Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1383 Where to find a good person like Ronald?

"Damn, how are you going to edit it? Orson Welles is dead, and there's no way to communicate with him about his original intentions... How can we ensure that the editing is what he wanted in the end?"

Walter Murch sat with Ronald and carefully reviewed the original copy of Touch of Evil and compared it with the detailed editing suggestions of Orson Welles. Walter Murch was a little confused.

Of course, he was willing to do the work of restoring the masterpieces of great directors in history that were ruined by editing, but Orson Welles' opinions were very specific and he did not mention any of his own editing logic or ideas.

Among the fifty-eight opinions, one reads:

"Because of the wrong use of a wide angle lens, Menzies' face is distorted in a weird way. There is no point in making the audience uncomfortable in this way. The scene would still work without this strange close-up."

"I don't understand. Orson Welles used a lot of wide-angle lenses in this film. In fact, this was probably the earliest attempt in Hollywood to use a handheld mini-camera. Why did he say that the wide-angle lens of this lens was not good?"

Walter Murch's mind was about to explode. This was a great opportunity to understand the thinking of Orson Welles, the groundbreaking genius. However, there were only instructions and no explanation behind them. If only Ronald had gone to ask them one by one when he was still alive.

"Fuxk, I didn't have the original footage at the time. All I saw was the messy edited version by Universal Studios. I have no idea what he was talking about. If I had the original footage, I would have asked him about it line by line."

Ronald was also very depressed. He pointed to the first item in the editing suggestions and said, "Orson Welles' first item was that the music in the first three minutes and twenty seconds was unnecessary, and the subtitles should be played elsewhere. It can be seen that he was very clear that Universal's poor editing destroyed the suspense of the opening time bomb. Let's follow his suggestions and do it all again, and then see the results. Maybe we can see his intention then..."

"We have no choice but to do this for now. However, these original films only contain a part of the opening material without subtitles. I need your computer special effects team to complete the processing of this transition section. Otherwise, the audience will definitely notice the jump in image style at the editing point..." Walter Murch knew Ronald's special effects team and also made a request.

"Of course you can, but they have to use disks or CDs for storage, not film or tapes. You have to communicate with them a lot when editing..."

"This... I was wondering if I could use computer editing software to process it? In this way, I would only need to find someone to carry the disc back and forth to exchange with them."

"Trust me, that thing is a piece of crap..." Ronald cursed at the computer editing software he was trying out.

"I've tried Avid's editing software before, and it doesn't seem to have the problems you mentioned. I used it to edit two commercials, and it seemed pretty good..."

"Avid? Is it a new company? I don't use theirs. If you think it's good, then give it a try. But I tell you, you must buy a big monitor. The last 21-inch one had to be cut into four display panels. My eyes are almost blinded... Forget it, I'll buy you the biggest Sony. Where do you want to edit? At home? Sure, I'll send the whole set of equipment to your home in San Francisco..."

The two sat down again to watch the Universal edit, and as they watched it Ronald looked at Orson Welles's treatment from a director's perspective.

This guy is really a genius.

Everyone praised the three-minute moving shot at the beginning that showed off to the audience, but there was another long shot at the end, which took a whole roll of film 10 minutes to shoot, and the ten-page script was shot in one shot, which was a show of skill by the director.

If you are not also a director, it is difficult to find that this shot is a one-shot shot. The whole process is very reasonable, and the average audience will not realize that this is a long shot.

In addition, the lead actress Janet Leigh broke her left arm on the third day of filming the movie, and she finished the entire movie in a cast.

So basically all her close-up shots were covered by holding up a piece of clothing or bending her arms to make gestures. This is the result of the joint efforts of the director, makeup, and costumes. To be honest, Ronald felt that he definitely couldn't achieve this effect, and he must change the heroine.

But there was this thing about Orson Welles that if you didn't know in advance that Janet Leigh had a broken hand, you wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Beep beep beep..."

The phone rang in the screening room.

Ronald picked up the phone and found out it was Francis Ford Coppola calling. He was also going to hold a party to canvass votes for his film "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and of course he invited Ronald to attend to show some support.

"Oh, I'll go right away. Walter Murch is here with me too. I'll come with him then..."

"Walter...long time no see..."

Coppola's party was also quite large. The box office of Bram Stoker's Dracula was very good, and the unpaid debt of The Godfather III would probably be repaid soon. In addition to being in a good mood, he also cooperated with the distributor's marketing requirements and invited several old friends, Martin Scorsese, Spielberg, and George Lucas, to come together.

"Ronald, it's very important. Everything you do is very important." Another purpose of Scorsese and his team's visit was to discuss with Ronald the re-release of old films by Akira Kurosawa and others. Martin Scorsese was a senior movie fan. When he heard that Ronald had bought the Navigator and the Criterion Collection with his own money in order to restore the old films to their original appearance and let fans see the authentic classics, he became so excited that he began to speak incoherently.

