Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Francis Coppola's Zoetrope Company is located on Kearney Street in North Beach, San Francisco, in the famous Sentinel building. Completed in 1907, this 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 the building was rented by the peep show company, and there was also a large photo studio. Ronald found Walter Mersey on the upper floor, preparing to start his apprenticeship and learn editing techniques under Mersey's guidance.

Walter Mersey is doing a remix of the movie "Dragon Killer." This is a film co-produced by Paramount and Disney. After the success of the live-action version of "Popeye Popper", the two companies continued to jointly produce live-action animation.

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

The so-called remixing is to remix the live recording, post-dubbing, soundtrack, and other multi-track audio tapes in the mixing room, adjust the loudness of each track, eliminate the noise of the live recording, and add The sense of place and other work will eventually form the various sounds, dialogues, and soundtracks we hear in the cinema.

Walter Mersey was one of the few who was not only a film editor, but also a sound editor. At the 52nd Academy Awards held in the first half of the year, he was nominated for Best Editing and won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects.

Apparently, after winning the award, orders for his voice editing began to pour in. This "Dragon Slayer" also required him to be the director by name.

"I'm busy doing sound effects for this fire-breathing dragon. You can wait here and I'll come back to you later." Walter Mersey said.

Ronald nodded and walked out of the door. During this time, Francis Coppola was away from San Francisco and working in New York. He roped in his little brother George Lucas to vouch for their idol Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. The movie "Kagemusha" invested by Twentieth Century Fox was a hit at the Japanese box office, earning 2.3 billion yen, equivalent to 11 million Dollar.

The Japanese began to recall the honors this "movie emperor" had brought them, and began to report on the American people's admiration for him.

Coppola was also invited for an interview and was optimistic about the box office performance of Akira Kurosawa's historical blockbuster "Kagemusha" when it was released in America. His Peep Show Company also had a small hand in distribution. Coppola wanted to use this Japanese film as a test for Peep Show's entry into the film distribution market.

Soon Walter Mersey came out of the mixing room and found Ronald. "Welcome, I'm currently working on the sound effects for the fire-breathing dragon, and you're here to help me organize the original footage of 'Apocalypse Now'.

It turns out that Coppola decided to put all the footage from Apocalypse Now into the desert. He feels that this movie is a human treasure, and the humidity and temperature are very suitable in the desert. He found a cave and stored all the negatives in it, hoping that people 100 years later could see this masterpiece.

"You have to help me look through that pile of working film and find out the parts that don't belong to Apocalypse Now. We discarded too much original material in the warehouse at that time. It was mixed with the old film from the past."

Walter Mersey said as he took Ronald to a warehouse downstairs, which was full of reels of film.

"This is where the Apocalypse Now films are, starting from the third column and going all the way to the eleventh column. There is a pile in the corner with a lot of Apocalypse Now films in it. Your job is to use this editing table to edit each film. Run the film through it and check it with the label.

When we were editing, we were so tight that we didn't have time to go through it carefully, and now that Coppola wants to store it in the desert, we have to check the side. You just happened to be here..."

After teaching Ronald how to use a horizontal editing machine made in West Germany, Walter Mersey went back to work on "Slay the Dragon".

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

Then he picked up a reel of film, disassembled the box, installed the roller, and pressed a button to project the film onto the screen with a strong light.

Working for several hours, Ronald cleaned up some footage from other early Peep Show films. The rest are original footage from "Apocalypse Now," and many were not cut into the final film.

For example, in the episode Ronald is watching now, the protagonist, Colonel Willard, is played by another actor, not Martin Sheen in the finished film. His eyes were smaller than Martin Sheen's, and he had a tough temperament. After watching it for a long time, Ronald felt that he did not match the overall atmosphere of the film.

"This is Harvey Carter. After a few weeks of filming, Coppola replaced him with Martin Sheen." Walter Mersey came over and asked Ronald to go to dinner with him. "Do you think his decision was right?"

