Chapter 253 Solving Problems with Oscar-winning Technology
"This is very unusual, Ronald. Generally speaking, MPAA rarely overturns previous classification decisions. This must be someone targeting us." After receiving the news, two producers, Lin Sen and Azoff, rushed to the editing room,
Show support to Ronald and discuss solutions.
"The MPAA's rating description is very clear. They received a joint letter of protest from many industry insiders, so they re-examined the grading decision.
This time they 'carefully' discovered that there was a full-frontal exposure shot, which did not meet the R-level regulations. As long as we reprocess this shot, it can be submitted for review again.
If you're lucky, you can get R-level again."
Ronald spoke slowly, calling up a frontal shot of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Robert Romanus on the editing table. It took a lot of effort to shoot it in the first place.
"Good luck?" Agent Richard was also by his side and asked Ronald.
When CAA learned that the movie was rated X, Richard stayed with Ronald throughout the day, buying him food and helping with some chores.
At this time, he was worried that Ronald would be under too much pressure. Since the X-rated movies began to be classified as such, they are generally considered to be adult movies by the audience.
If it hadn't been revised, Ronald would have kissed goodbye to his dream of making his first movie a box-office success.
"Have you forgotten? At that time, Zeffirelli's 'Endless Love', starring Brooke Shields, was submitted for review because it was PolyGram. It was reviewed five times in total before the X rating was removed and it got an R."
"You have a good mentality, Ronald. This is not a problem with your editing skills at all, but with this bastard Mount, who has connected many old stubborns in Universal's top management to cause trouble."
Producer Lin Sen knew very well that the movie he produced was involved in a high-level struggle and was used as a stick by the two presidents to attack each other.
The box office of "ET" has broken many records. The number of theaters showing it has increased from more than 1,100 at the beginning to more than 1,300. The calls for more copies are still coming from the front.
came.
Tom Mount opposed ET's project establishment and filming. If he didn't take any action to fight back, he would be kicked out on the day ET successfully completed the first round of screenings.
Of course, even if a CEO of one of the seven major studios is laid off, he will still hold a golden parachute. Millions, tens of millions of dollars in severance pay, plus investment to open a production company of his own, and finally have to work with
Their new company signed a film underwriting and distribution agreement for more than five years.
There are too many bad things in the film industry, and these hush money payments have become industry management. Mount is no exception.
"We will unite and fight against those old diehards. They are all old men who had great success before the 1950s. They have no understanding of today's film market. They don't know what kind of movies can attract audiences."
Azoff, as a producer of the MCA faction, firmly sided with Sheinberg.
"Yes, Mr. Spielberg will also speak for you." Richard also agreed.
"But what are you going to do about this censorship opinion, Ronald?" Lin Sen has been a director, and although the box office was low, he knows that this specific censorship opinion is not easy to bypass.
It must be done honestly, coupled with the efforts of Sheinberg's faction within Universal, to publicize the MPAA, in order to regain the letter R.
"Reshooting is impossible. The male lead Romanus has found a new job and started filming a TV series. And Jennifer is in mourning. Now calling her to shoot an explicit scene is equivalent to giving Mount the opportunity to exploit Jewish girls.
Truth."
Ronald said softly, twisting the control knob of the editing table in his hand and watching this piece of film repeatedly.
One of Tom Mount's excuses for connecting old diehards is that he took advantage of Jennifer Jason Leigh's eagerness to debut and forced him to take off his clothes and make a teen exploitation film.
Now that Vic Morrow has suffered a violent death, he must stand up for his daughter. We cannot let a young director do such a thing to a beautiful Jewish girl who is as precious as a treasure, the future Barbra Streisand. Originally, this beautiful girl of this ethnic group was
not much.
"What should we do? Cut it?" asked producer Azoff.
"I have considered that the advantage of doing this is that it can pass the MPAA review immediately, but this is the core of the two characters Stacey and scalper Mike. If they are cut, these two characters will not be established."
"Relax, you will always find a way." Producer Lin Sen came over and poured a glass of water for Ronald. "We went to have a meeting with Niceta and Ovitz from CAA, and together with Steven, who is now popular, we
Counterattack them at a higher level.
Make sure your modification will not be messed with again. Steven is grateful for your counterattack against Landis and not letting him spread rumors that Steven was present at the time."
Ronald took the water and nodded. He continued to look at the camera carefully in front of the editing table, "Close the door for me, Richard, I need to concentrate."
No matter how the two producers negotiated with the people at CAA. No matter how they took advantage of the success of Spielberg et Shenberg and tried to counterattack Mount's attack.
Ronald was still fighting in the editing room. He watched the scene over and over again and finally came up with some solution.
In the MPAA's reexamination opinion, the reason for the rating was clearly stated. This scene shows high school students having sex, and they have frontal nudity from top to bottom.
Although this scene was shot to show Stacey and Mike's nervousness and loss of control, after watching it, the audience will only feel a sense of fear in the hearts of young men and women trying to taste the forbidden fruit. They will never have thoughts of yearning for it.
But rules are rules. After receiving collective complaints, the MPAA cannot turn a blind eye to movies produced by Universal and other seven major companies as usual.
