Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The crew quickly built a public bathroom locker room scene out of wood at the Miramar base, which originally did not have a large public bathroom. There are two halls, large and small, connected by a false door in the middle.

The large room is the lounge scene at the bathroom door. This is where the pilots change their clothes and tidy up their appearance in front of the full-length mirror.

The smaller room is more narrow and long, with metal lockers on both sides and a long wooden stool in the middle.

One side of the two halls is decorated to look real, while the other side is open to nothing, allowing the camera crew to set up huge lenses and lighting equipment. Base staff who visited behind the cordon wondered why the bathrooms were only half full.

Today's first scene is the first verbal confrontation between the two top pilots, Lone Ranger and Iceman.

The instructor "Joker" was experienced in dog fighting. The fight ended in five minutes, humiliating "Hollywood" and his radar officer "Werewolf" on the radio.

But Clowney also suffered two defeats today. Iceman followed the tactics in the flight manual and defeated the instructor "Joker".

The "Lone Ranger" used a dangerous but effective strategy. When being followed by the clown, he suddenly pulled up, slowed down and landed behind the clown's plane, locking the clown with missiles.

Hollywood and Werewolf were lying on the bench in the middle, laughing at themselves, as Iceman and Radar Officer Slider came over and casually revealed that they had defeated Instructor Joker.

The werewolf pointed to the Lone Ranger and Goose on the other side, "They also won."

"No, this is not the news we got. They committed a foul and ran below the prescribed height." The Iceman faced the Lone Ranger and contemptuously denied his achievement.

"The height is specified, just like farting," the Lone Ranger said a curse word, "If you win, you win, we have locked the clown."

"cut!"

"Kilmer, you didn't go to the prescribed point and went out of the camera." Ronald called out to Fang Kilmer. This was the third time he made a mistake today.

"My question, sorry, I'm not used to entering the camera from this side."

Val Kilmer chewed gum, raised his chin, and explained to Ronald.

"We'll rest for a quarter of an hour."

Ronald looked at the scene and everyone was a little tired.

Kilmer's "mistake" was not an honest mistake. He could only pause first and then think of a solution.

"Director, Kilmer's better half of his face is on the left side. He is used to walking on the right side of the screen. If you ask him to enter the scene from the left side of the viewfinder, it will not be very conducive to his performance..."

Seeing that everyone had dispersed to rest, Val Kilmer's manager quickly walked up to Ronald and said something that was not convenient for Kilmer to say.

"You don't need to say any more, I know what's going on."

The thing is very simple, this is the unspoken rule of stars filming.

Val Kilmer wanted more close-ups to take care of the more handsome half of his face. But Tom Cruise, who has a higher salary and a higher status than him, has the better-looking half of his face on the same side.

Of course, Ronald took care of Tom's interests first. Knowing that he was not good-looking in the camera, Val Kilmer played tricks and made various small situations, just to avoid photographing the more unsightly part of his face.

"Kimmer is tired. He finished the beer party with everyone last night late. I will go and cheer him up. As long as you give me some convenience..." The manager gave Ronald a hint, as long as he can take care of it. According to Val Kilmer's needs, at least the two people's screen time and scenes are equal, and Kilmer can fully cooperate.

"Ronald, I don't need to say anything more. Tom has always been very cooperative with your work. Not to mention your personal relationship, he is still the top star of the crew. His name appears on the subtitles after the film title. I want His shots are more beautiful, which is very reasonable."

Paula Wagner also came over and talked about their personal relationship.

"I know it well."

It's impossible to say who is right or wrong in this kind of thing. The key problem facing Ronald now is to make the two stars cooperate and continue filming.

Val Kilmer is very slick and uses various accidents as excuses to slow down work. It is impossible for the producers to do anything to him. It didn't work out, and he didn't expect any progress today.

As for Tom Cruise, who has always been dedicated to his work, there is no way Ronald would ask him to give up his leading role and give a supporting role better treatment. Moreover, even if he made such a request, given Cruise's current position, it might be his turn to make a "mistake."

"At times like this, I miss Don very much," Bruckheimer said beside him. Don Simpson had a fiery personality and was outspoken. If he were on the set at this time, he would definitely scold Val Kilmer.

"Yes." Ronald knew that Bruckheimer wanted to play the role of a "good policeman" and it would not be appropriate to do it himself. After all, the director's position requires cooperation with the actors.

At this time, there is one less "bad cop".

"How about I give it a try?" Bruckheimer scratched his scalp and prepared to do it himself.

