Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Oh my God, this is more exciting than landing in the cockpit of a Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter."

The Boeing passenger plane flew over Kai Tak Airport, passing over countless yachts in the harbor, large outdoor advertisements with the words San Miguel Beer, and then over the Mong Kok Stadium, and flew over the flyover at low altitude. Finally, when entering the airport, it made a 180-degree right turn.

Before landing on the airport runway, the direction of the aircraft's nose was actually at an angle of 45 degrees to the runway. Before landing, it made another sharp left turn to correct the angle, and finally landed steadily.

Ronald had the experience of taking a propeller aircraft driving training class, so he felt it more deeply than Diane who was sitting next to him. This is a bit like the transport plane of the Soviet Union, which made the famous "Afghan-style" landing in order to avoid ground-based Stinger missiles on the battlefield.

After ordering roast goose in English in the restaurant, Ronald and his group had a Cantonese meal before rushing to the Peninsula Hotel where they were staying. This is one of the favorite hotels for business people coming to Hong Kong.

After Ronald checked in, he called script assistant David Simkins. David told him on the phone that he had signed an option contract with playwright John Patrick Shanley for 10% of the price.

In one year, Ronald and have priority to produce his film script. After the project is approved, the full amount will be paid.

Satisfied, Ronald plans to negotiate the distribution contract of the script with major studios after returning, and then raise funds. He wants to operate this medium-cost film production based on his daydream.

"There will be a premiere tomorrow, and we will publish some news in English newspapers such as the South China Morning Post. After all, Western films are still a minority here." Niceta, who arrived on the same plane, contacted his wife Paula. Cruise has also arrived, and the two sides will meet tomorrow.

Although English films here only have a market among some people who have received English education, there are indeed many people who can speak English in the film industry here.

Many people in the film industry have received university education, and for university education in Hong Kong, speaking English well is a necessary condition for getting a job after graduation.

Paramount's staff here, according to Ronald's special request, arranged some directors and producers to attend the meeting after the premiere the next day. And these practitioners who can speak fluent English also want to have the opportunity to communicate with Hollywood's commercial blockbuster directors.

"I don't know what the new wave has done to movies. No one in Hollywood is talking about the new wave now. Those innovative techniques have become part of Hollywood's commercial film production, as common as drinking water."

The practitioners and film critics here are fluent in English, but their ideas are old-fashioned. They are still holding on to the ideas of the new filmmakers in the 1960s in China and trying to communicate with Ronald.

Ronald asked them about their professions and works in detail and found that most of them were film critics, and the other half had only made some experimental works with extremely poor box office.

Film is an art that needs to be tested by the market. If you still hold on to these clichés, what is there to communicate?

Ronald asked the translator next to him who was not very useful, how many local films were shot in English. The answer was almost none.

Ronald immediately knew that he might have found the wrong person. The local partners may be concerned about the language barrier, so they arranged people with strong English skills, and most of them wrote for English newspapers and magazines, or did film research in college.

Those who really shoot local films on the front line, I almost never met.

I say almost because there is a director who is not so good at English, but is actually shooting movies.

His name is tsuihark, and he and his girlfriend set up a film studio. They also shot a lot of movies. Because of his experience in making movies, he had a pleasant chat with Ronald.

After the exchange, tsuihark specially invited Ronald to dinner.

Ronald knew that this was a unique way of communication for Chinese people, so he readily agreed.

"What I like most about Hollywood is the advanced special effects there. I really like to make special effects films. Unfortunately, the market here is too small. The special effects films I shot a few years ago did not do well at the box office, so my boss didn't want to make any more."

"That's true. Hollywood can only produce films that focus on visual effects, such as ET Aliens and Star Wars, because of the large North American market."

Ronald agreed with him and was very satisfied to find a director who also likes special effects in Hong Kong. The two chatted while eating.

"A few years ago, he brought in a former employee of Industrial Light and Magic, Visual Concept Engineering (VCE), from Hollywood, and spent a lot of money to make a special effects film, "Shu: Warrior from the Magic Mountain", but they asked too much."

Tsuihark's girlfriend, Ms. Shi, is also a producer. She speaks good English and talked about the fantasy film that made her boyfriend regretful a few years ago.

"I've seen this movie. When I was shooting "The Devil in Chinatown", director John Carpenter specially showed us this movie so that we could learn about the Chinese culture and visual characteristics. "

Diane interjected, struggling with her chopsticks, trying all sorts of delicious meat dishes.

