Chapter 7 The most important thing about special effects is realism
"Bo, John, it's settled. The difference between me and those Hollywood producers is that I'm only interested in making movies, not playing golf, tennis, or fishing. Look at my figure.
, not like playing tennis, hahaha.”
Minahan sent an old couple and a young couple out of the office and saw Ronald walking out of the elevator.
"Hi, Ronald, let me introduce you, this is Bo Derek, this is her husband, John, and this is Ronald."
"Bo, long time no see." Ronald greeted the sexy actress and her husband, who was thirty years older than her, watched them walk out of the office, and then said, "Minahan, do you have time to chat?"
"I'm negotiating with the couple to invest in a new movie directed by John and starring Bo. Guess what the name is? It's called 'Bolero', hahahaha..."
Ronald immediately understood that Bo Derek played a girl in the hit movie "The Perfect One", and when she went to bed with the male protagonist, she had to play the music of "Bolero" to cheer up. This is a well-known joke, so just take it
Coming over to work on the title of a new film is a way of riding on her own popularity.
"I have something to ask you, Minahan. My new film has changed its domestic distributor, and we need to sign a new overseas distribution agreement. From New World to Atlantic, the other terms remain unchanged."
Ronald saw Minahan's secretary taking out a big box for him, as if he was about to go out, and quickly stated his intention.
"I agree in principle, Ronald. I have never doubted your directorial ability and aesthetics. I'm about to catch a plane. Brooke Shields is filming in the Negev Desert in Israel. I have to watch it. What do you want?
Just talk to Yoram."
As he spoke, Minahan took the box handed by his secretary and started to leave.
"But the new contract requires your signature." Ronald tried to make Minahan wait.
"Let Yoram sign it. He can imitate my signature. It doesn't matter. We brothers are a family. I won't tell you more. I have to catch a plane. Bo and John wasted a lot of my time."
Minahan patted Ronald on the shoulder and walked into the elevator, "Don't forget, when I come back, you can go to Cannes with me and help me choose some good movies. Goodbye!"
"Yoram, this is my new contract. It is no different from the original one, except that the publisher has been changed from New World to Atlantic." Ronald had no choice but to find Minahan's cousin Yoram to talk.
"Ronald, what's the matter? Don't you like New World? Minahan once worked as an assistant to Mr. Roger Coleman, the boss of New World. He is a very easy to get along with. Why do you want to change publishers?" Yoram
More carefully, I picked up the contract and read it.
"Didn't you read the newspaper? Coleman sold New World to three lawyers, and their new CEO had objections to my 'Night of the Comet,' so I found a publishing company that could appreciate and respect my creativity."
Ronald thought to himself, the news about these two brothers is quite closed. I'm afraid it's not that you two don't play golf or tennis, but that other Hollywood producers disdain these two Israeli brother producers. Even New World is selling
, I don’t even know about news like Remi becoming CEO.
"Oh, okay. We are busy with the sequel to the Ninja movie and the filming plan for the sequel to Chuck Bronson's Raptors." Yoram signed Minahan's name on the contract and handed it to Rona.
De, "My accountant will write you a check."
Ronald thanked Yoram, "Although these two brothers are not very accepted by the mainstream of Hollywood, they are indeed very efficient in making movies. Several movies went from preparation to shooting very quickly. Maybe it is true, as they said, that the two brothers
People only care about movies, not the false fame in the vanity fair.
Having decided on one big thing, Ronald began to worry about another thing.
Nicolas Cage has been confirmed not to star in "Night of the Comet". He was selected together with Sean Penn to star in the new film "The Order of Love", and then joined Alan Parker's ambitious project after "Famous".
Become a "birdman".
His own "Night of the Comet" schedule was pushed back by Atlantic Ocean. Cage was very lucky. The two films were connected at the back, and Alan Parker was famous for being a slow worker. If we had to wait for him, he might not be available until the second half of the year.
.
Ronald and Cage's agent Limato discussed whether they could combine "Night of the Comet" and "The Order of Love". Limato flatly refused. He considered it from Cage's perspective and just decided
When you receive a film contract from a major studio, you need to cooperate with the director and devote yourself fully.
Ronald also thought about finding the actor in the dream, but firstly, in the dream, he showed that his acting skills were not very good, so he was not required to play the role. Secondly, the actor had obvious Latino features.
Ronald felt that it would be better to find a mainstream white actor, who would gain greater recognition from the audience.
He arrived at Niceta's office and put forward his request, "Please find a typical American actor among the male actors signed by CAA who is cheap, has a dashing appearance, and preferably has certain acting skills and has acted in theater movies."
"Oh, this is an impossible triangle, Ronald." Niceta looked at the basic requirements written by Ronald, "If you are handsome and have acting skills, you are not cheap. If you are cheap, if you are good-looking, you have no acting skills. Yes.
If your acting skills are cheap, then your looks are average."
