Exploiting Hollywood 1980

A section of 46th Street in midtown Manhattan has been cordoned off by police since the morning to accommodate the filming of "Famous."

A large team of people moved from Harlan Middle School to the door of a stone building here to shoot the outdoor scene of the theme song dance.

The reason for choosing this building as the gate of the school in the movie is simple. Alan Parker liked the gate of the Academy of Performing Arts, so he found a similar one on 46th Street.

The section of road between the intersections on the left and right sides of the gate was blocked by the producer for three days for filming.

The crossroad at one end that intersects with 46th Street has also been requisitioned for parking prop vehicles.

In order to film this important scene, the crew also hired 30 additional on-site assistants with Motorola wireless walkie-talkies to assist in the on-site shooting.

Ronald stood behind the camera, watching these field assistants uniformly dressed in white T-shirts with "Fa" printed on the chest, listening to the orders of director of photography Michael Seresin.

"My child's father is an Oscar winner." These words on the back of the white T-shirt made Ronald standing next to him smile knowingly.

"When the director announces the shooting, you mainly maintain the order of vehicles entering the venue. After the actor playing Angelou drives the taxi equipped with a horn into the venue, the motorcade begins to prepare..."

After seeing the new choreography from last night, Alan Parker decided to add some authenticity to the scene.

All vehicles no longer parked on the road in advance, but queued up on the crossing crossing 46th Street, and then drove into 46th Street at a slow speed. Try to make the scene where the dancers stop the car look as real as possible.

"All vehicles will enter slowly according to their numbers. The maximum speed is not allowed to exceed 6 miles per hour. I repeat, no more than 6 miles per hour is allowed."

"Prepare to rehearse." Seeing that everyone's tasks have been assigned, the director gave the order to the first assistant director.

Ronald stepped back out of the director's sight and stood next to an apple box.

The assistant director picked up the intercom and ordered the cars to move in. The camera operator directed the team to slowly push the machine forward.

Dancers burst out of the gates and danced in the street to the disco sounds of the sound crew.

At this time, according to the original plan, the leading car should brake, and the following convoys would brake one after another, and the drivers would poke their heads out of the cab to observe the situation.

But the driver in the lead seemed to have deliberately made a joke with the dancers. He first faked the brakes and moved the car forward a little. When the dancer stopped to start dancing, he arched forward another half foot.

This angered the dancer in front of the car. He only showed his back in front of the camera and did not get the chance to show his face. Now he was shaken by the driver. He became angry and slapped the hood of the car hard. Ask the driver what he wants to do?

The driver was an Italian. When he got out of the car, he started talking in Italian. He raised his hand and pushed the dancer's chest.

This move aroused the dancer's anger and wanted to push the driver back. However, he is tall and thin, and fighting is not a physical movement he is good at.

Unexpected reinforcements came from the camera crew. The camera operator handed the machine to his assistant and led the push and pull crews to rush forward. He pushed the driver far away and said, "What the hell are you doing? You don't know you are filming." If the scene doesn’t go according to plan, will it kill everyone?”

It turns out that the operator was holding the camera on his shoulder and filming on the extended forward line of the car. If the driver fakes the brakes and shakes the scene halfway through the shot, the unlucky one will be the operator who is staring at the viewfinder behind the camera.

The Italians, who were backed by the Truck Drivers' Union, did not expect the unexpected challenge from the strong men from the British Isles and were temporarily at a disadvantage.

Alan Parker asked director of photography Michael Seresin to call his people. He walked up to the Italian driver and said:

"I like your use of fake brakes very much, which makes the actors' performances very real. However, you must pay attention to safety during official filming and cannot use such dangerous tricks again. Do you understand?"

Of course, the driver understood the meaning of the director's words and knew that the director was on his side, so he extended his thumb to signal to the director.

Then when Alan Parker turned his back and walked back, he quickly turned his thumb upside down and challenged the camera operator.

The camera operator smiled contemptuously, pointed to his own eyes, and then pointed two fingers at the Italian's eyes. It means "I will keep an eye on you, don't let me catch you being a fool again."

On British film sets, class barriers have long existed. Directors, actors, etc. belong to the upper class and speak with orthodox upper-class accents or Shakespearean accents.

Camera operators, recorders, props, sound recorders, and other jobs all belong to the working class, and most of them speak with a Cockney accent from the East End of London. They are under the command of the first deputy director, just like in the British army, only the sergeant major can command the bulk of the troops.

