Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Don't you have to apply for approval from New York City Hall for this shot?" Director of Photography Michael Ballhaus asked Ronald. The first officially shot scene in the entire film is the interior scene on the Staten Island Ferry, which follows the aerial shot.

Starting from the torch of the Statue of Liberty, it panoramically displays the atmosphere of the center of the universe in Manhattan, and then switches from the New Jerusalem-style tall metropolis to the dilapidated, dirty, and backward ferry, showing the life of a poor blue-collar secretary working on Wall Street. Life.

The famous American director Orson Welles said that long shots are a sign that distinguishes adults from children. After almost all directors become famous, in order to prove their artistic value, they must show off their skills by shooting a long shot at the beginning, which is like a rite of passage for the director.

Hitchcock used "Rose" to show off his skills. Except for the few seconds of black screen after each roll of film, the rest was shot in one shot. The announcement of that film also used Hitchcock's technical breakthrough as a major selling point.

Orson Welles himself used the opening three minutes of "The Last Day", spread out over three blocks, with cars and on foot, and a long shot of more than fifty extras to announce, a long shot of Hitchcock's interior scene It doesn’t matter, those who dare to take long outdoor shots are technological inventors.

In the opening scene of "Empire of the Sun", Spielberg used a ship to swoop in and knock open a coffin on the Huangpu River. The long shot metaphorized the impact of modernization on ancient civilizations, proving that he can make epic films.

[In view of the general environment,

Long shots are not entirely about showing off skills. The opening of the film should quickly immerse the audience into the dream brought to them by the director. Long shots paired with music always make people feel the atmosphere inexplicably. Therefore, it has become the first choice of many directors for their opening scenes.

This rite of passage is now Ronald's turn.

But as we all know, Ronald has no technophobia. It’s not necessarily a long shot that runs from the beginning. The last scene in the aerial photography was from a high altitude to almost the same height as the ferry, then zoomed in with a zoom lens, and finally settled on the glass window of the yellow ferry on Staten Island.

So Ronald chose a connecting shot that was later edited, in which Tess and Sheen discuss how to celebrate Tess's 30th birthday on the ferry.

In order to film the effect of a daily ferry, so that New York audiences would know that this was a real New York story, Ronald did not report it to the city hall, rent a ferry, and then find hundreds of extras to solve the problem.

Instead, he directly brought the film crew and asked two actors, Melanie Griffiths and Joan Cusack, to put on leather jackets and coats, apply exaggerated secretary makeup, and sneak in like real Wall Street secretaries. On the ferry, I found two seats near the porthole and sat down.

Such candid shots,

Only in this way can we restore the temperament of New York that is different from any other city.

Ignoring the director of photography's teasing, Ronald quickly found the angle of the sun, and then asked the camera crew to shoot using handheld photography.

A microphone was hung on the camera, and the photographer walked quickly from the side of the cabin carrying a heavy machine. If this happened elsewhere, it would definitely attract a crowd of people to watch. However, this is New York, where the citizens of America are the most arrogant. They talk to themselves, and not many people pay attention to the noise caused by these people.

Great, only one citizen leaning against the aisle glanced twice at the camera.

Ronald gave a hand signal to Joan Cusack, who plays Sheen. Joan Cusack turned her head, looked at Tess played by Melanie Griffiths, and sang softly:

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

The sound was not loud, and it was picked up by the microphone hanging on the camera. It was also picked up by the voices of people nearby and various noises.

On the other side of Joan Cusack is a real secretary. Her hairstyle is similar to that of the two actors. It is combed high and fixed with styling water. Two very large earrings sway as she turns her head.

Ronald smiled as soon as he saw it. He couldn't tell the difference between the costumes, makeup and hairstyle carefully designed by the crew and the real secretary. This indicates that the careful preparations for the filming of this film were very successful.

What Xin was holding was a small cupcake with three small candles on it. The script set that today happened to be Tess's thirtieth birthday. She was too busy at work and could only spend time with her good friends. Celebrating on the way to work.

