Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Francis Coppola's Zoetrope Studio is located on Kearny Street in North Beach, San Francisco, in the famous Sentel Building. The building was completed in 1907 and is one of the first high-rise buildings in San Francisco. The green exterior is very bright.

Ronald entered the building. Most of the building was rented by Zoetrope Studio, and there was also a large studio. Ronald found Walter Murch on the upper floor and prepared to start his apprenticeship and learn editing techniques under Murch's guidance.

Walter Murch was remixing the movie "Dragon Slayer". This is a movie co-produced by Paramount and Disney. After the success of the co-production of the live-action version of "Popeye the Sailor Man", the two companies continued to jointly produce live-action animations.

Murch sat in front of the mixing desk with several tapes on it. When he saw Ronald coming, he smiled like an old friend and asked Ronald to wait.

The so-called remixing is to re-record the tapes of multiple tracks, such as live sound recording, post-dubbing, soundtrack, etc., in the mixing room, adjust the loudness of each track, eliminate the noise of live sound recording, add a sense of presence to the soundtrack, and finally form the various sounds, dialogues, and soundtracks we hear in the cinema.

Walter Merzi is one of the few experts who can not only edit films but also edit sound. At the 52nd Academy Awards held in the first half of the year, he was nominated for Best Editing and won the Oscar for Best Sound Effects.

Obviously, after winning the award, his sound editing orders began to come in one after another. This "Dragon Slayer" was also specifically asked to be directed by him.

"I'm busy making sound effects for this fire-breathing dragon. You can wait here and I'll come to you later." Walter Merzi said.

Ronald nodded and walked out the door. Francis Coppola was not in San Francisco during this period, but was working in New York. He asked his younger brother George Lucas to guarantee their idol, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. The movie "Kagemusha" invested by 20th Century Fox was a big hit in Japan, earning 2.3 billion yen, equivalent to 11 million US dollars.

The Japanese began to recall the honor brought to them by this "movie emperor" and began to report the admiration of Americans for him.

Coppola was also invited to be interviewed and was optimistic about the box office of Kurosawa's historical blockbuster "Kagemusha" in the United States. His Zoetrope Company also participated in a small part of the distribution work. Coppola wanted to use this Japanese film as a test work for Zoetrope to enter the film distribution market.

Soon Walter Merz walked out of the mixing room and found Ronald. "Welcome, I'm busy making sound effects for the fire-breathing dragon, and you're here just in time to help me sort out the original film of 'Apocalypse Now'.

It turned out that Coppola decided to put all the film of Apocalypse Now in the desert. He thought this movie was a treasure of mankind, and the humidity and temperature in the desert were very suitable. He found a cave and stored all the negatives in it, hoping that people 100 years later would be able to see this masterpiece.

"You have to help me look through the pile of working films and find out the parts that don't belong to Apocalypse Now. At that time, we discarded too many original materials in the warehouse. Mixed with waste films from previous years."

Walter Merzi said, taking Ronald to a warehouse downstairs, which was full of reels of film.

"This is where the film of Apocalypse Now is, starting from the third column and going all the way to the eleventh column. There is a pile in the corner of the wall, and there are quite a few of Apocalypse Now. Your job is to use this editing table to go through each roll of film and check it with the label.

When we were editing it, we were under time pressure and didn't have time to organize it carefully, and now Coppola wants to store it in the desert, so we have to check it out. It's just right that you're here..."

After teaching Ronald how to use the West German horizontal editing machine, Walter Merzig went back to work on "Dragon Slayer".

Ronald took out his notebook, tore off a piece of paper, folded it into two little people, and placed it in front of the small monitor of the West German horizontal editing machine. The proportions looked like two little people watching a movie.

Then he picked up a reel of film, opened the box, installed the rollers, pressed a button, and a strong light projected the film onto the screen.

After working for a few hours, Ronald cleaned up some films from other early films of Zoetrope. The others were original films of "Apocalypse Now", and many of them were not cut into the final film.

For example, in the segment Ronald is watching now, the protagonist Colonel Willard is played by another actor, not Martin Sheen in the film. His eyes are smaller than Martin Sheen's, and he has a tough temperament. Ronald watched for a long time and always felt that he did not match the overall atmosphere of the film.

"This is Harvey Carter, who was replaced by Martin Sheen by Coppola after a few weeks of filming. "Walter Merz came over and asked Ronald to go to dinner together, "Do you think his decision is right?"

