Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Everyone, please line up. In a few minutes, you can get your coupons and go in to watch the movie." The assistant of the film crew said to a large group of moviegoers at the entrance of Elray Cinema, instructing them Filmed in a row in front of the cinema.

Ronald and the camera crew were lying on the roof opposite the movie, shooting distant views of the team below, "Yes, this angle is fine. You try to capture some pictures of the team, and don't exceed the range of more than a hundred of us." "

With a "pop" sound, Ronald held the clapperboard in his hand and hit it in front of the camera.

"Aren't you afraid that they will sue you? The laws in America are much stricter than those in Mexico. If they see their own footage on the screen, they can theoretically sue." Arthur, the photography director lying next to Ronald Albert had made movies in both Mexico and California, reminded Ronald.

"So I asked not to take any shots showing my face. Not many people would recognize me in the distance."

Ronald thought to himself that this was something that was forced by the budget and had no choice. You really have to hire more than a hundred extras to stage the photo, plus the cost of clearing the place to compensate the cinema, and having to hire a lapd to maintain order, the expenses are scary.

"Okay, the camera has captured enough, you can go and hand out coupons." Arthur

Ronald nodded and waved vigorously to the assistant below. Then he quickly ran downstairs, went to the people lining up in front of the cinema, and handed out coupons to them one by one.

"Thank you, thank you, this is a coupon for Elray Cinema, thank you for your cooperation."

Ronald made an agreement with the Elray Cinema in advance and gave them a two-second frontal shot of the cinema in the movie, convincing the manager of the Elray Cinema to let them shoot for free.

Then, at the ticket office of the cinema, he used 50% off coupons to recruit more than a hundred moviegoers and asked them to queue up at the entrance of the cinema.

"Thank you, thank you." Ronald finished handing out the coupons and let out a sigh of relief. This shot was not reported to the Los Angeles City Hall, but fortunately it was a fast-forward and fast-out shot, so it didn’t take much time. He was not discovered by the patrol police.

"Then take a look at the sign and exterior of this cinema."

The manager of the El Rey Cinema cooperated and changed the words on the large illuminated sign on the roof of the theater from "A Fair Lady" to "Stay up late and watch the comet together." The camera crew took the opportunity to shoot a close-up.

The audience who had been cooperating at the door just now had all entered the cinema to watch the last movie, and the streets instantly became empty.

"Okay, tell the extras to get off the bus and come over quickly." Ronald waved quickly to the big bus opposite. The driver of the car opened the door, and the assistants handed various props to the makeup-ready extras. They filed out and lined up on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Remember your moves, remember your moves...", Ronald told each extra, "We only have one chance to shoot, everyone please smile for the camera."

This shot imitates the filming method of a TV station interview, so these extras need to be like passers-by seeing the TV station’s live broadcast truck and camera, smiling happily at the camera.

"!", Ronald gave instructions to the director of photography, Arthur.

Arthur Albert personally carried the camera and photographed the faces of the extras from below. He moved forward slowly, taking pictures of everyone's smiling faces.

These extras play the role of being attracted by a comet that occurs once every 65 million years, and come to the streets to watch the comet arrive.

The number of people who can be included in the frame in the close-up shot is very limited. Twenty extras scanned it from beginning to end. After editing together with the overhead shot just now, a montage can be used to create a special impression, like standing on the street. It was full of people, and there were many, many people coming to see it.

There were a few people wearing comet headdresses, a few holding "I Love Comet" playing cards, and two extras playing a couple, kissing in front of the camera, similar to the live TV interviews during New Year's Eve.

It's already past eight o'clock in the evening, and the roadside outside the close-up shot is actually empty. But human imagination will automatically add the scene of more than a hundred people queuing up as the background of this story. Although there are only about twenty people in the close-up, the audience will feel like there is a huge crowd.

"How's it going? Arthur?"

"No problem." Arthur replied.

"Pop", Ronald turned the clapperboard upside down and slapped it at the camera. This means that there is no slate at the beginning of this sequence. The scene and shot at the end are all recorded on the final slate.

Because the slate is at the end of the shot this time, not at the front, the slate must be turned upside down when slapping the shot. Convenient for later identification.

They also wrote on the slate that there was no simultaneous recording, reminding the editor to add music in post-production to cover up the noisy sounds of the scene and the dialogue between Ronald and Arthur.

Because this scene mainly introduces the scene where the crowd is very curious about the comet and goes out in full force, it doesn’t matter if there is no dialogue.

"Okay, everyone, get on the bus quickly, hurry up, hurry up!" Seeing the director of photography, Arthur, indicating OK, Ronald quickly directed the extras to rush to the bus.

"Come on, come on." Ronald held up the camera carried by Arthur and was the last one to get on the bus. He patted the driver's seat hard several times and said, "It looks like there is a patrolman on the other side. Let's go quickly."

