Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Exploiting Hollywood 1980 https://

Francis Coppola's Diorama Company () is located on Carney Street in North Beach, San Francisco, in the famous Sentinel Building. Completed in 1907, the building was one of the first high-rise buildings in San Francisco. The green exterior walls are very bright.

Ronald entered the building, most of which was rented by the Diorama Company, and a large soundstage. Ronald finds Walter Murzy on the upper floor, ready to start his apprenticeship, learning editing techniques under Murzy's tutelage.

Walter Murkey is remixing the movie "Dragon Slayer". This is a film co-produced by Paramount and Disney. After the success of the co-production of the live-action version of "Popeye Pope", the two companies continued to jointly produce live-action animation.

Merzy was sitting in front of the mixing desk, with several tapes on it, and when he saw Ronald coming, he smiled like an old friend and motioned Ronald to wait.

The so-called remixing is to remix the tapes of the live radio, post-dubbing, soundtrack, etc. with multiple tracks in the mixing room, adjust the loudness of each track, eliminate the noise of the live sound, and add to the soundtrack. The sense of presence, etc., works to form the various sounds, dialogue, and soundtracks that we hear in movie theaters.

Walter Murkey is one of the few who can do not only film editing, but also sound editing. At the 52nd Academy Awards in the first half of the year, he was nominated for Best Editing and won the Best Sound Oscar.

Apparently, orders for his sound editing started pouring in after winning the award. This "Dragon Slayer" is also named and asked him to do the knife.

"I'm busy making sound effects for this fire-breathing dragon, you can wait here, I'll come back to you later," Walter Murkey said.

Ronald nodded and walked out the door himself. During this time Francis Coppola was not in San Francisco, but in New York. He brought in his little brother George Lucas and gave their idol Toyo director Akira Kurosawa as a guarantee. The movie "Shadow Warrior" invested by 20th Century Fox was a big hit at the Toyoung box office, earning 2.3 billion yen, equivalent to 11 million Dollar.

The Eastern Ying people began to recall the honor this "movie emperor" brought them, and they began to report on the American people's worship of him.

Coppola was also invited to be interviewed, and he is optimistic about the box office of Kurosawa's historical blockbuster "Shadow Warrior" in America. His diorama company was also involved in a small part of the distribution. Coppola wanted to use this oriental film as a test of the diorama's foray into the film distribution market.

Soon Walter Murkey walked out of the mixing room to find Ronald. "You're welcome, I'm busy doing sound effects for the fire-breathing dragon, and you're here to help me sort out the original footage of Apocalypse Now.

It turned out that Coppola decided to put all the filming of Apocalypse Now into the desert. He felt that the film was a treasure for mankind, and the humidity and temperature in the desert were just right. He found a cave and stored all the negatives in it, hoping that 100 years from now, people could see the masterpiece.

"You've got to help me go through that pile of working footage and find out what doesn't belong in Apocalypse Now, when we dropped too much raw material in the warehouse. It was mixed up with years of used footage."

Walter Murkey, speaking, took Ronald to a warehouse downstairs, which was filled with reels of film.

"This is where the film of Apocalypse Now is. It starts from the third column and goes all the way to the eleventh column. There is a pile in the corner, and there are a lot of Apocalypse Now. Your job is to use this editing table to make every Go through the roll of film and check with the label.

When we were editing, there was too little time to sort it out carefully, and now that Coppola wants to store him in the desert, we have to check it out. Just in time for you to come..."

Having taught Ronald to use a horizontal editing machine made in West Germany, Walter Murkey went back to "Slaying the Dragon" by himself.

Ronald took out his notebook, tore off a piece of paper, folded it into two small figures, and placed them in front of the small monitor of a horizontal editing machine made in West Germany. The proportions seemed to be two figures watching a movie.

Then he picked up a reel of film, unboxed it, put the rollers on, and at the push of a button, a bright light projected the film onto the screen.

After a few hours of work, Ronald cleaned out footage from some of the Diorama Company's other early films. The rest are raw footage of Apocalypse Now, many of which were not cut into the final film.

For example, Ronald is watching this now, and the protagonist Colonel Willard is another actor starring, not Martin Sheen in the finished film. His eyes are smaller than Martin Sheen, and he has a tough temperament. Ronald watched it for a long time, but he always felt that he did not match the overall atmosphere of the film.

