Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The Bed of Procrustes is an ancient Greek fable. He is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. He opened an inn on the road to Athens.

There was an iron bed in the inn. If the guest was taller than the iron bed, he would be cut short. If he was shorter than the iron bed, he would be forcibly stretched. The next day, all the guests who left the inn were the same height.

Walter Merzi meant to reverse the current editing process. Instead of reducing time from the first cut, first set a 90-minute time frame, divide the film into a three-act structure with a beginning, middle, and end, and then fill it with materials to fill the time period.

"George's "Star Wars" is done in this way. If you are lucky, you will get an exceptionally good story, but it is also very likely to become a story that lacks important parts. Just like the tall people in the fable, the innkeeper cut off their feet."

Ronald put down the phone and rethought the new method taught by Merzi.

Indeed, this is a completely different way of thinking from the original approach. The original approach is like a fat person doing fitness. Some insignificant fat can be removed through surgery.

The advantage of this method is that it will not cut out important plots, and maintain the integrity of the story and the emotions of the whole film.

But the disadvantage is also here. It's like a fat person losing weight. The beginning part is always fast, but after reaching a certain weight, it will be difficult to lose weight.

The "Procrustean Bed" method is like setting a weight loss goal. If you can't lose the predetermined goal, you will have surgery to cut the fat.

Cutting the film with surgery will always achieve the goal of length, but if the operation is not careful, it will not be like the original story.

It seems that some people who have undergone weight loss surgery have their belly fat removed, but their skin is still the same size, and it wrinkles when pinched.

Ronald thought again and again, and decided to try the Procrustean Bed method. This kind of fill-in-the-blank editing method has also created classics. Maybe there are some previously unthinkable angles that can make the material tell a better story?

What is more urgent is that the top management of Universal will send a film director to check the edited film. If the time is not reduced to 90 minutes, it will give people another excuse.

Ronald has been thinking about how to make full use of the advantages of this method while ensuring the integrity of the story and emotions. After all, this is a story with multiple protagonists, and everyone has their own beginning, middle, and end.

He tossed and turned in bed for a long time, but he couldn't find a good way. But Ronald couldn't give up looking for a suitable way to edit the movie.

There are really many levels to shoot this movie by myself. From reading Crowe's novel, to script preparation, to David Lynch's refusal to be the director, and finally competing with Heckerling for the director position, step by step, I will not give in easily.

Suddenly, Ronald, who was half asleep and half awake in bed, remembered the card method used when writing the script.

At that time, because there were so many characters and plots, I wrote the plots on forty cards and arranged and combined the plots on the pine board.

He jumped out of bed immediately, found the shoe box where the plot cards were placed, and Ronald poured the cards on the table.

After several months of preparation and shooting, these plots have become segments of film and tapes. After the actors' creation, some plots are completely different from their original intentions.

Ronald took out another stack of cards based on his memory and wrote down the plot of the finished film, his feelings, and his evaluation of the performance.

After working all night, Ronald went to the editing room the next day and brought a whiteboard. He attached new cards to the whiteboard one by one with magnets.

"Eric, look at this. I want to edit it in another way. Let's first decide on the plot lines of several protagonists, and then fill them with their plots."

"Oh, you came up with a new idea so quickly?" Eric came over. Ronald marked the names of the characters on the whiteboard with various colored highlighters.

Brad's scenes were painted green, Stacey's were painted pink... and finally Spicoli's red and Mr. Hand's blue.

Eric felt that these colors seemed to show a pattern. They always appeared slowly at the beginning, then became denser halfway through, and finally stopped after a scene.

"Did you notice?" Ronald pointed at the cards and said to the editor Eric, "These colors are like the beginning, development, peak, and end of a character's story. We have to ensure that each character's story is complete. This is very intuitive."

"Then, we use the camera to fill in the time?" Eric looked at the winding track formed by the cards on the wall, like a car racing on the NASCAR track.

"Yes, if the actor performs well, we will give her more time. If the performance cannot impress the audience, we will use editing techniques to supplement the plot. Do you think this is more convenient? At least it is faster than running to lose weight as before."

"You are really a genius..." Eric said, looking at the cards on the wall. As he said that, he picked up the snapshot of Romanus walking across the street into the mall at the beginning and pasted it on the first card.

Ronald had previously given each shot a photocopy to represent a shot. There is only one shot for the short one, and two or three shots for the long shot. In this way, using a snapshot to represent a segment of footage can correspond to the content on the card one-to-one. It is also convenient for adjustments afterwards.

"I have the length of each shot in my notebook, and you write it on the snapshot." Ronald handed his notebook to Eric's editing assistant.

The editing assistant took a look and saw a table on the notebook with the number of each shot and the length of the shot.

"We edited it later, you can count the time again."

After the female assistant agreed, she hurriedly checked the editing record sheet.

Soon, Ronald and Eric sat in front of the editing machine and looked at the footage from a new angle one by one.

"Stacy, you are much prettier than those cheerleaders." Linda on the monitor said to her best friend Stacey in the cafeteria.

"I know, but they know a lot of tricks. I'm afraid boys will dislike me."

