Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Although Ronald has decided to move the indoor scenes to Toronto, Canada, some scenes involving indoor and outdoor interactions will still be shot in New York.

There would be a technical difficulty if the indoor and outdoor scenes were shot separately in real locations in New York and in a Toronto studio, and finally combined on the editing table. That is, indoor and outdoor light have different color temperatures.

In this way, different color styles will appear on different types of film. The naked eye can see obvious differences between the balanced color temperature of an outdoor lens under natural light and the balanced color temperature under indoor artificial lighting.

To ensure that the edited shots do not feel abrupt to the audience, complex color correction is required in the post-production process. Especially if the gap between natural light and artificial lighting is too great, the audience will feel as if they are in another movie. .

This kind of feeling is something that any film director should try to avoid, because such a jump will pull the audience away from the daydream that the movie has finally weaved together, and the audience will have a feeling that this is a movie. The idea will bring the movie-watching experience down several notches.

Therefore, rather than looking at the annoying stern face of the union representative, Ronald went to the bakery on the corner of 502 Henry Street, Brooklyn, which was rented in advance, and began to shoot the first difficult scene.

Martin Scorsese's parents, Charles and Catherine Scorsese, wore Italian-style coats and were waiting to have their makeup done in the front of a small bakery.

The two of them had also been actors before, but their main occupation was opening a dry cleaning shop in Little Italy, Manhattan. Martin Scorsese, an important American director, was raised by his father, Charles, who ironed clothes, and his mother, Catherine, who trimmed trousers.

The two also made cameos in their son's films, and a photo of the two was included in a newspaper story as the parents of Jodie Foster's character in "Taxi Driver." Father Charles also plays a named character in "Raging Bull."

But the couple has never actually appeared in a movie as a couple.

Ronald saw that they were a little nervous, but he didn't care. Anyway, they are two very small characters, and they are not the focus of the audience's attention. They are mainly used to lead Loretta, played by Cher, to the story of Camarelli's bakery owned by Johnny's brother.

"Wonderful!" Ronald saw the two people's outfits. Charles was wearing a top hat and Catherine was wearing a down jacket with a fur collar. They went up and complimented him, "It's great. I now know Marty's artistic talent. Where did it come from?"

"Ah, hahaha..." Mrs. Scorsese was more outgoing and was made to laugh by Ronald.

"At that time, the camera will give you a close-up, and then the girl playing the bakery clerk will hand you the bread. Mrs. Scorsese will take it and say goodbye to you. You just go to the bakery to buy it. Just keep the same bread and ignore this big guy."

Ronald took a close-up shot of Chun inside the counter. This was a big guy, so amateur actors would inevitably be a little nervous.

"Just call me Catherine. When Marty made a short film before, he asked me to be the heroine. I know how to do it." Mrs. Scorsese was very satisfied. This time both of them had close-ups. This son's friend is really good, and it is much more important than the role he plays for his parents!

"a!"

After arranging the lights, Ronald called start.

"Thank you, Mrs. Fogage. Here's your bread. See you tomorrow."

Catherine Scorsese took the bread. Facing the huge close-up, she was still nervous, her throat was a little itchy, and her voice became smaller, "Goodbye!"

Charles Scorsese became even more nervous and couldn't help but make a swallowing motion. He turned back and went out first, and then Catherine took the bread and followed him out.

"Ring, ring, ring..." The bell on the door reminded me that Loretta, played by Cher, still wearing the boring dark gray coat and black leather boots, passed by the Scorseses and walked in.

Xueer walked to the front of the counter and entered the range of the close-up shot. Ronald looked at the monitor and nodded to the director of photography, David Watkin, that it was okay and there was no need to stop.

"Is Ronnie Camarelli here?"

"He's in the baking room, why are you looking for him?"

the clerk behind the counter asked, a bit hostile in his tone.

