Exploitation Hollywood 1980

Gary Tierges is the director of photography for the film "Sticky Fingers" directed by Kathryn Bigelow. He mainly makes a living as a photographer on projects such as small-budget films and commercials, and as a second-unit photographer on some large projects.

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Bigelow, Helen and Ronald say Gary Tierchis is more impressive as a photographer than a photographer.

Low-cost productions often have to rent second-hand equipment, and many very old cameras have many mechanical problems. He can use them very smoothly with just a few fiddles.

What Bigelow will never forget the most is that Gary Tierchis made a camera attachment himself. After adding it, it will be very convenient when shooting long shots of sports.

Before the crew started shooting, Ronald had to finish the long aerial shots at the beginning and the end. He invited Gary Tirchis to discuss the issue of stabilizing the heavy camera for the aerial shots.

When Ronald was filming "Top Gun" before, he encountered a big problem with aerial photography. That time it was because it was impossible to use any bracket to fix the camera outside a fighter jet flying at high speed to capture the image of the aircraft itself.

Later, Grumman engineers modified the aircraft's camera gun and installed an ultra-small camera in the cockpit to solve the problem.

The difficulty of using a helicopter to take aerial photography this time is different from the last time using a jet. On a helicopter that is constantly moving, it is necessary to ensure that the focus of the aerial photography lens is as close as possible to the Statue of Liberty in the center of the screen.

The camera stabilizer (Steadicam) commonly used in film shooting can only solve the jitter problem caused by the photographer's own up and down movement. In this aerial photography, the jitter in the picture is mainly caused by the acceleration of the helicopter's hovering.

Therefore, the effect of using a Steadicam on a helicopter can only slightly stabilize the camera lens. Keeping the Statue of Liberty always in the center of the picture still depends on the photographer's own arm strength and experience. When shooting with the hatch door open, the wind at high altitude

It is a very big test for photographers.

"In the long shot at the opening of Sticky Fingers, we needed to keep the center aligned with Helen's footsteps in the long shot that was constantly moving. Then after more than ten seconds of tracking, we had to perform a push-and-pull operation to move the camera back to her and her

A close-up shot of the other heroine’s upper body, and finally a mid-length shot of the whole body.”

Gary Tierges used a viewfinder to simulate the motion of the camera at the time. He explained his little invention to Ronald.

"We laid the track. When filming, the camera was not directly fixed on the rail car, but a cross slide rail was used, which gave it two-dimensional freedom and allowed it to perform push-pull and pan movements within a certain range.

, while doing the action, always follow the movement and rotation of the target.”

Gary Tierges placed a small cross-shaped slide under the viewfinder and simulated camera movement with his hands.

"So, this thing can help us always aim at the moving target in the general direction, and then do the camera push, pull and pan movements in a small range?" Ronald figured it out, "This system of yours, generally

Can photographers operate it? Or does it require special training?”

"In physics, this is a superposition of two action systems. Of course, our operation will not be so complicated, just like..." Gary Tierchis thought about how to explain, "Do you have a dog? Walk it.

When he is a dog, he will follow you, which is the main movement. Then he will look forward, backward, left and right to see if there are other dogs, which is his own small range of freedom."

"But a dog doesn't need to understand physics to follow me?"

Ronald was not at ease, so he asked Gary Tierchis to install the system on a pickup truck of the crew, fixed his Sony camera on the system, and then asked the driver to drive out, followed by Little Bud in front of him.

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I took a lot of experimental footage on the road, and when I returned to the hotel, Ronald played it on the video recorder. Sure enough, the footage was perfect. There was no jitter in the footage, and the Mercedes-Benz driven by Little Bud was always in the center of the frame.

Then Ronald pushed, pulled, and panned himself, and it was well reflected on the picture. Finally, Ronald also used a zoom to zoom directly to the back of little Bud's head. The picture was always very stable.

And Ronald didn't have any difficulty when operating it by himself. The weight of the camera was borne by Gary Tierges's little invention. He only had to use a small amount of force to move the camera.

Photographers can focus all their energy on how to frame and focus. People like Ronald who are not professional cinematographers can still shoot very good pictures.

In this way, when taking aerial photography, you no longer have to rely solely on the photographer's arm strength to move the camera, but use his arms to keep the camera's movement trajectory smooth and stable.

"What a useful invention. Have you applied for a patent?" Ronald decided to rent this system for aerial photography.

