Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Dong dong, dong dong... dong dong, dong dong"

The heavy drum beat started to beat, and Ronald, who was lying on the bed, tried to open his eyes. Could it be that he drank too much champagne at the party and forgot to turn off the TV?

A skeleton warrior made of silver-white metal jumped out on the TV. Only two of his eyes were red, and he was holding a thick firearm in his hand.

"biu biu biu......"

What shoots out of the gun is not a bullet, but a laser. Huge helicopters, robots, fighting humans in military uniforms.

"Hey, are you dreaming again?" Ronald perked up. Which actor did he see today that triggered the dream?

"Skynet, the computer that controls all these robots, sent two Terminators through time and space, returning to our time from the future..."

A somewhat deep female voice narrated.

"Is it Jim's Terminator?" Ronald thought to himself, "It turns out that the Terminator has been filmed, but you have to watch it carefully."

Under the blue background light, a burst of lightning intertwined, and a naked muscular man appeared.

"Isn't this the bodybuilding champion? It seems that the muscles did not explode when he won the Mr. Olympia before." No wonder I dreamed about it. It turns out that the Terminator robot was played by Schwarzenegger.

The Terminator entered the bar, snatched someone's leather jacket and boots, and also took a shotgun.

There was another burst of lightning. This time it was a handsome naked man. He was not very lucky and fell next to a police car. He punched the policeman unconscious, then put on his police uniform, got into the police car and drove away.

"This is probably a human resistance fighter." Ronald watched with interest. Jim was a very good director.

Through the portable computer in the police car, the human resistance army found the address of the resistance leader "John Connor", who was a ten-year-old boy.

"The script has been changed?" Ronald thought. The script he had read was about coming back to kill his mother. However, there is also a child scene, and Jim seems to be of a really high standard. It is difficult for child actors to direct well.

After a moment of trance, the camera turned to the street.

The Terminator, played by Schwarzenegger, drives a Harley motorcycle on the street looking for John Connor.

He spotted Connor riding a scooter on an elevated road and started to give chase.

At the same time, the human resistance fighters who found the address also began to look for him. The two of them saw John Connor playing a game console in the mall at about the same time.

The Terminator pulled out a shotgun and pointed it at Connor in the aisle, and the resistance soldier on the other side of the aisle also pulled out a small pistol and pointed it at the Terminator.

"Get down" the Terminator shouted, then took the lead and shot the resistance soldier with a shot.

"Huh?" What kind of plot is this? The human protagonist was beaten to death not long after the opening scene?

The "resistance soldier" paused for a moment after being hit, then stood up straight and continued walking forward. He began to repair and restore the large hole in his body that was hit by the bullet.

"Oh, I..., this is a robot." Ronald thought to himself. The suspense was set up well. At first I thought it was a human resistance force, but I didn't expect it to be another robot terminator, a liquid metal robot that can transform into millions.

But has this script been magically changed or something? Why are the two robots fighting among themselves? Taking credit?

After another period of trance, John Langner took the opportunity to escape from the mall, drove away on his motorcycle.

The two Terminators continued to chase. The liquid metal robot robbed a large truck and wanted to hit Connor to death. The Terminator played by Schwarzenegger appeared in a Harley, grabbed Connor with one hand and put him on his motorcycle. Loading the shotgun with a one-handed trick, blasting the truck's gas tank backwards.

In a daze again, Ronald couldn't understand why the Terminator didn't kill Connor after saving Connor, and took him to save his mother Sarah Connor?

John Connor asked the Terminator for the purpose of saving him. It turned out that he was a recoded robot by the resistance and was sent by the elderly Connor to protect his young self.

In a battle in a mental hospital, the two rescued Sara, and the Terminator told the origin of Skynet. The three decided to kill the designer of the Skynet chip, change history, and prevent mankind from falling into a nuclear war.

The liquid metal robot arrived and killed the black chip designer in a shootout. The two sides are engaged in another street chase, and the liquid metal robot cannot be killed. He will repair it himself.

In the end, everyone had no choice but to drive the car to the steel mill. In the steel blast furnace, the liquid metal robot was finally eliminated. The last chip capable of evolving Skynet is in the mind of the Terminator played by Schwarzenegger.

He voluntarily self-destructs for the sake of the future of humanity.

"Dong dong, dong dong... dong dong, dong dong." The heavy drum beat started beating again. The actor who played Sarah Connor had a man's chin. She told the audience in a low narration that Skynet awakened in the original history. On that day, nothing happened and they had changed history.

"ah!"

Ronald yelled, startling himself awake.

Why is it so beautiful? Why are the special effects so realistic?

The liquid robot transforms into the image of another person without any flaws. Also, he was frozen to the ground by liquid nitrogen, but returned to a liquid state after encountering the high temperature of the explosion. Countless mercury-like droplets gathered together and transformed into a robot. How was this filmed?

Is the gap between people really that big?

Even George Lucas and Spielberg couldn't shoot this kind of scene.

Ronald suffered from deep self-doubt.

"Jim, congratulations, you wrote a great screenplay."

Two days later, Ronald found Gale Hurd's apartment and handed his script revisions to Jim Cameron.

Ronald finally figured out that what he was dreaming about might not be The Terminator, but the sequel to The Terminator.

In the first film, the Terminator robot played by Schwarzenegger was the villain, which is why Sarah Connor ran away as soon as she saw him in the mental hospital.

