Exploiting Hollywood 1980

October 19th at 8pm.

It’s call time for the first day of filming at “Fast-paced Richmond High.” All cast and crew must arrive at the filming location, Sherman Oaks, before this time.

Director Ronald arrived at the filming scene 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. 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 shopping mall by Al. This place used to be the office of the department store. In order to coordinate the shooting, five dressing rooms for actors and warehouses for props, costumes, and other staff were created.

"Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine. The actors will be in place soon. The two heroines will start makeup and eyelashes. The actor Robert Romanus has already arrived and is doing his hair. The costumes will be changed for him soon."

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

"Mr. Linsen has arrived, and he went to say hello to Jennifer. Mr. Azoff will come later, he came from the mca music office. His secretary called me."

Ronald goes through the departments and finds Cameron Crowe at the location where the first scene was filmed.

Crowe and his girlfriend Nancy Wilson watched the director of photography Matthew at work. It was their first time watching a film on set.

"Hi, Cameron, Nancy." Ronald greeted them, "Why don't you see Heckerling?"

"She was here just now. She said she was going to pick up important people."

It was nothing more than inviting people to the upper platform, Ronald knew that. He was not worried, not only because he also invited people to stand up, but also because Heikelin's behavior did not comply with the rules of the set.

Filmmaking is a large-scale operation involving hundreds of people, which is similar to military warfare. The crew is a hierarchical society, and the director is the head of the crew and pays attention to the rules and regulations.

If someone doesn't listen to the command and wastes a shot, it will be a huge loss of property and time. In a capital society, time is also property.

For an extra day of shooting, all kinds of people on the crew have to pay an extra day of wages.

For a basic supporting role, the union minimum wage is $315. “The fast-paced crew has many supporting roles, and with some permanent extras, the actor’s salary alone is thousands of dollars.

Therefore, for a long time, Hollywood has formed a conventional rule. Regardless of the struggle at the top, you must obey the director's orders on the set, even if you think he is a fool.

Heckerling wanted to replace himself as director. He could only fire himself on the grounds that the quality of his samples was not up to standard, and then replace him. This reason can only be used after several days of filming.

In the first few days, all she could do was to recruit more actors and staff on the crew and find faults with her director.

"Where's the car prepared by the stunt crew?" Ronald asked Assistant Director Al.

"Here, a Toyota Corolla, a Volkswagen Beetle." Al led him to the side, which was the rest area for the stunt team.

"The Corolla first drove through the lane close to the camera, and then the Beetle drove through the far lane, and stopped at the entrance of the shopping mall. The anchor point was there." Ronald gave the order in a few words.

The stunt team (stunts) during movie shooting is not, as some people imagine, doing lightsaber stunts like Star Wars, but generally refers to all actions that the actors themselves do not do. What stands out is the vehicle driving, which is usually done by stunt people.

One of the pilots on the stunt team was a rare woman in this industry, named Debbie Evans. She gave Ronald a thumbs up to indicate she understood. Stunt people like to give specific instructions to directors like this, they are easy to design and operate.

"Matthew." Ronald returned to where the camera was and called the director of photography, "This is the first shot. I want a fixed camera position, aiming at the gate of the mall to get a panoramic view, and then scalper Mike will shoot from the camera Enter from behind and send him across the street and into the mall.”

The director of photography expressed his understanding, "Did you hear everything? The director has spoken, let's move."

“Very good, I’ll go up and rest, and I’ll be back before the shooting starts at nine o’clock.

After instructing the camera crew, Ronald went upstairs to the shopping mall. In a small room specially provided for him, he opened a folding chair with his name on the back, sat on it, closed his eyes and rested.

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

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

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

I've thought about the shots I'm going to take today several times in my mind. Ronald stood up, took his folding chair, opened the door and walked out.

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

When we arrived at the shooting site, the lighting had already been set up, and the lighting of the scene was restored very well, but it was not very bright. It has a night feel, but it illuminates the characters and background.

