This is the call-in time for the first day of filming at "Fast-paced Richmond High." All cast and crew members must arrive at the filming location, Sherman Oaks, before this time.
Director Ronald arrived at the filming scene thirty minutes early.
The first assistant director, Al, has been working here for nearly an hour in advance.
Today is the first day of filming. Everyone arrived early to adapt to the unfamiliar working environment and personnel.
Ronald was taken by Al to the dressing room on the top floor of the mall, which used to be the office of the department store. In order to accommodate the shooting, five dressing rooms for actors and warehouses for props, costumes, and other staff were created.
"Is everything okay?"
"Everything is going well. The actors will be in place soon. The two heroines will start makeup and eyelashes. The actor Robert Romanus has already arrived and is doing his hair. The costumes will be changed for him soon."
"Very good, have the producers Lin Sen and Mr. Azoff arrived?"
"Mr. Linsen has arrived. He went to say hello to Jennifer. Mr. Azoff will come later. He came from the mca music office. His secretary called me."
Ronald went through the departments and found Cameron Crowe at the location where the first scene was shot.
Crowe and his girlfriend Nancy Wilson watched the director of photography Matthew work. It was their first time watching a movie on set.
"Hi, Cameron, Nancy." Ronald greeted them, "Why don't you see Heckerling?"
"She was here just now. She said she was going to pick up important people."
It was nothing more than inviting people to stand on the upper level, Ronald knew that. He was not worried, not only because he also invited people to stand on the platform, but also because Heikelin's behavior was not in line with the rules of the set.
Filmmaking is a large-scale operation involving hundreds of people, which is similar to military warfare. The crew is a hierarchical society, and the director is the head of the crew, and he is very strict about orders and prohibitions.
If someone does not listen to the command and wastes a shot, it will be a huge loss of property and time. In a capital society, time is also property.
For an extra day of shooting, all kinds of people on the crew will be given an extra day's salary. For a basic supporting role, the union's minimum wage is US$315. "The fast-paced crew has many supporting roles, and with some permanent extras,
The actor's salary alone is thousands of dollars.
Therefore, for a long time, Hollywood has formed a conventional rule. Regardless of the struggle at the top, you must obey the director's orders on the set, even if you think he is a fool.
If Heckerling wanted to replace himself as director, he could only use the reason that the quality of his samples was not up to standard to fire him and then replace him. This reason could only be used after several days of filming.
In the first few days, all she could do was to recruit more actors and staff on the crew and find faults with her director.
"Where's the car prepared by the stunt crew?" Ronald asked Assistant Director Al.
"Here, a Toyota Corolla, a Volkswagen Beetle." Al led him to the side, which was the rest area for the stunt team.
"The Corolla first drove through the lane close to the camera, and then the Beetle drove through the far lane, stopping at the entrance of the shopping mall, where the anchor point was." Ronald gave the order in a few words.
The stunt team (stunts) during movie shooting is not, as some people imagine, doing lightsaber stunts like Star Wars, but generally refers to all actions that the actors themselves do not do. The most prominent one is vehicle driving, which is generally
It's all done by stunt people.
One of the pilots in the stunt team was a rare woman in this industry, named Debbie Evans. She gave Ronald a thumbs up to indicate that she understood. The stunt people like to give specific instructions to the director in this way, so that they can design and operate.
.
"Matthew." Ronald returned to where the camera was and called the director of photography, "This is the first shot. I want a fixed camera position, aiming at the door of the mall to get a panoramic view, and then scalper Mike will start from the camera.
Enter from behind and send him across the street and into the mall."
The director of photography expressed his understanding, "Did you hear everything? The director has spoken, let's move."
"Very good, I'll go up and take a rest. I'll be back before the shooting starts at nine o'clock.
After instructing the camera crew, Ronald went upstairs to the shopping mall. In a small room specially provided for him, he opened a folding chair with his name on the back, sat on it, closed his eyes and rested.
It has been more than two years since I last directed a movie. I finally have the opportunity to give orders and direct a movie again.
And this time, he is the official director and has a chair with his name on the back.
At half past eight, the production assistant knocked on his door.
I have thought about the scenes I will shoot today several times in my mind. Ronald stood up, picked up his folding chair, opened the door and walked out.
The production assistant quickly took the chair from his hand and handed over a metal thermos cup with Lipton black tea brewed in it. This was the refreshing drink ordered by the director.
When we arrived at the shooting site, the lights had been set up, and the lighting of the scene was restored very well. It was not very bright. It had the feeling of night, but it illuminated the characters and the background.
The range of darkness and light that a camera can recognize is called the dynamic range, which is much narrower than the human eye. The job of the photography director is to make the light captured by the camera on the film negative feel comfortable to the eyes.