"Yes, I just applied for a patent. If possible in the future, I would like to open a company to manufacture this kind of machine and rent it to photographers. You know, camera stabilizers (Steadicam) are a big business now, almost everyone

The crew will use it. The applicability of my gadget is not that strong, but it won’t be a problem to start a small business. I am a member of the Cinematographers Association.”

"Oh, then you can add the name of ASC."

Ronald said to himself that he never expected that Gary Tierges would be able to join the American Cinematographers Association even though he was making a low-budget film. This was a great achievement for his career as a photographer.

The American Photographers Association is not a labor union, but an honorary technical association. Members do not organize strikes, but exchange film photography techniques with each other.

At the very beginning, the association was established to solve the problem of white streaks on the screen caused by static electricity from the camera. Later, Huang Zongzhan, the first famous Chinese cinematographer in Hollywood, invented a technology that allowed blond actors to

In the era of black and white film, eyes are no longer empty.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! This technology has also benefited many handsome blond beauties, making it a thing of the past for beauties with brown hair and brown eyes to monopolize Hollywood.

Starting from the time of Huang Zongzhan, the Cinematographers Association began to publish the "Cinematographer's Manual" for reference by photographers in the industry. Every time the technology is upgraded, it will be revised. Now it is a modern re-published manual.

The fifth edition.

To join this association, you must have served as a director of photography for feature films in the past five years, and you also need to be recommended by three photographers associations. Generally, it is a senior director of photography who will use ASC (cinematographer) after the subtitle name.

The abbreviation of association member) qualifications.

But Gary Tierchis is a technical inventor, so it shouldn't be difficult to find a recommender.

"But it takes a lot of money to produce this kind of equipment. I am still making money as a photographer. When I raise enough money, I will entrust a Hollywood prop manufacturer to produce it and let my wife open a rental store in Burbank.

I personally prefer to be a director of photography for movies."

"If you just want to do this, I can let you realize your dream ahead of time." Ronald smiled, isn't this a good industrialization opportunity?

"Perhaps you don't know that many of the lightning lights used by theater crews and Broadway are produced by my company. I also produce new tapes for editing. If you are willing, we can cooperate. Your technology, coupled with my experience in Stein

The production capacity of the Don Island plant.

You can use your technology to invest in shares, or charge royalties for each piece of equipment. We can ask lawyers to negotiate terms that are beneficial to both of us."

"Oh yeah? So you produced that lightning lamp? Nowadays, many low-cost horror films also like to use it. It is much brighter than the original lightning lamp." Gary Tierges saw that thing on the set, and it flashed for a while.

It’s not much worse than the sunlight during the day.

"Yes, we are still improving the technology and preparing to upgrade the high-voltage devices. By next year, we will have a lightning bolt that can produce satisfactory effects on film during the day."

"That's great, I'll ask my lawyer to discuss the agreement with your lawyer. I just want a factory like this to help me take care of all production problems." He shook hands with Ronald again, expressing his determination to cooperate.

"Do you need me to help you with this aerial photography? I am most familiar with my inventions." Gary Tierchis was in a good mood and began to take the initiative to help.

"Which regional union are you from? 644 or 666?" Ronald asked. He also wanted to invent someone to help him operate this small machine.

"I'm 666 from the Los Angeles area."

"Sorry, this movie is the property of New York Photographers Guild 644."

"Understood." Gary Tierchis stood up and said goodbye to Ronald.

The code name Ronald mentioned is actually the code of the local technical trade unions under the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees. This is different from the ASC association that Gary Tierchis said he joined. This 666 is the same as the Actors Guild.

Yes, a compulsory union.

Unlike the three major national unions of directors, screenwriters, and actors, the unions for technical workers are all local. Then the local unions join a major alliance composed of all technical and behind-the-scenes staff unions - the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees.

Protect rights.

Why are there national and local differences between these two types of unions?

This is because, in the budget table of Hollywood producers, there is a horizontal line in the middle of the salary part of the budget to distinguish the two types of personnel.

One type is on the horizontal line, called online jobs. They are three types of people, screenwriters, directors, and actors. These people need to set a budget before filming, and their remuneration cannot be paid in working time.

Simple measurement.

In other words, these people are artists and creators. One person's performance for a day may be much more expensive than another person's performance for a week.

For example, in Working Girl, although Melanie Griffiths is the number one character in the movie, her salary is only US$800,000, which is far lower than the US$1.5 million earned by the second female lead, Sigourney Weaver.

, let alone Harrison Ford’s six million dollars.

These remunerations are often determined by the box office generated by the movie, and whether there are any additional dividends and bonuses. Movies are screened nationwide, and stars receive dividends, as well as union residual dividends distributed to other ordinary actors, both of which require nationwide

percentage of income from sex.

In this way, these three types of work were combined into a national union.

Most of the people devolved horizontally are not artists. Their wages can basically be calculated simply based on their working hours and their own level. They include but are not limited to photographers, sound engineers, dressing rooms, costume designers, prop artists, and stunt people.

, even the drama crew has a special trade union.

Photographers belong to three major regional unions. New York’s code is 644, and Los Angeles happens to be assigned 666, which many people think is a devil’s code. This is consistent with how many cinematographers decide whether the heroine is beautiful or ugly.

Because "Working Girl" was filmed in New York, the camera crew hired local union members in New York. Gary Tirchis from Los Angeles 666 was not allowed to participate in the production of the project without permission.

Anyway, this aerial shot was completed by a specialized photographer, a second team who often engages in aerial photography, so Ronald did not bother to let Gary Tierchis join.

When the day of the scheduled shooting arrived, just like the weather conditions in history, it was a rare good day. The sun shone on the water outside Manhattan, making it shine with golden light, which was very poetic.

Seven o'clock in the morning was just the right time for the best shooting. Ronald was waiting for the photographer at the helicopter pad. Gary Tierchis had already installed the bracket in advance, and Ronald went up to operate it himself.

After a while, the equipment was debugged very well.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The driver is still the old man wearing sunglasses. He is very familiar with Ronald and even handed over a cup of instant coffee.

"Thank you..." Ronald took it and took a sip. It was really comfortable to have a hot drink in winter.

"Where's your photographer?" the driver asked.

"Isn't this coming?" Ronald pointed to the aerial photography expert from the local union who came over.

The man was tall and thick, about the same height as Ronald, and he looked like he was a good camera operator.

"Director, we can't shoot today." But what that person said was very unpleasant.

"It can't be shot, what the hell are you talking about?" Ronald frowned, why did this movie not go so well? Let's hear his reasons first.

"This is a rule of the New York Photographers Union. The wind speed has exceeded the standard. For aerial photography, it is risky for photographers to open the hatch in such strong winds. This is for our safety."

Looking at Ronald's expression, the photographer added, "At this temperature, strong winds will not only make the helicopter unstable, but will also make our body temperature drop. We will definitely tremble, and I'm afraid we won't be able to take a photo."

use."

"Don't worry, I installed this good thing." Ronald took him to the helicopter and pointed to the installed cross device - something Ronald specially named "Dog Head" in order to commercialize it.

"With this, you don't have to worry about shaking." Ronald looked at the pilot again, "Can you fly today?"

"No problem, our pilots won't ground the plane just because of this wind speed. You know when I was in the Army, the machine gunner would open the hatch and control the Gatling."

"See? This rule was probably set for the previous shoulder-mounted shooting. Now that we have this thing, the wind speed will not pose additional risks." Photography director Michael Ballhaus was also nearby to help talk.

Ballhaus wanted to go up there by himself, but according to the rules of the 644 and 666 unions, the director of photography himself could not touch the machine. He could only do overall artistic control, and operating the camera required a specialized job.

"I can't. If you insist on me, I will call the union representative. Sorry, director, this is not a personal grudge. If we violate the union rules, we will be reported. We may be kicked out of the union.

, I won’t have a job in the future.”

"BullShxt!" Ronald cursed. There are only a few people here, who would report it to the union?

"Michael, are you a union member?"

"I am not 644, but I have also joined a trade union in Germany and enjoy the same treatment as members of the International Photographers Union. But what the hell, I'll take pictures for you," said Michael Ballhaus.

The Cinematographers Guild is unique, perhaps because Hollywood introduced many European photographers in the early days, so it is the only one among all the film industry unions in America that has the word "International" in front of its name.

Michael Ballhaus is nominally treated the same as the International Photographers Union, but if he commits a foul, 644 cannot punish him with coercive measures.

"You can't do this, it's illegal." The photographer yelled from behind.

