Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Director Allen gradually approached, followed by his inseparable good friend Joe Dante. Dante was about 5 feet 6 inches (about 1.70 meters), like a guard on the basketball court hiding behind the center dribbling forward.

Walking to the front of the crowd, Joe's head flashed out from behind Allen, and his middle-parted hairstyle could not hide the rapidly receding hairline. He grabbed Director Allen's arm with one hand and pointed at Ronald with the other hand and shouted: "Ronnie, Ronnie, how are you preparing today?"

"I just organized the group to practice twice, the main actors have finished their positions and put on makeup. I will wait for Director Allen to confirm the costumes of the main actors with you. You can rehearse with makeup in 5 minutes. The director of photography said that we can start shooting on time at 6:30."

As he said, Ronald handed over the storyboard he drew yesterday.

Joe Dante took it and looked at it: "Is this your storyboard you drew?"

He was particularly proactive today and took on the director's responsibilities. While looking at the storyboard drawings drawn by Ronald in detail, he ordered: "Move Director Allen's chair over."

Ronald saw that Director Allen was not in a good state. He quickly brought a chair. It was the kind of chair that has a name on the backrest, which is reserved for directors. Ronald took the director's arm from Joe and helped him sit down with difficulty.

The director's forehead was sweating, his face was pale, and he looked a little bad. Ronald leaned close to the director's ear and asked softly: "Can I get you a cup of hot coffee, Director Allen?"

Allen nodded. Ronald pulled his assistant Jim over and gently told him to bring a cup of hot coffee.

"Very good, let's shoot according to your storyboard today. PJ, you wear the red one," Joe Dante said as he handed the storyboard to the director of photography. The two began to discuss the details of the shooting:

"The camera will start with a close-up shot of the freshmen, then pull back, then rise, to give a panoramic view of the playground, and then push forward to the welcome platform of the Science Club where the good girl and the top student are standing..."

After the two discussed it, Joe came over and spread out the storyboard and explained it to Allen. Allen nodded in agreement.

At this time, the extras returned to the playground one after another. Ronald picked up the electric horn and guided the extras to their positions.

The red-haired photography assistant began to put a black cloth on the film box to prevent exposure, and put his hands in to install the film in the dark.

The director of photography called the other two strong assistants, and several people began to check the installed camera jib, rising and falling a few times, and began to test.

In less than a minute, the red-haired man installed the film in the black cloth bag in the dark. He came over and picked up a roll of black tape and pasted it along the edge of the film box. Low-cost movies are all rented second-hand machines, and the quality of the machines is unknown. So black tape is used to cover the gap to prevent accidental light leakage and ruin the film.

After wrapping the film box, the director of photography began to direct the assistants to lift the camera onto the jib and install it, and then rise and fall to test. The jib was also rented second-hand, and there was a fear of something going wrong if it was not tested.

Co-director Joe Dante began to explain the play to Dai Yang, who played the role of a good girl...

The crew was like a big machine, and the various staff members were like gears. At the director's command, they began to operate in an orderly manner.

Ronald liked this kind of order. A good director is like a general, and the crew is like a team of soldiers. Filming is a team work, and the director must have leadership skills.

The leading and supporting actors stood in position and prepared to start rehearsal. Joe Dante was discussing the details with the director sitting on the chair.

Ronald picked up the electric speaker and began to organize the group actors to stand and act as a good human background. "All the boys and girls from Van Nuys High School, we are about to start the dress rehearsal. Please take the positions determined before, please stand in the positions determined before..."

"The football team, please come to me, okay, your game uniforms are great. You will stand here at the beginning, and when I give the signal, you will rush to the map here, pick up the freshman, and carry him away as a prank. Do you understand?"

The director signaled Ronald to start the rehearsal. Several actors began to act in a fake manner. In order to save the best performance state for the official shooting, the actors only did the movements and rehearsals. The extras cooperated well, except for one or two who peeked at the camera.

Director of photography Dean Condy personally operated the camera, climbed onto the jib, and walked through the camera movement trajectory for the official shooting. The director indicated that he was satisfied.

Ronald picked up the electric speaker again: "Please stand at the starting position, all extras." The leading and supporting actors also stood at the starting position.

