Ryan J. Sloan and Ariella Mastroianni’s feature Gazer is out now in theaters through Metrograph Pictures. Ryan co-wrote, co-produced and directed Gazer and Ariella co-wrote, co-produced and stars in the film. Ryan is an electrician turned filmmaker from New Jersey with no credits you’d recognize. Gazer is his first feature. Ariella is an actor and writer from New Jersey by way of Ontario, Canada. She founded the music and entertainment magazine NKD MAG in college with Catherine Powell.
Someone once gave us a crucial piece of advice: “If you want to write, then write. Don’t wait for an invitation.”
We want to share a glimpse into the journey of bringing our film Gazer from script to screen – a process that began in 2020 while we were living in the attic of Ryan’s childhood home, arranging and rearranging Post-It notes on the walls that contained pieces of the film’s multi-layered mystery.
Inspired by Darren Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan, we shot Gazer on nights and weekends in April and November, over two-and-a-half years. We financed the film ourselves by working multiple minimum-wage jobs. On some weekends, we would drive nearly three hours down to Atlantic City to sing covers from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. On our 30-minute breaks, we worked on Gazer. These were long, grueling years, but no one was going to take a chance on us. We had to do it ourselves.
Gazer was born out of a deep love for movies. We hope our process inspires other filmmakers to make their films on their own terms without waiting for an invitation.
Notes on Filming
I think one of the most challenging aspects of shooting a movie is securing the right locations. Finding a suitable gas station for Gazer proved to be quite an adventure. Ariella spent days scouting gas stations in nearby towns, only to face unwanted advances or outright rejections. Just when we were on the verge of giving up, with shooting dates looming, Ryan’s father casually informed him that his good friend owned a gas station. His friend was generous enough to allow us to shoot there on a Sunday evening after closing time.
The gas station’s location in Jersey City, New Jersey, presented an interesting challenge. We needed to create the illusion that it was directly across the street from Paige’s apartment, which was actually in Montclair, New Jersey. Ryan carefully planned the shot compositions to maintain this illusion, relying heavily on a shot-reverse-shot approach. This technique not only solved our geographical discrepancy, but also aligned perfectly with the film’s perspective, as the story unfolds through Frankie’s eyes.
Shooting at night on 16 mm film with the kind of limited resources we had presented challenges that many cinematographers might have found difficult. But we have to give it to Matheus Bastos, our dear friend and cinematographer, who skillfully embraced those limitations. For example, there were these fluorescent lights that were built into the roof of the gas station. We couldn’t figure out how to turn them off, so Matty strategically incorporated them into the scene. He and his gaffer, Daniele Sestito, placed tube lights in each corner of the station that pushed out the same fluorescent hue. He had Ryan and one of our producers, Bruce Wemple, set up a tungsten light to wash the side of an apartment building, which separated Frankie from the background. These kinds of decisions helped to create the gritty, noir-inspired atmosphere in Gazer.
This opening sequence draws inspiration from the haunting incidents in Antonioni’s Blow-Up, Coppola’s The Conversation and De Palma’s Blow Out. Like Thomas in Blow-Up obsessively re-examining his photographs, or Harry in The Conversation and Jack in Blow Out replaying audio recordings, our protagonist Frankie finds herself returning to this night, each revisit revealing new layers of perception and reality.
By embracing our limitations and drawing from these cinematic influences, we created a sequence that not only sets the tone for the rest of the film but also pays homage to the rich tradition of paranoia-infused, conspiracy-driven American cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. All thanks to a bit of luck, persistence, and a wonderful team.
Notes on Screenplay
Throughout the writing process, we explored different ways Frankie keeps herself present with her condition. In this early draft, Frankie would record herself rhythmically tapping and making loud sounds between self-guided directions to jolt her awareness.
We ultimately decided to keep it simple and focus on her voyeurism – the cassette directions are enough to establish how Frankie stays present with her dyschronometria and allows the audience to focus on what she is seeing across the street. The pre-recorded directions, which are a practical tool for Frankie’s condition, also serve as a way for the audience to understand her curiosity and perspective on the world around her – a window into her interior life. We wanted to find a line Frankie would realistically say to herself to stay present that would also engage the audience in the central mystery. We eventually landed on “Focus. What do you see?”
Trailer
We put together a short trailer as we were writing the screenplay so we could explore the visual tone of the film and have something to show people as we were building our team. This was shot by our friend Matthew Roveto, before we brought on Matheus Bastos. You can also see Grant Schumacher in the role that eventually became Henry Foster (played by Jack Alberts). Grant went on to play Frankie’s husband, Roger Rhodes. We recreated some of the sequences from the trailer when we shot the film. It’s really cool to see which moments of the film we had in mind before the script was finished.
All images courtesy Ryan J. Sloan and Ariella Mastroianni.