"There are many special effects companies like this in Hollywood. In fact, there are also simple methods. My friend Cameron always shoots this kind of special effects for 2.35 yuan at the beginning, and he has only recently received a big investment. You should be able to see his sequel to Alien soon."

"Aliens? I have wanted to see it for a long time." Tsuihark said that he is following the development of the latest special effects technology in Hollywood.

"But these special effects films are very expensive, and Hollywood studios dare not try them easily." Ronald picked up some roast meat with chopsticks for Diane, and then asked the waiter to bring a pair of knives and forks, so that she could eat slowly.

"Bosses everywhere are similar. My boyfriend produced a movie, and the boss said that he would burn the copy to get the insurance money." Miss Shi seemed to remember the stinginess of the boss of the Hong Kong movie, and said with a pout.

"Producer?" Ronald didn't quite understand the meaning of this position.

"This is a special arrangement for production in Hong Kong. When the boss doesn't trust the director's ability, they often arrange for another director to go to the set to ensure that the director does not overspend or overtime, and take over the director's work when necessary." Tsuihark explained.

"Interesting, we have a directors' union in Hollywood, but there is no such arrangement." Ronald uses chopsticks very well, and the vegetables in this restaurant are also very well cooked, and there is no residue when eating.

"But your boss is joking, right? How could he burn the film to get that pitiful insurance money?"

"No, he is serious."

"Hey?" Ronald was very moved when he heard it. There are actually producers who don't respect film creation like this.

"This is stupid behavior, even if you only consider business, it is stupid. I believe that the quality of the film you... supervise will not be too bad. Hollywood's video tape business is very good now. Even if it cannot be released on the market, you can make money directly in the video tape market."

Tsuihark and Miss Shi laughed awkwardly, and Ronald didn't understand.

"There are piracy here. Generally, people are willing to produce and distribute video tapes only after they are released," Miss Shi explained in a low voice.

It turned out that in Hong Kong, videotape piracy was rampant, and the anti-theft technology of VHS recorders was quickly cracked here. Various videotapes were sold very cheaply, and unless it was a hit movie released in theaters, the videotape market could not make much money.

The release also required a distribution fee and copy production fee. After calculating, it might be more cost-effective to burn the negatives and take the insurance money.

"Hey, Lao Woo, come here, this is the big director from Hollywood, Ronald Lee."

Tsuihark saw an acquaintance coming in and hurriedly called him over.

After the introduction, Ronald found that this slightly bald man was the director of the movie that Tsuihark just mentioned. John Woo.

"I'm a little depressed now," Lao Woo poured a glass of wine and drank it all. "This movie has accumulated my hard work, and it really makes people feel bad that it can't be released.

"Don't be discouraged. Before it is released, no one knows whether the box office is good or bad. There is no need to belittle yourself." Ronald listened to Miss Shi's translation and comforted her.

"Would it be convenient for you to go and see the copy? If you can give a positive review, maybe the boss will change his mind. "Tsuihark's eyes suddenly lit up and he said to Ronald.

"I don't understand Cantonese, but it doesn't matter if I take a look." Ronald had nothing to do anyway, so he agreed, "But you have to take me to see the studio in Hong Kong. I really want to see how a movie that director John Carpenter appreciates is made."

"Leave it to me. I can also show you a special type of work that Hollywood doesn't have, martial arts."

"Well, a very special visual style." Ronald finished watching the movie called "A Better Tomorrow". He didn't understand the Cantonese dialogue, but this kind of slow-motion gunfight scene was shot in a very stylish way.

In Hollywood, not many people shoot gunfights. Often when the protagonist and the villain fight, they abandon the gunfight and use fistfights instead. Because gunfights are often boring, and directors who are not well-versed in the subject matter can't shoot gunfights that make the audience feel good.

"The gunfight scene is impressive, and the actors' performances are full of special style. I hope to see more movies directed by Mr. Woo."

Ronald wrote his comments on a piece of paper and handed it to Tsuihark, "I hope it can help. To be honest, your image style is very special, I like it very much."

"What did the foreigner say?" Johnwoo took the paper from Miss Shi and wanted to see what Ronald wrote.

"You said a lot, now there is hope." Miss Shi was very happy. With the comments of a Hollywood director like Ronald, the boss must have no doubts about the release.

"Hahaha", Old Woo laughed so hard after reading the comments, "Thank you..."

Ronald smiled and shook hands with him. The works of these people all looked like B-level exploitation films, which made Ronald feel very familiar and comfortable.

...

"This is the studio of Golden Harvest Company. They are about to start shooting a movie, which is the third sequel of the previous hit movie."

