Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 479 The Ultimate Crane Kick
Ralph Mazio, wearing shorts, walked into the waves to practice his balance.He struggled to keep his balance as the waves crashed against the shore.

"Basic skills, basic skills, pay attention to breathing, and maintain balance." Master Miyagi on the shore began to yell at him, asking him to practice the three basic skills while the waves were beating.

The dark waves, illuminated by the sun against the light, shone like dragons.

Under the dots of golden light, Daniel gradually gained a firm foothold, and started to practice.

Ronald, who was behind the camera on the shore, thought of the past when he was filming "Rock High School" and took a set of backlit shots that were too artistic, and finally couldn't fit into the plot, and the effect was poor during editing.

Five years have passed, and now Ronald is finally able to take the helm of an $800 million blockbuster.The aesthetic taste he acquired through repeated training when he was a portrait photographer is just right to show off in this movie.

Fumura Demura and his disciples have left the film crew and returned to Northern California to open a karate gym.Film shooting is like this, except for the director and the protagonist, everyone else comes and goes.

The shooting has entered the second month. The temperature in Los Angeles in late autumn is not bad, but the water is relatively cold.Ralph Mazio also worked hard for the shooting effect.

"Cut!"

As soon as Ronald yelled to stop, Ralph Mazio's manager rushed up and threw a blanket over him to keep him warm.

Morita Noriyuki and Elizabeth Su are most envious of this.Ralph Mazio, who was paid $20 in "The Dragon Boy," was the only actor on the set with a personal manager.

In the next shot, master Miyagi supervised Daniel practicing in the waves. He stood on a wooden stake by the sea and began to practice the Ryukyu Goju-ryu karate trick - "crane kick".

The stand-in this time was done by Ronald's friend and action assistant Darryl Vidal wearing a wig.

Vidal's height is also very short. Except for his darker skin, he is almost the same as Morita Noriyuki when viewed from a medium shot after wearing a wig.

In order to prevent misleading and the beauty of the lens, Ronald used a backlight lens.

Under the sunlight, Master Miyagi was surrounded by a halo of golden light. He opened his arms and held them high on his shoulders, and then he started to kick with his left foot.

At the moment when Vidal stopped, everyone suddenly saw him take off with his right foot, kick forward high with his right leg, and then land with his right foot.

He raised his hands high like a crane, and made a gesture with his left foot to attack. Two consecutive feints drew the opponent's attention to his left side. No one thought that the right foot, which was the last supporting foot, could still raise his leg.

"Cut!"

"What kind of trick is this? Why is the right foot kicked out at the end?" Weintraub, who came to watch the filming of the "unique trick", was greatly surprised.

"In Huaguo's southern martial art Wing Chun, it is called Shadowless Foot, because in this case, the opponent's attention is on both hands and the left foot, and they could not have expected that the right foot can also be kicked here. ’” explained Ronald.

Darryl Vidal received Ronald's request before the filming started and began to carefully ponder the kicking method of this trick.He searched for a lot of martial arts moves, and finally found a Wuying Kick in Wing Chun's ancient boxing manual, and then combined it with Ronald's imagined, romanticized Tai Chi moves, Bai He Hanging Wings, to create Came out of this extremely aesthetically pleasing trick - the crane kick.

"Action!" The camera continues to shoot.

Daniel was wearing a blanket, and Master Miyagi faced the sea with their backs. Under the halo of light emitted by the backlight, the head, shoulders, waist, legs, and the bodies of the two slowly appeared on the horizon. The camera comes.

Daniel asked Miyagi, "What's the name of the trick you practiced just now?"

"The crane kicks, the white crane hangs out its wings."

"Is it a trick? Is it useful?"

"If used correctly, it is invincible." Miyagi replied.

"can you teach me?"

"Learn to stand first, then learn to fly."

The two walked to the car.At this time, two white men who discriminated against Japanese were leaning on the car in Miyagi and drinking beer, and casually put the beer bottle on the hood of the car.

When Miyagi politely asked them to leave with the beer bottles on the car, the two white men spoke racist language:

"Here comes a little Japan, you can take it yourself if you have the ability."