Just like Spielberg's previous film "The Lost Ark of the Covenant", there are obviously a lot of violent scenes, as well as gun battles, sword fights, etc., because it was released by Paramount, produced by Lucas, and directed by Spielberg.
I randomly gave it a pg rating.
pg is the recommended level for parents to accompany them. Let those children watch Harrison Ford shoot down the villain chief, be chased by a big stone ball and almost die, and kiss a woman passionately. In order to save America's movie box office, in fact, mpaa is in seven
Big studios are not so strict.
So the problem now is that Ronald has to give an explanation to MPAA, an explanation of "I followed your review and revised it sincerely." Then let's look at Sheinberg's.
MPAA is very clear about which parts do not meet the rating. The main problem with being rated
Drop x rating.
The problem is that deleting a part of the scene inside a certain shot cannot be consistent with the original film. The audience will notice that the viewfinder of the deleted scene suddenly jumps and then becomes smaller, thus realizing that the director has done something wrong.
What, it’s hard not to act.
Reshooting the scenes between the male and female protagonists is also an option, but it is difficult for the actors to regain the original feeling. This kind of scene was filmed by the two actors after the scene was cleared, with a feeling of worry about gains and losses, and it just fits the mood of the characters.
It would be great if this part of the film could be cut out of the off-duty scene, and then re-exposed and combined with the original film. In this way, the picture the audience sees would be like a cropping of the original camera viewfinder.
Cut it and then enlarge it back to the original frame, the audience will not feel that the picture is out of place.
"Huh? I really want to see a machine that can achieve this kind of function somewhere." Ronald seemed to have a hint of inspiration in his heart, but he failed to grasp it. He stood up and started spinning around in a hurry.
"What's wrong with you? Ronald." Richard, his agent who was accompanying him in the editing room, looked at him and thought he was too anxious. "If it doesn't work, our CAA will come forward to help you hire actors for reshoots. We
It can be said that those were redundant shots taken at that time.”
"No, reshoots cannot reproduce the actor's performance state." After more than two months of advice from Coppola, Ronald knew very well that he did not have much experience in directing actors when filming "Fast Pace"
, this shot happens to be one of the few shots that was shot very well by accident.
"I was just thinking about a machine that could help me solve the problem of picture editing. I must have seen such a machine somewhere, but I just can't remember what it was called."
"What impression do you have? I can help you think about it together."
"I remember being with Roger Corman. But not at New Age Productions."
"Who else was there at that time?"
"It seems like I remember Johnny Carson's voice."
"Johnny Carson? Are you watching The Tonight Show with Coleman?"
"No, there should be someone next to me."
"By the way, he is the cultural counselor of the Soviet Union Embassy. Please help me find it. At last year's Oscar ceremony, a technology award was awarded to the inventor of a machine. What was that machine called?"
Richard immediately called the CAA mailroom and found the list of winners from last year's Oscars.
"That device is called an optical printer."
"Yes, it's called an optical printer."
Ronald remembered the name and immediately approached producer Lin Sen to coordinate the rental of a film optical printer for editing.
"First make a copy of this part of the film, then crop out each frame of Mike's lower body in proportion, and finally use a film optical printer to copy it to the original size, and finally replace this part of the film."
Ronald told the film editors and special effects workers his requirements in Universal's film editing room.
"Your idea is good, but I can't believe you thought of tailoring it like this."
The special effects artist smiled bitterly. This machine was originally intended to be used to create special effects composite shots of the TIE Fighter vs.
"Hahaha, I can't help it." Ronald laughed.
The new negatives that were replaced were re-edited. Universal made a new copy as quickly as possible and sent it to the MPAA for re-examination.
At the same time, Shenberg also received a call from Spielberg, asking him to escort Ronald's film this time, obtain an R-rating from the MPAA, and release it on time.
"This kid helped me again. Landis is like a mad dog now, biting anyone he catches. I can't let him and Tom Mount wreak havoc together anymore. I heard he also gathered a bunch of old people from Universal."
Write joint letters and complain everywhere. What do they want to do?"
"Steven, it's the National Day weekend soon. et Alien is at a critical moment. The box office is expected to exceed 100 million soon. We are stepping up printing more copies and may increase the number to 1,500 theaters next week.
According to this momentum, ET's box office is very likely to surpass that of your friend George's "Star Wars A New Hope", making you once again the highest box office holder of a single film in America.
At this time, it's best not to cause trouble. As for Mount, I already have a plan to deal with him."
Spielberg was silent for a while, "I don't want Ronald to get hurt in any way. He is a good young film director. If his first film fails at the box office, I'm afraid he will lose confidence."
Remember? Sidney. When I was filming Jaws, I was over schedule and over budget. If it weren’t for your support..."
"I understand, Steven." Shenberg didn't expect Spielberg to have such a high opinion of Ronald, "I will try my best to ensure that his movies are released as scheduled."
"It just so happens that all the major studios are transitioning into making youth movies. Disney's 'The Decker' and Paramount's 'Grease 2' are all part of this trend. That's good, just take a look.
This Ronald is a great director." Shenberg said to himself after putting down the phone.