This is a job that requires theory and experience, and Matthew did a great job.
Robert Romanus, who plays scalper Mike, was called in to examine his clothing and hairstyle.
Ronald felt there was no problem and signaled the first assistant director Al to start filming.
At nine o'clock in the evening, the mall is usually closed at this time, but today it is still brightly lit. Extras pretending to be customers are getting ready to walk on the street.
The assistant director took the electric horn and asked all units to pay attention to preparations for filming. Then the sound on the scene stopped, leaving only some faint motor sounds, which were the stunt vehicles being prepared.
"recording?"
"opened."
"camera"
"Motor full speed"
"action!"
Al loudly repeated on his electric horn, "Action!"
The camera was aimed at the entrance of the shopping mall to take a panoramic view, with passers-by and customers played by extras walking on the road or entering and exiting the entrance of the shopping mall.
The stunt crew drove a white Toyota Corolla car and passed in the driveway in front of the camera.
Robert Romanus, who plays scalper Mike, is wearing a slightly oversized light-colored suit with high shoulder pads, dark navy pants, a peaked cap, and leather shoes. He runs into the frame from the rear right of the camera.
He ran across the street quickly, waited for the Beetle to stop, walked around behind the car, walked onto the sidewalk on the opposite side, and walked into the shopping mall.
"cut!"
Ronald looked at the director of photography, and after getting Matthew's confirmation, he said to the assistant director, "This is a print, let's do another one."
After shooting this scene, Ronald ordered the filming here to end. The camera crew disassembled the camera and prepared to move it to the top floor to shoot the rest of the scene today.
This shot that was just finished is also the first shot at the beginning of the movie. This was not intentional on Ronald's part, but a coincidence.
Because there is only one shot of the outside of the mall, the shots for the next week will be shot inside the mall. For the convenience of arrangement, I simply mentioned that I will be the first to shoot. After that, the mall can turn off the lighting equipment in front of the door and close the door to ensure that the shooting is smooth.
be disturbed.
Ronald went up to the top floor first, which was divided into two shooting areas. On one side was the cinema, where the male protagonist Mark, the ticket collector, and the scalper Mike were shot.
On the other side is Perry's Pizza, where the heroine Stacey and Linda are filmed talking about a handsome male customer.
Today, the crew hired hundreds of extras to play the roles of customers and staff. After the mall closed, all the lights were turned on normally. Several fast food restaurants were still open, and their staff were still making French fries, pizza, and burgers.
, served as a late-night snack to the cast and crew.
In return, their store sign will be filmed in the movie as free advertising. The snack clerk can also be included in the background shot.
Dan, the art director, was decorating the mall with fake Richmond Department Store signs, pom poms and banners.
Photography director Matthew directed the lighting team to install lights designed and adjusted in advance to save time.
Lighting arrangements for indoor plays take a lot of time.
However, the art director and photography director knew that Ronald was an expert and respected them. So they prepared to put in some effort and show some real skills this time.
The two of them jointly designed a lighting system, hiding the lights in the position of normal shopping mall lighting, so that the light path looks like the original lighting of the shopping mall.
But the brightness of the light is much brighter than the original shopping mall bulbs, and it can completely illuminate the scene for shooting, so the main light is very stable.
The lighting engineer does not need to spend two hours resetting the lighting every time he changes the camera angle. He only needs to adjust some secondary lighting fixtures for fill light, which greatly saves time.
Ronald stood here at Perry's Pizza first, and then he took the shot here first.
While shooting in the pizza shop, the lighting supervisor will go to the entrance of the cinema to prepare the fill light for the next scene. When the shooting here is completed, the fill light will be completed over there.
Since the actors on both sides are different, lighting like this can be done in parallel with the shooting on the other side, saving a lot of time.
This is a quick shooting method discussed by Ronald, the director of photography and the art director.
If we can make some filming progress in the first week, it will be a great thing for the entire crew.
While the camera crew was measuring the focus, Ronald spoke to Phoebe Cates, who was standing still, waiting for the focus puller to pull the tape.
"Remember what I said, Phoebe. You're telling a story to Stacey, played by Jennifer."
"Okay..." Phoebe Cates nodded sharply. This director Ronald was much more relaxed than the previous director when filming "Paradise". He would tell the actors some scenes and the actors' inner activities, but he did not rule himself.
method of performance.
The actors are also given a lot of time to prepare, so that they can quietly brew their emotions without being disturbed.
Soon Jennifer Jason Leigh, who played Stacey, was also ready. Neither of the two girls were famous stars and had no stand-ins. They were just waiting for the photographer to prepare. The makeup artist was still preparing them for them.
Arrange false eyelashes.