"I have something to talk to him about." Loretta, played by Cher, is of course much more sophisticated than the little girl's clerk. She knows where this hostility comes from. She has not seen her fiancé Johnny for several years, but she has never met her. My younger brother Ronnie has another curiosity.

A female clerk with messy hair walked out of the counter and walked around Loretta.

Judging from the body shape, she is a very typical little Italian girl. She walks a little stiffly. She wears a floral jacket on the upper body, a white shirt underneath, a green skirt on the lower body, and woolen gray stockings on the feet. A pair of bulky thick-heeled leather shoes.

At first glance, she looks like a young girl who has just begun to fall in love. She is not very good at dressing herself up, but she is invincible because of her youth.

The clerk walked to the door, turned back to Loretta and shook his head, motioning for her to follow him to the bread baking room opposite to meet Ronnie Camarelli, who was baking bread there.

"cut!"

Ronald was very satisfied with the two's rivalry.

After consulting David Watkin, this was left for printing.

"How did I perform?"

The female clerk ran over, opened her big eyes at Ronald, and asked for the director's opinion like a coquettish person. He changed his dull look just now.

"Very good, perfect!" Ronald smiled and touched the actress's head.

She is clearly Diane Lane, who will be making a cameo appearance as the storegirl for the next two days.

Ronald was generous with his praise, but Diane's acting skills still exceeded his expectations. After applying makeup, Diane not only looks like an Italian girl, but her walking figure is also obviously carefully designed and full of life details.

The culture surrounding Cher's role clearly contained the anger that the girl herself knew in her heart about having a woman come to find her crush.

But when she heard that the other party wanted to see Ronnie for something, she quickly fulfilled her duties as a store clerk and did not make her own decisions. She is very much like the kind of good girl who works in the shop owned by relatives, friends and elders.

It can be said that this performance is beyond the acting skills required for a small cameo role. Ronald was very moved by the serious preparation that Diane took for this role.

If Coppola hadn't delayed her three movies in a row, if Diane had such acting skills, appearance and fans accumulated in the past, she would definitely be a heroine in big productions.

"This character is a little too young for you, but because this is a love story for middle-aged people, so..."

Ronald admired Diane's performance. Her acting skills, playing a small role, can greatly enhance the immersive weight of the movie itself.

Just like Roger Corman's The Student, Jonathan Demme said, the entire movie is integrated. For any small role, if you can carefully find an actor that the audience loves, then the overall grade of the movie can be improved. one level.

Although it is not intentional to use high-profile actors to play low-profile supporting roles, the actual effect is that in this "Moonlight Sultry", any supporting role has the acting skills to play the protagonist in other movies.

"Don't say that, I'm already very happy. This role is very enjoyable to play."

"It's hard for you to wear such ugly clothes." Ronald adjusted her collar and signaled that he would continue.

"Oh", Diane stopped chatting with Ronald and ran to the side to wait for the next shot. Her eyes were always on Ronald.

"Brother Ronnie is still interesting." Diane was actually quite happy.

This small role is not a simple guest appearance. And it's not a flower vase role, it's a role with content. Although she didn't put on makeup to highlight her beauty, and she didn't wear beautiful clothes, her three simple scenes would leave a very deep impression on the audience.

It can be said that among all the small roles in this movie, this role is the most impressive to the audience. I have acted in several not-so-good movies. With a movie like this in which my acting skills are fully utilized, maybe some film critic can recognize me and mention me?

The next scene was shot on the roadside.

Chrissy, played by Diane, reluctantly takes a woman (Loretta) to meet her crush Ronnie.

After leaving the store, she strode in front because she didn't want to talk to Loretta. Such an awkward mentality made her walk stiff, as if she was trying to escape the unmistakable reality that Ronnie, whom she had a crush on, met other women.

Loretta, played by Cher, followed behind. The two of them turned a corner and reached another road that intersected at the corner of the street. They walked into the barbecue room through the entrance of a basement.

"Cut! Very good, very good! Let's have another one."

