Exploitation Hollywood 1980

Tulsa does not have a laboratory of its own. The negatives for "The Kid" had to be sent to Warner Bros.'s nearest laboratory in Dallas, Texas, for printing.

Every two days, the filmed negatives will be sent to the laboratory, developed into samples, and then sent back. The crew will rent a movie theater in the small town of Tulsa to play these samples at night.

Due to limited conditions, the routine of watching sample films every day has become once every two days.

What was playing on the screen that day was an emotional scene of three brothers filmed at Ma Zai's house.

Patrick Swayze, who plays the eldest brother, is actually thirty years old. He is quite convincing in playing the 20-year-old eldest brother. Although he is old and has a little wrinkles on his face, he is full of male hormones and has the explosive power to get angry. He still looks very much like a

young people.

After being beaten up by his eldest brother, Ma Zai, played by C. Thomas Hall, sleeps on the same bed as his second brother Soda Soda in the bedroom, and the two talk about their innermost thoughts.

This conversation was actually filmed in two days. The first day was filming the scene where Hall's character, Ma Zi, was talking, and the second day was the scene where Rob Lowe's character, Soda Soda, was filming.

The unedited sample film was flashed on the big screen. Ronald looked at the scene without synchronized dialogue and could only use his imagination to understand the scene of the conversation between the two after the final editing.

But sometimes, without dialogue, the audience can focus on the actors' facial expressions.

Ronald looked at the close-up of the two actors on the screen. The process of emotions from beginning to development, being stimulated by the other, reacting, and in turn stimulating the other, can be said to be very vividly captured.

Coppola didn't have much planning on set, and there wasn't a lot of interference, but the two people's performances were very accurate.

"How did he do it?" Ronald blurted out after seeing this.

"What?" Sitting next to Ronald was Diane Lane, and his father Bert.

"I mean, how did Coppola make their dialogues progress so well? It was obviously filmed in two days?" Ronald remembered that Bert had been an acting coach before driving a taxi, so he simply asked for advice.

"Didn't they rehearse for two weeks? On the last day, they rehearsed every scene in the two-hour script in sequence from beginning to end without stopping?"

Bert looked at Ronald and wondered why he didn't understand this.

"Ronald, you haven't studied acting formally, have you?"

"No."

“The continuity of performance depends on rehearsal.

Especially in film performances, each scene is separated. If you say a word, the opposite actor may have to shoot it two weeks later. Therefore, the main purpose of rehearsal before shooting starts is to solve the scale problem in the performance.

The non-stop rehearsal on the last day allowed each character to have a deep understanding of the role of their scene in the entire plot. This way, when they were officially filming, they could mobilize the emotional memory from the rehearsal and know what the scene should be.

How many points of emotion do you want to give?

When the final editing was put together, the actors' emotions were naturally in tune."

"So that's it." Ronald didn't expect the answer to be so simple. No wonder Coppola had to rehearse each scene in the order in the script during the rehearsal.

The official filming is not in order, but during rehearsals, the order of each scene is strictly followed.

This allows each actor to know the development trajectory of his or her character and the role of each of his or her scenes in the plot of the entire movie and the development of the characters, so that the actors can have an idea of ​​what is happening during actual filming.

How much force should be used in this sentence? How sad and resentful should this crying scene be? Does this scene need to break out suddenly, or does it happen naturally? All the scale and propriety of the performance are solved in rehearsals.

"How did you deal with this problem when you were a director?" Bert looked at Ronald.

"I don't know, so I just took the picture."

Ronald didn't know how he achieved such a "fast pace". He didn't have an overall rehearsal plan, especially the non-stop rehearsal at the end. No wonder he was so embarrassed when he saw the scene he directed on the big screen, which made people cover their faces.

I want to reshoot it.

"Hollywood..." Burt muttered and stopped talking. Roger Corman may be able to train directors who make profitable movies, but he can never train masters of art.

"I still have a question. Every time when rehearsing and performing, the actors are actually consuming the freshness. Why are they still full of emotions when they are filming?"

Ronald discovered another problem. When directing, the emotions in the first or second shot are often the most natural and full. If you want to shoot the third, fifth, or tenth shot...the actors will

They start to get tired. They can no longer show the abundant emotions they had at the beginning.

So sometimes even though the first one is flawed, it is still used because of the wonderful performance.

"Real shooting is still different from rehearsals." Burt replied, then leaned into Ronald's ear, "Besides, haven't you noticed that Coppola is letting actors accumulate energy every day, such as Diane and Dillon?"

Ronald glanced at Diane, who was sitting next to Bert. Diane had stopped talking to Matt Dillon these days. Dillon seemed to disdain Diane and was unwilling to talk to her.

This allows actors to take on roles in their daily lives.

Ronald finally understood the purpose of Coppola's series of tactics. For example, actors from two gangs competed to tease Diane, or deliberately made Diane and Dillon hate each other...

In this way, when it is filmed tomorrow in the drive-in theater, when Dali played by Ti Lung flirts with Cherry played by Diane, the accumulated emotions of the two people will burst out...

"Some directors like to let actors improvise on the spot, and that's why." Bert became interested. He hadn't been a drama performance coach for a long time, and it was rare that someone was willing to ask for advice, so he said a few more words to Ronald.

