Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Everyone, please line up. After a few minutes, everyone can get coupons to enter the movie theater." The assistant of the film crew said to a large group of moviegoers at the entrance of the Elle Cinema, directing them Filmed in a row in front of the cinema.

Ronald and the camera crew were lying on the roof opposite the film, shooting a long-range view of the team below, "Yes, this angle is fine, you can try to capture some of the team's pictures, and don't exceed the range of more than 100 of us. "

With a "smack", Ronald took the board in his hand and hit it in front of the camera.

"Aren't you afraid they will sue you? America's laws are much stricter than Mexico's. If they see their own footage on the screen, they can theoretically sue." Arthur Arthur, the director of photography lying next to Ronald Albert has made films in both Mexico and California, reminding Ronald.

"So I asked not to shoot scenes that show faces, not many people in the distance will recognize themselves."

Ronald thought, this is also forced by the budget, there is no way. It is really necessary to invite more than 100 group performances to stage the shooting, plus the cost of clearing the scene to compensate the cinema, and having to hire a lapd to maintain order, the expenditure can be terrifying.

"Okay, enough shots are captured, you can go and issue coupons." Arthur

Ronald nodded and waved vigorously at the assistant below. Then quickly ran downstairs, went to the crowd lined up at the entrance of the cinema, and gave them coupons one by one.

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

Ronald agreed with the Elle Cinema in advance to give them two seconds of frontal footage of the movie theater, and persuaded the manager of the Elle Cinema to let them shoot for free.

Then, at the ticket office of the cinema, with a 50% discount coupon, more than 100 moviegoers were recruited, and they were asked to line up at the entrance of the cinema.

"Thank you, thank you." Ronald let out a long sigh of relief after handing out the coupons. This shot was not reported to the Los Angeles City Hall, but fortunately it was a fast-forward and fast-out view, and it didn’t take much time. Neither was found by the police.

"Then grab the sign and the exterior of this movie theater."

The manager of the Elle Cinema, in coordination with the words on the large illuminated sign on the roof of the theater, changed the words from "Skinny Boy" to "stay up late to watch the comet together". The film crew took the opportunity to take a close-up.

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

"Okay, let the group get off the bus quickly." Ronald waved quickly to the bus opposite. The driver in the car opened the door, the assistants handed all kinds of props to the makeup group, and they filed out and lined up on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Remember your actions, remember your actions...", Ronald told each group performer, "We only have one chance to shoot, everyone pay attention to smiling at the camera."

This shot is to imitate the filming method of the TV station interview, so these group performances need to make all kinds of happy smiles to the camera as passers-by see the live broadcast cars and cameras of the TV station.

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

Arthur Albert personally carried the camera and shot the faces of each group performer from below. He moved forward slowly, taking pictures of everyone's smiling faces.

These group performances are all attracted by the comet that comes once every 65 million years and go to the street to watch the comet arrive.

The number of close-up shots that can be included in the viewfinder is very limited. Twenty group performances have been swept from beginning to end. After editing with the overhead shot just now, you can use montage to create a special impression, as if standing on the street. It was full of people, and many, many people came to see it.

There are a few wearing comet headdresses, a few holding "I love comets" cards, and two ensembles playing as a couple, kissing for the camera, which is similar to the live TV interview on New Year's Eve.

It's already past eight o'clock in the evening, and in fact, the roadside outside the close-up shots is completely empty. But the human imagination will automatically supplement the scene of more than 100 people lining up as the background of this story. Although there are only more than 20 people in the close-up, the audience will feel that the crowd is full of people.

"How? Arthur?"

"No problem," Arthur replied.

"Crack," Ronald turned the board upside down and hit the camera. This means that there was no scribbling at the beginning of this scene, and the final scene and scene were recorded by the final scrimmage.

Because this time the board is at the end of the shot, not the front, so when the board is played, the board must be turned upside down. It is convenient to distinguish later.

They also wrote on the scene board that there was no simultaneous recording, reminding the editor to add music in the later stage to cover up the noisy sound of the scene and the dialogue between Ronald and Arthur.

Because this scene is mainly to introduce the scene where the crowd is very curious about the comet and dispatched in full force, it doesn't matter if there is no dialogue.

