Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 263 The script is the root of everything

  This morning, the first day of filming has been developed as a sample. The core members of the crew such as Ronald, Matthew, Hecklin, etc., will watch the demo together with the representatives of producer Linson, Azov, and Tom Mount in the screening room of Universal.

   With the jammed film cassette, Ronald went to Universal with DP Matthew. Before watching the dailies, they went to the producer to complain.

   "I've already said that this pile of garbage is no good, and now it has seriously affected the shooting." Ronald put the large film cassette on the producer's desk.

   "Thanks to Matthew being careful, we did most of the shoot, but in the end it stuck again. Ruined a box of film, and some of our shots."

   "What's going on?" asked Lin Sen and Azov, the producers who were going to watch the demo.

"Like your secretary's printer often jams, the film jams in this UltraJam. It's happened twice, what if he jams when it's an important shot? I don't Dare to think."

  Lin Sen's face is a little ugly. This is a big problem. Camera failures should not appear in Universal's films. If the production was shut down due to a camera failure, then he, the producer, was also responsible, and he agreed to use the UltraCam brand of machines.

   Another producer, Azov, knew very little about technical equipment. At this time, he tried to find a solution, "Can't you find a manufacturer to repair it?"

   "Of course, but the manufacturer of UltraCam... um." Lin Sen remembered the rumors he heard in the technical department. This camera is actually hand-made, and the producer has some relationship with the studio and wants to open up the market first and then improve the quality of the product.

   Therefore, the quality of UltraCam cameras varies greatly between individuals, and some parts cannot be used interchangeably. Their crew just got lucky and got a camera with a quality problem.

   "Let's go to the experts in the photography department, maybe they have a solution." Lin Sen asked a camera assistant to take the machine to see if there was any way to repair it.

   "Let's find a spare camera for Ronald and his crew to use first?" Azov suggested again.

   "It's not too appropriate. Different cameras have different optical path designs, and there will be subtle differences in perspective distortion. The audience will see different styles of shots taken by different cameras." Director of photography Matthew said.

   "Let's go to see the demo first. When the work here is over, the camera side will almost have the result."

  Today was the first day to watch the demo, and several producers and representatives of high-level officials sat down one by one. Ronald also sat with the core members of the crew, next to Cameron Crowe, and Heklin sat on the other side. She still felt that she was unique in directing the actors and wanted to see the effect of the demo.

   A white light lit up, and a silent image lit up on the screen.

  The two processing methods of the same scene shot by Hecklin and Ronald, the scene where Ronald was in a hurry to shoot the child and the scalper Mike bargaining, are all reproduced on the screen.

   After placing the samples, the light came on.

   The two producers had no objections, and the high-level representatives didn’t say a word, just taking notes. It seemed that they were generally satisfied with the first day of filming, with Ronald proving that he could at least make a decent low-budget teen exploitation film, which was pretty decent.

   Ronald looked at the blank screen, lost in thought, his brows furrowed, as if he had found something wrong. He said to Cameron Crowe, and producers Lin Sen and Azov, "Did you see it? It seems that the picture is a little foggy?"

   "Fog?" Azov saw no difference.

   "Yes, about 20% of the films have serious problems."

   "Yes, this one is obviously different from the previous one." Lin Sen was more familiar with filming than Azov, and he could see it.

  Hecklin came over and joined the discussion, "Ronald, Mr. Linson, have you found the problem too?"

   "Huh?" Ronald was awakened from his meditation, "There are some problems, we have to go to the photography technical department later..."

Technical department? ' Hecklen lowered her voice and said in Ronald's ear,

"I'm referring to the scene where Linda imparts her experience to Stacey, and there's something wrong with the performance you filmed. Linda was speaking from the point of view of recalling her own experience, and you filmed it as a storytelling. I don't say that. Challenge your authority and just hope this movie gets better."

  Hecklin knew from the day that Simberg and Spielberg stood for Ronald, that she had little hope of replacing him. Mount also has no plans to take further action, saying it will come later.

   She observed Ronald's words and deeds in the crew for the past two days, preparing for her independent film direction in the future.

   But after all, Judge Reinhold and Jennifer Jason Lee are all actors introduced by her relationship, and she doesn't want their acting careers to be delayed by the "fast pace".

  Especially Jennifer, who rejected the arrangement of her father Vic Morrow and the role of "Officer and Gentleman", if she was misled by Ronald...

   So she came anyway and pointed out to Ronald privately what she felt was inappropriate.

  Ronald reached out and asked Crow for a script, with some pages pasted on Post-it notes, and handed it to Hecklen without speaking. This was originally what he was going to use to fight back against Hecklin at the demo viewing meeting, but now she asks questions privately, indicating that she has conceded defeat, so there is no need to fight back publicly.

"what is this?"

   "Look for yourself, I asked Crow to mark all relevant lines spoken by Phoebe Cates' characters."

