Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 106 old movie

A few weeks passed, and several students applied to transfer to another department one after another. In the end, the remaining dozens were all determined to pursue their dreams of film and television.

Maybe there are also people whose family is originally a TV station or a studio, and they are not afraid of not being able to find a job after graduation.Ronald seemed to see a thing or two from the stylish attire of several classmates.

Today's class is in the evening, in the screening room.In addition to undergraduate students, there are also many master students attending the lectures.There is no other reason, the teacher is the hot Hollywood director, Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese is very interesting. He did not open courses related to directing, but opened a classic old movie appreciation course.According to gossip from classmates, the old man who persuaded him to quit originally wanted to take this course, but he couldn't compete with Scorsese, so he could only take film theory.

A small man with a full beard came in, walked up to the stage in front of the auditorium, picked up the microphone and began to speak.

"I'm Martin Scorsese, and I'm going to give you classic film appreciation this year. Because my new film was shot in Los Angeles, this class was delayed by two weeks. I'm sorry. I'm going to finish shooting in New York later. That movie, if there is a time conflict, my teaching assistant will show the movie, and after you finish watching it, just give her the review homework."

"I have always believed that the shortcut to making movies is to watch more classic old movies. Don't just watch Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly, of course they are also worth watching."

The students laughed in response to the occasion.

Scorsese himself laughed, "I mean, we have to start watching from the era of silent films. The common techniques of movies were established in the era of silent films, so we have to go back to that era. From the beginning, we will go through the directors of all generations. so that you can have a deeper understanding of the current film techniques.”

"Today is the first day, so instead of tormenting you, I picked a black and white film with sound, 'The Grapes of Wrath' filmed by the great western director John Ford in 1940.

The reason for choosing this movie is to let you see that all the so-called director's rules can be broken for the purpose of expression.Of course, the premise is that you have mastered the rules in order to know when to break him.

What I especially draw attention to is the first 1 minute, starring Henry Fonda (Jane Fonda, and Peter Fonda's father), how in this 1 minute without saying a word, but attracting the audience attention. "

Scorsese then motioned to the teaching assistants to start the film in the projection room behind.

Scorsese didn't say anything about theory, but let everyone watch the movie and write movie reviews after class.The lectures given by real great directors are always simple, without so many nouns and theories to persuade the old man.

Taking advantage of the short time before the screening, the students began to whisper about Scorsese's purpose.Others cited the "author's film" theory, arguing that Scorsese was trying to train their authorship.

A black student gave them a disdainful look, put on his glasses, and looked around, as if he wanted to hear what other people had to say.His eyes flicked to Ronald, paused, and Ronald nodded friendly to him.The black student nodded to him too, and started looking at the screen.

Ronald thinks it's not that complicated. This is a practitioner who despises theorists. Scorsese also makes commercial films, so of course he knows the importance of the beginning.Roger Coleman stuffed some beautiful women, violence, science fiction, and suspense at the beginning.

Scorsese is more advanced. The "Grapes of Wrath" he admired must have some different techniques to attract attention, so let the students learn from it.

The film began to show, and a beam of white light hit the screen.

Old film prints have been played hundreds of times, and the perforations of the film are a little worn out, causing the film to not stick securely in the projector and wobble back and forth.So the movie screen is also a little jittery.There are also scratches, cracks, and moldy spots caused by previous screenings.

The opening composition is relatively bland, a still camera looking at utility poles and deserted streets.A man came from a distance, he walked past the camera, looked to his left, the camera turned with him, the man continued to move forward, a truck and an old house appeared in the picture.

It does break a lot of rules.Ronald still remembers that Roger Corman told him that the camera must move as much as possible, not static shots, and stimulate the audience as much as possible.

But Grapes of Wrath, there is no scene that stimulates the audience's senses in the first minute, and now Ronald is still firmly caught in the attention, perhaps because he is attracted by this man, who is he?What is he doing here?Where do you want to go?

The film is two hours long, and Ronald found it very enjoyable after watching it.It tells the story of a murder suspect who, after being paroled from prison, returns to his hometown of Oklahoma just in time for the Great Depression.Traveling to California with my family to find a job was a tough journey.

The misery and helplessness under various capitalist economic crises are fully expressed in the story.The economy has been bad in the past few years, and it is somewhat similar to the Great Depression. Ronald also felt a little empathy when he watched the movie.