For a little more protection, Ronald called the second one. In fact, from a performance perspective, this is not necessary. This kind of play that is performed immediately without careful rehearsal is the most emotionally charged.

Standing far behind the camera, Ronald could smell the unwillingness emanating from Diane.

Soon it was lunch time, and the Screen Actors Guild representative came again and pointed at his watch to signal Ronald to stop filming to ensure the right of all actors and staff on the crew to eat.

Ronald no longer wanted to argue with him, pulled down his New York Yankees baseball cap, sat on the director's chair, closed his eyes and meditated.

Diane brought him a hamburger and a can of Coke and pushed him. Ronald woke up, picked up his hamburger and Coke, made a toast gesture with Diane, and started eating.

"Cheers!" Diane laughed out loud, and actually came up and bumped the Coke cans with Ronald, and then took a few sips as well.

"Oh, it's rude to disturb someone else's sleep, beautiful lady."

Next to him is director of photography David Watkin, who is actually sleeping in a chair.

"Sorry, we woke you up," Ronald apologized to the humorous Watkin. When they worked together on a Saab commercial in Sweden, and when they worked with Walter Murch on "Return to Oz" in Britain, Ronald knew that this man had a great personality and liked classical music more than being a cinematographer. The old man's habit.

When he is on the set, he especially likes to sleep in every possible way. This is also because Watkin's level is so high that he can immediately make plans for many lighting arrangements just by looking at them, and the lighting team will meet the requirements immediately after they are done.

Of course, this is also because of David Watkin’s special thinking habits. He always likes to simplify things rather than complicate them.

For example, for indoor lighting, he likes to simplify it to a single light source to achieve the effect, rather than a complex multi-light system. Hollywood's stacked-frame lighting method means that if the lens is deflected fifteen degrees, the lighting must be re-arranged to keep it consistent. And with his single light source lighting method, no matter how the camera is moved indoors, there is no need to re-set the scene.

Diane looked at Watkin and then at Ronald, very confused. "Mr. Watkin, do you always sleep when you are on set?" Coppola's crew, when he and the photographer knew Steve Baran, they wanted to discuss the light in every shooting gap. and camera movement.

"Of course, what else can keep you from getting more tired when working on the set? The only thing is to sleep!"

"Hahaha..." Diane was amused by him and laughed.

"Mr. Watkin is a very philosophical person. The point-matrix light source he invented, also called the Wendy lamp, allows us to re-light when shooting night scenes without having to walk five meters. This has saved many anxious directors. "

Ronald explained Watkin's philosophy to Diane. Not all directors of photography can fall asleep on the set.

"By the way, Ronald. When Murch and I were communicating before the shooting started, he said that your factory is helping him take care of his editing tapes now. You also invented and manufactured a lamp yourself?"

After hearing Ronald talk about his beloved invention, the Wendy lamp, David Watkin stopped dozing off and came over to ask Ronald.

"Ah, that's not an ordinary lamp. It simulates lightning effects. It's much brighter than the electrical short-circuit method usually used in Hollywood. It's reproduced very well on film. It's also used on some Broadway stages." Rona De looked at Watkin and replied.

"What about that? My Wendy lamps are mostly handmade now. Can you cooperate with me, just like the model you cooperated with Murch?"

"Of course. If you are willing, you can use the patent to invest in shares, and then we can work together to sell your Wendy lights to all the crews in Hollywood who need to shoot night scenes. Wouldn't it be great?"

Seeing that he had a small business, Ronald became more energetic. After discussing it with Watkin, they finalized the cooperation. Then they called their own people and asked them to discuss the details.

"It seems that I can go to see more operas and listen to more symphonies in the future, and I can also buy a recording of Rachmaninov's First Concerto played by Rubinstein."

David Watkin had talked a lot with Walter Murch about "Moonlight" before. He was surprised to find that Murch, who was originally in poor financial condition due to his failure as a director, showed him the film. In the family photo, several children are wearing good public high school uniforms.