  Hecklin opened the script suspiciously and looked at the dialogue passages that Crow had marked with a colored marker. It was Linda recounting to Stacey a conversation she had with her boyfriend Doug.

   "If I hadn't had a perfect boyfriend in Chicago who worked in college...

  Doug works for Chicago Airlines…

  Doug averages 20-30 minutes…

  Doug can take 30-40 minutes at a time…

  …

  ”

   "What? The details of her Doug are different each time? Is this boyfriend Doug imagining by Linda?" Hecklen exclaimed.

   "Yes, look at Linda's performance in the pool." Ronald pointed to the script.

  Hecklin flips to the pool scene.

  Stacey and Mark and Mike, frolicking in the pool together, Linda in a red bikini, sitting by the pool with her head bowed...

"what do you mean……"

   "Yeah, Linda has never had any experience with men and women, so she has a mental barrier to playing water fights in the swimming pool with boys, so she entered the room and saw Brad..."

  Cameron Crowe explained to Heckling in detail.

   "Linda did this because...?" Hecklin suddenly had a new understanding of this character.

   "Yes, teen **** is what it is. All the people talk about it, but very few actually do it."

   "Why? How did you see it." Hecklin was not prepared for these devils hidden in the details.

   "I adapted the script. Linda's behavior and words are inconsistent, very obvious." Ronald replied.

   "Oh, thank you for telling me this." Heckling closed the script and handed it back to Crow.

   "It seems that if you want to be a good director, you have to write the script yourself." Hecklin knew it in her heart, "At least you have to communicate the details of each character with the screenwriter."

   "But I like your handling of Jennifer's call for a handsome customer. What's the reason for this slight fear?" Ronald turned and asked Hecklen. Having seen the demo, he himself felt that Heklin's handling was more real than his own.

"Oh, you don't understand the psychology of girls, Ronald. Before we go out on a date with a guy for the first time, we're always nervous, you don't know what kind of guy you're dealing with. What's his character, his temper Okay, wouldn't it be savage, you know men are always stronger than women."

  Hecklin replied, "In particular, Stacey has no experience with men, so she can't predict."

   "That makes sense, thank you." Ronald thanked Hecklin and put on his sunglasses, "I'm going to the photography technical department. There are some problems with this batch of samples. Would you go with me?"

   "Is there a problem? Why didn't I find it?" Hecklen said to herself, "Wait for me, let's go together."

   Several people came to the camera technology department, and the camera assistant of the crew was anxiously waiting for their arrival.

   "Matthew, Ronald. They haven't figured out what the problem is. They simply checked the winder motor and tried it several times. It doesn't look like a motor failure."

   "Not like it?" Ronald was angry, and his words were a little heavy. Most of the time I've been shooting on set with no issues of film jamming, but one night's shoot has been reproduced twice. He has to find out why.

   "Uh... uh, I mean, the technicians didn't rule out the problem with the motor, but they didn't find any signs of a problem after testing the machine." The camera assistant was frightened by Ronald's tone.

   "Ronald." Director of photography Matthew called Ronald, "Don't blame him, let's talk to the technical experts."

   "Okay, this camera is really in big trouble, I'm a little anxious," Ronald told his assistant.

   "Hi, Matthew, are you here?" The technologist greeted him when he saw Matthew coming over.

   "This is Ronald Lee, our director..." Matthew introduced the crowd to him.

   "What's the problem?" Ronald asked urgently.

   "It could be a mismatch between the motor and the cassette housing, or a problem with the gearing, or, very rarely, the motor is intermittently overheating."

   "So you can't be sure?"

   "I can't help it either. The after-sales service of this manufacturer is very poor. I was against buying their products at the beginning. What the film industry needs is stable quality assurance, not one or two technical highlights."

   Seeing Ronald's unhappy face, he was about to have a seizure. The director of photography, Matthew, quickly interrupted the other party's self-complaint.

   "Do you have any solutions? There are still 20% of the films that have fogging problems, how to deal with them?"

   "We have no choice but to wait for the manufacturer to explain."

   "You!" Ronald was very angry at the so-called technical expert's attitude, and he took a step forward to spray.

   "We went to Alonso, he might be able to solve your problem." The technologist was taken aback by his actions, and quickly said a person's name.

   "Who is Alonso?"

   "John Alonso, a photographer, often goes to various production crews to put out fires and solve problems that other photographers can't solve. Many times, he solves problems that ordinary people can't solve.

   He is the descendant of Mexican immigrants in Texas, and many say he knows Mayan witchcraft. ' explained DP Matthew on the side.

   "Okay, let's wait. If it doesn't work, we'll take a break from shifts and shoot at night. If the manufacturer's people can't fix it, we'll change to Alai. It's a big deal to reshoot the previous two days."

   (end of this chapter)