"I have another way, let's try again." Ronald stopped him, pretending not to be like him, but it had no effect.

…

"You set up the camera here." Ronald took out the storyboard he drew and crossed out the camera position originally arranged on the side of the stool. Then, a new cross was drawn on the opposite side of the Iceman's locker.

"This way, you take a close-up shot of his face and ask him to turn his head away from the locker room, so your lens can capture the better half of his face."

"Then we do the same thing with the Lone Ranger?" Kimball took the pencil and made changes on the next frame of the storyboard.

"Yes, to express dialogue, it is not necessary to take the main shot to explain the spatial relationship between the two."

Ronald deleted the original Hollywood standard technique of "one main and two over-the-shoulder shots" from the picture, and then drew several consecutive close-ups.

"As long as we ensure that the close-up shots of the two of them keep the axis of their gaze intact, there should be no difficulty for the audience to understand the logical relationship between their dialogue."

"It's really yours. How did you come up with the idea? I only heard an old photographer say that this method was used by some in Hollywood during the golden age."

"This is to prevent the studio boss from randomly editing the story without shooting the main shot. The directors of the year invented the anti-interference shooting method. Walter Murch taught me."

Ronald smiled. In the golden age of Hollywood, studios pursued speed rather than artistic standards. They often used unrelated people to edit the director's negatives. It was not uncommon for the finished film to be completely different from the original intention.

Some directors at that time invented this method of not shooting main shots and only shooting close-ups of dialogue. Without a master shot, the audience cannot see the logical relationship between the dialogue characters, and the editing must strictly follow the director's design. There is no room for secondary creation to change the tragic ending into a happy ending.

"That's because we didn't use live recording at that time. We had to change the lines during dubbing later." Kimball knew what he was doing. "I didn't expect you could use it to prevent celebrities from stealing the scene. Your method may become popular in the future. Maybe."

"!"

After preparing the new footage, Ronald called start.

"You two are really cowboy style!"

Iceman, played by Val Kilmer, turned around and angrily scolded the pair after hearing the swear words spoken by the Lone Ranger.

Ronald looked from behind the camera and saw that the better half of Val Kilmer's face looked very handsome to the camera, while the other half looked a bit fierce and like a bad guy.

No wonder he cares so much about the mirror on that side of his face.

"cut!"

"Print this one," Ronald asked Val Kilmer to move on to the next one.

"What's wrong with you, Kazansky?" Tom Cruise says to Kilmer off camera.

"That's because you're everyone's problem, Lone Ranger, and you make everyone else feel insecure." Val Kilmer faced the camera alone, raising his chin, chewing gum as he spoke, very domineering, and then his teeth The air snapped and made a clicking sound, like a big cat about to eat people.

"cut!"

This line is full of gunpowder, and Val Kilmer is a bit of a pun. It is not only Iceman's complaint against the Lone Ranger, but it can also be understood as Val Kilmer's complaint against Tom Cruise.

The good thing about using close-ups to express dialogue like this is that the annoying face of the Iceman will definitely resonate with the audience. As long as the Lone Ranger can fight back, the audience will definitely applaud.

The bad part is that Iceman's performance is very good. He looks at Tom Cruise, which is not a big challenge for Tom.

Tom stared at Fang Kilmer and frowned slightly, like a falcon staring at its prey.

"It won't cause a big conflict, right?" Ronald felt a little bad.

Actors are very sensitive to the camera. Val Kilmer's performance just now was impressive, and Tom Cruise will not fail to feel it. He must have a plan to defeat Val Kilmer.

"Ronald, I want to use an over-the-shoulder lens. You can make me look less..." Cruise took a break to wait for relighting, and swiped at the height of Ronald's chin.

"Are you sure?" Ronald knew that this was a close-up shot. If an over-the-shoulder shot was used, Cruise's face and the back of Val Kilmer's shoulders would appear in the shot, and his height difference would be revealed. .

"I need him to stand in the camera." Tom Cruise's eyes were firm.

"You see?" Ronald asked Kimball, the director of photography.

"It doesn't matter, I can use some overhead shots. There is no reference in the close-up shots, and the audience will feel that there is very little difference in their heights." Kimball kept coming up with various little tricks.

"Thanks, Kimball," Cruise thanked the director of photography and gave Paula a look.

"Tell me when you're ready," Ronald nodded to Tom Cruise.

"!"

The camera passed behind Val Kilmer's shoulder and put the good-looking half of Tom Cruise's face into the frame.

The slightly downward shot makes it appear that the two are only about an inch apart in height.