"Okay, everyone, get on the bus, hurry up!" Ronald saw the director of photography Arthur signaled ok, and quickly directed the group to rush to the bus.

"Come on, go." Ronald asked for a camera that Arthur was carrying, and was the last to get into the car. He patted the driver's seat hard a few times, "There seems to be a patrolman opposite, let's go."

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

"Thank you for your cooperation." Ronald picked up the microphone on the bus and thanked the group. This guerrilla-style shooting method saves money and saves money, and is actually not very friendly to group performances. There is no RV as a powder room, everyone is doing their makeup on the big bus.

If caught by lapd, there will be trouble. So Ronald paid them 1.2 times the minimum wage.

"Let's go to the next filming 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 was on his way to the next filming location to explain.

The car quickly arrived at the filming location for the house of the two heroines Regina and Samantha. This is a middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles, and a row of headlights has been lined up on the lawn outside the room.

"Thanks for your help, Beth." Ronald got off the bus first and shook hands with a woman in an electrician's suit and boots.

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

Beth was a rare female electrician, tall and tall, and she led Ronald to the back of the row of lights, where two thick cables were lifted in the middle and placed on two wooden on the shelf.

"I can show you the effect, but the damage to the light bulb is not small, so in order to prevent the light bulb from blowing up during the actual shooting, now I can only briefly demonstrate the effect."

Ronald nodded.

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

The bulbs of that row of headlights suddenly fanned a very bright light, illuminating the faces and houses on the opposite side.

"Pop" Bass cut off the switch again. Brightness drops suddenly.

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

"The brightness is enough, I probably want a rhythm like this, smack... smack" Ronald hit a few beats.

The special effects of lightning are very difficult to shoot. If you shoot at the sky in a thunderstorm, in fact, the sensitivity of the film is not enough, and it is difficult to capture the moment of lightning.

An experienced electrician will short-circuit the power cord of the light in a controlled manner. This will raise the voltage and then emit light several times brighter than the rated brightness. By controlling the time of the short circuit intermittently by hand, the effect of lightning can be simulated.

Of course, doing so also has risks. Sometimes the electrician is inexperienced, and the short-circuit boosting time is too long, which will make the light bulb burst. So Ronald asked Cameron to find an experienced expert in the industry, Bess, to operate the scene of the comet's annihilation flash.

More than 20 group performers were divided into several piles outside, looking up at the comet, the strong light flashed by the lamps shone on their faces, like the strong light emitted by lightning. In this way, only the reflection of the actor's face can be shot, and the complex special effects scene of the comet flash can be avoided and saved a lot of money.

In addition to the group performance that just got off the bus, there were also the father who played the two heroines and the official actor of the stepmother.

The stepmother is Sharon Farrell, a beautiful actress who still has a charm. She is actually a few years older than Katherine Mary Stuart, who played the eldest daughter, and Kelly Maloney, the youngest.

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

Behind this metaphor is the fact that very few people in Hollywood will shoot stories of middle-aged women because audiences don't like to watch them.

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

Sharon Farrell has passed the first two stages and went straight to playing mom. Many actresses will resist this day, and some will even give false ages. But the wrinkles on the face don't lie.

"Sharon, when you come out of the room, you just got into a fight with Samantha and slapped her, but you still act like a good stepmother to your husband."

Ronald talked to her about the show, then got the lights ready and walked first.

"In 1910, Halley's Comet returned. At that time, many people thought they would die."

Sharon Farrell, with short curly blond hair, a black velvet collar, and red nail polish on all her fingers, looks like a wealthy suburban housewife.

She went to her husband and started saying that the two stepdaughters were not.

"Very well, let's start shooting."

"Recording? Camera?!"

At Ronald's command, the camera began to roll.

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

"What is that?" the old man asked back.

"Dear, Samantha is still a little bit rebellious, ah, what is that?" Sharon Farrell, who played the stepmother, was also awakened by lightning. She hugged her husband and looked up to the sky, bursts of flashes of light. on their faces.

Ronald made a gesture. The lighting group turned on the dark red lights, and the scene was illuminated into a dark red atmosphere.

The electrician's bass was a few quick short-circuits again, followed by a few more flashes.

Stepmother Sharon Farrell looked at her arm as if it was starting to itch.

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

"cut!"

Ronald is happy with the shot.

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