Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 258 Chapter 209 Booting

   8pm on October 19th.

   This was the call-up time for the first day of filming at Fast-Paced Richmond High. All cast and crew had to arrive at the filming location - Sherman Oaks by this time.

   Director Ronald arrived at the shooting site thirty minutes early.

  The first assistant director, Al, has been working here for nearly an hour in advance.

  Today is the first day of filming, and everyone arrived early to adapt to the unfamiliar working environment and personnel.

  Ronald was taken to the dressing room on the top floor of the mall by Al, which used to be the office of the department store. In order to cooperate with the filming, 5 dressing rooms for actors, and warehouses for props, costumes, and other staff were allocated.

   "Is everything okay?"

   "It's all good, the actors will be in place soon, the make-up and hairdo will start makeup and eyelashes for the two heroines, the actor Robert Romanus has arrived and is getting his hair done, and the costumes will be changed for him soon."

   "Very good, are producers Lin Sen and Mr. Azov here?"

   "Mr. Linson has arrived. He went to say hello to Jennifer. Mr. Azov will be late. He came from MCA Music's office. His secretary called me."

   Ronald went through the departments and found Cameron Crowe at the location of the first shot.

  Crow and his girlfriend Nancy Wilson watched the work of DP Matthew as they watched a film on set for the first time.

   "Hi, Cameron, Nancy." Ronald greeted them, "Why didn't you see Hecklen?"

   "She was still there just now and said she was going to pick up important people."

   is nothing more than inviting him to the upper platform, Ronald knew it. He was not worried, except that he also invited someone to stand on the stage, but also because Hekelin's actions did not conform to the rules of the set.

  Filming is a large-scale operation involving hundreds of people, similar to military warfare. The crew is a hierarchical society, the director is the head of the crew, and they pay attention to orders and prohibitions.

   If someone doesn't listen and wastes a shot, it's a huge loss of property and time. In a capitalist society, time is property.

   An extra day of filming time, all kinds of people in the crew have to pay an extra day’s wages. For a most basic supporting role, the union minimum wage is $315. The "fast-paced" crew has many supporting roles, plus some resident group performances, the actor's salary alone is several thousand dollars.

   Therefore, for a long time, Hollywood has formed a customary rule that no matter what the struggle of the upper level is, you have to obey the director's orders in the crew, even if you think he is a fool.

  Hecklin wanted to take her place as director, so she had to fire herself on the grounds that her dailies were not up to standard, and then take her place. This also has to be filmed for a few days before this reason can be used.

   In the first few days, all she could do was attract more actors and staff in the crew, and pick on her own director's faults.

   "Where's the car prepared by the stunt crew?" Ronald asked assistant director Al.

   "Here, a Toyota Corolla, a Volkswagen Beetle." Al led him aside, where the stunt crew rested.

   "The Corolla drove first from the driveway near the camera, then the Beetle drove from the far driveway, and stopped at the entrance of the mall halfway, and the anchor point is there." Ronald ordered in a few words.

   The stunts during the filming of the movie are not, as some people imagined, doing lightsaber stunts like Star Wars, but generally refers to all the actions that the actors themselves do not do. The more prominent is the vehicle driving, which is generally done by stuntmen.

One of the pilots of the   stunt crew was a rare woman in the industry, named Debbie Evans. She gave Ronald a thumbs-up sign that she understood. Stunt people like to order specific directors like this, they are good at designing operations.

"Matthew." Ronald went back to where the camera was, and called the director of photography again, "This is the first shot, I want a fixed camera, aim at the gate of the mall for a panorama, and then scalper Mike shoots from the camera Enter from the rear and shoot him across the road and into the mall."

  The director of photography expressed his understanding, "Did you hear it? The director has spoken, move."

   "Very well, I'll go up to rest, I'll be here before the shooting starts at nine o'clock.

   Instructed the photography team, Ronald went upstairs in the shopping mall again. In a small room specially provided for him, he opened the folding chair with his name on the back, sat on it and closed his eyes.

   It has been more than two years since the last time I directed a movie. Finally got another chance to call the shots and direct a movie.

   And this time, he is the official director and has a chair with his own name on the back.

   At half past eight, the crew assistant knocked on his door.

   I have already thought about the scene to be shot several times in my mind. Ronald stood up, picked up his folding chair, opened the door and walked out.

  The crew assistant quickly took off the chair in his hand and handed over a metal thermos cup with Lipton black tea brewed in it. This is the refreshing drink ordered by the director.

   When we arrived at the shooting scene, the lighting was already set up, and the light perception of the scene was restored very well, but not very bright. It has the feel of night, but brightens up the characters and the background.

   The range of darkness and light that the camera can recognize is called the dynamic range, which is much narrower than the human eye. The job of the director of photography is to make the light that the camera shoots on the film negative so that it feels comfortable to the eye.