After the film was finished, Scorsese had already left, and the teaching assistants began to distribute course outlines, homework requirements, and other information.Ronald ran into the black student with glasses again.

"Hi, hello." Ronald stepped forward to say hello, "I haven't seen you in undergraduate courses, are you a master student?"

"Yes, I'm Sheldon Jackson Lee, I know you, you were in 'High School of Rock', I've seen Sisko and Albert's reviews."

Ronald couldn't help but smile, this family member who was also surnamed Li didn't mention his nickname "Sleepy Luo".Hello, nice to meet you.

"Me too, you have been in the crew, I am preparing my graduation film recently, can you come to my crew to help?"

Students of Tisch College of the Arts must make a short film and submit it as a graduation thesis.Ronald had known this for a long time.In order to save costs, many students help each other, you will be my assistant director, I will be your photographer, and so on.

However, this black man is quite demanding. He has been in the crew and has shooting experience before he is willing to invite him.

"Of course, if you inform me when the time comes, I'm willing to help." The college understands the needs of students very well, so many courses are held in the evening, so that they have time to shoot videos during the day.

"That's great, let's exchange phone numbers." Sheldon took out a pen and paper, and exchanged calls, "What are you doing recently? Are you going to any productions?"

"I recently worked on MGM's 'Fame' and now that filming is done, I'm in school."

Shelton was a little envious of his resume, "I also hope to be able to study in the crew, but my ultimate goal is to be a director and shoot black people's stories. So I hope to make my own short films well and go to film festivals, so maybe There are producers willing to invest in me."

"You will succeed." Ronald said goodbye to him.

Back home, Ronald ate some supper alone and poured a cup of black tea.Studying is still quite stressful, with various homework, reading, and writing, it is common to be busy at night.

Antonia is still doing newcomer training. I heard that Balanchine is quite satisfied with her and will give her a formal small role next year.So now she puts all her body and mind into practice, and the two of them are very busy, and they only talk on the phone at night.

The video recorder clicked and started recording automatically.Ronald set a timed recording, recorded late night old movies on CBS, NBC and other TV stations, and watched and studied repeatedly when he had time.

This is what Walter Murch taught him in his reply.Walter is very frank, saying that he is just a craftsman (Craftsman), who knows some skills and art of picture and sound editing.Ronald asked him big questions about the production and marketing of the film, and he didn't have an answer.

But in the letter, Walter repeatedly reminded Ronald of the importance of old movies.Now, apart from the occasional old movies shown on TV stations, the only way for ordinary people to watch them is in the classrooms of film schools.This is a stage that all masters have gone through, and they need to study hard.

Walter Murch also told him that movies have experienced two major technological revolutions, the first is from silent to sound, and the second is from black and white to color.The consequences of the two revolutions have resulted in large-scale unemployment of the original technicians because they could not adapt to the new technology.

But their techniques are not outdated, so the new generation of filmmakers after the technological revolution are often in the process of reinventing the old techniques of the previous generation.Many techniques that reached a very high artistic level in the era of silent films and black and white films were lost later.

Watching a lot of old movies with the photographer's eyes will help you pick up these leftovers and enrich your arsenal for making movies.

When Ronald heard Martin Scorsese say the same thing today, he couldn't help but pay more attention to the matter of watching classic old movies. If he has the opportunity, he should also build his own video tape library and study repeatedly.

"Ring, ring, ring..." the phone rang.

It was Antonia, Ronald happily picked up the phone, "Hi, dear."

"Ronnie, the leading lady of the American Ballet was injured suddenly. After the B corner was on top, they didn't have a B corner. They asked me to try dancing the B corner, and I was chosen!"

"Really? Congratulations! This is really great." Ronald was very happy for Tonya from the bottom of his heart. This was the best career start ever.

"However, I will go on tour with them for half a year, and we won't be able to see each other for half a year." Antonia said in a low voice.

"Don't be sad, Tonya, didn't we agree? You worked hard to develop your ballet career, and I worked hard to make money and try to buy your dance company."

"Puff," Antonia over there was amused, "You always make me happy, Ronnie."

"I'm going to your place tonight, and you're going to take me to the airport tomorrow, and I have to go west with a group."

(End of this chapter)