Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Is Jimmy Stewart's performance closer to ordinary people? The character of Mitch is also an ordinary person..."

Tom Cruise came to the filming site early the next day, with an expression on his face like a student who had been writing a report all night and waiting for the teacher to correct it.

"I think you are on the right track..." Ronald thought to himself, Cruise seems to have some talent... He came up with it himself after he mentioned it a few times.

"I don't need 24 hours, I have figured it out now, I don't want a law firm in Chicago, Los Angeles, or Washington, I want a law firm like this in the south with a family atmosphere..." Tom Cruise took out the unique slow and thick-tongued country accent of Jimmy Stewart that he had just learned.

"Ah... No, no, no... Don't learn Stewart's accent." Ronald touched his forehead and was sweating profusely because of Tom Cruise. If he learns like this, he will be doomed.

"No?"

"I think you should watch Cary Grant's movies. He once said a famous saying, everyone wants to be Cary Grant, including Cary Grant... But your direction is right, the feeling of acting is very important..."

Ronald found it difficult to express the state of the poor student Mitch that he wanted in words. Although it is also a court drama, it is different from the prosecutor with a strong sense of justice in "A Few Good Men". Mitch is closer to ordinary people, and he also has greed and lust. It's just that his love for his wife, the IQ to get into Harvard, and the legal knowledge learned at Harvard saved him and brought him back to normal life.

There is a huge gap in people's cognition. Ronald himself is not an actor. He can only find some benchmarks from the outside to prompt Tom Cruise, hoping that he can find that feeling himself.

"Good, Good! Paula, Paula, can you help me find some more Cary Grant videotapes? Thank you, thank you, I feel like I'm about to find that feeling..." Tom Cruise, like a student who has been affirmed by his teacher, listened to the script lines that Paula had read to him with passion.

"The temperament of this advertisement is exactly what I want you to achieve in the sugar-coated trap." Then Ronald watched the Pepsi advertising film with the director of photography John Seale.

Although film can only convey a certain feeling to the audience through the combination of color, tone, and sound, this advertisement under Ronald's guidance seems to have magic, and has the ability to trigger the audience's sense of touch, smell, and taste.

The image of long blond hair brushing against the face can trigger the sense of touch in their life experience as soon as the audience sees it. In the hot summer, the heat wave on the grass carries grass seeds and dust, and the moisture in the air seems to be evaporated. As soon as the sweat comes out, it is taken away by the heat and becomes an itchy sweat stain that remains on the skin...

The whole person feels like longing for a glass of carbonated drink. As soon as the audience saw the automatic beverage vending machine, it seemed that a refreshing and sweet smell immediately penetrated from the nose to the mouth.

The idea of ​​Cindy Crawford reaching into the pocket of her super short hot pants to take out a coin also occurred in the minds of all the audience at the same time. In such a hot summer and such dry weather, it is simply desperate to not have a cup of Pepsi.

Then there is the feeling of Crawford pulling the pull ring and drinking it all in one gulp. That lazy action and that passionate desire cleverly transferred some of the most powerful human desires into the desire for a cup of Pepsi.

Of course, the last two little boys turned a blind eye to a super beauty like Crawford and only admired the new can of Pepsi, which also made the audience laugh.

People's feelings are actually connected. The charm of film art is to use vision and hearing to mobilize the audience's memory, so that certain emotions in their lives can also be stimulated and mobilized, and integrated into the story and emotions of the protagonist.

This is also one of the reasons why film art can stimulate human empathy on a large scale. As the first mass media of image type, the change of human emotional patterns by movies is one of the most important phenomena in the 20th century.

In addition to commercial film capitals such as Hollywood, including art films mainly from the United States, and propaganda films mainly from Eastern Europe and the Union, those who make movies have discovered the magic of movies.

Therefore, how to reproduce the audience's memory in the image has become the most important decision that directors and cinematographers need to make before shooting.

