Made in Hollywood

"Adjust the No. 4 aircraft to the aerial shot!"

The set was busy but not chaotic. Duke held the loudspeaker and kept giving orders, "Cruz, you have a problem with the aperture of the second camera, re-adjust the white balance. The third camera, you just need to stare at the heroine!"

Throwing the loudspeaker to Sofia Coppola next to him, Duke stepped into the built bus, nodded to the actors who greeted him, and walked directly to the driver's seat.

"Uma, you also had a problem with the test shoot."

Sitting in the driver's seat is a blond woman who is five feet ten inches tall. Like most actresses in Hollywood, she is very thin, maybe it is a bit exaggerated to describe it as skinny, but she is almost skinny to this figure. limit.

"You were too wild just now." Duke reminded her, "Be restrained, and don't stare, this is a very bad habit, your facial lines are already tough, and the look of staring is too fierce!"

Turning around, Duke looked at Keanu Reeves again. Maybe he had been with Johnny Depp and River Phoenix for many years, or maybe he hadn't completely gotten rid of his last role. Prodigal son breath a little more.

"Keanu, put away all your cynicism! I don't expect much of you, tighten your face and put on the most serious expression!"

"I see."

Keanu Reeves waved his hand at will, not buying Duke's account too much.

Glancing at him again, Duke turned and walked into the trunk. From the moment he entered the crew, Keanu Reeves looked like this. Maybe he should also be glad that at least the other party didn't take drugs. Come back to the crew. filming.

"And you!"

In the carriage sat Asian, Russian, African, Latino and white actors including Naomi Watts, Duke's eyes swept over them one by one, "You are not a decoration, every expression of yours , will have an impact on the male and female protagonists, don't let me see your numbness again! Otherwise, I will replace you!"

After getting off the makeshift bus, Duke returned to his position, deployed various departments, and called to clear the scene shortly after the shooting continued.

For this kind of film, the requirements for actors are not particularly strict, and Duke does not need difficult long shots. After more than ten days of running-in, the efficiency of the crew has improved somewhat, although he will adjust the camera position in many scenes. Re-set the set to make up for mistakes due to inexperience, but in general, it's much smoother than the first week of booting

Careful research in past lives still has a little effect.

Especially in Duke's plan, the length of the final release version of the film is between 90 and 100 minutes, and he will not shoot many unnecessary scenes that will consume film and money.

Despite having no say in financial matters, Duke had to be careful while shooting, with a production budget of only $15 million.

But Duke will never hold back when it's time to spend, like a few explosions to be filmed.

After the shooting in the morning, Duke didn't eat lunch either. With several teams of photography and special effects, they left Universal Studios in several cars and went to a small town on the eastern edge of Los Angeles. A few days ago, the crew was there. There was a detached house that was about to be demolished and suitable for photography.

I bought hamburgers and cokes on the road and served as lunch temporarily, which is the norm for a busy crew.

"Not to your taste?"

Sitting in the back of the pickup truck, Duke saw that Sofia Coppola had never touched her burger.

"This kind of thing is the natural enemy of women." She didn't even look at the hamburger with its tempting aroma.

Hearing this, Duke remembered that Sophia used to be an actor, and even now, it can be described as skinny.

Duke's appetite is not very good. He threw a quarter of the hamburger aside. He also wouldn't touch the carbonated beverages like Coke. Taking advantage of the rare free time, he simply closed his eyes. The mental pressure was so great that he fell asleep in the car. When he was shaken by Sofia Coppola, the car had already driven into the town.

"thanks!"

Pulling off the blanket covering him, Duke said to the side, Sophia shrugged, "You're welcome."

The crew's motorcade crossed the town, came to the far east, turned into a fork, drove for about five minutes, and finally stopped in front of a white wooden house.

The house is not big, that is, it looks like 100 square feet. Because the crew has just renovated the relationship a few days ago, the house is not dilapidated from the outside. The most important thing is that this house is quite far away from the surrounding neighbors. The distance, even a Tomahawk-scale explosion, would not affect anyone else.

All the formalities have already been completed, and after Duke and others got off the bus, they immediately started busy.

The special effects team and the pyrotechnic team were busy arranging the explosives, the two producers were communicating with the owner of the house, and Duke directed the camera team to set up the cameras.

This is a live shoot, and there is no chance to come back after calling 'cut'. The only thing fortunate is that he has shot a lot of explosive scenes independently.

"Cruz, place Unit 1 and Unit 2 on the front."

Standing on the lawn in front of the house, Duke confessed to the director of photography, Cruz, "The two cameras used wide-angle shooting. Cameras No. 3 and No. 4 were placed at a forty-five-degree angle to capture close-up shots of the explosion. Picture. And, what about the wireless high-speed camera I want?"