Although director Alan Parker claims to have lived in the East End of London since he was a child, he does not speak a Cockney accent, and even the British crew members do not regard the director as one of their own.

The stocky camera operator simply looked down on the Italian driver's skinny and bad style, just like a British hero on the football field who can beat seven sissies.

The first assistant director picked up the radio and started calling the truck driver in the back.

One by one, the cars slowly backed out of 46th Street and returned to their starting position.

Ronald watched the assistants directing traffic like traffic police, restoring everything to its original state. The script supervisor took the props to patrol and ensure that all props were restored to their original positions to avoid mistakes.

The choreographer pointed out some problems to the dancers and took everyone back to the building to wait for the official shooting.

For a large crew of more than 100 people, it takes time to restore the original state, which is not as easy as rewinding on a VCR.

When everything returned to its original state and the official shooting could be carried out, Ronald looked at the watch and found that more than half an hour had passed.

"No wonder we have to apply for three days of shooting time. If we shoot like this, we can't get a few shots in a day." Ronald nodded secretly. These are all experiences that can't be learned from textbooks. You need to work hard in the crew to know them.

"Attention, all departments, the next one is officially shot!"

The shooting instructions for large scenes must be issued by radio. In addition to the main camera on the rail in the middle of the road on the scene, there is also a second camera on the second floor of a store on the roadside.

After careful scheduling, the director of photography can prevent the two cameras from shooting each other to avoid mistakes.

The motorcade entered 46th Street in a line, just like the traffic on the ordinary road.

"Give me something hot, baby, tonight"

The dancing group rushed into the street, and the leading Italian driver did not play tricks on any car, and stopped in front of the group with a sudden brake.

The second camera group on the second floor captured the chain effect of the sudden brake on the motorcade, and the series of sudden brakes of the motorcade were very beautiful. The leading driver deserved to participate in film shooting frequently, and he grasped the director's intention very well.

Next, the group should climb onto the leading Cadillac and start dancing on the roof, and other dancers danced in the middle of the stopped traffic. Turn the entire 46th Street into a disco.

The leading Italian driver still remembered the director's hint to give the group some surprises and stimulate real reactions.

He changed the gear to neutral and stepped on the accelerator twice.

"Boom, boom"

The dancers who were originally planning to climb onto the roof were scared and scattered from the front of the car.

"Cut!" The director called a halt to the filming. The actors did not act as planned. After being frightened, they did not continue to act and stopped at the side.

The hot-tempered camera operator put the camera on the ground and jumped to the front a few steps. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" He pointed at the Italian driver who was still in the car and started to curse.

The driver changed to the first gear, stepped on the accelerator, and the car rushed forward a foot and stopped just in front of the operator. The driver wanted to scare him, why was he so arrogant? Don't you know how powerful the Italian Truckers' Union is?

The camera operator, who is a three-generation fan of West Ham United in East London, couldn't help it and punched the hood of the Cadillac, leaving a dent.

The driver who got off the car and yelled for trouble was pushed to the ground by the operator.

Now all the drivers in the convoy got off the car to seek justice for the driver of the first car, and the dancers on the other side also rushed forward and stood firmly with the camera crew.

Ronald watched coldly. This fight should not break out. Both sides were restrained. It seemed that they had to wait for the leader's negotiation to resolve it.

Sure enough, after the first assistant director negotiated with the head of the drivers, both sides agreed: the crew compensated for the repair costs of the Cadillac's hood, and the driver promised to follow the director's instructions in future filming and not to make surprise attacks.

In addition, the driver's side asked the camera operator to verbally apologize to the driver who was pushed to the ground by him.

Director Alan Parker pointed at the operator, but did not speak. He raised his hand to signal him to apologize quickly and not to delay the filming.

"You are a fucking softie, Alan. I will not apologize to that sissy." The operator heard this strange request and cursed the director on the spot, "How can the winner apologize to the loser?"

"Michael, take care of your people." The director did not speak directly to the operator.

"Fuck it! I quit. I can't work for a softie." The camera operator cursed in a Cockney accent in East London.

The dancers surrounded the uncle and stood up for him. After all, the uncle had a conflict with the Italians because he stood up for them.

"Don't worry!" The uncle comforted the young people, "I have the protection of the union and can get full salary and return tickets."

"With my qualifications, I can find a new job in two weeks. I'm glad I don't work for this bastard anymore. He doesn't care about your safety and health at all."

"I've seen a lot. Don't look at that sissy Alan Parker who says he wants to make a movie that reflects human nature every day. I think he is the most inhumane. Kids, you have to protect yourselves, understand?"