Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Fake script?" Jenny asked with a smile.

"Yes, asking the principal to borrow the venue and extras for free will not reveal the plot of the movie."

This is the consistent style of New World Production: stingy!

Van Nuys High School agreed to lend the school's playground for filming for free, organize students to act as extras for free, and provide a free breakfast and lunch. This is all based on the fake script produced by the producer.

"Rock and Roll High School" is a typical low-cost movie, full of various rock, rebellion, love and other elements that teenagers like. The plot is very simple:

The cheerleader of "Vince Lombardi High School" is a rebellious rock and roll girl. Together with her good friend and obedient female high school student, she invites the popular rock band "The Ramones" to come to the school for a concert, which makes the old-fashioned headmistress mad. Finally, The roof of the high school teacher's office building was ripped off and the school was renamed "Rock and Roll High School."

Of course, the school officials at Van Nuys Public High School, where the film was filmed, would not agree to such a plot. The director asked Ronald to write a fake script "High School Life" to fool the school.

The story written by Ronald is: The new female principal of the high school rectified the school spirit and made the students who were addicted to rock music realize that there is more to life than rock and roll. Some of the students have been admitted to college, some have become supermarket cashiers, and some have worked in factories. Everyone has a bright future.

"Okay, I get it." Jenny began to erase the title on the slate with an eraser, and wrote "High School Life" again with a pen.

"Please notify the relevant personnel and don't reveal your secret. We will only be filming in this school for one day."

"No problem." Jenny smiled and joked, "Ronnie, you are talking more and more like a director."

Ronald smiled and waved his hand, "I'm just here to be a part of the credits."

At this time, a group of people on the other side of the camera burst out into a burst of rapid talking, and the sound became more and more shrill, as if they were about to start a quarrel.

"I'm going to find out what's going on. See you later, Jenny."

"See you."

Walking quickly into the crowd, it was Jim who was surrounded by three female leads, as if 1,500 ducks were quacking.

"Can we start rehearsing the moves?"

"Where's Mr. Director? Should I wear a red coat or a black coat today?"

"Where's Joe? He agreed last week to feature me."

…

Ronald shook his head with a smile, and Jim was like a poor chicken, confused by the rapid questions from the three female leads. Before he could answer the previous question, he was immediately interrupted by the next question.

So he asked the director of photography: "The extras have already moved into position. They have rehearsed twice and are just waiting to move into position together with the actors. Mr. Candy, what happened? Can't we start yet?"

The director of photography was lying behind the camera to check the framing situation. After hearing this, he stuck his head out from behind the camera and looked at him: "What they want is a result, and what Jim gave them is a lot of explanations, so..."

Ronald also understood. There were countless clues on the set. The script only said that the protagonist wore white shoes, and the director had to choose the most suitable pair from the several pairs of shoes prepared for the costume.

Directors make dozens of decisions like this every day. It can be as small as the shoes the actors wear, or as large as 50 extras dancing, or how everyone's dance moves are choreographed. The actors don't trust Jim's choices, and Jim is eager to explain why he chose this instead of that.

"Jim, where's the director? Where's Joe? Should I wear a red coat or a black one today? This is a poor low-budget movie. The costume fee is only $100. I can't buy suitable clothes at all. I'll take all the money from the film." Bought clothes.

You know, that day at the Fred Segal clothing store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, behind me was Rod Stewart (the famous singer Rod Stewart). I got this red one minute before him, otherwise he would buy it. Yes, it cost me $300. And this black one is from..." PJ Soles, the first heroine, talked about the two pieces of clothing very familiarly.

"Miss Sowers!" Ronald shouted, "You should wear the red one for today's play."

"Call me PJ. Wearing red? But black would be nice too."

Because you were wearing red in the tape, Ronald thought, but he had to make up a reason.

"Ms. PJ Sowers, we shot today's scene at sunrise. The light before and after sunrise is bluish, which will make the black stand out incorrectly.

And your red coat is very suitable. The light blue is just the complementary color of red. It will definitely stand out when photographed. And your character is a rock girl, so red is more suitable. "

"Really? Then I'll choose the red one."

"Ms. Mary Voronoff, the director has promised to add a close-up of you last week, and it will be in today's shooting schedule, I promise. You will walk in front of the camera from a distance and appear in the uniform of the headmistress."

Ronald took the shooting sheet in Jim's hand, turned to a certain page, and glued a piece of paper of a different color to it, and pointed to Mary, who played the headmistress: "Look, this is the shot."

"Miss Dey Young, the obedient school girl you played is the protagonist of the first shot. We first started to move, measure the focus, and wait for 20 minutes, no, 18 and a half minutes to be precise. , the extras are in place, and we can start rehearsing.”

The problem was solved neatly and the director of photography gave him a thumbs up.

Mary Woronov, who plays the headmistress, has acted in several New World Productions films. Dai Yang, who plays the good girl, is a newcomer. The two have little experience and are ready to start moving.

PJ Soules, who plays the protagonist, the rebellious rock cheerleader, is the most famous actor in the crew and gets the highest salary. She played the main role in the horror film "Carrie", which was a big hit two years ago, and "Halloween", which is currently being released, so there is a stand-in (Stand).

Before the official shooting, the lighting team will see the effect of the light on the face, and the camera team will pull out a tape measure to measure the distance from the actor's eyes to the camera. Movie cameras do not have automatic focus, so you need to use a tape measure to measure the focal length, and manually focus to capture the sparkling eyes on the screen.

Some actors don't want to waste time, so they have a stand-in with a similar height and weight to do these things for them. PJ Soules is the only actor in the crew who has this treatment. While the double was taking her place, PJ went to the temporary dressing room in the teaching building to change clothes and touch up her makeup.

The first photography assistant, the focus puller, the chief coolie, the red-haired photography assistant, quickly took the tape and looked for the initial position of the actor in the storyboard drawing on the ground. After finding it, he used tape to stick a T-shaped indicator mark on the ground, which was the actor's position.

Then he took out a tape measure, hung one end on the camera, and pulled the other end in front of the actor's eyes, and wrote down the reading. Then he went back to calculate the corresponding focus and marked it on the focus ring next to the camera body. When it came to the official shooting, the focus puller would turn to the corresponding mark at the position to ensure that the focus was on the actor's eyes.

This was repeated several times, and the shooting and positioning of the first shot was completed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Ronald picked up the electric horn: "Where is the makeup? Gigi, you touch up the heroine's makeup."

The time had come to 05:55, and Ronald became anxious again. The director had not arrived yet. At this time, PJ Soules had changed his clothes, put on makeup, and walked out of the temporary dressing room in the teaching building.

She was still a little hesitant, wearing a red coat, and holding a black coat in one hand, constantly comparing it to her body, "Where's the director? I still have to ask the director."

Everyone looked at Ronald, and Ronald suddenly broke out in a sweat. Why are you looking at me? I don't know where the director is? But the clothes must be red in the end. He still pretended to be confident: "Director, director..."

"The director is here!" Jim, who was standing opposite, shouted.

A tall and thin man, about 6 feet 6 inches (about 2 meters) tall, walked in at the school gate. With explosive curly hair and facial features that vaguely have Middle Eastern ancestry, he was the director of the "Rock High School" crew, Alan Akush.