"I understand what you mean. You want a contrast. The cold colors and low-saturation buildings of New England create a strong contrast between the alienation brought by the commercial society between people and the warm colors and high-saturation tones of the characters in the southern city, which bring the warm family atmosphere, so that Mitch's behavior can be rationalized."

John Seale is worthy of being a photographer who often works with famous directors. He understood what Ronald meant. A Harvard graduate should not give up job offers from law firms in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington to work in a small law firm with only 40 lawyers in Memphis in the south, even if it is for a salary of $96,000 a year, a low-interest mortgage loan, and a Mercedes-Benz as a means of transportation.

In the first few minutes of the movie, the audience does not have time to understand and digest Mitchell's background story. To convince them why a Harvard Law School graduate went to work in a small law firm, the image above Only through direct communication can they immediately understand why an orphan identifies with such family values.

"Yes, I just want the audience to feel that this is like the beginning of a warm family film, just like the male version of the movie Steel Mulan, like the law firm colleagues' diving accident at the beginning of the second act. 'After that, the various weird feelings accumulated by the audience will suddenly burst out. It turns out that the law firm investigated Mitchell's background, having no relatives, needing to repay loans, etc., all in order to better control him.

"In that case, it would be best to add some low saturation and blue-gray concrete exterior colors to the shots of the buildings in Memphis..." John Seale gave him an idea.

"Very good, let's go and enjoy the scenery together then..." Ronald understood what the other party meant, that kind of family warmth mixed with some cold, dark tones, just like in a beautiful Mozart concert. Here and there, a few bars of Rachmaninov are added here and there to make the dissonance arouse a subconscious uneasy feeling in the audience.

This trick was used a lot by Jonathan Demme in "The Silence of the Lambs." A soundtrack of magnificent classical music paired with unsettling images, the kind of contradiction that will give viewers goosebumps.

"I still have to find a pianist to compose the music..." Ronald was inspired by John Seale's words and felt that this sugar-coated trap should also use a piano as the main soundtrack, so that the uneasy feeling in the shot could be captured. Music amplifies. As an art that combines sound and picture, movies can deepen the audience's emotions by stimulating different senses.

"Tom, I think Ronald thought you looked like Cary Grant and was a heartthrob, so that's why he said that. Although Jimmy Stewart is handsome, he is not as handsome." Holly Hunter was surrounded When I was reading the script, I heard that Cruise wanted to watch a Cary Grant movie, and I was curious and asked her why.

After learning about Ronald's request, she even gave her ideas.

"I don't think so. You may be a natural performer like Cary Grant. When Cary Grant was still acting in movies, I heard someone say that he was a star who broke all the rules, and that no other star could play a role. The audience will accept it if he acts..." Robert Duvall has seen Cruise's star appeal. He doesn't care about Cruise's pursuit of acting skills. It's not like he is already bald. Without acting skills, there will be no film contracts.

"Bridget..." Holly Hunter looked at Bridget Fonda. She came from an acting family, and her grandfather Henry Fonda was Jimmy Stewart's friend. Is there any possible family tradition?

"I don't know, I don't have much contact with my grandfather..."

"Okay, thank you everyone, please give me some time to think clearly..." Tom Cruise didn't like others to discuss his acting skills. He waved his hand to stop everyone from coming up with ideas. It's better to go home and think about it slowly.

"That's it for today, have a nice weekend, don't forget to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games..."

The crew are all top experts in the industry, and they work very efficiently. They try to keep things during working hours so that everyone has time to reunite with their families. Since Ronald had a family, he has tried his best to shoot in China, regardless of the high cost.

"Bye..." Everyone said goodbye to Ronald and left.

"Ronald, is that so?" Tom Cruise came to have a private chat with Ronald about the acting method he wanted to achieve by himself.

"Relax, I have to go back to stay with Diane and Little Roger. After the weekend, we will talk more..." Ronald knew that Tom Cruise, like himself, was interested in the Oscar itself. If he has obsession, he hopes that this desire will remain stronger and last longer.

A star like Tom Cruise earns tens of millions of dollars in salary. If he wants to take his performance to the next level, he must mobilize his desire to break through himself. Otherwise, with his current box office appeal and his current performances, he can still make a lot of money.

"You made Tom miserable..." Paula Wagner came over and said to Ronald. She had rarely seen him so anxious to break through since Cruise became famous for playing Top Gun.

"Confucius said that if a student has not thought repeatedly and almost figured it out, don't enlighten him..." Ronald quoted the words of a wise man and dismissed Paula.

Don’t let Diane and I spend the weekend... Ronald put the gift in his pocket, which was a diamond and white gold brooch customized by Cartier...

"Well, Ronnie, why did you give me jewelry again? Today is not an anniversary?" Diane took out the brooch, put it on her chest and compared it, feeling comfortable but still a little puzzled.

"My dear Diane, because you are beautiful, you take good care of me, and you give me a warm home. Aren't these reasons enough?"

"Oh..." Diane was suddenly captured by the sweet words, leaning on Ronald's shoulder, fascinated by his kiss, "Say more, Ronald, say more..."

"I love you, Diane..." Ronald was at a loss for words, so he picked up Diane's waist and carried her into the bedroom.

…

"Bud, Dan, Wang Ma, let's watch together. The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games only happens once every four years."

The next day at noon, Ronald had just gotten up. The full exercise and rest restored his energy.

The family sat in front of the TV and watched the broadcast of the opening ceremony. A disabled athlete shot a rocket at the torch, which was impressive.

"Good guy, I thought he didn't hit it..."

The arrow was shot in a crooked direction, but fortunately it curved back to the top of the torch. The torch that was lit up at once was another grand event.

"I'm watching TV on the second floor. Come here to chat." Richard brought various reports and came to Ronald to talk about the Hollywood news of the week as usual. He was not found in the study. It turned out that he was watching TV upstairs.

Today is the first day of the basketball game. In this Olympics, America sent a team composed of NBA stars. It was also the first time that the Olympics accepted professional athletes to participate.

Ronald was also attracted to watch the live broadcast like thousands of American male viewers. This team may be the most powerful basketball team in the history of the earth. The NBA All-Star Game is divided into two teams, the East and the West. In this way, the most powerful stars are concentrated in one team. No wonder the media calls them the Dream Team.

"My goodness, isn't this adults bullying minors?" After a few minutes, the Angola team was beaten by the Dream Team, and these star players played fast break dunks.

Ronald felt boring, so he watched the news with Richard. These days, Elizabeth Taylor has started a charity event for XX disease again, this time to donate to the UCLA research center.

Ronald gave a check as usual, these activities are good for his image as a kind person. After Taylor learned the news, she called to express her gratitude. She will soon go to Capitol Hill in Washington to testify, trying to influence the ideas of the congressmen and guarantee federal funding from the legislative level.

"By the way, did I remember it wrong? Didn't Magic Johnson also have it? How come he is playing better now than before he retired?"

Ronald suddenly realized that the defender of the Dream Team on TV was Magic Johnson? Why did he come out to play again? Was this a misdiagnosis?

"It's not a misdiagnosis. Other basketball players protested. This is also to show the public that it will not affect normal life..."

"Oh, I thought he was fake? I've seen those who are sick, and they are all very thin..." The previous supermodel and Mr Chow's Chinese restaurant owner's ex-wife Zhou Tianna died after a few months.

The more you look at this Magic Johnson, the less he looks like a patient? He is full of life.

"Ring, ring, ring..." Just as he was talking about this, the phone rang.

"Ronald, Emile is in trouble..." The caller was Michel Cannold of Daydreaming.

"What's wrong, is there something wrong with his documentary about the New York Ballet or the musical?" Ronald thought to himself, these two films are Emile's works for rest, with his ability, nothing should happen?

"No, it's Emile himself who is in trouble. He fainted while editing the documentary and preparing for the new movie. He was sent to the hospital by his partner and was diagnosed... saying that he doesn't have much time..."

"Oh, no..."

Ronald was startled and the teacup fell to the ground with a click.