The real secretary next to her looked at Melanie with curiosity in her eyes. While chewing gum, she looked over, maybe wondering if she wanted to sing together.

"Huh..." Melanie Griffith blew out the candle.

"Did you make a wish?" Joan Cusack said. Xin felt that it was too simple to celebrate like this. After all, this was an integer birthday of thirty.

"Yes..." Melanie replied, and Tess looked in the other direction. Most secretaries would be married off by this age, but she still had great ambitions. Melanie's face was facing the sun, and the light shone through her withered blond hair, creating a very good atmosphere on her face.

"Cut!" Ronald was very satisfied with this shot. It seemed that his decision to go directly to the scene without rehearsing was the right one.

Both actors are very experienced and they have such a tacit understanding with each other. But when I came up, I just took pictures without any hesitation. Before the attention of the New Yorkers around me was attracted, I got the job done in a flash.

Director of photography Michael Ballhaus raised his hand to indicate that the picture was OK, and Ronald asked them to put away the equipment and prepare to evacuate.

"Are you making a movie?" The people around were awakened by the cut. The female secretary sitting next to Joan Cusack asked Ronald, "Is it a Hollywood production? Or is it an advertisement or something?" "

For a time, the eyes of many people around him were focused here. Although New Yorkers are not surprised by this kind of thing, if it is a Hollywood production, there may be some celebrities hiding nearby, waiting to come out to film when the time comes.

"No, I'm a student at New York University, and we're here to take pictures of our homework." Ronald denied immediately.

"Beep...beep..." Just as the ferry started to sound its whistle, it was only a few minutes before we reached the hotel in Lower Manhattan.

After docking, the group quickly met up with the second group filming the docking scene of the "American Legion" ferry at the pier, got into a Toyota van, and drove toward the World Trade Center.

"Student homework from New York University... hahaha, it made me laugh." Melanie Griffiths and Joan Cusack were taking off their makeup in the car and talked about how quickly Ronald answered the passenger. , almost shook them both.

"Thank God, I haven't lost the craft I learned from Roger Corman." Ronald also celebrated with Michael Ballhaus.

…

The crew officially entered the World Trade Center. Many companies had closed down after the stock market crash, and there were not as many people in the lobby as originally expected. Ronald had no choice but to ask the Screen Actors Guild to bring in dozens of extras in the afternoon to film the scene of Tess entering the World Trade Center at work.

The camera is assumed to be on the second-floor balcony of the World Trade Center Towers. The telephoto lens focuses on Tess and Sheen walking among a large group of extras.

The longer the focal length of the lens, the smaller the field of view. The director of photography focused the camera on the necks and heads of Tess and Xin. The dozens of people performing in the picture were captured by him as if they were thousands of troops scrambling to get to work.

The heads of Griffiths and Cusack, rising and falling as they walked, were captured by the camera, as if they were the two standouts among the sheep.

This footage could not be recorded live and had to be dubbed later, but the two actors still spoke their lines meticulously.

"No lunch, I have to take a public speaking class." Tess said to her good friend Xin, declining the invitation to have lunch together.

"Why do you want to take speech classes? You speak very well." Joan Cusack, who plays Xin, imitated the accent to a very high level, and perfectly simulated the blue-collar accent of Brooklyn. Open accents have largely replaced closed accents, which makes people sound like poor people.

"Then I'll pick you up at five o'clock in the evening, and we'll go to Staten Island together." Xin continued to work hard.

"No, I have a lecture on emerging markets to attend in the afternoon." Melanie Griffiths, who plays Tess, also had her accent trained by a pronunciation coach. Her Brooklyn accent is much weaker, but

You can still hear the traces in some words. The image of a woman who worked hard from a secretary position and tried to integrate into a higher-level circle can give the audience a clue from the lines.

"God, today is your birthday, can't emerging markets wait?" Xin was a little nervous.