"What tricks? Don't you know how?" Linda asked.

"That's it, use your mouth..."

"What's so rare about this? Put the carrot in your mouth..." Linda taught boldly on the spot in the cafeteria.

"Good job!" The male students on the other side saw Stacey imitating Linda, put the carrot in her mouth, started applauding, and whistled to cheer her up.

"Oh..." Stacey herself laughed so much that she collapsed on the dining table, and then covered her head with her hands in embarrassment.

"Will you put this section up?" Eric asked Ronald.

"Yes, here we have Linda and Stacey. The development of their plot to this point is actually a small second act, if you only look at Stacey's plot."

In fact, Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance of Stacey in this plot is more skillful, and you can see the ups and downs of Stacey's emotions. However, compared with Linda played by Phoebe Cates, Phoebe Cates, who lacks skills, is more brilliant.

"Maybe Phoebe and Linda have similar personalities? Or maybe Phoebe has less experience, so the newcomer's reactions are less clichéd and more endearing to the audience?"

Ronald thought to himself that he was still lacking in directing actors' performances. He posted the snapshot on the whiteboard.

Next is Linda's plot.

In Brad's imagination, Linda, played by Phoebe Cates, woos him under the sun and rain, making him intoxicated in an illusory world and unable to extricate himself.

Linda was swimming in the swimming pool and got water in her ears. She went to the bathroom to get a cotton swab. When she opened the door, she suddenly found Brad who was fantasizing about her and comforting himself.

Phoebe's face showed a mixture of surprise, disgust, and fear, and she quickly escaped from the bathroom.

"How did you direct this scene? The actress's facial expressions are so real." Eric asked, pointing to Phoebe on the monitor.

"Haha, I asked Brad Judge Reinfield to go buy a fake toy and he jumped on the biggest one. Phoebe didn't know he had a toy hidden around his waist, and that look was totally real."

"It's really yours." Eric posted a snapshot of the footage.

Then there’s the drama of Brad and his girlfriend who wants to get rid of him.

Brad saw a newspaper at home with lines on how to break up with his girlfriend. He recited it several times. When he wanted to invite his girlfriend to his house in the evening, he was rejected by his girlfriend who also worked in Hamburg. He wanted to say this breakup declaration, but he didn't say it when he saw his beautiful girlfriend.

Later, Brad was fired by his boss because of a conflict with an annoying customer. He wanted to seek comfort from his girlfriend, but he didn't expect her to say the breakup declaration intact. It turns out that she also read the newspaper and wanted to break up with Brad.

"These two paragraphs are very good, and they create the image of Brad as a good old man who follows the rules." Ronald said to Eric.

"Yes, he is a typical type who has more book knowledge than street knowledge." Eric nodded in agreement.

"Then keep it." Ronald reached out and pasted the snapshots of the plot at both ends on the whiteboard, "Let's continue."

Brad himself quit his job at "Captain Hook's Fish and Chips" and came to work at the Seven-Eleven convenience store. Today it is his turn to work the night shift.

Spicoli came to buy something. He took out a few coins, just enough to buy some candies.

"Why don't you work like me?" Brad looked at Spicoli. Now he didn't have the same sense of superiority toward Spicoli as he did when he was the foreman at All-American Hamburg. Now he is just an ordinary clerk.

"I don't need one," Spicoli replied, "I just want to be able to surf! Do you have a restroom here? I'd like to use it."

Brad pointed upstairs. Next a car stopped in front of the convenience store. A young man got out of the car and suddenly took out a gun and pointed it at Brad, "Give me the money in the cash register, quickly!"

"Okay, right away." Brad turned back to get the key.

"Brad!" Spicoli came out of the bathroom, "Do you have any tissues here?"

When the robber turned around, Brad picked up a pot of hot coffee from the heater and poured it over the robber's head.

Then he rushed out of the counter and picked up the pistol that the robber had thrown away in pain, "You son of a bitch, are you pointing a gun at me again?"

"You're so awesome, Brad." Spicoli called from the side.

"This is the end of Brad and the end of all character development." Editor Eric posted a snapshot of this footage on the sixth card from the bottom

"Yes, then it's the ending of all the characters." Ronald nodded, "One, two, three, four, five... there are still five endings for the characters."

"Brad, Stacey, nerd Mark, scalper Mike, Stacey's best friend Linda, why doesn't Spicoli have his ending?"

"He is a supporting role, just like the black rugby star, he doesn't have his own ending." Ronald explained.

"But I always feel that Spicoli is the protagonist. He has a lot of shots."

"Yes, Sean Penn's acting is very good. I give him opportunities on the scene. He can perform different surprises every time, so I added some scenes temporarily."

"Ronald, to be honest, I think Spicoli deserves an ending. His performance is very eye-catching. If you don't give him an ending, the audience will not agree."

"Really?" Ronald walked to the whiteboard and carefully read the paragraphs marked in red. Sean Penn's performance is indeed very real. He played this silly surfing enthusiast very well. He kept a lot of his scenes. Calculating the proportion, he should indeed be a protagonist.

"It seems necessary to give him an ending." Ronald thought.