Tsuihark kept his promise and invited Ronald to the studio to see the shooting method here.

Ronald looked at them as if they were performing some kind of ceremony. A pig's head was placed in front of something covered with red cloth, and a large group of people followed behind to worship the pig's head.

"What are they doing?" Ronald and Diane were amazed.

"This is a traditional ceremony in Hong Kong. Before each start, you have to worship the camera."

Ms. Shi explained beside her.

"Worship the camera? Why do you worship the camera?"

"If you ask them, they will probably just tell you that it is a custom. But I have studied the history of this tradition."

Ms. Shi was also well educated and spoke very good English. She began to tell the history of worship.

It turned out that in the earliest days, Hong Kong was not a film production center. Many cameras here were second-hand goods eliminated by several companies in Xujiahui.

When the camera is old, there will be some irregular and seemingly random accidents. For example, scratching the film will cause a box of film to be scrapped, or the camera will be accidentally exposed, etc. At that time, people engaged in photography were not well educated, and sometimes they did not understand why, so they gradually merged with the local worship and formed a custom of worshiping the camera before starting.

"Isn't this a variation of cargo plane worship?"

Ronald remembered that he had read a book by Nobel Prize winner and physics master Feynman, which mentioned a phenomenon of cargo plane worship.

During World War II, the American Navy used some islands with indigenous people as logistics transit bases. In order to obtain the cooperation of the indigenous people, they often took out some canned meat, beer and other food from the logistics and exchanged them with the indigenous people.

But these indigenous people could not understand modern technology, and they thought it was made by white people with magic.

So after the war, they cut a radio antenna out of wood, put it on the shape of headphones, and then kowtowed to the shape of the plane cut out of wood, put on the clothes left by the navy as the clothes of wizard sacrifice, and imitated the navy to call the plane, and it developed into a religious ceremony.

This kind of worship of the camera is also a ritual formed without understanding the internal principles.

"Hey, brother, you are here too?"

After the worship ceremony, the camera pulled down the red cloth and was about to start shooting.

Tsuihark spotted a sturdy actor with short hair and went up to greet him.

"Why are you here too? I'm here to guest star today. Mr. He asked me to do that."

Ronald noticed that the actor had a big nose and was always smiling.

"How are you?"

"No problem, I've recovered a long time ago. Look, this scar is almost healed." The actor tilted his head towards Tsuihark and asked him to look at a scar behind his right temple.

"Don't work too hard."

"There's no other way. Everyone works so hard, so we have to work harder. Who is this foreign guy? That foreign girl is so beautiful."

"Let me introduce you. This is a big Hollywood director, Ronald, and this is his girlfriend, Diane Lane, who is also a famous actor."

"This is our most popular actor in Hong Kong, Jackie"

"Lei Hou." Ronald greeted him in the Cantonese he had just learned.

"Big director from Hollywood? Great, let's go to dinner together? I'll treat you, abalone, shark fin..."

Big-nosed Jackie patted his chest and wanted to invite Ronald, the big director from Hollywood, to dinner.

Ronald agreed with a smile. He just wanted to communicate with these so-called martial artists about what it's like to shoot a movie.

"Brother, what's going on? You want to have dinner with foreigners? That foreign woman is so pretty."

A group of martial artists under Jackie gathered around when they heard that they were going to eat abalone and shark fin. When they saw Diane, they seemed a little afraid to go with them.

"What are you afraid of? Do you think the foreign woman is pretty? Find a foreign woman to play the heroine in the next movie..." Jackie, who was called the big brother, looked at his men's longing faces and thought that it might be a good idea to find a foreign girl as the protagonist.

Everyone got in the car and went to a famous "Fulinmen" restaurant and ordered a table of delicious dishes. Jackie asked the martial artists to sit at the round table, and he sat with Ronald, Diane, Tsuihark and others. Through Miss Shi's translation, he kept asking Ronald about the situation in Hollywood.

"This is roast suckling pig, do you want to eat it?" the eldest brother asked Ronald.

"Hey..." Diane heard that it was a piglet and couldn't eat it.

"No?" The eldest brother turned the dish over, "Do you want to eat it?" The martial artists asked one by one, if they wanted to eat it, they could pick up a chopstick, and if they didn't want to eat it, they wouldn't force it. However, he asked everyone, which was very fair.

The round table turned back, and there was still some left. Jackie swept it into his bowl, and then made a loud smacking sound and ate all the meat.

"This is seafood, abalone, do you want to eat it?"

Another dish came up, and Jackie asked Ronald and Diane first.