"This is yours, yours, yours..." The assistant gave everyone a copy of the storyboard, and then asked everyone to sign the form and record the shooting time.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Ronald picked up the microphone on the bus and thanked the extras. This guerrilla-style shooting method only saves money, but it is actually not very friendly to group performances. There is no RV as a dressing room, so everyone puts on makeup on the bus.

If caught by lapd, there will be trouble. So Ronald paid them one and two times the minimum wage.

"Let's go to the next shooting location, outside the heroine's stepmother's house. Everyone saw the storyboard in your profile. It's just a simple outdoor scene with some lightning special effects."

Ronald happened to be on his way to the next filming location to explain it to everyone.

The car soon arrived at the filming location of the house of the two leading ladies, Regina and Samantha. This is a middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles. A row of big lights has been lined up on the lawn outside the room.

"Bess, thank you for coming to help." Ronald was the first to get off the bus and shook hands with a woman wearing electrician clothes and boots.

"No problem, Cameron's friends are my friends."

Bess was a rare female electrician. She was tall and strong. She took Ronald to the back of the row of lights. Two very thick cables were lifted up in the middle and placed on two wooden on the shelf.

"I can show you the effect, but this will cause considerable damage to the light bulb, so in order to prevent the light bulb from exploding during actual shooting, I can only briefly demonstrate the effect."

Ronald nodded.

Bess connected the two cables, put on thick insulating gloves, and pressed a guillotine switch.

The bulbs of the row of headlights suddenly emitted a very bright light, illuminating the faces and houses opposite them pale.

"Bah" the bass turned off the switch again. Brightness drops suddenly.

"That's it, do you think it's okay?" Bess asked.

"The brightness is enough. I want a rhythm like this, bang... bang bang." Ronald beat a few beats.

The special effects of lightning are very difficult to shoot. If you shoot at the sky during a thunderstorm, the film is not sensitive enough and it will be difficult to capture the moment of lightning.

An experienced electrician will short-circuit the light's power cord in a controlled manner. This will increase the voltage and then emit light several times brighter than the rated brightness. By controlling the duration of the short circuit on and off by hand, you can simulate the effect of lightning.

Of course, there are risks in doing so. Sometimes the electrician is inexperienced and the short-circuit boost time is too long, which can cause the bulb to burst. So Ronald asked Cameron to find an experienced expert in the industry, Beth, to operate the scene where the comet emits a world-destroying flash.

More than twenty extras were divided into several groups outside, looking up at the comet. The bright light from the lamps shone on their faces like the bright light from lightning. In this way, only the reflection on the actor's face can be shot, which can avoid shooting the complicated comet flash special effects scene from the front, saving a lot of money.

In addition to the extras who had just gotten off the bus, there were also regular actors playing the fathers and stepmothers of the two heroines in the crowd.

The stepmother is played by Sharon Farrell, a beautiful actress who still has charm. She is actually a few years older than Catherine Mary Stuart, who plays the eldest daughter, and Kelly Maroney, who plays the younger daughter.

But this industry treats actresses very cruelly. Everyone in the industry says that actresses can only play three roles: virgin, slut, and grandmother.

Behind this metaphor, there are actually very few people in Hollywood who film stories about middle-aged women because the audience doesn’t like them.

In this way, the roles that actresses can play are quite limited, including young girls who are in love, older female characters who fall into romantic love scenes with male protagonists, and mothers and grandmothers of younger girls.

Sharon Farrell has passed the first two stages and jumped straight into playing the mother. Many actresses will resist the arrival of this day, and some will even report false ages. But the wrinkles on your face don't lie.

"Sharon, when you come out of the room, you just had a fight with Samantha and slapped her, but you still acted like a good stepmother in front of your husband."

Ronald talked to her about the scene, then got the lights ready and took the first step.

"In 1910, Halley's Comet returned. At that time, many people thought they were going to die," an old man said in the group performance about his experience of seeing Halley's Comet last time.

Sharon Farrell has short curly blond hair, a black velvet collar tied around her neck, and red nail polish on all her fingers, looking like a wealthy suburban housewife.

She walked up to her husband and started talking about her two stepdaughters.

"Very good, let's start shooting."

"Recording? Camera?!"

Ronald gave the order and the cameras started rolling.

"In 1910, Halley's Comet returned. At that time, many people thought they were going to die." The old actor began to speak to other groups, and a flash of light like lightning flashed, illuminating everyone's faces.

"What is that?" the old man turned around and asked.

"Honey, Samantha still has a little rebellious temper. Ah, what is that?" Sharon Farrell, who plays the stepmother, was also awakened by lightning. She and her husband hugged each other and looked at the sky, bursts of flashes of light. Shine on their faces.

Ronald gestured. The lighting team turned on the dark red lights, and the scene was illuminated with a dark red atmosphere.

The electrician's bass performed several quick short-circuit operations, and several more flashes of light flashed.

Sharon Farrell, who plays the stepmother, looked at her arm and it seemed like it was starting to itch.

There was another flash of light, and Sharon Farrell covered her eyes with her fingers covered in red nail polish, "Ah..."

"cut!"

Ronald was happy with the shot.

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