"what!"

Miyagi slashed sideways, and the wine bottle broke in the middle.

The wine bottle was cut off by the prop master with diamonds in advance, and Morita Norori managed to capture it.

"How did you do it? Break all the wine bottles at once." Daniel asked Miyagi in surprise after getting into the car. He felt that the teacher often gave him surprises.

"I don't know, it's my first time doing it too."

Miyagi still had a sense of humor. He didn't want Daniel to be too high-spirited, so he concentrated on preparing for the karate championship.

"Cut!"

"Let's take a photo, Darryl," Ronald said, pulling Darryl Vidal, who and Morita Noryuki were both dressed in Miyagi-shifu.Ralph Mazio, as well as Ronald himself, and Weintraub and others, took a group photo in the sunset.

"The filming of the scene here is over. You remember following me during the tournament. I need you in addition to being a guest player," Ronald told his good friend Vidal, and then returned to film the rest of the scene.

In the next shot, Daniel secretly practiced crane kicking alone on a stake, and stood on a boat with him to practice balance.At the beginning of the practice, the shadowless foot could not be used, and Ralph Mazio almost fell several times.After many times of proficiency, Ralph Mazio barely kicked it out.

Ronald captured all the shots from his unfamiliarity to his proficiency, from which he could pick out the right shots and use montage to explain the process of Daniel practicing the unique crane kick and gradually getting better.

The tournament is coming soon, and Miyagi begins special training with Daniel.He put on a baseball catcher's gear, got a piece of armor made of strung bamboo strips on his chest, and let Daniel punch as hard as he could.

"Strength, strength!" Miyagi was teaching Daniel the way to punch. After training him how to maintain balance and the basic skills of blocking, Miyagi finally started to teach him how to punch.

"Very good, continue like this." Miyagi drew a bull's-eye on the bamboo armor so that Daniel could aim at the position.He appreciates Daniel's savvy.

"Yeah, yeah, footsteps like butterflies, punches like bees." Daniel began to imitate boxing champion Ali's butterfly steps, circling around Miyagi non-stop.Now that Master Miyagi praised his punch, he felt himself invincible.

This frivolous behavior made Miyagi angry.One fell to the ground, pinched his right foot, and put it on Daniel, "Focus! Focus! Daniel. The championship is coming soon. If you don't want to be beaten black and blue, just concentrate."

After the practice, Daniel hoped that Miyagi would teach him some more tricks. Just punching and kicking are not very enjoyable. Can we have some special tricks like crane kick?

"Quality is better than quantity. These moves and basic skills are practiced well enough to be used in the championship." Miyagi still has the attitude that you don't want to learn to run if you haven't learned to walk.

The crew then moved to a mansion on the edge of Mulholland Park not far from Sino, which Weintraub had borrowed.This is not a luxury residential area in Beverly Hills, but many upstarts in the film industry like to buy properties here.

The neoclassical mansion, with colonnades and arches, looks very grand.Ronald arranged for the camera crew to set up the camera positions.The very large living room on the first floor can hold dance parties, open the two back doors, and it is the kitchen, which serves food to guests all night long.

Daniel put on a good red and white dress, made an appointment with Ali, and went to her house to pick her up for a date.But when I arrived at Ali's mansion, I found her dancing with Johnny in her arms.

It turned out that Ali's parents wanted to match her with Johnny.When the two were forced to dance, Johnny tried to force a kiss on Ali, just in time to be seen by Daniel who walked in.

Daniel's inferiority complex broke out, and he turned and ran, just in time to bump into the servant who delivered the food, and his clothes were covered with baked beans.All the guests laughed.

Ali slapped Johnny who kissed her forcefully, then turned her head to see Daniel who was running away, and couldn't catch up.

Daniel returned to Master Miyagi's house in a daze, and found that Miyagi was as lost as himself, drinking alone.

Master Miyagi showed Daniel a photo, told him that this was Mrs. Miyagi's appearance when she was young, and asked him if Mrs. Miyagi was a beautiful woman.
"She is beautiful, where is she now?"