"How does the new envelope format work?" The second person to come was Spielberg, who was most concerned about how classic films would look when viewed on TV. He himself had thousands of copies of movies in his home, and he used a projector to show them to his family.

Ronald told him that the effect was certainly better than those crudely made ones, but due to the limitation of the size of the TV screen, it was still far inferior to the movie screen.

"Can this restoration be re-edited?" George Lucas, who came last, was most concerned about whether his early films could be re-edited. Like Orson Welles, THX1138 and American Graffiti were both destroyed by the film producers. After Star Wars became famous, he gradually bought back the copyrights of these films. If he could restore his original editing ideas when releasing videotapes now, it would be best.

"Of course, Walter will help me re-edit an old movie, and then we'll see how it turns out..."

Ronald waved to Walter Murch, who was chatting with Coppola. These people started out shooting Roger Corman-style B-movies and later became the leaders of the New Hollywood movement. They also criticized each other's works frankly and gave each other a lot of final editing advice.

This time we got together again, it felt like we got back to the old days.

"Hey, Walter, Ronald said you are re-editing a classic movie. Whose is it?" George Lucas asked directly. He also wanted to ask about some technical details of the re-editing.

"What you can't imagine is Orson Welles' Touch of Evil..." Walter Murch said proudly.

"Oh, Shxt!" Scorsese, who is most familiar with these old movies, exclaimed.

"Where are you at in the editing?" Spielberg also asked him. There are many problems that need to be solved when re-editing an old movie like this.

"It's just the beginning. I'm just preparing to edit..."

"No matter where you edit, don't cut out the first three minutes..."

"Three minutes and twenty seconds"

Everyone is an expert and fan of old movies, and the first thing they mentioned was the classic opening long shot.

"Isn't this a coincidence? The first part I have to re-edit is the opening three minutes and twenty seconds..."

When Walter Murch said this, everyone was silent. After they were sure that he was not joking, they didn't know what to say.

What happened to Walter Murch that he would change Orson Welles' most classic movie opening?

"No, Walter's idea is to remove the opening subtitles and music, and then use the sound to recreate the scene to enhance the sense of presence and suspense..."

When Ronald saw that everyone had misunderstood, he immediately explained that he was not trying to change the lens, but to remove the things that damaged the lens.

"Oh, that scared me. When I heard him say that, I thought you wanted to teach Jesus how to write the Bible..." Scorsese was also really shocked.

"You may not believe it, but this was Orson Welles' original intention. A few years before his death, Orson sent Ronald a memo on his editing of the film. He said that if there is a chance in the future, he hopes to re-edit it."

"Forehead……"

After Walter Murch said this, several big directors fell silent again. Why does this sound so much like a movie script?
Finally, Francis Coppola broke the silence, "God, you said that as if Jesus sent you a fax and asked you to rewrite the Bible according to his ideas..."

Several people laughed and said that Ronald's work was very meaningful. If the restoration was successful, they would ask him to restore and distribute the old movies they owned the copyright to in the future.

In fact, due to the popularity of videotapes, all major studios have set up internal departments to try to restore old movies and re-release them. However, due to technical and cost reasons, they have not done a good job.

Ronald is a fan of the film and director, so the restoration must be of high standards and strict requirements. When the time comes, outsourcing it to him will definitely be low-cost and high-quality. Hey, there are not many good people in Hollywood who don't care about profits.

After the party, Ronald went home to be with his family. He could choose not to go to such canvassing parties and after-parties if he wanted to.

In the evening, he met again with Christopher Kane, who had just returned from across the Pacific and brought Ronald a lot of location scouting photos and videotapes.

"They are very cooperative there. No matter what I ask for, someone will coordinate and make it happen. But there is one downside. When I go to places outside of big cities, I will still be surrounded by many people. They call me a foreigner..."

Ronald flipped through the photos. The cooperation from the other side was very high this time. There were many giant pandas in the breeding base that could be photographed. Christopher Kane and his family took photos with the giant pandas.

This time, with the leader's order, the coordination between the film department and the local authorities was very good. In addition, Ronald would pay the base a sum of foreign currency as filming expenses, and it would also promote Chinese culture. This was a very good achievement for them that could be written into their year-end report.

The panda base also selected several healthy giant pandas with good fur and two giant panda cubs as candidates for the protagonists in the movie "Panda Adventures." One is relatively quiet and can be used for static close-ups, and the other is lively and can be used for action scenes.

"Panda, Panda..." Ronald's son was also very interested in this cute animal. When watching the video of the cute panda sliding down the slide, he kept turning back to ask his father to watch with him.