After chatting with him, I found out that I used my invention to partner with Ronald and make some money through dividends. After paying off some loans, I can also change schools for my children.

Watkin has great trust in Murch, who is also a master of technology, but after all, unlike Murch, he has a mentorship to Ronald. Today, he just took the opportunity to express his idea of ​​​​wanting to form a partnership. Unexpectedly, he and Ronald Ronald hit it off immediately.

I don’t know why such a small invention can still be sold at a good profit.

Ronald is also very happy. He has another good product, and it is facing the same market. Marketing and channels can share costs.

Lightning lights, editing tape, scenery tape, and Wendy lights, what these products have in common is that users do not pay for them themselves, but buy them for work.

For them, it saves them a little trouble and they can make up a lot of reasons to get the studio to pay. The studio doesn't care about these small amounts of money. As long as the equipment is good and can speed up efficiency and prevent accidents, the cost saved by one less day of shooting is dozens of times the price of these devices.

The staff members changed their shifts and came back one after another to prepare for filming the scene in the basement barbecue room.

Diane also went to the public trailer to prepare for the afternoon scene. She looked at Ronald again before getting in the car. This man was actually very kind and brought good luck to the people around him. Many people became richer by being with him. No wonder he is so popular in Hollywood.

"a!"

After two hours, the lighting team set up the lights, and David Watkin made an OK gesture to Ronald.

"a!"

"Ronnie, Ronnie"

The clerk Chris, played by Diane, opened the door of the baking room.

The camera gradually moved back, showing more of the environment of the barbecue room. This is a pretty rough place. There are a lot of baguettes in the oven on the wall. This oven was specially made by the people in the oven for filming.

"Someone's looking for Ronnie." Chris, played by Diane, let Loretta into the grill and stood by the door, frowning, wanting to see what Loretta and her crush Ronnie were doing. relation.

Although it was late autumn, everyone inside was wearing undershirts and still sweating. Makeup was sprinkled on them, creating a sweaty effect.

Nicolas Cage on the other side was wearing a small vest, with a large section of his thick chest hair exposed, and his messy hair standing straight up. At first glance, he looked like a hormonal volcano.

"Are you here in place of my brother Johnny?" He looked at Loretta coldly.

In the camera, Loretta, played by Cher, walks towards the camera from the door, while Chrissy behind her is still standing there, uneasy.

David Watkin used the hyperfocal distance technique introduced to Hollywood by Orson Welles here to create the effect of deep focus.

In the current popular aesthetic trend in movies, in many scenes, when the focus is on characters close to the lens, a shallow focus lens will put the background characters and environment behind them out of focus and blur them.

But in this scene, Watkin went against the trend a bit, using the deep focus effect that was popular when black-and-white sound films first appeared in the 1930s. The distant background characters and the nearby characters are both in focus and remain clear.

The change in Loretta's demeanor when she was talking to Ronnie, and the expression on Chrissy's face after hearing the conversation between them, were all clearly captured.

Although Ronald was on a small monitor, he couldn't see their expressions clearly. But when the film is developed, developed into copies, and shown on the big screen, the faces of the two actors, Cher and Diane, will become the focus of the audience's attention.

Therefore, Watkin also deliberately asked the two actors to stand on the same axis, with only a slight staggered angle. This way, when presented on the big screen, the audience does not have to keep looking back and forth on their faces, but only stares at them. Just by looking at one area of ​​the screen, you can see the different states of mind of the two characters.

In this kind of movie that wins by plot and actor's performance, this narrative technique is very important. Deliberate design and arrangement, as well as the coordinated execution of masters during filming, can present the audience with an effortless and can-do movie. The effect of understanding what the director wants to say.

"Yes," Loretta came closer and talked to the character Ronnie behind the camera.

"What are you here for?"

"I'm getting married to Johnny, so I want to invite you to the wedding..."

"So, you're going to marry my brother Johnny? I have no life left, my brother Johnny took my life away."

