Phoebe Cates's signing of the special filming contract went smoothly. Her father agreed after reading the description of the swimming pool scene in the script. He also encouraged her that if it was a high-style shot, it would actually increase the actress's praise.
As for Robert Romanus, he came from a lower class background, signed the contract without any hesitation, and proudly declared that he would let the national audience see the cannon from the Bronx.
The crew successfully moved to Van Nuys High School, where they filmed scenes inside the school and classrooms.
The principal and dean of Van Nuys High School are still the same two as in "Rock and Roll High School". But the students have changed. Ronald stood on the roof of the teaching building and looked down. The filming process was still going on at that time.
Vividly in my mind.
Only this time there were no dancing hotties like Mara, but a new group of high school beauties watching and filming.
This time it was an official project for Universal Pictures, and Ronald no longer had to write fake scripts to deceive the school. He had his own professionals to negotiate with the school and arrange everything.
The filming time is still in the semester, and students come to school every day. For this reason, Ronald has made an agreement with the school, and students can watch the filming, but they cannot make any noise. If they are interested in participating, they can sign up with the crew to serve as a background group.
play.
Standing on the roof of the Van Nuys High School teaching building, Ronald used an electric speaker to direct the crew to rehearse and move.
Today I filmed the appearances of several protagonists. Brad drove a luxury car that he paid for in installments. Many girls greeted him along the way. A good car always attracts the attention of girls.
After planning the route for the car to enter the scene, and the extra actors who had lines and showed a little face along the way, after two rehearsals with good results, Ronald started shooting the main camera.
The camera set up on the roof of the building shoots downwards. A royal blue four-door car enters from the left side of the screen and then exits from the right side.
"Very good, here's another one." Ronald, who was standing on the roof, picked up the electric horn and shouted to the stunt team below.
Stunt driver Debbie Evans came out of the car door, gave Ronald a thumbs-up signal to hear, and then reversed the car back to the starting position and started again. Unless necessary, this kind of shot was all done by the stunt team.
Keep driving.
The reason why actors are not allowed to drive is to prevent actors from having any accidents that will affect subsequent filming. Driving may seem harmless, but Hollywood has long formed a set of standard practices that have their own logic. Actors have also fallen off the table before
Jump off and break your own bones.
This sequence of shots is to show that Brad, who works in a fast food restaurant, feels superior to his classmates in school after working hard to make money.
He saw that there were many beautiful girls in the new school year, and he had the idea of getting rid of his girlfriend Lisa, who also worked in a fast food restaurant, and really finding a "girlfriend" to enjoy his last year of high school life.
The shot went well and Ronald motioned for Debbie to pass.
"Fix the camera in the back seat of the car and shoot the beautiful woman over there through the car window."
Ronald then arranges the next shot.
"Hi, Brad." A girl was greeting the photographer in the back seat. Of course, with other shots edited, the audience would think she was talking to Brad.
"cut, good, next one."
This time Brad had a close-up shot, which was not suitable for a stunt double. He got into the car by himself and drove on the prescribed route.
The camera was placed on the co-pilot and fixed with a bracket. The photographer and focus operator sat in the back seat to operate the camera. The focus operator connected an extension cord to the focus knob and half-lyed in the back seat to adjust the focus. This close-up shot
The focus depth of field is very shallow, and it will go out of focus if you are not careful, which will test the skills of the focus operator.
After practicing twice, the photography director Matthew signaled Ronald that he was ready.
The crew used two cars to shoot Brad's scenes. One was a real royal blue four-door luxury car, which was used to shoot panoramic car shots.
The other car is the current ordinary car. The passenger door has been removed to prevent interference with the large film magazine behind the camera. It is mainly used to shoot the interior of the car.
"Recording? Camera? Action!"
Judge Reinhold, who plays Brad, took out a small clapperboard and tapped it lightly at the camera.
The viewing range of the close-up shot is very narrow, so the slate is also a special small board, only larger than the palm of your hand.
The space inside the car was narrow, making it inconvenient for the scribe to get in every time to hit the slate. Actor Reinhold hit the slate himself, then stuffed the slate next to the chair where the camera couldn't see it, and started the car.
Brad responded to the girl who greeted him, "Hi."
Then he continued to drive forward and rated the girls to himself, "Ah, you have grown up? Have you become more beautiful?"
"cut!"
"Very good, one more."
This one is actually not that good, but Ronald always promised that the actors would not have any psychological burden when filming the next one. This is a trick he came up with on his own.
Alan Parker, the director of "Famous", looked unhappy when he was not satisfied with the shots, which put a lot of pressure on the actors, which was actually not conducive to their performance.
"When you turn to speak to the camera, you should have the feeling of a boss inspecting the company. Brad is inspecting the beautiful girls in the school. He is now the foreman of All-American Burger, and he treats his classmates with a superior mentality." Ronald told Jia
Qi said a few words.