"When is my surprise birthday party?" Tess knew what her friend meant and simply said it.

"What kind of surprise party?" It's not a surprise if you say it.

"Stop pulling..."

"Well, I should take you out for a drink after get off work and then come home at seven o'clock. They are all here."

"Okay, I'll leave early and I'll be home at 7:15. Okay?"

The two friends started bumping each other's shoulders, a game only played by little girls to show affection.

Ronald was delighted that this was apparently an improvisation by Melanie Griffiths. Joan Cusack also reacted immediately and bumped back. The two hugged each other happily on the road.

This kind of behavior is only seen by girls who grew up in poor communities. Girls from wealthy families are usually forbidden by their mothers to make a fuss, which is not elegant.

As expected, they are talented actors. Ronald deliberately did not let them rehearse, so that the first performance would be natural and undesigned reactions. For such actors who are talented, well-trained, and experienced in film shooting, it is best to give them some space.

"Cut!"

Although there was no simultaneous recording, the mouth movements of the two people were captured on film with a telephoto lens, and the director of photography said to Ronald that it was perfect. The focus operator withstood the test and turned the focus wave wheel very quickly without any false focus.

The next thing to be shot is the scene of Tess and Sheen walking out of the gate into the lobby of the skyscraper to squeeze into the elevator.

Because guide rails need to be laid, there is no way to take secret photos. In terms of the World Trade Center property, preparations have been made in advance. The most severe wave of rent cancellations caused by the recent stock market crash is not the twin towers, but the No. 7 building behind them.

So this shot was shot in the lobby of Building 7.

The prepared extras, dressed in office workers' attire, began to file in through a row of transparent glass doors. The camera was shot from the side at a 45-degree angle.

The two characters, Tess and Sheen, walk through the door and the camera begins to roll up the rails. The relative movement speed of the two sides is faster than real walking, making this shot look very fast. It seemed like there were really thousands of people hurriedly squeezing in.

All in all, everything went smoothly and the first day of shooting was successfully completed.

After announcing the end, Ronald still had to prepare for the next day's shooting, and then send the film to be developed and printed. You can see the developed samples at noon tomorrow.

He and the crew were still waiting where they were, and the actors were already getting ready to leave.

"Director, let's go to the bar tonight, will you come?" Melanie Griffiths played very well today. She came over and boldly asked Ronald if he wanted to go to Happy together.

"You guys go ahead and don't overdo it." Ronald didn't object to filming whoever was done, and the actor relaxed a little.

"Well, bye..." Melanie quickly changed her clothes and went out to get into the Hollywood investment banker's car. It seemed that the two of them had really started dating.

"Ronald..."

There is actually another reason why Ronald doesn't go to the bar, that is, he has to meet and chat with the crew of "Hairspray".

This ultra-low-cost movie with very low investment was released in the United States two weeks ago. The distribution department of Daydream is very powerful, and it has contacted more than 200 theaters to release the film since its release.

Unexpectedly, this dance film, which is branded as a comedy version of "Dirty Dancing", was unexpectedly loved by the audience. The first weekend's box office exceeded one million, and the cost had been recovered by the second week.

Ronald was very happy to hear Michelle Cannold's report, which showed that their strategy of focusing on small-budget genre films was off to a good start, and the first film achieved great success.

The main creative staff of the crew, director John Waters, Ricky Lake starring as Fat Girl, Drag Queen, Divine, who played her mother, and the newly elected

The mayor of Palm Springs and Cher's ex-husband, Sonny Bono, who has not yet taken office, all came to New York to promote the event.

The box office was so strong this time that the entire crew began to arrange road shows in major cities across the country. Ronald invested hundreds of thousands more dollars, adding more games in central and eastern cities.

The box office in the second week was even higher than that in the first week. When Ronald was happy, he changed the hotel where the cast and crew were staying to the St. Regis Hotel, the most expensive and luxurious hotel in Manhattan.