"What's wrong with you? Kazansky?" Tom Cruise gritted his teeth.

"I don't like you, you make everyone feel insecure," Val Kilmer repeated the conversation.

"That's right", Tom Cruise improvised, patted Val Kilmer's shoulder, as if to help him flick the ashes, and gave an evil smile, "I am...very...dangerous! "It's like another big cat teasing its prey.

"cut!"

Tom Cruise's lines also have a double meaning. If you want to steal the scene, you must be prepared to compete. Then it is not just about competition in acting. I am very "dangerous".

Ronald was very satisfied with this rivalry scene. The two were at war with each other. In the camera, they looked like two high school students competing for a beautiful woman, and like two little roosters patrolling their hens.

"Okay, okay", Ronald called out to the two stars who were still kicking each other after they stopped. We have to clear the scene to shoot a shirtless scene later, so you can go and take a rest first.

"Hmph!" Val Kilmer turned and entered the dressing room.

"I invite everyone to the bar for a drink tonight, and I brought craft beer from Los Angeles." Tom Cruise extended an invitation to everyone.

"Yeah!" All the supporting characters cheered.

"Clear the scene now and ask irrelevant personnel to exit the shooting venue."

In the large hall where the scene was set up, the assistant director shouted three times in a row. Many female technicians on the crew, female officers and soldiers at the Miramar base who came to see the excitement after hearing the news, waitresses at the bar, etc., all turned around every step of the way. , reluctantly slowly left the locker room.

"Isn't it said that there is a scene of Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer taking a bath? Why hasn't it come out yet?"

"Director, it's cleared."

"Well," Ronald stood up slowly, "The camera crew is ready."

The focus puller was also a woman. She happily picked up the measuring tape, walked to the row of benches in the dressing room, pasted a cross mark with tape, and happily waited for the protagonists to come out of the dressing room.

"!"

Apart from photography, recording, and lighting, there were only Ronald and the heroine McGillis who specially watched the men's "group bathing" performance.

"Lone Ranger, you flew very well today. Until you are shot down by me, never, never leave your wingman." The actor who played the Joker came in and gave Tom Cruise a lesson.

The Lone Ranger played by Tom Cruise was very sulky with himself. In order to shoot down the instructor "Viper", he left the wingman pilot "Hollywood" and the radar operator "Werewolf" without authorization, and was eventually shot down by the ambushed instructor "Joker".

The camera was pushed out on a fixed track, drew an arc, and captured the panoramic view.

After the camera reached the end point, Ronald silently pointed at the door to the bathroom, and Val Kilmer walked out with only a towel around his waist.

Fang Kilmer's muscular upper body was bare, and his muscles were explosively beautiful. On his chest was a dog tag with the name of the pilot, dangling on his chest muscles.

"Lone Ranger, this is not a matter of your flying skills, but of your attitude. The enemy is dangerous, and your attitude makes you even more dangerous as a wingman than the enemy."

The camera continued to turn around to capture the figure of the lone ranger.

Tom Cruise smoothed his hair, and a few drops of sweat dripped from it. He was also shirtless, with one foot on the stool, and the white bath towel tied around his waist was stretched to the limit.

"cut!"

Ronald looked at McGillis next to him. Female viewers should like this shot very much.

McGillis took an ice cream and took a lick, "Is this what you learned from that men's magazine?" He gave him a look that looked at his best friend, as if to say, you are like this Ronald, no wonder you did it last time. Not in a hurry.

"Hey, hey..." Ronald quickly announced to continue filming. This woman really could speak with her eyes.

After the filming was completed that day, the costume assistant began to use the laundry box to collect the actors' bath towels one by one.

"Will you go to the bar with us? I brought you a good beer specially today." Tom Cruise walked up to McGillis and invited him.

This woman is the only beautiful actress on the crew now. The actors all have the instinct of male creatures and they all want to date McGillis.

"Okay, let me have a taste." McGillis glanced at Ronald and accepted the invitation.

"Let's go," Val Kilmer won the camera, but lost to Tom Cruise in picking up girls, and walked out with his manager.

"Have you noticed that either Kilmer drinks beer with everyone, or Cruise drinks beer with everyone, but they never drink beer together." Director of Photography Kimball came over and reported to Ronald.

Immediately, he packed up his equipment and went to the bar with the photography team.

"There are benefits to maintaining a moderate level of competitiveness." Ronald was very satisfied with the footage taken today. "As long as you control it well and don't go out of style."

multiple copies

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :