really care about having opportunities for us to meet other filmmakers, panels for us to learn more about financing bigger projects. Being able to be in an environment [with] so many people who actually care has been really great.
LUNA: What a perfect full-circle moment that must’ve been. Finally, what are some pieces of media (music, film, literature, etc.) you’ve been drawing inspiration from recently?
FIFIELD: I went on a really big reading spree, because I was just studying abroad in Australia, and I had a ton of free time. I learned that I really enjoy sci-fi thriller[s]. I read these two books called Dark Matter and Recursion by Blake Crouch, and they're both thrillers in the sense that the main character is fighting for his life, and there's all this crazy stuff happening, but there's also sci-fi elements with different timelines and wormholes. I really like that as a genre, because I also do like sci-fi, like Project Hail Mary. I love the book, love the movie.
I recently started watching this show called Widow's Bay. It's on Apple TV and I literally started watching it because, at one of the DANCES WITH FILMS panels, they were talking about how it's really great, so I was like, “OK, let me check it out.” It's like your favorite filmmaker's favorite film type vibe. I think it's really good in the sense that it combines horror and comedy in a way that feels very fresh. It doesn't feel forced at all. The characters are genuinely funny, but there's also all this creepy, spooky stuff happening. I also really like when horror doesn't rely on just jumpscare after jumpscare. I think it's fun when filmmakers play with tropes and what audience expectations are. The show does a lot of that—creates a haunting sense of dread over jumpscares, which makes the actual jumpscares feel a lot more fun.
I thought the same about the movie Obsession. Obviously, everyone's talking about it. Awesome independent filmmaker win. I also thought that one did a really good job at balancing jumpscares with just genuinely disturbing stuff.
