Exploiting Hollywood 1980

“Cut! Very good, very good, Patrick, keep this feeling…”

Most of Patrick Schwitz’s shots are very difficult performances. The feeling of facing a room full of people but no one can see yourself requires a strong imagination to act well.

On the one hand, Ronald asked the extras to cheer for Schwitz as much as possible, and applauded as much as possible at the end of each shooting to inspire the actor’s pride.

On the other hand, he also had to do a lot of psychological massage for Schwitz, constantly telling him that he was very satisfied with his performance.

Shooting a monologue in front of the camera is actually not as difficult as many people imagine. Because there is usually an actor behind the camera who is acting with you. When shooting, you are still acting in front of a real person, interacting with him through eye contact, expression, body movements, etc.

Finally, it is shocking on the screen, as if he has performed such a great performance in the air.

But the real difficulty is still Patrick Schwitz’s performance. When the camera was pointed at him, there were more than one actor around him, but because of the plot (no one could see Sam's ghost), they all had to ignore Schwitz.

In other words, although it seemed easy to perform, Patrick Schwitz could not get any feedback from any actor.

It is said that acting is about acting reactions. Two characters react to each other's lines normally, which can promote each other.

On the surface, many actors were present, but they could not get any feedback during the performance. This was the difficulty for Patrick Schwitz.

Sometimes, Ronald would stand behind the camera and act as Schwitz's only audience and the person who affirmed his performance. He did not need to react, but only needed to use affirmative eyes and a slight nod to give Schwitz some encouragement of "you did a good job".

Even so, there were still many scenes that did not satisfy Ronald.

There was no way, Patrick Schwitz was not a top actor. Ronald had to use more close-ups to connect the scenes that he felt were not convincing enough.

This is the strength of stars like Patrick Schwitz. Close-up shots have been the source of the magic of stars since they were invented by Griffith, the first great director in Hollywood.

The human mind has a special recognition mode for human faces. We recognize a familiar person much faster than we recognize an animal or any other living or inanimate object.

Simply put, our brain likes to see human faces, especially those that are good-looking and make us feel some kind of impulse.

Since a good-looking face was magnified by close-up shots on a screen as big as two floors and appreciated by hundreds of viewers in a dark house without any interruption, the species of star was born.

When Patrick Schweitzer occasionally performed poorly, Ronald planned to insert a close-up shot to make the audience forget the disharmonious performance and immerse themselves directly in the pain and joy of the star's face, unconsciously shifting their attention to the next scene.

"Patrick is really good. I didn't know how difficult it was until I saw how he shot this kind of shot."

Demi Moore acted as Schwitz's opposite behind the camera in this scene. After Ronald gave Schwitz a psychological preparation, she nodded to express her admiration.

"Talk more to your colleagues..." Ronald said.

"What do you mean?" Demi Moore was a little confused.

"I mean, when you are marketing the movie, you should talk more to the media about the difficulty of Patrick's performance, and also talk more to... Oh, forget it..." Ronald saw Schwitz coming over, put the topic aside, and quickly went up to praise him.

Demi Moore seemed to understand something...

Patrick Schwitz has actually become a star with a large fan base after "Dirty Dancing". But he is like all those who become famous as stars but want to be good actors. He hopes to get recognition from critics and awards through this movie.

But with such acting skills, let alone the audience, even ordinary actors don't know where the difficulty lies.

Therefore, in the review circle dominated by critics who have no experience in filming movies, and the award circle dominated by actors who have never played such roles, most people still don’t feel the excellence of Schwitz’s acting this time.

Ronald’s words “tell more about your peers” are a kind of implicit complaint.

…

“Is it my turn?”

Soon, after Schwitz’s scenes were shot, it was Demi Moore’s turn. She also had a few scenes in this movie that no one gave her feedback on, and she had to act them herself.

“Almost, wait a while, Patrick will come to act with you, and help you find some feelings.” Ronald replied with a smile.

This scene is not a big problem for an actor of Demi Moore’s level. The problems she faces are also simpler than Schwitz’s.

For example, the scenes shot today are close-ups of her facing the camera. They are when Sam just died, when Molly missed her boyfriend in the middle of the night, and she cried silently. There is also the scene when Sam exposed the bad guy Carl, and when he was about to go to heaven and said goodbye to Molly.