"Excuse me?..." Loretta, played by Cher, showed an incomprehensible expression in the camera. I invited my fiancé’s brother to attend the wedding. Why did he talk about life...

"I don't understand what you said?" Loretta didn't understand, but deep down in her heart, she seemed to understand that the original impulse and desire of Ronnie's life was destroyed by Johnny.

"Johnny is getting married. Now he has a meaning in his life. I didn't have one, and he took it all away from me."

"I'm not here to piss you off..." Loretta wanted to explain. She was temporarily freed from the radiation of Ronnie's strong vitality and regained her sanity. She was just an unscrupulous person who came to find her fiancé. The younger brother who spoke just went to attend a wedding.

"What on earth is life!" Nicolas Cage suddenly raised his voice, "What is life!"

"They all say that bread is life, but I am in this small house that is too hot, making bread, bread, bread every day..."

Cage took the baguettes out of the oven viciously and threw them into the basket.

"I stay here with my stinky sweat every day, shoveling this stinky bread ball in and out with a shovel. Where is my life?

You want me to go to your wedding with my brother? snort? sweetheart? So where is my wedding? "

"Chris, give me the biggest bread knife on the wall, I can't..."

Kris, played by Diane, was almost moved to tears by Ronnie as she stood there. How come such a man doesn’t have a woman to love him?

"No, Ronnie, I won't give it to you," Diane was there, yelling in her newly acquired Italian accent.

"Chris, give me the knife quickly...I want my own..."

"Perhaps, I should come at another time." Xue'er was stunned for a moment. She didn't know whether Ronnie was telling the truth or just making nonsense.

"No, I want you to watch here." Nicolas Cage said viciously to Cher, "Do you understand me?"

"Yeah," Xue'er shook her head.

"It's no one's fault, it just happened." Nicolas Cage took off the glove on his left hand, revealing a wooden prosthetic hand inside.

"I got engaged five years ago and my brother Johnny came to visit. He asked me to buy some bread. I got distracted while talking to him and the bread cutter sliced ​​my hand.

Very fun, right? My fiancée found out that I was disabled and left me. "

"This is the misfortune between you and Johnny? But it's not Johnny's fault? It's not anyone's fault, it's just bad luck." Loretta, played by Cher, heard the two brothers' hearts for the first time. Knot.

"I don't care!" Nicolas Cage suddenly burst out and knocked down the free iron bucket in front of him.

"I have no hands! I have no wife! Johnny still has his hand! Johnny still has his wife! Do you want me to reconcile with him and go to his wedding?"

Loretta was shocked. There had never been a man with such strong primitive instincts in her life. She was not worried at all that the other person would hurt her, but expressed sympathy for his misfortune.

"It's just a matter of time. When a man opens his eyes in the morning, he kisses his dream goodbye."

Nicolas Cage put away his temper, as if his anger just consumed too much energy. He spoke softly to Loretta, as if to himself.

Everyone in the baking room was shocked by this huge contrast. A man like Ronny, after giving up his dream due to an accidental disability, became a person shoveling dough in the bakery every day. It is really a huge tragedy in life.

The camera focused on several people and took several reaction shots.

Xue'er's face was expressionless in shock, but the surging impulse in her heart almost broke through the boundaries of reason. Like Ronnie, she gave up on her dream because she was said to be a loser.

Chris's eyes were red and she tried her best not to shed tears. The man I have a crush on is indeed a man with big dreams, so pitiful.

A tear finally broke through the barrier in the eye socket and flowed out from Diane's left eye.

The tears accumulated all her strength, so that they instantly broke through the obstruction of her cheekbones, lips, and chin, and fell to the ground.

"I loved him, but I never told him, because after he lost his fiancée and his hand, he could never love anyone again."

"cut!"

"Pah, pah, pah..." After waiting for a few seconds, everyone, led by Ronald, began to applaud for this wonderful performance.

All the actors were perfect and it was a perfect show.