The range of darkness and light that a camera can recognize is called dynamic range, which is much narrower than the human eye. The job of the director of photography is to make the light captured by the camera on the film negative feel comfortable to the eyes.

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

Robert Romanus, who plays scalper Mike, was called in to check his outfit and hair style.

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

It was nine o'clock in the evening. The mall was usually closed at this time, but today it was still brightly lit. Extras pretending to be customers get ready to walk down the street.

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

"recording?"

"opened."

"camera"

"Motor full speed"

"!"

Al loudly repeated on his electric horn, "!"

The camera was aimed at the entrance of the shopping mall to take a panoramic view, with passers-by and customers played by extras walking on the road or entering and exiting the shopping mall.

The stunt crew drove a white Toyota Corolla car past the driveway in front of the camera.

Robert Romanus, who played the scalper Mike, wore a slightly oversized light-colored suit with high shoulder pads, dark navy trousers, a peaked cap, and leather shoes. Running into the frame from behind the camera right.

He ran across the street quickly, waited for the Beetle to stop, walked around behind the car, walked onto the sidewalk on the opposite side, and walked into the mall door.

"cut!"

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

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

This shot that was just shot is also the first shot at the beginning of the movie. This was not intentional on Ronald's part, but a coincidence.

Since this is the only shot outside the mall, all the shots for the next week will be shot inside the mall. For the convenience of arrangement, I simply mentioned that I would be the first to shoot. Afterwards, the mall can turn off the lighting equipment 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 cinema, where the male protagonist Mark, the ticket collector, and scalper Mike are filmed.

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

Today the crew hired hundreds of extras to play 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 making French fries, pizza, and burgers as late-night snacks for the actors and staff.

In return, their store signs would be filmed in the film, serving as free advertising. The snack clerk can also be a shot in the background.

Dan, the art director, was decorating the mall with fake Richmond Department Store signs, pompoms, and banners.

Photography director Matthew directed the lighting team to install lights designed and adjusted in advance to save time.

Lighting arrangements for indoor plays take a lot of time.

However, the art director and photography director knew that Ronald was an expert and respected them. So I was going to put in some effort this time and show some real skills.

The two of them jointly designed a lighting system, hiding the lights in the position of normal shopping mall lighting, so that the light path looks like the original lighting of the shopping mall.

But the brightness of the light is much brighter than the original shopping mall bulbs, and it can completely illuminate the scene for shooting, so the main light is very stable.

The lighting engineer does not need to spend two hours resetting the lighting every time he changes the camera angle. He only needs to adjust some secondary lighting fixtures for fill light, which greatly saves time.

Ronald stood here at Perry's Pizza first, and then took the shot here first.

While filming in the pizza shop, the lighting supervisor will go to the entrance of the cinema to prepare the fill light for the next scene. By the time I finish shooting this side, I've just finished filling in the light there.

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

This is a quick shooting method discussed by Ronald, the director of photography and the art director.

If we can make some filming progress in the first week, it will be a great thing for the entire crew.

While the camera crew was measuring the focus, Ronald spoke to Phoebe Cates, who was standing still, waiting for the focus puller to pull the tape.

"Remember what I said, Phoebe. You're telling a story to Stacey, played by Jennifer."

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

The actors are also given a lot of time to prepare, so that they can brew their emotions quietly without being disturbed.

Soon Jennifer Jason Leigh, who played Stacey, was also ready. Neither of the two girls were famous stars and had no stand-ins. They just waited in place for the photographer to prepare. The makeup artist was also arranging their false eyelashes.

Ronald was about to give Jennifer some important points.

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

Ronald recognized that it was Tom Mount, the president of Universal, and felt uncomfortable. Why would a CEO condescend to come to the set on the first day of filming? Is he so impatient? He also didn’t understand the rules on the set and spoke loudly before shooting, which destroyed the actors’ emotional preparation.

"Good evening, Mr. Mount." Ronald was about to hug him.

Mount stretched out his hand to shake his hand. Ronald quickly changed his position and shook hands with him, maintaining the appearance of kindness.

"I happen to be free, and Heikelin and I came over to check on the crew." Mount took the initiative to explain.

"Okay, please bring Mr. Mount a chair." Ronald asked the assistant director Al, then grabbed him and said in his ear, "Go to Cameron Crowe and ask him to find out how Something happened."

Jennifer and Phoebe regained their composure and the lights were in place. After communicating with the director of photography, Ronald and Matthew, they thought it was okay to start shooting, and announced the start of the first shot of this scene.

The camera was positioned behind Phoebe Cates. It was an over-the-shoulder shot, focused on Jennifer, filming their conversation.

"Do you think he's handsome?" Stacy said to Linda.

"Don't you think he looks like Richard Gere? Look at that sexy little ass." Stacey replied.

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

"What are you waiting for? If I didn't have a wonderful boyfriend in Chicago, I would have done it myself." Linda encouraged, "Go ahead, just give her the order."

"After ordering, look him in the eyes, and then whenever he tells any joke, pretend it's the funniest joke in the world and laugh loudly at him. ... Well, and don't forget to smile."

"Hehehe..." Stacey smiled, still a little nervous.

Linda arranged her clothes and hairstyle and asked her to go over.

"cut!"

Ronald thought it was great. Even though Jennifer was already 19, she could easily play a 15-year-old girl, and she expressed the emotion of being shy but wanting to meet a handsome guy very well.

Phoebe Cates completely listened to her instructions and told Linda a lot about her pick-up experiences and on-site guidance. She spoke like she was telling a great story, very convincingly.

"Matthew?" Ronald asked the director of photography.

"Okay." Matthew asked the operator who was in charge of the camera. There was no problem in the whole process.

"Let's do this print again." Ronald ordered, preparing to change the angle after the shooting and take another set of over-the-shoulder shots, this time aimed at Phoebe.

"Wait a minute, don't you think Phoebe has a little emotional problem?"

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

It's associate producer Amy Heckerling.

"I'm not interfering with your thoughts, director, but there is a place to discuss." Heikelin lowered his voice and walked over to talk to Ronald.

The whole crew swiped again and focused their attention on Ronald.

"I think Linda's tone here seems to be telling someone else's story. I think this should be a more mature Linda, like Stacey who doesn't have a boyfriend yet, imparting her own experience, so she should start from her own experience. Say, there should be a sweetness that reminds you of your boyfriend."

Heckerling talked eloquently.

Tom Mount also sat up from his chair, pretending to be listening intently.

"What do you think? What do you think?" Ronald did not discuss with him matter-of-factly how Phoebe Cates should act, but questioned that she should not challenge her authority on the set.

"I think we should give it a try. What Heklin said makes sense. Why don't we shoot one according to her idea and make a decision when we look at the samples tomorrow?" Mount spoke up and put forward his own "suggestion."

"Why don't you come up with one yourself?" Ronald gestured to the assistant director Al and let Heckerling do the acting, while he gave up his position.

Because he saw Crowe standing outside the crowd and winking at him, as if he had some news.

Heckerling began to tell Phoebe and Jennifer about the scene. The staff and actors looked at each other, not knowing what was going on. Who do you listen to?

Ronald took two steps back to the outside of the circle. Cameron Crowe came over and said, "I called Lin Sen's assistant. Spielberg's box office statistics for last weekend were calculated. 'The Lost Ark of the Covenant' was released again." Reached the top.

Sheinberg went to ET's studio to celebrate. Mount initially disagreed with filming ET, but now he is a little passive and wants to do something to restore the impact. "

"So you come to me to find confidence?" Ronald thought to himself.

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

"It doesn't matter. Even without Spielberg, I won't lose." Ronald's mind was racing. How would he refute Heckerling when he watched the samples tomorrow? How to win support from producers?

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