Ronald felt that if he was polite, there might be no food to eat, so he immediately picked up the chopsticks and picked up a chopstick for himself and Diane.

"Would you like to eat? Help yourself." He showed his brotherly demeanor, asked around, and finally ate the remaining food himself.

"Hong Kong's food is very good, I like it very much." Ronald asked Miss Shi to translate and thanked the brother for his hospitality.

Finally, the waiter brought a pot of tea, and Ronald poured a cup for Jackie to express his gratitude.

"You're welcome, you're welcome. The director of Hollywood is so helpful to Lao Woo, and we should all express our gratitude."

"When you go to Hollywood in the future, you can come to me. I will take you to eat delicious and fun places there. If you want help with any movies, I can also help you connect."

Ronald heard from Miss Shi that this eldest brother is currently the most popular male star at the box office in Hong Kong. He knows the power of Hollywood male stars. Many friends lead to many paths. Besides, Ronald also felt that he seemed a bit kind and fair in dealing with others.

"Come to think of it, we just can't buy Hollywood cameras now. We often have good performances, but when they are developed and printed the next day, the negatives are scratched, so we have to make do." Jackie was not polite, saying that she wanted to buy two A Panavision camera commonly used in Hollywood.

"Panavision cameras are only for rent, not for sale. It's the same in Hollywood. You don't borrow them from Panavision until filming starts."

"Hey, I just said it, that's all."

"Huh?" Ronald thought for a while after seeing this, "Actually, there is an alternative. I can go to Panavision Company to rent two cameras for a long time, and then put them in Xiangjiang for people who want to use them, but I need a It’s done fairly and managed by responsible people.”

"Then it's best if you leave it to the elder brother." Ms. Shi also knew that the bosses here in Xiangjiang were unwilling to invest in hardware equipment. Some big investment movies also used second-hand and third-hand equipment. For some big-investment movies, the image quality can be greatly improved with some good equipment, but this doesn't make sense to those stingy bosses.

People in the industry have wanted to do this for a long time, but they just lacked the channels and asked people with reputations in Hollywood to help them rent it to Panavision on a long-term basis.

"Really?" Jackie was very happy. He was actually very pursuing film art, but he failed in Hollywood a few years ago. If he could make such a loyal friend, it would be much easier in the future.

"Of course, I will ask my agent to call Panavision and they will agree." Ronald has a Daydream Production Company under his own name, so renting cameras is not a problem.

"I want to toast you a glass of wine, Director Ronald! From now on, you are my eldest brother. Come on, call me Brother Li Sheng." The eldest brother Jackie called the martial arts brothers over and asked them all to come and meet Ronald. Virtue.

Jackie was very happy, having solved a big problem for people working in the entire film industry in Hong Kong, asking the waiter to open a bottle of XO.

"Just replace the wine with tea." Ronald quickly stopped, there was no need to open the XO bar.

"I'm so happy today. It's rare for me to meet such a loyal person as Li Sheng."

A bottle of wine was opened on the spot, Ronald and Jackie drank a full glass, and his martial arts brothers drank the rest.

Jackie's interest continued and he invited Ronald to visit his small studio.

"Li Sheng trusts me so much, I will definitely take good care of the use of Panavision cameras."

Jackie patted his chest. His studio was not big, and there was an editing machine in a corner with unedited films on it.

"People like you are inherently trustworthy. When I see you eating, I know that he will take care of every brother.", Ronald replied.

Jackie laughed, this martial arts team's family class is his greatest pride. He went over and looked at the editing machine. There was still film on it. He took it off and used an editing machine to put tape on it to connect it to the previous picture.

It was obvious that Jackie was very familiar with the editing machine, and he must have done it himself. He quickly put the tape on in three clicks.

"Although I come from a martial arts background, I know every aspect of the movie industry. I just love making movies."

Ronald had great respect for these enthusiastic filmmakers. He picked up the film and looked at it. It seemed to be a modern martial arts drama.

"Are you still using this kind of tape? There is a new type of editing tape in Hollywood. It only takes one-sixteenth of the 3-inch tape to stick the editing opening very tightly. The price of a roll of tape is only 20% more expensive. And you can use it for a long time.”

Ronald took advantage of the opportunity and began promoting his new editing tape.

"Is there such a good thing?" Jackie was also very interested.

Ronald found a phone number, called the factory on Staten Island, woke up the factory director, and asked him to send some samples for Jackie to use.

"Also, do you want to film a lightning scene? I also have a lightning machine there."

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

Two chapters were posted together today

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