   This is a job that requires theory and experience, and Matthew does it well.

   Called Robert Romanus, who played Scalper Mike, to check his attire and hairstyle.

   Ronald felt that there was no problem, and signaled to the first assistant director Al to start shooting.

   At nine o'clock in the evening, the mall is usually closed at this time, but the lights are still bright today. Groups of pretend customers get ready to walk down the street.

  The assistant director holds an electric horn and asks all units to pay attention to the preparations for filming. Immediately, the sound at the scene stopped, leaving only some faint motor sounds, which were stunt vehicles being prepared.

   "Recording?"

"opened."

   "Camera"

   "motor full speed"

   "Action!"

   Al repeated loudly through the electric horn, "Action!"

  The camera was aimed at the entrance of the mall and took a panoramic view. The passers-by and customers acted in groups, walking on the road, or entering and exiting at the entrance of the mall.

  The stuntman in a small white Toyota Corolla passed the driveway in front of the camera.

  Robert Romanus, who plays scalper Mike, is wearing a light-colored suit with a slightly oversized high-shoulder pad, dark navy blue pants, a peaked cap, and leather shoes. Running into the frame from the rear right of the camera.

   He trotted across the road, waited for the Beetle to stop, went around behind the car, walked onto the opposite sidewalk, and walked in toward the mall door.

  “Cut!”

   Ronald looked at the director of photography, and after getting Matthew's confirmation, he said to the assistant director, "This print, let's do another one."

   After shooting this scene, Ronald ordered to end the shooting here. The camera crew disassembled the camera and prepared to move it to the top floor to shoot the rest of the scene today.

   This just-finished shot is also the first shot at the beginning of the movie. It wasn't Ronald's intention, it was a coincidence.

  Because there is only one shot outside the mall, the shots for the next week will be shot inside the mall. For the convenience of arrangement, I simply mentioned that the shots will be taken first. After that, the mall can turn off the lighting in front of the door and close the door to ensure that the shooting is not disturbed.

   Ronald went up to the top floor first, which was divided into two shooting areas. On one side is the movie theater, where the leading actor Mark, the ticket inspector, and Mike the scalper are shot.

   On the other side is Perry's Pizza, where the heroines Stacey and Linda are talking about a handsome male customer.

  Today, the crew hired hundreds of ensembles to play the roles of customers and staff. After the mall closed, all the lights were turned on normally, several fast food restaurants were still open, and their staff were still cooking fries, pizza, burgers, and supper for the cast and crew.

   In return, their store signage will be filmed as free advertising. The snack clerk can also mix a shot in the background.

   Art director Dan, who is putting fake "Richmond's" signs in the mall, as well as various pom-poms and banners.

  Director of Photography Matthew, instructing the lighting team to step up the installation of pre-designed and debugged lights to save time.

   The lighting arrangement for indoor play will consume a lot of time.

   But the art director and the director of photography know that Ronald is an insider and respect them. So prepare to sell some strength this time and come up with some real effort.

   They jointly designed a lighting system, hiding the lights in the position of normal shopping mall lighting, so that the light path is like the original lighting of the shopping mall.

   But the brightness of the light is much brighter than the bulbs in the original mall, which can fully illuminate the scene for shooting, so the main light is very stable.

   The lighting engineer does not need to spend two hours re-lighting every time after changing the camera angle, and only needs to adjust some secondary lamps for fill light, which greatly saves time.

   Ronald stood at Perry's Pizza first, and took the shot of this side first.

   While shooting in the pizza shop, the lighting supervisor will go to the cinema door to prepare the fill light for the next scene. When the filming is over here, the lighting over there is just finished.

   Since the actors on both sides are different, this lighting can be done in parallel with the shooting on the other side, saving a lot of time.

   This is a quick shooting method that Ronald, the director of photography and the art director negotiated.

   If you can grab some shooting progress in the first week, it will be a great thing for the entire crew to shoot.

  Ronald took advantage of the fact that the camera crew was measuring the focal length, and stood still, waiting to talk to Phoebe Cates, who was standing still with the focal length.

   "Remember how I felt, Phoebe. You're telling Jennifer's Stacey a story."

   "Okay..." Phoebe Cates nodded sharply. This Ronald director is much more relaxed than the previous director when he filmed "Paradise". He will tell the actors some scenes and the inner activities of the actors, but he does not stipulate his own performance methods.

   also gave the actors a lot of time to prepare, allowing them to quietly brew their emotions without being disturbed.

   Jennifer Jason Lee, who will play Stacey soon, is also ready. The two girls are not famous stars, there is no standing stand-in, and they are honestly waiting for the photographer to prepare. The makeup artist is still finishing them false eyelashes.

  Ronald was about to give Jennifer some points.

