Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"New World" Production is a company that specializes in low-cost movies. The official filming time for the 90-minute "Rock High School" was only three weeks, and minus the Sunday break, it was actually only 18 days.

So it’s about how fast you can shoot as many pieces as you can. In order to save time, everyone had no time to rest after finishing one shot, and immediately started preparing for the next shot.

The crew are all experienced people and are very accustomed to the rhythm of New World Production.

Without Ronald's orders, the three strong guys from the camera crew began to remove the camera from the crane arm and move it to the front. The red-haired first photography assistant began to install the gimbal, and then everyone worked together to put the camera on it.

Clothes and make-up, and quickly touching up Dai Yang’s makeup, powder puff flying.

Soon, Ronald picked up the electric horn and gave another order, and another one was successfully completed.

The next scene is the appearance of the protagonist PJ Soles. She plays Liv Randall, who puts the Ramones records into the record player on the playground, and Kate Lambeau, the top student, connects the cable to the school stereo.

As soon as the switch was turned on, all the indoor and outdoor speakers in the school started playing punk rock music by the Ramones.

The filming of this scene required re-staging. Jim began to instruct various crew assistants to start moving props. "Put the record player here." The wire that Dai Yang wants to connect is placed here. The recording department began to connect the speakers in the playground to a tape recorder that actually played the songs.

Leaving the scene to Jim, Ronald went over to discuss her first scene of the day with PJ Soles.

PJ Soles is a slender beauty. She is wearing a chosen red top with a black and white spotted collar, which is very eye-catching. He was wearing leather pants and Converse canvas shoes. In 1978, this was the most popular dress for rock punk girls.

"So cool! You're so cool today, PJ."

"Hey Ronnie, how does it feel like being a director?"

"Yes, maybe I will take a photo with you later, as a souvenir of my career as a director."

"Hahaha, no problem. You're great, Ronnie."

"This scene is your debut. Have you figured out how to capture the audience's eyes?"

"Oh, yeah. I plan to give the audience an image of a very energetic girl at the beginning, jumping up and down..."

Ronald's qualifications and acting skills are completely insufficient to direct PJ Soles. Seeing that what she said was similar to the image in his dream, he pretended to appreciate it very much and nodded frequently.

"Perfect, let's do it again later."

At this time, Jim came over and said that the props and scenery had been set up.

"Please..." Ronald made a gesture to guide the two heroines to enter together.

This shot was a long shot, and the director of photography and Ronald mentioned using hyperfocal distance.

The red-haired photography assistant looked at the aperture, and after conversion, he called: "5 meters. The hyperfocal distance is 5 meters away from the camera lens." That means that all scenery can be clearly photographed without focusing.

Ronald had seen this hyperfocal shooting method several times before on the set of "Rock of Ages" and it was said to have a very good aesthetic effect. But he thinks the more important thing is to save time and take more pictures if you can.

Ronald started from the camera, walked 7 steps, and was still far away from the actor. Reassuringly motioning to Jim to begin.

Jim blew the whistle three times and was banned.

"Attention everyone, we are officially filming..."

"The 128th scene of high school life, the first shot, the first line."

The scene begins with PJ Soles putting a vinyl record into the record player and pressing the play button.

The camera then moved to Dai Yang, who pretended to start connecting two pieces of exposed copper wire.

Ronald motioned to the recording crew to play music. The music of the "Ramones" band "Do You Wanna Dance? (Do You Wanna Dance?)" began to sound, and the prelude of "Didi, Didi, Didi, Didi" came from the speaker...

"Cut!"

Ronald felt like he was just a tool, and the performance was left to the veteran PJ, while the artistry of photography was left to the director of photography, Mr. Candy. As for himself, he only looked at whether it was the same as the picture revealed in the dream. Reduced to just A and Cut.

"That's fine. Anyway, I'm the temporary director and don't know anything."

Ronald comforted himself.

"How about this one?"

Dean Condie confirmed to him that it was okay.

"Do you need to protect one?"

"You are the director!"

"Okay, let's keep one more thing."

After taking this shot, the sun has risen and the magic light will dissipate after ten minutes.