The first few scenes were a deliberate trick set by Cameron. This made the audience mistakenly think that Schwarzenegger was still the villain robot this time, so in the first half hour, he saved John Connor. This was the first major reversal of the plot, which just rekindled the audience's curiosity. rise.

Ronald is relatively confident that what he dreamed about was a sequel movie.

Because the special effects inside are obviously ahead of the current film industry. For Lucas's Star Wars special effects, I don't know the detailed production methods, but I can always get a general idea.

And those liquid metal robot deformation shots in the dream didn’t even have any ideas. Although Cameron is a genius in special effects and can create great effects at a very low cost, Ronald does not believe that he can shoot that kind of shot now.

Maybe some new technology will come out in the future to make that kind of special effect possible.

"Ronald, do you have any ideas?" Seeing Ronald visiting, Cameron quickly took the revised opinions from Ronald and started reading.

"What budget are you planning to find to make this movie?"

"Gail and I estimate it will take between eight and ten million."

"That's impossible. I have marked some scenes that are too expensive to implement. You can control the special effects yourself. I just have doubts about the effects of some shots, such as the liquid robot. With current technology, it will only feel fake. .”

Cameron frowned and found that the plot of the liquid metal robot had been deleted.

"Any more?" he asked.

"You have too many scenes, Jim." Ronald pointed to the table he listed. "With so many scenes, the cost of each set and lighting, and the total time of shooting, it can make you bankrupt. .”

Ronald pointed to the scenes in the script and analyzed them carefully for Cameron.

“These scenes can all be merged together, so you don’t need too many transitions. Each transition is cumbersome, wastes time, and increases labor expenses...

These scenes can be shot in night scenes, mostly in shopping malls, parking lots, and streets. In this way, you can directly use the lights in these scenes without artificial lighting...

Believe me, when I was filming "Fast Pace", the pace of shopping mall scenes was more than twice as fast as other scenes...

Moreover, by merging these scenes into one shoot, you can also save rehearsal time. This way, when you shoot the actors’ dialogue scenes, you don’t have to wait for the lighting time. You can arrange them to be shot on one day, and the emotions can be matched during editing... …”

The confusion in Cameron's eyes gradually turned into realization.

Everyone has worked for Roger Corman. Needless to say some things. Modifying the script in this way is entirely based on the economics of shooting, trying to shoot more economically without destroying the picture and drama. .

"It's roughly like this. When shooting, you will find that spending money every day is like running water. So overall, you are not afraid that some scenes will be difficult to shoot, but you are afraid that some scenes will be difficult to shoot that you did not expect in advance. If the shooting plan is delayed for one more day, your expenses will be reduced. Uncontrolled rise.”

"In addition, I suggest that you shoot some scenes secretly and don't report it. Otherwise, the cost of Lapd's dispatch to clear the scene is a large amount of money, and there are strict time limits. Of course, if you can persuade the seven major studios, you can get To a big budget of over ten million, that’s another thing.”

Ronald recalled the past when he was filming "Famous". The NYPD went out to block the road, and they couldn't shoot for more than one minute.

Cameron looked at the proposal and recalled what Ronald said, "Ronnie, this is the best advice I've heard since I wrote this script. I have to calculate it carefully and change it like this. Gale’s chances of getting the investment would be much higher.”

"This is your script." Jim took out a copy of Ronald's "Night of the Comet" script from the drawer and handed it over. It was full of Cameron's notes.

"You can solve the actor's makeup problem like this...

The main characteristics of zombies are bluish complexion and enlarged eye sockets. If you don't need rubber and plaster, you don't need special effects makeup and let regular makeup take care of it...

There is no need to use the pigment powder popular in Hollywood for the ashes after people are evaporated by comets. They can be replaced by an ordinary building material...

There is also a red sky. If you shoot for Coleman, you can actually be lazy and use a little trick to get it, but this will require redesigning some shots, so that the audience will not be too surprised...

What is difficult to solve is this deserted city. I have thought about it for a long time, and there is no way to save money and ensure the audience’s viewing experience. "

Ronald read the notes carefully. Jim had made detailed notes on many special effects makeup and special effects models.

But Ronald didn't want to compromise on the scene of the deserted city.

There are three or four concentrated scenes before and after the plot. If they are deleted or replaced with small scenes such as schools and shopping malls, it will be impossible to bring the audience into a sense of apocalyptic reality, and the overall appeal of the movie will be greatly reduced.

Ronald didn't really want to make a Roger Corman-style exploitation movie, the kind of movie that cost two or three hundred thousand dollars in New World. The audience had a kind of I know you're a bad movie, I just came to see it. The beauty and plasma attitude come.

Ronald has already made this kind of movie, and if he continues to make it, he will not make any progress. The mainstream film industry may just forget about it.

Calculating the ideas Jim gave him, he could save a lot of money. The cost of "Night of the Comet" seems to be less than 2 million. In addition to the 500,000 yuan investment promised by Roger Coleman, I still have a funding gap of more than 1 million yuan that needs to be invested.

Ronald couldn't help but envy Cameron. He had his girlfriend Gail to help with investment and distribution, so he could only focus on artistic expression.

"Jim, I'll add your name to the script. These changes will help me a lot."

"Help each other, and I'll add your name to the Terminator script too."

Ronald has more experience in directing, coordinating, and editing, and Jim also has experience in special effects makeup and special effects models. Having a friend who is also a director helped each other and gave advice, which was of great help to both of them in their creation.

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