All the staff left the range covered by the camera, and everyone waited patiently and expectantly.

Co-director Joe Dante told the leading actor Dai Yang a few more details that needed attention. Everyone held their breath and waited for the magic light to arrive.

Just after 06:28, the light in the air suddenly began to flow like an athlete hearing the starting gun. The sun had not yet risen from the horizon, but it had slowly illuminated the sky and the background.

This is a beautiful color. The metal body of the camera revealed a light blue luster, as if it was covered with a layer of armor.

The hairpins worn by several high school girls and the black-framed glasses worn by the good girls also began to flash a faint reflection. Everyone seemed to be afraid to breathe, waiting for the magic light to come.

The red-haired photography assistant trotted to the actor to measure the light, then ran back to the camera to report the light measurement data to adjust the aperture.

The uncle carrying the long recording pole raised the long recording pole to the top of the actor's head, trying to get as close as possible to collect the sound, but keeping far enough away to avoid being captured by the camera.

"The light is just right!" the photography director yelled.

After receiving a look from director Allen, Ronald picked up the electric horn and said, "Okay, let's get ready for our first official shoot!"

Jim sounded the whistle three times in cooperation, "Beep...Beep...Beep..." This was the signal to notify the restricted area.

Everyone stopped whispering and waited for orders.

Ronald looked to the director, and Joe Dante motioned for him to start. Ronald said through the electric horn:

"recorder?"

"It's on!" the recording team replied.

"camera?"

"Run at full speed!" The redhead signaled that the camera's motor had accelerated to 24 frames of film per second and could start shooting.

Picking up the trumpet slate, scribe Jenny ran to the camera, held it up, and began to say: "'High School Life' Scene 127, first shot, first time."

He slammed the clapperboard down and quickly exited the shooting area.

"Start shooting. (A!)"

Alan Arkush, sitting in the director's chair, said softly.

"Start shooting! (A!)"

Ronald loudly delivered the director's orders using an electric speaker.

The show begins.

A freshman looked at the map on the wall. There was a red cross on it, and underneath it was written: "Your location is here."

"Where am I?" the freshman said to himself.

The director of photography directed the camera to move laterally, and then slowly retreat. The viewfinder slowly zoomed out from the freshman's upper body to his whole body, and then continued to retreat. Three members of the rugby team entered the frame from the right.

"Oh, there's a new student here!" "New student, new student!"

Members of the football team, dressed in game attire, rushed over to carry the extras playing the new students.

"Where are you going to get me!"

"Put it in the locker room!"

"Oh, don't, don't throw me into the locker room."

The camera's crane arm rises above the head at a constant speed and begins to switch to a bird's-eye view. The football players carried the freshmen out of the camera view. Then the camera slowly moved, and the screen framed the science club's orientation platform where the obedient female top student was.

The camera points to the female academic tyrant played by Dai Yang, one of the heroines. It began to descend slowly, then stopped and pointed to the table in front of her.

There are several bottles for chemical experiments on the table, filled with water of different colors of red, green and blue. Next to them is a sign saying "Science Club, Kate Lambeau, Chemical Reaction Demonstration".

Ronald stood not far behind the camera and watched the filming. This is a rare highlight in this low-budget movie. It cost a lot of money and will be cut into the opening scene of the movie in the future.

Today's first shot seemed to be going well. I secretly compared the real shots and the dream revelations. They were basically the same. Ronald nodded. We'll see if the director is satisfied later and leave this one for development.

But the director hasn't stopped yet, it seems he has some special ideas. Do you want the shot to be longer so it's easier to edit? Or are there any other special artistic considerations?

No, this is too long. The actor's expression had begun to stiffen, and Dai Yang, who played the good girl, began to turn her head to look at the camera. She was looking for the director, asking for a signal from the director whether to continue acting.

Why don't you call Cut?

Ronald also turned around to see what director Allen was thinking.

The director, who is nearly two meters tall and thin, sat on his chair and gradually tilted his head. Is he using this angle to move the camera? No, how could the director...

Ronald quickly picked up the electric horn:

"Cut! Cut! Cut!"

Everyone was frightened by his urgent shout and turned their heads suddenly.

"The director fainted!"