Not only the performances of the two protagonists are on point, but the small role played by Diane is also very good. The male and female protagonists meet for the first time and suddenly connect with each other, like they have been lovers for many years. This is a very abnormal and difficult to understand plot. , highlighted from the perspective of a bystander.

Ronny Camarelli is a man with great dreams. He lost his fiancée and his dreams because of his disability, so he can only join the baking business passed down from his family.

Loretta also had a dream, but it was suppressed for a long time due to social pressure and prejudice against widows.

On a specific occasion, Ronnie burst out and spoke his innermost thoughts in a monologue that struck a chord.

Especially Nicolas Cage, who imitated the acting method of the early German Expressionist film "Metropolis" and asked hoarsely to the wooden prosthetic hand, "I have no hands, I have no wife!"

If it weren't for Cage, a particularly explosive actor, the effect of the performance would be much worse. Such unreasonable characters and plots must be driven by reasons beyond common sense. This kind of explosive power is exactly what is needed at this moment when the audience needs to be shocked.

And this kind of crazy character needs to have a certain degree of control. After Cage broke out, he immediately ran out of energy and turned to whispering, so that the audience would be shocked and become people who could understand the reason for Ronnie's sudden madness.

This kind of balance between madness and normality is indeed not something ordinary actors can perform freely. If Cage hadn't been influenced by his uncle Coppola and watched "Metropolis" every day to understand his acting skills, he wouldn't have been able to achieve such a seamless performance.

David Watkin was seen making another OK gesture to Ronald. Several actors calmed down and began to hug each other and congratulate each other.

Ronald was also relieved. The second most difficult scene to shoot was finally passed due to the explosion of acting skills of several actors.

Ronald picked up a baguette and broke it open. The freshly baked baguette was very crisp and delicious. Ronald also broke off a small piece and handed it to Diane, who thoughtfully took out a handkerchief and asked her to wipe her eyes.

"I didn't expect that your explosive power was so good." Ronald exclaimed. He didn't expect that this kind of supporting role is actually more difficult to play than the protagonist.

After all, the protagonist has a natural foreshadowing and the opponent's reaction is exciting.

This kind of supporting role has no background story in the front and no reaction to the opponent's scenes in the back. It all relies on one's own imagination. And you need to be able to perform at a high level. Diane's performance is no different from those of veteran Broadway actors.

"Hehe, I have been acting in Off-Broadway's 'la mama' experimental theater company since I was 4 years old, and I also acted with Meryl Streep."

"So you are also an old actor, the young one." Ronald laughed and ruffled Diane's hair.

Diane finished her role and returned home to reunite with her father, Bert.

Next, the crew filmed several outdoor scenes at the Metropolitan Opera House and a Catholic church in New York.

Because of a one-night stand with her fiancé's brother, Loretta came to the church to confess. The godfather "severely" criticized Loretta and ordered her to recite two "rosaries" to atone for her sin. His mother at church helped him cover up his one-night stand with Ronnie because he didn't go home for the night. Loretta is shocked to discover that her mother discovered that her father, Cosmo, was having an affair.

Later, Loretta and Ronnie went on a date to see an opera at the opera house. In the opera house, I discovered that my father and his lover were also watching the opera "La Boheme". The two fathers and daughters had a tacit understanding. Cosmo complained to his daughter that you are engaged, but his daughter retorted, "You are married."

Ronald was very happy when filming these scenes. Screenwriter Stanley Shanley's writing skills are really strong, and he vividly describes the characteristics of Italians in just a few strokes.

When this movie is made, it will be a very different movie from other movies that reflect the life of Italians. There are no gangs and singing and dancing, but it can still tell the story of Italians at a glance.

Soon, the location shooting in New York was completed.

The union representatives are really strict. During the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, the crew is not allowed to work overtime in New York.

Ronald had no choice but to disband the crew one day in advance. Everyone went back to spend the holidays and flew to Toronto in the New Year to shoot in a non-unionized place.

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