"Ready." Cruz gave Duke a look at the camera that was ready.

"This is Unit 5." Duke looked at the dummy in the police uniform on the side. "Put the camera on it."

Apparently, Duke was going to use it to capture the internal explosion.

Just as Cruz was about to leave, Duke grabbed his arm and reminded, "Cameras are set two hundred feet away!"

Although he valued the shoot, Duke didn't want a tragedy.

After explaining this, he entered the house again, turned the corridor, and walked into a bedroom. The props team was setting the scene here, trying to restore the scene of the studio. This is also the first explosion point.

Duke suddenly felt itchy when he saw the pyrotechnic group buried with explosives at the support point of the house. In his previous life, he was a good player in this industry, but now he will not take other people's jobs. For him, shooting explosions More important than creating an explosion.

After walking out of the house, the four cameras on the front and the slope had been set up. Duke crossed the lawn and walked behind several cameras to check the shooting angles one by one. After confirming that there was no problem, he returned to the vicinity of the No. 1 camera.

"Why use line control?"

Looking at the person who was wiring in the distance, Sofia Coppola asked him curiously, "Isn't it more convenient to have a wireless remote control?"

"You don't know?" Duke explained a few simple sentences when he saw her blank face.

Wire-controlled explosions are the guidelines that the crew must abide by during filming. Many people think that explosions are operated by pyrotechnicians with remote controls, but they are not. Because there are too many communication tools, it is easy to interfere with signals and cause false explosions. Wire-controlled explosions are more effective. Safety.

This kind of misunderstanding is also inseparable from Hollywood movies. The characters in the movie always press the button dashingly, blowing up the vehicle or building to shreds, but they never look back at the fire of the explosion...

Under normal circumstances, the explosives used by the crew for filming are also completely different from military or mining explosives. The principle of the latter two is that solids instantly turn into gas, and the explosive power is huge; for filming, special soft explosives are mostly used. The principle is that combustion generates pressure The explosion is much less destructive.

In some shots of bomb explosions, the power of soft explosives is obviously insufficient, and the shooting effect is not good. In fact, it is easy to solve. You can fill some dirt inside the bomb made of plastic foam, and after the explosion, there will be dust flying all over the sky. Effect.

Of course, if you want to shoot a shot that blows up a boat, a big car, and a house, you have to use military explosives.

What the pyrotechnic team is controlling is military explosives!

In order for the building explosion scene to meet Duke's requirements, the amount of explosives required is quite large. The pyrotechnic team placed nearly 30 pounds of explosives in various key parts of the house. Obviously, it is not just to blow up the house, but to let it collapse. Thoroughly enjoy the treatment of a soil plane.

"You mean..."

After listening to Duke's words, Sophia opened her mouth slowly, "They used military explosives? Thirty pounds more?"

"Because I want an earth-shattering explosion!"

With his arms on his chest, Duke calmly looked at the house in front of him that was about to fly into the sky.

"You're crazy!" Sophia squeezed out the words from her teeth, and it was rare that she didn't have a nasal voice.

"I want the best visual effects." Duke's face had a hint of frenzy, "You have to have a crazy spirit!"

"Robin didn't stop you?"

"The film has no stars, and the director is also an unknown little character like me." Duke suppressed the frenzy in his heart and regained his calm. "Only enough thrills can attract the audience."

A full three hours later, the on-site layout work came to an end, all the cars were driven far away, and Duke was standing behind Unit 1, raising the megaphone.

"Clearance?"

"Clearing is complete!"

"photography?"

"Ready!"

"..."

After the routine questioning, Duke raised his finger to the pyrotechnic team, and the pyrotechnic team immediately responded with the "OK" gesture, and another person shouted the countdown sound in the loudest voice.

"10, 9, 8, 7...3, 2, 1!"

"Detonate!"

The invisible electric current activated the detonating bomb along the line, the deafening explosion sounded suddenly, the orange-red fire rushed into the mid-air about fifty feet, the white wooden house disintegrated in an instant, countless fragments scattered and splattered, scorching hot. The air wave came like a tide.

A large amount of debris fell less than fifty feet in front, the manic air wave pressed the hair back and rolled back, the ears with earplugs were buzzing, and the ground seemed to be trembling constantly...

All of this could not distract Duke, he was concentrating on controlling the camera, like the most fanatical religious element, using the camera to worship the explosion of the fire!

"God! God!"

With trembling hands, Sofia Coppola slowly took off her earplugs, bent over to support her throbbing thighs, and stared at the guy who was still controlling the camera. She and Duke had been together for the last half-month on the set. Familiar, at this time, Duke is still calm and indifferent at this time, he is simply a lunatic!

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