"I have watched Apocalypse Now several times. It is a story about a protagonist who leads you to explore the truth of the world. The audience may not be able to relate to the tough Harvey Carter on film because he has small eyes.

Martin Sheen is a good fit. He is feminine and has big, charming eyes, so the audience can easily empathize with him." Ronald felt that Walter wanted to give him some advice, so he boldly expressed his opinion.

Martin Sheen is a handsome guy with a bit of a creamy temperament. In the Miou co-production "The Cassandra Bridge" a few years ago, he also played a creamy boy who lived off his wife, and played opposite the late Eva Gardner. Ronald was impressed.

"Your opinion is very good. Francis told me so at the time." Walter saw Ronald standing to pass the film with one hand on the stop button. He knew that he was using the opportunity to watch the film to practice editing skills, and nodded with satisfaction.

"You still remember the skills I taught you, which is good. I have always believed that you need to edit while standing."

"But I haven't found the feeling yet, and I don't know if I have really found the editing point."

Ronald remembered that Merzi said that if you find the right rhythm and temperament of the movie, every time you press the stop button, you can stop accurately at the 24th of a second. But he tried several times and still couldn't do it.

"For this kind of character shot, I have another trick. I will teach you later."

The two went to the Zoetrope Cafe next to the entrance of the Sentinel Building. Walter signaled to the waiter to bring two Zoetrope meals and ate with Ronald.

"I've been working for the whole morning. How do you feel?"

"I was writing the script for a while, and now I'm standing in front of the editing machine. It feels like two different dimensions that need to be adjusted. But after putting the film on the editing machine, the feeling will come immediately."

"Your idea is right. In fact, a movie has gone through several creative processes from the idea to the final release.

The screenwriter writes it into a script, which is the first creation.

The director breaks down the script and draws storyboards, which is the second creation.

The actor's performance is the third creation.

The director of photography decides which lens to use and which scenes to shoot, which is the fourth creation.

Editing is the fifth creation, and it is also the last chance for you to correct the mistakes of the movie."

Ronald picked up the Italian espresso and drank it all.

"So how should we control the quality of the film after so many creations?"

"This is a good question. The main creative staff have different ideas for the film each time. Generally speaking, the director is the only one who will follow up from the script to the editing. He is also the only one who can control the whole process.

The director knows more about the final film than anyone else. He is the one who makes various decisions and is responsible for art. But it is not that easy. There are many difficulties to overcome.

In fact, I have never directed a feature film. You will know when you become a director in the future."

Ronald nodded and started talking about some light topics.

"I heard from Roger Corman that you are George Lucas' college classmate?"

"Yes, we studied film courses together at the University of Southern California. There was an internship position at Warner Bros. at that time. In the last round of interviews, only he and I were left." Walter Merzi was reminded of distant memories by Ronald's question.

"We both felt that each other was the only competitor, so we agreed that whoever got the position would help the other.

Finally, he got the position and met Francis Coppola on the set. I later applied for a job and joined Coppola's company, starting as a sound engineer and then started working as a film editor."

"So George Lucas still owes you one?"

"Haha, I guess so."

"Walter, will you be a director too?"

Walter Merzi also finished his coffee. "It's not easy to be a director. After I became an editor, I kept getting editing and sound jobs. In this way, you will be stuck in editing and sound design jobs one by one.

I am planning to break this cycle and start directing.

But my children are still young, and my wife Angie and I are considering waiting until they are a little older before pursuing the dream of being a director. "

After lunch, the two returned to their respective places and continued to work.

Ronald felt that he had come to a strange place and started a strange job, but he was surprisingly very accustomed to it and did not feel any discomfort. Perhaps he was willing to watch the movie he directed gradually take shape in the editing room.

"Snap" Ronald pressed the stop button again, still a few frames behind the previous time. Ronald paced in the warehouse, took out the pre-prepared thermos cup, and drank a sip of black tea. Compared with coffee, he was still used to the slow refreshing effect of tea. Coffee was like a loan shark, which refreshed you for an hour or two, and then you had to pay it back with interest.

The refreshing effect of black tea did not have this drawback.

"Who is this person? He looks a lot like the protagonist Martin Sheen." Ronald pressed the play button and looked at a young man on the monitor. Except for a little hunchback, he was a young version of Martin Sheen.