Although these two scenes are far apart in the script, the scenes are the same, so in medium and large-scale productions like this, they are usually shot together. It is convenient for scheduling and for actors to find the right size of emotions.

"I don't think anyone else needs to be involved in this, I need to be alone to brew it..." Demi Moore read the script again carefully and suddenly made a request.

"OK, let me go and tell Patrick..." Ronald will consider the actor's request as appropriate. This kind of solo scene mainly relies on the actors mobilizing their own imagination and previous emotional memories.

Ronald will not make demands on actors like the Methodists, forcing them to mobilize the emotions of a certain period of their own life experiences. But however the actor wants to act, he will definitely agree.

This was after Molly was doing pottery alone after the funeral and couldn't sleep alone. Suddenly, the sadness that had been accumulated for many days burst out due to a small incident. The camera only captures her alone, and the audience mainly relies on Demi's acting skills to generate sympathy.

"A!"

Demi Moore sat on the top of the wooden staircase in the house. The camera shot upwards. More than two-thirds of the composition was occupied by the tall wooden ladder. Demi Moore was sitting there, revealing of a sad face.

Demi Moore's performance is very good, the sad and sad mood is very full, and then she will pick up the lucky coin in the glass jar and throw it to the opposite wall (that is, towards the camera).

"Sorry, sorry..." Demi Moore had been brewing for a long time, and just before tossing the coin, she suddenly raised her hand...

"Cut!", Ronald called a stop. The number of times Demi Moore took the initiative to call a stop because she was not in the right mood was very rare. What happened this time?

"I feel that the emotions are wrong. When people are desperate and sad, they have no energy to explode... They often live in a haze for a long time. Only when they are suddenly aroused by something, pain and sadness will come to their hearts. At this time, they are There is no energy..."

"What you said makes sense..." Ronald agreed very much with Demi Moore's idea. This type of acting, which can more accurately figure out and grasp the character's psychology, is not possible without talent.

"Tsk..." Ronald sighed. Demi Moore was still in bad luck. No one saw her potential like she did. The roles she got before were all urban girls with a bit of "Bitch" flavor. As long as the true character appears.

"A!" Ronald shouted again to start.

Demi Moore sat blankly on the floor of the second floor at the top of the ladder, her eyes full of sadness, and she rolled the glass jar with coins back and forth on the ground with one hand.

"Hey..." Demi Moore's eyes were a little unfocused. She was looking at Ronald behind the camera, and past memories came to her mind.

Why doesn't this man just want to develop a reliable relationship with him? If he wanted to, he could be a good wife and mother like Diane.

In the end, she could only marry a rough guy like Bruce Willis, and have to change diapers and feed her children like a servant in the middle of the night.

If you come from a bad background, what's wrong with relying on men to get the upper hand? The only blame is that when I discovered this unpolished diamond, I exposed my true side too much...

An uncomfortable feeling surged into her heart. As soon as Demi Moore moved her finger, the glass bottle slowly rolled towards the wooden stairs.

The glass bottle rolled faster and faster. After falling down two stairs, it shattered on the third step...

"Snapped!"

"Cut!" Ronald paused for a few seconds before calling it off. This shot was perfect. The glass bottle was arranged by props, so it fell quite easily. And Demi Moore's expression, with tears in her eyes but no control over them, formed a very heart-wrenching expression.

"Wonderful..." Ronald took the lead in applauding, and the applause resounded throughout the studio.

"Demi Moore is a Methodist. She must have thought about her own memory. I wonder what made her so melancholy and sad?" Ronald couldn't ask Demi, either Emilio Estevez The Latina who cheated on her and gave birth to an illegitimate child during their relationship?

It doesn't seem like it, maybe his stepfather who was very good to him committed suicide after being tortured by her mother?

"Hey, it's not easy for Demi either..."

"Well, well..." Demi Moore seems to have not gotten over her emotions yet. It is actually very dangerous for Method actors to mobilize their emotional memories. If this emotion comes from trauma in her past, human nature is to hide it and not think about it.

In order to move the audience and successfully make them empathize, fully recalling the trauma that this kind of person's subconscious wants to avoid is actually quite harmful to the actor.

Demi Moore could not get rid of her self-sorrow. When she saw Ronald approaching, she hugged the man and started to cry.

"God, good girl, good girl, you are a good girl...don't cry, I feel it, it's all over..."