"Do you know why Stanislavsky studied acting methods?"

"Well, I really don't know. I don't like Methodists very much." Ronald has always been biased against Methodists. He thinks that their methods are too dedicated, invading the private space that actors should maintain, and then taking away their personal privacy.

Come out and show yourself naked to others.

"No, that's rubbish created by Lee Strasberg. Stanislavsky was originally trying to solve the problem in dramatic performances that as the number of performances increases, actors lose the ability to infect the audience."

Bert talked about his understanding of the performance system.

The interaction between people is very subtle. Based on their own life experience, the audience can quickly judge whether the actor is truly emotional or just pretending to laugh and cry.

Repetition is an actor's biggest enemy. Performing the same play in the theater day after day, the actor will soon lose his rigidity. The audience will no longer appreciate the subtlety of the drama.

All performance systems are designed to solve the problem of authenticity of the performance.

"One way is to rely on improvisation. If you say a line that is different from the script and do a different action, your opponent, another actor, will feel the fresh stimulation and give a true reaction.

.

A good director will usually ask the actors not to stop and continue performing when something unexpected happens, and often this kind of performance is the most exciting."

When Bert was an acting coach, he was famous for teaching improvisation.

He and his partner once broke into Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and performed an impromptu performance for more than ten minutes, then lied to the other party that it was a play they were rehearsing. In the end, he revealed that he had made it up and laughed at the other party.

Ichiban.

Soon Ronald saw the surprises on the set, the stimulation given to the actors, and the extra authenticity they brought.

What was filmed today was the scene that caused Diane and Tillon to not speak on the set, and Dali flirted with Cherry in the drive-in movie theater.

Dally, played by Matt Dillon, first lifts Diane's hair and then pretends to ask her if she has natural red hair or dyed it.

Ronald hid in a safe area behind the camera, watching Diane's performance.

Sure enough, the unhappy look on her face was very real. Not only was she disgusted with Dillon, but she was also uncomfortable with Dillon's behavior of blowing on her neck. This expression probably had many real elements.

However, because there was an explosive scene later, Diane still restrained her emotional expression. Now she looks like a little girl who is bullied, unhappy but afraid to show off. She is very charming.

Next, Dillon should put his feet on the back of the empty chair in front of him and continue to provoke Diane with his feet.

Then Diane couldn't bear it anymore and turned around to scold the little ruffian.

"Hey, hey..." In order to express Dali's chic and ruffian image, Matt Dillon completely let go of his hands and leaned on his buttocks on the seat. With his feet raised, he accidentally lost his center of gravity and fell.

Went under the chair.

"Hahaha..." Diane and Hall, who played Ma Chai in the back, burst out laughing.

Hall, the youngest actor, looked at the camera, seeking the director's signal whether to stop filming.

Ronald was so anxious that he gestured to continue. It would be a pity if such a good opportunity for improvisation was ruined because of his actions while looking at the camera.

Diane was much more experienced. She just glanced at the director and the camera with her peripheral vision. Seeing that there was no signal to stop, she immediately continued to play the role of a beautiful girl who was frustrated.

Fortunately, Hall saw Ronald's gesture and "continue" mouth shape, and quickly turned his head back and continued to perform.

"cut!"

After Coppola finished this part, he came over and patted Ronald on the shoulder. Fortunately, Ronald was smart about this part, otherwise Hall would only have to look at the camera for one scene, and there would be no room for editing in the whole scene.

All can be discarded.

"Well done, Diane." Ronald stepped forward to congratulate Diane. She did the best in this scene and could be called the youngest veteran actor on the set.

"It's not a big deal." After a while, Dai Yianchang couldn't help but chuckled proudly.

"bravo!"

At the sample viewing meeting a day later, Coppola took the lead in applauding this wonderful performance. All the young actors knew the truth and knew that this kind of coincidence was rare, so they also applauded.

"I have an idea. When filming the battle between the two gangs, I can wear the ugly dentures I used to have, so that when someone punches me, I can spit out the dentures when I turn my head.

, which makes the acting more realistic."

Tom Cruise was fascinated by the wonderful acting skills of Dillon and Diane, and wanted to imitate him. He thought of a plot for his character, and then asked Ronald if this would make his play more exciting.

A little gangster whose dentures fly out after being beaten not only feels real to the audience, but can also be turned into an improvisational performance, allowing the opposite actors to react more realistically.

"Francis, Tom has some new ideas for the big battle scene the day after tomorrow."

Ronald brought him to Coppola and asked him to talk about his ideas.

"My front teeth are fake, and I also have the kind of cheap dental crowns I bought in the supermarket before, which I can put on for this scene and close-up. These crowns are very loose, and they will fall off if I tilt my head hard.

come out……"

Tom Cruise sincerely hoped that Coppola would let him improvise.

"So you have to wear these ugly dentures in all your close-ups and close-ups. Aren't you worried about your image?"

"I'm not worried, what I'm worried about is that the character isn't realistic enough..." Young Tom Cruise said firmly.

"Well, let Ronald accompany you to talk to the makeup artist."

When Coppola saw the handsome guy actively asking to get closer to the character, he was moved by his enthusiasm and praised Tom Cruise for his dedication.