"I also made a request. If you think who is suitable, you can lower the requirements appropriately in terms of appearance. After all, this is a low-cost film, and I pay attention to shooting it quickly. If the acting skills are not good, there will be problems in the shooting progress."
"Okay, I'll let the word out, Ronald Lee needs a leading man."
Niceta took note of Ronald's specific requirements, then wrote a memo, pressed the intercom to call the secretary, sent it to the conference room, and posted it on the big whiteboard on the wall so that other agents in the company would have suitable candidates.
Niceta will be notified.
"This is my role list. You can also take a look at it for me. If the actors contracted by CAA are interested, they will be selected first." Ronald handed over a supporting role form, which has the name of the character, a brief introduction, and the number of scenes.
At the bottom are several copies of the script for Niceta to give to the actors to read.
"No problem, leave it to me." Niceta raised her hand to open the drawer and handed an envelope to Ronald.
"This is a performance ticket sent by singer Michael Jackson. He said that thanks to the break dancing professionals you introduced, he has practiced a new dance plan. At the 25th anniversary party of Motown Records, he will
First time jumping.”
"March 25th", Ronald looked at the date written on the envelope, opened the envelope and shook it, two tickets fell out, and a handwritten note:
"Dear Ronald, thank you for the inspiration, the way Crazy Legs dances is very inspiring to me. I hope you can come to the show, mj."
"Is he very popular now?" Ronald asked.
"It's not bad, the radio station is promoting his new song. Motown Records has many famous singers, and Diana Ross will also be there."
Ronald left CAA and drove to Cameron and Gale's residence. The next step was to modify the script to see if there was any way to reduce the budget and still produce the original effect.
Jim was painting a model, and there was a small full-body metal model on the table that he shaped and placed on the table.
"Is this the Terminator?" Ronald picked up the model and looked at it. The two red eyes looked very evil on the metal head.
"Yes, this is modified according to the dream I had in Italy." Cameron took out a sketch and showed it to Ronald. There will be several models of the Terminator, some for panoramic shots, some for medium shots, and some for mid-range shots.
There is a hand and a head, for close-ups.
"Jim, I'm here to ask you, is it possible to use some method to make the audience feel the catastrophe without showing the comet hitting the earth?" Ronald watched Cameron put down the model and asked these questions.
A question that I keep thinking about every day.
"In this way, if you want to show a comet hitting the earth, it is actually difficult to fully understand this feeling." Cameron took a piece of paper, drew an exploding mushroom cloud, and then drew a circle around the outside.
"The key to making this kind of devastating explosion feel real to the audience is to make the shock wave felt by the audience." Cameron pointed at the circle and talked.
"Some firelight, thick smoke, and debris are not difficult to achieve, but this shock wave is difficult to simulate using model special effects. The air is quickly pushed out of the airflow, scraping across buildings and human bodies, and is destroyed in an instant. I feel like this
That’s the key thing that makes the explosion feel real.”
"How much does this cost?" Ronald felt it was tricky. He couldn't simulate it cheaply, so he had to pay real money.
Cameron shrugged, "I figured it out after doing experiments recently. It's difficult to reproduce the shock wave with a miniature model, and those miniature houses are too light to show how the reinforced concrete was destroyed by the shock wave."
A sense of reality.”
"Then what do you do? I remember there was a big explosion in The Terminator."
"Only without shooting shock waves, small explosions do not need the feeling of shock waves. For the large explosion on the truck, I wanted to use a small model to replace it, and then shoot the truck parts blowing up and falling from the sky. In this way, the editing can make the audience feel the power of the explosion.
." Cameron chuckled.
"But it's impossible for a comet to hit the earth. It only blows up a car. The power is too small. The audience won't believe it."
"How about you change the way you express it? A comet doesn't have to hit the earth to kill people. It can emit a death ray and kill people." Cameron also felt that there was no good way.
"Hmm..." Ronald was also thinking about this method. In fact, there was no big explosion in the dream, but after the comet came, everyone turned into red ashes the next day. They could only hide in the basement or in metal packages.
only those in the room can survive.
If the cost is small, the money must be used in the most critical places. If such an explosion is not done well and the audience sees the drama, it may be better not to do it.
"No need for explosions, use death rays. Will the audience be unsatisfied?"
"In fact, if the explosion cannot make the audience feel real, then it is better to use a death ray. At least they can accept this logic." Cameron said.
"How should the death ray behave?" Ronald muttered to himself.
"Why don't you take a look at my storyboard?" Cameron handed over a drawing. On it were several lines outlining lightning, and next to it was a vortex with a naked man walking out of it.
"Lightning?"
"Yes, there is strong light that illuminates the background rhythmically, so that the audience will feel the strong light changes, which is also a visual experience."
"How is this kind of lightning usually photographed?" Ronald asked.
"I haven't researched this. It's usually the responsibility of an electrician. You can ask someone."