By Tammy Scileppi
If you’re in the mood for a secret fling — in the form of an escapist love story, that is — a soon-to-be-released film promises to sweep you off your feet.
“If I Had A Piano (I’d Play You The Blues)” is a new work by Queens-based writer/director Stephanie Gardner, and she describes it as “an experimental art piece, which explores love, romance and desire in a short film format.”
With over 14 short films under her belt, this is only the second in which the young filmmaker personally raised a budget to make it on a professional scale and market it to festivals.
Gardner’s non-traditional style is evident in her short’s dream-like quality.
The story centers around a couple parked in a car on the streets of Jackson Heights. The two would-be lovers yearn to be together, but struggle to bring their desires to life.
“We are then swept into the imaginations of these characters’ desires and shown an alternative world, as if they were completely together as lovers,” Gardner, who lived in Jackson Heights for a while, said. She recently set off to travel the world and gather inspiration for her next film. She said she hopes to return to Queens soon.
That alternative world was shot in the woods of Emmaus, Pa. — near Allentown — and also in her childhood home there.
“I liked the stark contrast between Jackson Heights, which we shot at night, and the nature of Pennsylvania, which was mostly shot during daylight,” she said.
With the film locked and sound design complete, Team Gardner has started to promote the short to festivals — a process that will continue through 2016, as there are hundreds, maybe thousands of festivals around the world now.
Like a symphony in multiple movements, Gardner’s film is an “explorative romance in five movements.”
So it isn’t surprising that a love of music, piano, and the blues influenced her filmmaking.
“I sometimes tell people that I believe I was a jazz musician in a former life,” she said. “I consider the act of creating films to be very similar to composing and playing music. Like music, a film has phrasing, rhythm, beats, and a melody.”
In the filming and editing process, Gardner’s focus was on the concept of theme and variations.
It’s more of a “feeling” piece than a “thinking” piece, she said, adding that the musical score was an integral part of this process. It was recorded live with a three-piece bossa nova trio comprised of musicians playing drums, bass and guitar.
“We recorded an hour’s worth of music, 11 tracks in all, but there was one track that I immediately knew was perfect for the film. It’s the most fluid and experimental; a minimal bossa nova score where the drummer occasionally uses a bow to make ambient sounds with his drums. I edited the entire film to this track specifically,” Gardner said, pointing out that another crucial part of editing is sound design, which makes the film feel “very present and alive.“
After conceiving and writing her film last summer, Gardner said she began pre-production almost immediately with her director of photography, Shivani Khattar. Next, she proceeded to raise some seed funds to get it off the ground, and decided to split the production into thirds.
“First, we filmed the sequence in Jackson Heights, as I had raised just enough money to shoot those scenes. After creating a teaser from that footage, we had a fund-raiser in New York City and raised money to shoot the second portion of the film, in Pennsylvania, and to record the music in a studio in New York,” she said. “Once all the footage was shot, I took my time with editing, and held a big fund-raiser in Pennsylvania to raise enough money to complete post-production.”
Explaining why she loves her craft, Gardner said, “It’s a blank canvas that you can do anything with and stretch the imagination beyond human potential. I love how intimate film can be. It’s a medium that can be educational, inspirational, entertaining, and even confusing, but the possibilities are limitless.”