Master Miyagi took a big sip from the wine glass, and he said something about how beautiful her wife was when she was young, how she was a female celebrity, and they also had a child, the first generation of the Miyagi family to speak out in America.

In the end, Miyagi said some incomprehensible words, some complications, I regret to inform you, concentration camp, four four two.Then he went into the bedroom, sat on the bed, and went to drink by himself.

Daniel saw a small box on the table, opened it, and found the collection that Miyagi only took out for a sneak peek every year on this anniversary.

Inside the box is the report of Miyagi's military achievements in the [-]nd Infantry Regiment in World War II, and the medals. Daniel can't understand what level it is.

What Ronald made out of props is the highest honor that American soldiers can receive-the Congressional Medal of Honor.Its blue ribbon and inscription containing the word "Valor" are easily spotted by the uninitiated.

In addition to this one, Miyagi also received a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, and a Purple Heart.Below the medal is a letter.

Daniel picked it up and saw that the concentration camp informed him that his wife died of complications due to complications during childbirth.The reason was that inside the concentration camp, there were no doctors, and the obstetrician at the hospital was late.

Daniel is shocked to learn of Miyagi's tragic past.He went to see Miyagi in the bedroom.

Miyagi sat motionless on the bed, as if there was no sound.With fear in his eyes, Daniel approached quietly, wanting to observe Miyagi's breathing, but suddenly found that Miyagi was snoring.

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief, helped Miyagi onto the bed, and covered him with a blanket.Give him a slight bow, then close the door and leave.

"Cut!" Ronald called to stop the shooting, and then the props quickly began to be rearranged, and the scene of Daniel and Miyagi's birthday was filmed next.The prop group put on a real cake and put candles on it.

For Daniel's birthday, Miyagi bought him a cake and candles, and the two wore birthday hats and blew out the candles together.This is Daniel's first birthday with a father figure.Both he and Miyagi have a father-son relationship with each other.

Miyagi took out a birthday present, which was a karate uniform.There is also the logo of bonsai, Miyagi's favorite, on it.

"My wife embroidered this for herself, and it's for you."

"This is too precious, I can't take it." Daniel knew Miyagi-sensei's past.

"Ah... ah... put it on", Miyagi treated Daniel like a godson, and gave his wife the karate uniform sewn by his own hands to his godson, which was considered to have fulfilled his wish.

Daniel suddenly remembered that he still had to finish dinner with his mother.Of course Miyagi understood, he said that there was another gift for him, and asked him to choose one of the cars he cleaned and waxed in the yard as a gift and drive away.

Daniel had just gotten his driver's license, so he couldn't resist, hopped in the convertible, and drove off.

Miyagi watched Daniel drive out of the yard from behind, and the lonely old man felt a little comfort in his heart.

Daniel was driving along the way, passing by the carnival where he and Ali played together.

One of Ali's girlfriends, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, came to Daniel and told Daniel that Ali was forced to dance with Johnny, and she slapped Johnny.

Daniel realized that he was not dumped, and that Ali was not getting back together with Johnny, so he went to Ali to reconcile.

Daniel met Ali, who still had feelings for him, and after some explanations, the two settled down. "I want to participate in the karate championship, and I don't have a cheerleading team yet." Daniel, who has his own car, has become more confident, and he wants to invite Ali to accompany him to the karate championship.

"I can be your cheerleader." Ali just wanted to go out with Daniel, and she didn't care what to do.

"I might lose the first game."

"Then let's go early."

"Ali!"

"Daniel!" The two hugged each other.

The two young people realize that they really like each other's character, not because of some karate champion, or the identity of a rich girl, which is caused by vanity.

The two kissed together.

"Cut!"

The filming was successfully completed, and everyone had a weekend off.

Weintraub came over, and Ronald still had to confirm the final shot of the championship scene next week.They rented the gymnasium at Cal State University Northbridge and hired more than 500 extras to act as audiences. The success or failure of the film depends largely on whether the climax of the third act is well shot.

(End of this chapter)