"Shh, there's no footage of your child playing with pandas in your video, right? Hurry up, Diane, stop the video recorder. Otherwise, little Roger will definitely make a fuss about playing with the pandas. There are only two pandas in the National Zoo in Washington, DC, and you have to queue up for a long time to see them. If he makes a fuss about wanting to hold a panda and play with it, we'll be in trouble."

"Oh my god, hurry up..." Diane was also busy pressing the remote control and took out other toys to coax her son for a long time before Roger gave up the idea of ​​hugging a real giant panda.

This thing is a weapon of mass destruction for children. You have held a giant panda, but I haven't, so the quarrel will never end.

After finally coaxing the children into submission, Ronald sent Christopher Kane away. He said the film could be greenlit and early preparations could begin.

However, the child's desire to see pandas cannot be dispelled in a short time. This cute animal is more attractive than a pet. Little Roger couldn't forget the giant panda for several days. Sometimes he would mutter to himself, "Panda, Panda..."

Diane felt that the child was too young for frequent long-distance flights, and Ronald was so annoyed that he had no choice but to turn to the Counselor.

"Mr. Counselor, do you think it's possible to give two giant pandas to the zoo on the West Coast? Now children on the East Coast of America can see giant pandas. The children on the West Coast are too pitiful..."

"Giant pandas? That was a state gift given to General Richard who broke the ice to visit China. Pandas are our national treasure, and at that time... I personally decided to send two pandas to your National Zoo as a state gift..." The counselor was very happy when he received the call, but he was a little amused when he heard the request, and he immediately explained it to Ronald.

This is a national treasure sent to symbolize the friendship between the two peoples. Even President Jimmy, who presided over the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, did not receive such treatment. Unless the current president can take the relationship between the two countries a step further, such as restoring the status of a founding country of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, can he receive such courtesy?

And as a state gift, it is very likely to go to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., to replace the two pandas that were already quite old. Children on the West Coast... um...

"Because it's a state gift, it's an extraordinary treatment. Not many countries can have pandas..."

Ronald, whose expectations were dashed, had to explain to Diane at the dinner table that he should wait a year or two until his son was older and could tolerate a transoceanic flight before taking him to see the pandas on the other side of the Pacific.

"Why do we need a national gift? Aren't all the animals in zoos now purchased or rented?"

"Because this is a rare animal that is not allowed to be exported, just like our space shuttle, there are too few of them..."

……

"What's the big deal? Many exhibits in our New York Metropolitan Museum of Art are not allowed to be exported. They are rented in the name of research..."

The next day, Ronald's personal lawyer Lindsay Doll had just finished the handover and was going back to New York. She also had a son who was very interested in cute animals like pandas. When Ronald said that the other party was unwilling to give or export the pandas, she thought of many museum practices.

"Yes, for research. We pay to rent it for research. It happens that it is very difficult for you to breed giant pandas. Our San Diego Zoo in California is the world leader in this field. You rent it to us for research. The research results will help you have more giant pandas. You won't lose out anyway..."

Ronald thought it was right and immediately contacted the counselor again.

"In that case, it is also an innovative form of diplomacy. We are now trying our best to facilitate matters related to non-governmental organizations without setting up obstacles. The breeding base will definitely like it. However, giant pandas are related to national matters. I will report to you right away and you can come up with a plan." The counselor also thought that this method was very good. The children on the West Coast would have pandas to see, the zoo would have ticket revenue, the breeding base would have money and could also send people to America and potentially gain advanced animal breeding technology. Isn't that a win-win situation?

However, this matter is of great concern, and many departments do not benefit as much as the government of the breeding base. After the report was submitted, there has been no response yet, except that it needs further discussion.

Ronald didn't quite understand the way things were done there. He was surrounded by a bunch of Hollywood actresses who all wanted to import this cute animal. So he started collecting their signatures to make a voice heard: the people on the west coast of America also wanted friendship from the other side of the Pacific Ocean!
"This is a good thing, I will write to the two senators." Ronald also thought of the two newly elected female senators in California. They would definitely approve of something that appeals to women and children. Although the re-election is still more than five years away, being able to accomplish this is also a good opportunity for the names of the two rookie senators to appear in the national media.

"What, introducing giant pandas?" Senator Barbara Boxer received letters selected by her assistant in her office on Capitol Hill. She stood up from her chair after reading the first one.

As a rookie senator, her office was also very small. When she saw it was about this matter, she saw the letter also had the signatures of several famous directors and star actors headed by Ronald, Spielberg, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and others, all of whom had young children.

"Ronald, what a rare good man. His wife even donated money to me during the election. I'll dictate my reply..."

Barbara Boxer had always been very interested in education, environmental protection, animal protection and other matters. It was a rare opportunity for someone to bring such a good thing to her doorstep, so she immediately dictated a reply to her secretary, expressing her support and that she would push the Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress to make this happen.