"I have watched Apocalypse Now several times. It is a story in which the protagonist leads you to explore the truth of the world. The tough guy Harvey Cartel appears on film, and the audience may not be able to relate to it because his eyes are very small.

Martin Sheen is very suitable. He is feminine and has big and charming eyes, so it is easy for the audience to sympathize with him. "Ronald felt that Walter wanted to mention him, so he boldly expressed his views.

Martin Sheen is a handsome guy with a bit of a buttery temperament. In the MiO co-production "Cassandra Bridge" a few years ago, he also played a soft-boiled butter boy, and the late and useless Eva Gad Na acted as a rival. Ronald was impressed.

"Your opinion is very good, that's what Francis told me at the time." Walter saw Ronald standing over the film, with one hand on the stop button, and knew that he was using the opportunity of watching the film to learn about editing skills, Nodding with satisfaction.

"It's good that you remember the techniques I taught you. I've always believed in editing while standing."

"But I haven't found the feeling yet, and I don't know if I've really found the editing point."

Ronald remembered Merzy saying that if you find the rhythm and temperament of the movie correctly, every time you press the stop button, you can accurately stop at the 1/24th 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 of them went to the Peep Show Cafe next to the entrance of the Sentinel Building. Walter motioned to the waiter for two peep show sets and ate with Ronald.

"You've been working all morning, how do you feel?"

"I was writing the script in the previous period, and now I am standing in front of the editing machine. It feels like it is in two different dimensions and needs to be adjusted. But after putting the film on the editing machine, it feels like it will come right away."

"Your idea is right. In fact, a movie actually goes through several creative processes from the idea to the final release.

The screenwriter wrote him into a script, which was his first creation.

The director decomposes the script and draws the footage, which is his second creation.

The actor's performance was created for the third time. photograph

The director decides which lenses to use and which scenes to shoot. This is the fourth creation.

Editing is the fifth creation and the last chance you have to correct the mistakes of the film. "

Ronald picked up the Italian espresso and drank it in one gulp.

"So how should we control the quality of the film after so many creations?"

"This is a good question. Every time the creative staff creates a movie, they have a different movie in mind. Generally speaking, the director is the only one who will start from the script and follow it all the way to the editing. He is also the only role that can fully control the movie. .

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

In fact, I have never directed a feature film. You will know it when you become a director. "

Ronald nodded and started talking about something lighter.

"I heard Roger Corman say that you were a college classmate of George Lucas?"

"Yes, we studied film courses together at the University of Southern California. There was an internship position at Warner Bros., and in the last round of interviews, he and I were the only two left." Walter Mersey was aroused by Ronald's question. remember.

"We both felt that each other was the only competition, so we agreed that whoever got the position would give the other a hand.

In the end, he got the position and met Francis Coppola on the set. I later applied for a job and joined Coppola's company, starting as a sound engineer and then starting to edit film. "

"So George Lucas owes you one more time?"

"Haha, that's right.

"Walter, will you also be a director?"

Walter Mersey also finished his coffee, "The opportunity to direct is not easy. After I became an editor, editing and sound work will come to you constantly. In this way, you will be involved in editing and sound work one after another. Design work.

I was planning to break the cycle and start directing.

But my children are still young, so my wife Angie and I are considering waiting until they are a little older to pursue their dream of directing. "

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

Ronald felt that he was in a strange place and starting a strange job, but he was surprisingly used to it and didn't feel any discomfort. Maybe he was willing to watch the film he directed in the editing room gradually take shape.

"Pa" Ronald pressed the stop button again, but it was still a few steps behind the previous time. Ronald walked around in the warehouse, took out the thermos cup prepared in advance, and took a sip of black tea. Compared to coffee, he is still accustomed to the slow refreshing effect of tea. Coffee is like a loan shark, which will refresh you for an hour or two, and then you have to pay it back with interest.

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

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

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