   "Ha, Ronald. Nice to meet you." came a disgusting high voice. Breaking the actor's quiet emotional preparation.

   Ronald heard that it was Universal's president Tom Mount, and his heart was inconvenient. How can a CEO condescend to come to the crew on the first day of filming, so impatient? Moreover, he didn't understand the rules of the set, and he spoke loudly before shooting, which destroyed the emotional preparation of the actors.

   "Good evening, Mr. Mount." Ronald prepared to hug him.

   Mount held out his hand to shake his hand. Ronald hurriedly changed his posture and shook hands with him, maintaining his apparent composure.

   "I happened to be free, and I came over with Heckling to see the situation on the set." Mount took the initiative to explain.

"Okay, please bring a chair to Mr. Mount." Ronald ordered Assistant Director Al, then grabbed him and whispered in his ear, "Go to Cameron Crowe and ask him how matter."

   Jennifer and Phoebe readjusted their moods and the lights were in place. Ronald and the director of photography, Matthew, communicated that they could start shooting, and announced the start of the first shot of the scene.

  The camera is behind Phoebe Cates, an over-the-shoulder shot, aimed at Jennifer, to capture their conversation.

   "Do you think he is handsome?" Stacey said to this Linda.

   "Don't you think he looks like Richard Gere, look at that **** little ass." Linda replied.

   "Do you want to serve his table instead of me?" Stacey was a little shy and wanted to strike up a conversation but was afraid of being rejected.

   "What are you waiting for? If I don't have a great boyfriend in Chicago, I'll **** myself." Linda encouraged, "Go ahead, just order him."

   "Look him in the eyes after ordering, and then whenever he tells any joke, pretend it's the funniest joke in the world and laugh it out loud to him. . . . Well, then don't forget to smile."

   "Hee hee hee..." Stacey smiled, still a little nervous.

  Linda arranged her clothes and hairstyle and let her go.

   "Cut!"

  Ronald thinks it is very good. Although Jennifer is 19 years old, she can play a 15-year-old girl. She expresses the emotion of being shy but wanting to meet a handsome guy very well.

  Phoebe Cates completely listened to her own guidance, and told Linda a lot of chat experience and on-site guidance. The way she spoke, like she was telling a great story, was convincing.

   "Matthew?" Ronald asked the director of photography.

   "Okay." Matthew asked the operator of the camera, and there was no problem throughout the process.

   "This one is printed, let's do it again." Ronald ordered, ready to change the angle after shooting, and take another set of over-the-shoulder shots, this time aiming at Phoebe.

   "Wait a minute, don't you think there's something wrong with Phoebe's mood?"

   A harsh voice came over, and everyone in the crew swiped and looked over.

   is Associate Producer Amy Hecklin.

   "I'm not interfering with your thoughts, director, but here is a place to discuss." Hekelin lowered her voice and came over to talk to Ronald.

   The whole crew brushed again and focused their eyes on Ronald.

"I think Linda's tone here seems to be telling someone else's story. I think it should be a more mature Linda here, like Stacey, who has not yet had a boyfriend, imparting her own experience, so it should be based on her own experience. Say, there should be a kind of sweetness that reminds me of my boyfriend."

  Hecklin talked eloquently.

  Tom Mount also sat up from his chair, posing as if he were listening intently.

   "What do you think? What do you think?" Instead of discussing how Phoebe Cates should play Phoebe Cates on a case-by-case basis, Ronald questioned that she shouldn't challenge her authority on set.

   "I think you should give it a try. Hecklin has some truth in what Hecklin said. Why don't we make one according to her idea and make a decision when we watch the demo tomorrow?" Mount said aloud and put forward his own "suggestion".

   "Why don't you come up with one yourself?" Ronald motioned to Assistant Director Al to let Heckling do the acting, and gave up his seat himself.

   Because he saw Crow standing outside the crowd winking at himself, as if there was some news.

  Hecklin begins to tell Phoebe and Jennifer a play, and the staff and actors look at each other, not knowing what is going on. Who are you listening to?

Ronald took two steps to retreat outside the circle, and Cameron Crowe approached, "I called Linson's assistant, Spielberg's box office statistics last weekend, and 'The Lost Ark' is back. Climbed to the top.

  Simberg went to ET's studio to celebrate. Mount did not agree to shoot ET at first, but now he is a little passive and wants to do some actions to restore the influence. "

   "So you came to me for confidence?" Ronald thought.

   "But Spielberg went to celebrate? He won't come today, right?" I reminded Spielberg's assistant Katherine during the day.

   "It doesn't matter. Even without Spielberg, I wouldn't lose." Ronald's mind was spinning at a high speed. How would he refute Hecklen when he watched the demo tomorrow? How to win the support of the producer?

   (end of this chapter)