Ronald was about to give Jennifer some important points.
"Ha, Ronald. Nice to meet you." An annoying loud voice came, breaking the actor's quiet emotional preparation.
Ronald recognized that it was Tom Mount, the president of Universal, and felt inconvenienced. How could a president condescend to come to the set on the first day of filming? Is he so impatient? He also didn’t understand the rules of the set and shouted loudly before filming started.
Talking destroys the actor's emotional preparation.
"Good evening, Mr. Mount." Ronald was about to hug him.
Mount stretched out his hand to shake his hand. Ronald quickly changed his posture and shook his hand, maintaining the appearance of kindness.
"I happen to be free, and Heikelin and I came over to check on the crew." Mount took the initiative to explain.
"Okay, please bring a chair to Mr. Mount." Ronald asked the assistant director Al, then grabbed him and said in his ear, "Go to Cameron Crowe and ask him to find out what's going on."
Something happened."
Jennifer and Phoebe re-adjusted their emotions, and the lights were in place. After communicating with the director of photography, Matthew, they thought it was okay to start shooting, and announced the start of the first shot of this scene.
The camera was positioned behind Phoebe Cates. It was an over-the-shoulder shot, focusing on Jennifer and filming their conversation.
"Do you think he's handsome?" Stacy said to Linda.
"Don't you think he looks like Richard Gere? Look at that sexy little butt." Stacey replied.
"Do you want to serve his table instead of me?" Stacey was a little shy, wanting to strike up a conversation but afraid of being rejected.
"What are you waiting for? If I didn't have a wonderful boyfriend in Chicago, I would have done it myself." Linda encouraged, "Go ahead, just give her an order."
"After ordering, look him in the eyes, and then whenever he tells any joke, pretend it is the funniest joke in the world, laugh loudly for him... Well, and don't forget to smile."
"Hehehe..." Stacey smiled, still a little nervous.
Linda arranged her clothes and hairstyle and asked her to go over.
"cut!"
Ronald thought it was great. Even though Jennifer was already 19, she was very good at playing a 15-year-old girl. She expressed the emotion of being shy but wanting to meet a handsome guy very well.
Phoebe Cates completely listened to her instructions and told Linda a lot of pick-up experiences and on-the-spot guidance. The way she spoke was as if she was telling a great story, which was very convincing.
"Matthew?" Ronald asked the director of photography.
"Okay." Matthew asked the operator who was holding the camera, and there was no problem in the whole process.
"Let's do this print again." Ronald ordered, preparing to change the angle after finishing the shooting and take another set of over-the-shoulder shots, this time aimed at Phoebe.
"Wait a minute, don't you think Phoebe has a little emotional problem?"
A harsh voice came over, and everyone in the crew shuddered and looked over.
It's associate producer Amy Heckerling.
"I'm not interfering with your ideas, director, but there is a place to discuss." Heikelin lowered his voice and walked over to talk to Ronald.
The whole crew swiped again and focused their attention on Ronald.
"I think Linda's tone here seems to be telling someone else's story. I think this should be a more mature Linda, like Stacey who doesn't have a boyfriend yet, imparting her own experience, so she should start from her own experience.
Said, there should be a sweetness that reminds me of my boyfriend."
Heckerling talked eloquently.
Tom Mount also sat up from his chair, pretending to be listening intently.
"What do you think? What do you think?" Ronald did not discuss with him matter-of-factly how Phoebe Cates should act, but questioned that she should not challenge her authority on the set.
"I think we should give it a try. What Heklin said makes sense. Why don't we shoot one according to her idea and make a decision when we look at the samples tomorrow?" Mount spoke up and put forward his own "suggestion."
"Why don't you come up with one yourself?" Ronald gestured to the assistant director Al and let Heckerling tell the scene, while he gave up his position.
Because he saw Crowe standing outside the crowd and winking at him, as if he had some news.
Heckerling began to tell Phoebe and Jennifer about the scene. The staff and actors looked at each other, wondering what was going on. Who was listening to?
Ronald took two steps back to the outside of the circle. Cameron Crowe came over and said, "I called Lin Sen's assistant. Spielberg's box office statistics for last weekend were calculated. 'The Lost Ark of the Covenant' was released again."
Reached the top.
Sheinberg went to ET's studio to celebrate his success. Mount initially did not agree to shoot ET, but now he is a little passive and wants to do something to restore the impact."
"So you come to me to find confidence?" Ronald thought to himself.
"But Spielberg went to celebrate? He won't come today, right?" I even reminded Spielberg's assistant Catherine during the day.
"It doesn't matter. Even without Spielberg, I won't lose." Ronald's mind was racing. How to refute Heckerling when watching the dailies tomorrow? How to win the support of the producer?