Ronald looked at the shooting log, and there was a panoramic shot of the students fleeing after the female principal came to the playground to lecture and threatened to give students detention.

"Okay, let's take another shot of this and then take a break."

After Ronald discussed with the director of photography, he directed the group to walk to the middle of the playground.

"Mr. Candy, are these enough people?"

"There's still a bit of space, and it can't be filled up enough for the camera."

"Come on, come on. All the crew assistants, costumes, makeup, and stand-ins who are not on filming duty, please stand in the back row for me!"

Ronald drove about 20 crew members to the back row of the playground and stood in the back row during the camera, and no one paid attention to their clothing or age.

"Recording...camera...

Start shooting A!”

"One, two, three, run!" Ronald said "zero", and the group of performers began to dance like birds and beasts.

"Cut, Cut"

Ronald quickly stopped. "Running too fast? Mr. Candy, what do you think?"

"Yes, and all the extras ran out of the screen from the nearest direction. The shot only lasted less than 2 seconds, which was not long enough."

Jim suddenly interjected: "Can you shoot it in fast motion?"

The director of photography gave a rare reply: "You mean to downgrade the shooting?"

"Yes." Seeing that Ronald didn't quite understand, Jim explained to him in a low voice:

"Downgrade shooting is to shoot at a relatively low camera speed, so that when projected at the normal speed of 24 frames per second, the actors will appear to be in fast motion, just like when we watch early silent films. A comical effect is achieved."

"Director, how do you decide?" Director of Photography Dean Candy still tried to speak as little as possible.

"OK, let's shoot at a reduced speed." Ronald said and walked towards the extras. "We still have to solve the problem of insufficient time." He thought about the scene he dreamed about last night and had an idea in his mind.

"Boys and girls, let's change the running method next. With me as the center line, everyone to my left, run to the right; everyone to my right, run to the left."

"Everyone returns to the starting position and starts." Ronald turned back and said to the camera crew.

"Don't you have a rehearsal?" Jim asked.

"No, I want this to be the first time without rehearsal. Let them be unprepared and let's capture real reactions."

…

"One, two, three...run!" A few minutes later, Ronald gave the order again. This time, all the extras ran in the opposite direction from last time. The crowd inevitably collided, dodged, and screamed. This time, it was long enough. . "

"Cut!" Ronald turned to the director of photography, "Mr. Condi, let's go call the boss, Mr. Coleman first?"

The DP looked at the light and the magic light moment was basically over and said, "Okay, let's go together."

"Okay, the crew will take a 30-minute break." Jim picked up the electric speaker and began to announce a 30-minute break and began arranging the scenery for the next scene.

Ronald took the director of photography and explained it to the dean of students sent by the school to supervise. The two of them entered the principal's office and started calling the office of New World Productions.

On an old-fashioned dial telephone, where each digit was dialed while waiting for the dial to turn, Ronald organized his speech to his boss, Roger Coleman.

"Beep...beep...beep...beep, after waiting several times, someone finally answered the phone. Good morning, New World Production Company."

A nice female voice came from the other side of the phone, softly and softly.

"Is that Gail? I'm Ronald, an assistant on the set of 'Rock of Ages.'"

"Oh, Ronnie. Calling the company so early? If I hadn't come to the company early this morning, no one would have answered your call. Is something okay?"

"Uh, yeah, I was worried about calling too early and no one would be there. Is Mr. Coleman in the office? Listen, there's an emergency here, and Mr. Dean Condy, the director of photography, is right next to me. Director Allen is out He collapsed on the set and Joe sent him to the hospital. We need a new director."

The person on the other side of the phone was Roger Corman's assistant to the president, Gale. The assistant to the president of New World Company was not the kind who would sit in an office at a big studio. Roger Corman, a stingy boss, uses people to death. In addition to handling things in the office, Gale also had to travel to various locations for him, as busy as a real estate agent.

"Don't panic, I'll call Roger right now. Wait for my call back. What's your phone number? (818) 778-6801? Okay, don't go away. I'll hang up later."

Putting down the receiver, Ronald looked at Dean Condy next to him.

"So, Mr. Candy, what do you think happened to the director? Why don't you let me take him to the hospital so that Qiao Hao can stay and continue directing?"