Several people came to the World Trade Center, met Ronald, and went to the St. Regis Hotel for dinner.

"Director, thank you, my agent has received many offers." The speaker was the heroine Ricky Lake. She was not the most beautiful actress in "Hairspray". However, the movie's unexpected box office explosion made Hollywood feel that this little chubby girl had unlimited future.

"When you lose weight, don't lose weight too quickly. Let your agent plan it carefully. Many actresses in Hollywood lost many good roles because they lost weight too fast." Ronald looked at Ricky. Laike has lost a lot of weight and looks completely different from the chubby girl in the movie.

"I know, thank you."

"If you ask me, what's wrong with being fat? There are too many skinny people in Hollywood, but there are only a few of us fat girls..." Divine, the Drag Queen, still speaks very straightforwardly, and his weight is twice that of Ricky Lake. So many, so fat that I can hardly sit down.

However, he is already over forty years old, and Ricky Lake is only twenty this year. He is at the age where he loves beauty. How could he just walk around Hollywood with the image of a fat girl?

However, the friendship between mother and daughter in the movie continued into life, and they had a lot of fun playing around.

Ronald chatted with Sonny Bono.

Bono's luck has improved since he acted in Ronald's movie. During the election, because he happened to appear on David Letterman's talk show with his ex-wife Cher, his popularity suddenly increased and he successfully defeated the former mayor.

After he finished promoting the movie, he was ready to take office. In order to fulfill his promise to voters, Bono decided to start a Palm Springs Film Festival based on his expertise. Let’s learn from Robert Redford’s creation of the Sundance Film Festival, which specifically attracts entries from independently produced films.

Ronald reminded him that there were not many independent films in Hollywood. Robert Redford's film festival had been held for several years and was not comparable in terms of popularity. He had to find a suitable selling point to hold the Palm Springs Film Festival. up, and then drive Bono's own restaurant business, and Palm Springs' tourism and economy.

"I've thought about it. Palm Springs can't compete head-on with Sundance. I plan to invite independent films from other countries to compete and participate in the exhibition. There are many independent filmmakers from Europe and Asia who make B-level genre films. They also want to Entering the American market."

Ronald was very interested in Sonny Bono's idea. He and Bono agreed that for the first film festival next year, they would contact the other side of the Pacific and send some films from there, Hong Kong, Japan, and other places to participate in the exhibition.

"Ah ha ha ha... Divine burst out laughing over there." It turned out that his agent called him again. Due to the writers' strike, many television dramas in New York have been suspended. They can only rerun or find some guests. Go on a talk show.

The second season finale of the Fox TV series "Married...ith" was also disrupted by a strike. It had no choice but to take out the old script from the first season and find some latest celebrities to participate.

Anyway, in this sitcom, there are a lot of audience members on the scene to create canned laughter. As long as Divine uses his ability to improvise on the spot and makes a few random moves, it will be fine in the last episode. Who makes her the "actress" who is talked about the most by the media now and who brings unexpected surprises?

Ronald stepped forward and hugged him, then congratulated him on his success. This "Hairspray", like "Dirty Dancing", also brought good luck to the creator. All the actors got more opportunities because of a movie that used small things to win big.

Ronald is very happy about this kind of thing, since the big studio system has collapsed anyway. It's impossible for a movie produced by Ronald to tie up the original cast and make five more similar movies of his. Why don't we get together and relax and let these people go out?

Make money.

Anyway, no one in the studio knows all the secrets of success. If they are no longer popular, then coming back to make sequels is the right way for a small production company to survive.

Besides, don’t we have the weapon of video tape now? Movies that earn back their money at the box office can make a profit on video tapes. And a movie like "Hairspray" that has built a certain momentum in the media is a very good advertisement for the video tape that goes on sale after it is released. Ronald is happy to see all these creatives get opportunities.

When they were interviewed, they would also be asked by the media what they thought of the movie "Hairspray". It was all free advertising.