"This is Harvey Carter, who was replaced by Coppola for Martin Sheen after a few weeks of filming." Walter Murkey came over and asked Ronald to go to dinner. "Do you think he made the right decision?"

"I've watched Apocalypse Now several times. This is a story in which the protagonist leads you to explore the truth of the world. This tough-guy Harvey Carter is on film, and the audience may not be able to substitute it. His eyes are very small.

And Martin Sheen is very suitable, he is feminine, his eyes are big and charming, so the audience can easily empathize with him. "Ronald felt that Walter wanted to raise him, so he boldly expressed his opinion.

Martin Sheen is a handsome guy with a bit of a creamy temperament. In the Mio co-production "Cassandra Bridge" a few years ago, he also played a creamy boy who eats soft rice, and Eva Gard who is no one Na plays the opposite role. Ronald was impressed.

"Your opinion is very good, Francis told me that at the time." Walter saw Ronald standing over the film with one hand on the stop button, knowing that he was using the opportunity to see the film to contact the editing skills, Nodding satisfied.

"You remember the tricks I taught you, which is good. I've always believed in the need to stand up for editing"

"But I haven't found the feeling yet, I don't know if I really found that cut point."

Ronald remembered what Murzy said, finding the right rhythm and temperament of the movie, every time you press the stop button, you can accurately stop at the 24th of a second. But he tried several times and still couldn't do it.

"I still have a trick for this kind of character shots, and I'll teach you later."

The two went to the Diorama Cafe next to the entrance of the Sentinel Building together. Walter motioned to the waiter for two diorama set meals and ate with Ronald.

"How do you feel after working all morning?"

"I was writing the script for the first paragraph, and now I'm standing in front of the editor, and it feels like two different dimensions that need to be adjusted. But when I put the film in the editor, it feels like it's coming."

"Your idea is very correct, in fact, a movie has gone through several creative processes from the idea to the final release.

The screenwriter wrote him into a script, which was the first time he created it.

The director decomposes the script and draws the composition mirror, which is the second creation.

The actor's performance is the third creation. photograph

The film director decides which lenses to use and which images to shoot is the fourth creation.

And editing is the fifth creation, and the last chance you have to right the movie. "

Ronald picked up his espresso and drank it down.

"So how do you control the quality of the movie after so many creations?"

"This is a good question. The main creators of each creation have a different movie in their mind. Generally speaking, the director is the only person who will start from the script and follow it all the way to the editing. He is also the only character who can fully control the film. .

The director will know more than anyone else about what the final film will look like, he is the one who makes the decisions and is the one who is artistically responsible. But it is not so easy, there are many difficulties to overcome.

Actually, I have never directed a feature film. You'll know when you're a director. "

Ronald nodded and started talking lightly.

"I heard from Roger Coleman that you were George Lucas' college classmate?"

"Yes, we took a film course at USC together, and Warner Bros. had an internship position that year, and the last round of interviews was just me and him." Walter Murkey was distantly caused by Ronald's question Memories.

"We both felt each other was the only contender, so we agreed that whoever got that position would pull the other.

He ended up getting that position, and he met Francisco Coppola on the set, and I later applied for Coppola's company, starting out as a sound engineer and then film editing. "

"So George Lucas owes you one more time?"

"Haha, yes.

"Walter, will you be a director too?"

Walter Murkey also finished his coffee, "The opportunity to direct is not easy. After I became an editor, there will be editors and sound work that will come to you constantly. This way you will get caught up in one by one editing and sound. Design work.

I was about to break the cycle and start directing.

However, my children are still young, and my wife, Angie, and I are considering waiting for them to be a little older before starting to pursue their dream of directing. "

After lunch, the two returned to their respective places and continued to work.

Ronald felt that he had come to a strange place and started a strange job, but he was very used to it unexpectedly and didn't feel any discomfort. Maybe he would like to watch the film he directed in the editing room gradually take shape.

"Pop" Ronald pressed the stop button again, still a few spaces away from the previous one. Ronald paced the warehouse, took out the pre-prepared thermos cup, and took a sip of black tea. Compared with coffee, he is still used to the slow refreshing effect of tea. Coffee is like a usury, which refreshes you for an hour or two, and then pays it back with interest.

The refreshing effect of black tea does not have this drawback.

"Who is this person? He looks a lot like the protagonist Martin Sheen." Ronald pressed the play button and looked at a young man on the monitor. Except for a little hunchback, he looked like a young version of Martin Sheen. pungent.