"Cut!" Ronald came over to shoot again, "This time it's better than last time. Let's do it again, this time with a different acting method."
Brad is a celebrity in school, and many people admire him for being able to become the foreman of a "big company" like American Burger in the 12th grade. When he arrives at the parking lot, he has a younger brother to help him open the door.
"There are still 6 issues left, and this four-door luxury full-size cruiser belongs to me." Brad got out of the car and high-fived his brothers.
"cut!"
After the filming of Brad's appearance, the next scene was the appearance of Mike, the scalper played by Romanus. Both of their appearances were in the school parking lot.
The part about working in a mall during the summer is the appearance of several characters. At about seven minutes, Ronald arranges for them to appear in school. A good appearance scene can let the audience know who this character is in a few dozen seconds.
what kind of person.
Furthermore, the audience will understand what kind of story will happen to them and how they will interact with other characters.
Therefore, Ronald attaches great importance to the appearance scenes and strives for excellence. The shooting progress is not as fast as in the mall, but he tries to achieve the accurate performance of the actors.
Anyway, it was filmed in the mall for a week and was completed one day ahead of schedule. The two producers were very satisfied with the progress and quality of their work. Ronald had the capital to spend more time here at Van Nuys High School to refine it.
.
"I'll give you four tickets for the fifth row at the lowest price, totaling $140." Romanus was telling several customers, hoping to trick them into buying high-priced tickets.
"See that sports car? That's Jefferson's car. He was a linebacker on our high school football team. An alumnus wanted him to join his college and gave Jefferson a sports car when he was in 10th grade. He was a linebacker on our high school football team.
I picked it for him.
Football star Charles Jefferson, played by Forest Whitaker, drove a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 sports car, drove past scalper Mike and parked in the parking lot.
"This is a good car." Two customers praised.
"Yeah, hehe, he and I are old friends." Mike the scalper wanted to show off his power and walked up to say hello to Jefferson.
"Hi, Charles, how are you today? It's a really nice car and you take good care of it."
"Don't fucking touch it dirty." Jefferson didn't give scalper Mike any face.
"Look, he is really a person with personality." Mike's expression changed, and he immediately turned around and praised Jefferson in a different way.
"It's true," the customer said. For a moment, it seemed that Mike was really a man with many connections and great powers.
Forest Whitaker is tall, but not much taller than Robert Romanus, who plays Mike.
In order to create a dramatic effect, Ronald asked the prop team to place an apple box next to the car. He asked Whittaker to get out of the car and stand on a 20-centimeter-high stepping wood.
Then the camera shot up from the side of Mike. When Whittaker got out of the car and stood up, he was suddenly a lot taller than Romanus. Romanus only reached his chest, and instantly took a picture.
Feeling like a giant.
"Cut! Very good, change the camera position, let's do it again." Ronald was very satisfied with the lens design of the photography director Matthew. This kind of Charles Jefferson is the university who did not hesitate to send alumni in order to attract him to join the school to compete in the NCAA.
Genius for delivering cars.
The second camera position was shot from behind Whitaker. The camera was fixed on the stand and raised behind Whitaker, shooting from above. The camera operator and focus puller squatted on the camera stand.
on a small platform.
"Action!" Ronald ordered.
"Don't fucking touch it," Whitaker said the line again.
Romanus stood in front of him. As Whittaker stood up on the apple box, Romanus had to raise his head to speak to him.
The distortion of the lens makes the scalper Mike played by Romanus look even smaller, which is a bit funny.
The photography director Matthew, who climbed up and stared at it himself, was very satisfied with the shot and gave Ronald a thumbs up.
"Very good, let's take another shot from the side."
Shooting a movie is actually so complicated, tedious, and boring. Soon the students watching couldn't stand it anymore. They waited for 20 minutes and shot for 20 seconds, but there was no effect.
But once these shots are cut together in the editing room, they can smoothly express complex emotions and stories, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the world created by the director.
In this encounter scene between scalper Mike and football star Jefferson, the front, back, and side shots are cut together to show Jefferson's physical talent and impulsive and irritable character.
The background of Scalper Mike, who is good at bragging and taking advantage of others' power, comes from a poor family at the bottom of the class.
However, the interest of high school students cannot be eliminated at once.
When it came time to shoot the indoor scenes, that is, the scene where Spicoli arrived late and was kicked out of the history class by Mr. Hand, there was still a group of Van Nuys High School students standing outside the classroom door, poking their heads to see the secrets of the filming.
"Spicoli, this camera will focus on your and Mr. Walston's faces. I need an emotional close-up."
Sean Penn nodded to Ronald, indicating that he was ready.
Ray Walston, who plays Mr. Hand, is a veteran actor in Hollywood. He played Uncle Martian Martin in the TV series "My Favorite Martian" and is considered a well-known TV star.
"Recording, camera, action!"
"Mr. Hand...cut!"
Sean Penn was halfway through his lines when he suddenly stopped.