"Who cares about you?" Ronald said in anger.

The two prepared for a while. Michael Ballhaus became familiar with the operation of the dog head and was full of praise.

Just when the two were about to take off for aerial photography, the photographer and another man in a suit and leather suit came over, carrying a briefcase.

"Hello, I am a representative of the 644 union. I have received a report that a foreign photographer violated union regulations and went to the sky to take aerial photography when the wind speed exceeded the standard. According to New York's union laws, we have the right to ban his behavior."

"E on, he's not your member?" Ronald was anxious, jumped out of the helicopter and called him.

"Sir, this is not what I said casually. This is the law of America and New York State. For people who perform the same job from other states or foreign countries, we have the right to give them priority in the job if other employees with the same qualifications exist.

Right. You are violating New York State law by doing this. You can choose a shooting time with less wind. You will only lose some costs."

"I..." Ronald was anxious. The best time for shooting was about to come. "This is not a matter of money. I have been applying to the New York City Hall for two months for this half-day helicopter aerial photography! Apply again.

I don’t know how long it will take.”

"Sorry, if you ask Mr. Ballhaus, a photographer with the same qualifications as our members, to get on the helicopter, I will call 911 and let them stop your violation."

"Fuxk you!" Ronald gestured towards the camera.

"Fuxk you!" the photographer replied with a wicked smile. Shooting was not allowed due to accidents, and the salary had to be paid.

"The law is the law. I'm sorry and I sympathize with you. But if someone reports to us, we must protect the legitimate rights and interests of union members. This Mr. Ballhaus has the same qualifications as our members..." This union representative

Having dealt with this kind of thing often, he is old-school and knows that there are many interests involved in this kind of thing, and he just wants to keep things official.

"So, if there is someone who doesn't have the same qualifications, it doesn't count as taking his job, right?" Ronald took out his sunglasses from his pocket and put them on himself.

"Hey, you're violating the rules!" the photographer said anxiously.

"Fuxk you!" I have no qualifications, I just went up to test the equipment.

Ronald got on the plane, fastened his seat belt, patted the driver's seat, and signaled the pilot to take off.

The rumbling rotors rotated rapidly, and the helicopter took off from the ground in one go.

"Just like this, just like this, circle around the Statue of Liberty, fly in a spiral, and then fly towards the ferry." Ronald whispered to the pilot in the headset.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The retired pilot flew very steadily, and Ronald completed the shooting task happily.

"Thank you, you flew well."

After landing, Ronald said goodbye to the pilot, and director of photography Ballhaus came over to ask Ronald about the situation.

"The equipment is well debugged..." Ronald smiled.

"He's gone and the union representative said a fine may be issued."

"I don't care about that much, as long as I get a photo. It's not easy to get a permit for aerial photography in lower Manhattan, and helicopter rentals are also very expensive. They figured it out and wouldn't let them fly if the wind is strong."

Ronald cursed a lot.

"Ronald..."

Someone was calling him, and Ronald turned around and saw Sigourney Weaver sitting in the car, greeting him.

"Just right, you're on time." Ronald looked at Sigourney Weaver, who was wearing a very nice snow-white mink coat. She had just returned from Kenya to reshoot the biopic of a gorilla expert, and she happened to be here for the filming.

The first scene of "Working Girl".

"Action!"

The team was ready, and a camera crew had their cameras ready, and the lens was focused on the helicopter whose rotors were still spinning just now.

Sigourney Weaver got off the helicopter, holding a very large gorilla doll that was as tall as a person. Holding the doll, she also pinched the doll's neck with her hands and stretched it across the neck according to Ronald's request.

come over.

"Cut!"

Making the best use of everything, the helicopter happened to be there, so Ronald took the time to take this shot.

"Why such a big gorilla?" Sigourney Weaver asked with a smile.

"Congratulations on your return from the gorilla shooting expert." Ronald replied with a smile. He bought this from the most famous doll shop in Manhattan for a very expensive price.

"No, you must have other reasons. What are the characteristics of the character Catherine? Do you want to remind me?"

"You think about it yourself." Ronald replied with a smile.

"I thought about it..." Sigourney Weaver, who had been thinking about what Ronald wanted to remind her when she returned to the hotel, had a dream after falling asleep, and woke up and screamed.

"I thought about it. Ronald is so awesome. It turned out that I wanted to find inspiration from the classic movie King Kong."