Ronald held Demi Moore in his arms and felt that she was crying very emotionally and sadly. Her whole body was still shaking violently in his arms, as if her emotions were very intense.

A few minutes later, Demi Moore's shoulders no longer twitched involuntarily. She felt the warmth of Ronald's embrace all over her body and slowly calmed down.

"Everyone, take a break for an hour, let Demi rest and adjust..." Ronald looked at Demi Moore who raised her head in his arms. She was quite fragile, with red eyes. The image of a strong mother was suddenly broken. Ronald seemed to see her fainting in the hospital and confessing her feelings to him.

"Sorry, I didn't control my emotions well, thank you..."

"It's okay, I'll give you some hot drinks, you will feel better after drinking them. Calm down slowly, don't worry..."

Ronald's loving care seemed to make Demi Moore even more uncomfortable.

"Hmph...Hmph..." Demi Moore picked up a plush doll in the dressing room and beat it hard.

"Let's get ready.

Seeing Demi Moore come out after a good rest, Ronald quickly asked the crew to start preparing.

Such huge emotional ups and downs actually hurt the actors a lot. But this is their job, and behind the reputation, money, and fans' love, there are also these fragile moments.

"I love you..."

Schweitzer, who was acting opposite her, was standing behind the camera. This time it was Sam's ghost's turn to say this. He had already avenged himself and scared Carl to death, and his last wish was to say love to Molly, who was not destined to be with him. The wish to end in the world.

Demi Moore was facing a close-up, she looked at Patrick Schweitzer behind the camera... no, actually Ronald. She also shouted, "Dido"

This sentence was originally a way for Sam to escape from saying "I love you" because of the uncertainty of the future. Now, it has become a way for Molly to commemorate her lost lover.

Her eyes were full of tears, rolling in her eye sockets.

Under the blessing of the special effects director's light, the light and dark shone on her face, making it very clear. Clear.

During post-production, Sam's image was added with contour light. This is a way of expressing a kind ghost going to heaven. Seeing this, the audience understood that Sam was going to heaven.

In order to unify the lighting, the three special effects directors headed by Van Fleet were all on the scene to maintain the consistency of lighting between special effects shots and reaction shots.

So there were also bright and dark lights flashing on Demi Moore's face.

Suddenly, her eyes could no longer hold back tears, and a crystal teardrop flowed from her right eye first.

Then another teardrop flowed from the left Tears flowed down her face.

Demi Moore's facial expression changed from pain to joy, and finally to a smile.

These were all very difficult performances. Molly had to escape death, get revenge, reunite with her lover, and finally watch him go to heaven. In less than half a minute, the emotions were layered and the rich and touching emotions were all performed well.

Demi Moore's performance was quite convincing. She acted very well, as if she was recalling similar experiences in her life. She paid some price, got some rewards, and realized some dreams.

"Cut! "

Ronald grinned and called a halt helplessly. Demi Moore's performance was very good, except for the last scene where she watched Sam go to heaven. She didn't smile long enough. It was only about half a second before the relieved smile on her face disappeared.

Although tears in laughter is the main emotion at the end of this movie, and it is also the emotion Ronald hopes the audience will experience, but after all, that smile is too short. Ronald feels that it is not enough to confirm Molly's sweet life and expectations in the past.

"You don't seem to like smiling, Demi..."

Ronald had no choice but to shoot the second take, and Demi's smile was even shorter. Even if he used editing to make up for it, he couldn't edit it...

He looked at Demi Moore, hoping that she could smile longer.

"No, I can't do it..." Demi Moore had shot two takes, and the high difficulty and large-scale emotional mobilization in two extremes had exhausted her performance energy.

"OK, OK..."

Ronald had no choice but to use technical means. He used slow motion photography to reshoot the heroine's smile, and then used slow motion to lengthen Demi's smile when editing.

"Cut! "

This time, there was only one smiling shot, and Patrick Schweitzer was not standing behind the camera to act with Demi.

Demi Moore looked at Ronald behind the camera, her expression even more sad, that smile with tears, seven points of sadness, but three points of joy, coupled with the crystal tears, it was simply painful for the audience.

Why can't Molly and Sam, the two lovers, be together?

"Cut!"

Ronald saw that Schweitzer was not there, and Demi seemed to be more involved in the performance, and he had some guesses in his mind. He didn't dare to discuss it in depth. After shooting the required materials, he immediately announced the end of today's shooting.