Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Two weeks after the editing started, Ronald had finished editing the film and was ready to hand it over to the sound designer for music and sound effects. But today he was still busy in the editing room.

"Click, click."

Due to the shortage of manpower, Ronald also used the machine modified by Walter Merz to glue the films on both sides of the editing port on a metal sheet, then aligned the left and right and pressed it, and then pressed it again in reverse, and the films were connected very beautifully.

The editor Atlantic Company found for Ronald was Fred Stafford. Like Walter Merz, he was also a great man who took on both film editing and sound editing, which saved money.

"This is the title sent by Ax Company of ADO special effects machine, take a look." Fred replaced the title with special effects. A bright light flashed above the words "Night of the Comet", which happened to coincide with the shot of the comet returning shot by Cameron before. .

"Not bad, how much did you spend on it?" Fred was a veteran. When he saw this title, he knew that it took a lot of manpower and machines to make it.

"It's free. I added a credit to them at the end of the film. Ax wants to enter the film market. I used their machine to make the special effects in the first MV. It will be broadcast on MTV in two months."

"Not bad, not bad. I found that you always have some new things, including this new editing tape, which is also very good." Fred praised Ronald's new toy.

"It's a pity that their new software has not been written yet. The current software cannot calculate the Z-axis image effect outside the XY axis. The title is a bit like a piece of paper without thickness. They said that next year, the upgraded software will have a three-dimensional font effect."

The song "Girls Just Want to Have Some Fun" sounded, and a dance scene appeared on the monitor. The two beauties kept changing their clothes and enjoyed themselves.

"I think the title of this song can be the name of a movie." Fred joked with Ronald while editing.

"Portrait Records only authorized us to use the interlude, but not the name. Many movies now learn from "Saturday Night Fever" and directly use the names of popular songs as movie names. So the record company charges extra."

Ronald explained the reason. In addition to not wanting to spend money, Ronald also felt that this song could not fully explain the elements of the movie, and was not as easy to understand as "Night of the Comet". Moreover, he did not have the confidence that this song would become popular and bring the popularity of the movie.

"How about this shot?" Fred found another film and put it on for Ronald to see.

The comet destroyed the world, and the crowd standing outside the house watching the comet had bursts of strong light flashing on their faces, and then the stepmothers of the two heroines were surprised to see that their arms began to rot.

"Tsk, this brightness is still not good enough, it's a bit like the flash of a camera, or a high-power fluorescent lamp indoors, without the realistic feeling of lightning." Ronald said.

"I think it's okay, lightning is shot like this, it's unlikely that you can get brighter."

"No way, this is the effect I asked the electrician to short-circuit the circuit, especially if the high-power light is turned on and off quickly like this, it will definitely explode."

"These two zombies are not bad, they scared the heroine Samantha." Ronald said as he watched the two zombies who were played by real police officers and were about to get into the car to attack Samantha.

"Or we can edit the frame after she screams, so that the audience can't tell that this is a dream."

The zombies played by the two policemen were also edited into this scene.

Atlantic is not like the seven major studios, nor is it like the New World during Roger Corman's reign. There is no special department for editing trailers. Ronald had to do it himself, and edited a one-minute trailer with editor Fred.

Because only one copy was printed to save money, Ronald could not disassemble the already cut film editing. The trailer used the film material that was abandoned in the early film editing.

"It's done." Ronald selected the last piece of material, which was the shot of the two sisters and Hector, who escaped from the base, and finally met the survivor with the abbreviation DMK.

"Want one?" Fred shook him a Marlboro, and the two of them puffed when they rested outside the editing room.

"Speaking of which, do you still do more work in sound design?" Ronald asked editor Fred.

"Yes, I actually want to shoulder the responsibility like your friend Walter Merz, but many times the big studios don't want to, and I don't have his Oscar trophy."

"Well, that's true." Ronald took a puff of cigarette. Except when he was writing scripts and editing movies, he basically didn't touch cigarettes, but when doing these two extremely brain-consuming things, he would accept cigarettes, coffee, and red wine.

"Which movie did you do sound editing design for before?"

"First Blood," Fred blew out a smoke ring, "and your friend Tom Cruise's Good Boy is also crazy."

"Well, Stallone's movie. What kind of person is he?" Ronald asked.

"What else can he do? He is a star, he has privileges, and ordinary actors can't enter the editing room to prevent them from competing for their own exposure time. But Stallone can come in and interfere with many editing decisions. Anyway, Hollywood knows his style, and I am not afraid to say bad things about him."

"What do you think of Cruise? Will he become a star?"

"I don't know, but he does have a celebrity face, and all the girls in America want to date him."

After smoking, the two returned to the editing room and watched the trailer again.

The red filter created an apocalyptic atmosphere. Ronald picked up his own voiceover and began to read, "Have you ever thought about what would happen if you became the last living person on earth?"

The two sisters accepted the fact that all their relatives were dead and began to ride alone on the street.

"What do you think, what do you do? Where will you go?" Ronald continued to read.

The soundtrack and atmosphere suddenly changed, becoming cheerful, and the two sisters began to change clothes for free in the mall.

"This city is ours!" The two sisters shouted.

"Are you ready? When the comet reaches your planet." Ronald continued to dub.

The two sisters started a gunfight, shooting cars and enemies.

"This is when you rule the world, the night of the comet"

The last shot cut to the title of the special effect.

"I think your voice is OK, Ronald. How about you do the narration?"

"Do you really think it's OK? If it's OK, I'll do it." Ronald picked up the microphone, prepared for a while, and recorded the content of the narration.

The trailer clearly shows the major elements of the whole movie, the end of the world, zombies, youth, dance, gunfights, romance... In the end, the two heroines found lovers and lived a good life in the end of the world according to the philosophy of valley girls.

Regina, played by Catherine Mary Stuart, has short hair, strong facial lines, wears jeans, plays with guns, and wears high-padded tops.

Even the cheerleader sister Samantha wears sneakers and submachine guns, strong and confident.

Since the 1980s, the Suvil Alliance has been expanding around the world. The new president has been tit-for-tat, making tough speeches everywhere and telling jokes that mock each other.

The American people especially like this kind of tough tomboy girl. The image of the two heroines in this movie can be said to be guessed at the crest of the wave of popularity.

"It seems that the second movie will be fine, and it will definitely be a big hit." Ronald is liking his own movies more and more. After finishing filming and editing, the creator is still immersed in the appreciation of the creation, and there will be a period of time when everything looks good.

"I don't know how Helen is doing in the London studio? She should be similar to Regina, abandoning her original gentle image and becoming tough. I just don't know how many pounds she has gained?"

...

"Here is your plane ticket, passport, this is the phone number of CAA's London office, this is your luggage... This is the traveler's check for you. There is also a map of London and a rented car..."

Ronald took them one by one from his agent Richard. After he finished editing, he wanted to go to London to visit his girlfriend Helen.

"By the way, can you drive a right-hand drive car? The traffic rules there are the opposite."

"Uh, no." Ronald replied, "Or I'll just find a taxi."

"That will be very expensive. I'll help you contact the London office and ask them to find someone to pick you up." Richard took out a small notebook to write this down.

"This is the address of Supergirl's producer in London. This is the address of Pinewood Studios. It's very big and there are several crews shooting at the same time. Remember to get permission from the producer first."

"No problem, I've packed it all." Ronald put all the information in the suitcase. The travel bag in his hand only contained a few changes of clothes, passport, checks, and a book of interviews with famous film directors written by Bogdanovich. "Who shot this movie?"

After checking in his luggage, Ronald took the travel bag and boarded the plane. The Pan Am flight took off and flew to London.