It's 5:30 on Saturday morning, and there's still an hour before sunrise. The crew of "Night of the Comet" is already waiting to shoot at Bunker Hill in Los Angeles...
A light was turned on to illuminate the way for the staff. Everyone was doing their duty and preparing for the magic hour shooting in the morning.
There are a few office buildings and commercial buildings in the Bunkers Hill neighborhood that are already occupied by companies, and they usually go to work at nine in the morning. Today is the weekend, and there are even fewer people coming to work overtime early in the morning.
In order to capture the deserted city, Ronald specifically chose Saturday morning to shoot this part of the scene. They had to take the key shots before the overtime workaholics arrived.
"Thank you for troubling you to block the road so early." Ronald shook hands with the two police officers and handed over the tip in his hand.
The older of the two police officers felt that the cash he had received was quite thick. He looked through the light and saw that it was several stacked pictures of Andrew Jackson. He quickly changed his smile and chatted enthusiastically with the young director.
stand up.
"Assisting the film crew to shoot, PD's accusation. In fact, no one comes here on weekends, we just follow the regulations to take a look."
"What movie are you shooting? There seemed to be a shootout yesterday?" The younger police officer was very interested in movie shooting.
"It's a science fiction film. A comet kills people or mutates them into zombies, and then two valley girls save Los Angeles."
"Oh, I like Dawn of the Dead very much. Do your movies also have zombies like that? Can I watch it? Those zombies are so sexy." The young police officer is also a fan of zombie movies. I heard that he is.
Zombie movies are great.
"Did you know? We have another scene today where the heroine dreams that two traffic policemen turned into zombies. If you are interested, you can also make a cameo."
"Oh yeah? Can we really do a movie? Seriously?"
"Make up your makeup and take two of you to try on the zombie's hood. If they can wear it, we'll sign a temporary actor agreement with them."
Ronald was very happy because he saved two extras. They also had their own uniforms to wear, and they could also borrow their police car to shoot some scenes. If the filming took a little longer, I guess they wouldn't mind.
"Ah...ah" Kelly Maroney yawned and got out of the RV parked on the roadside. She should have started putting on makeup.
Ronald was very good to actors. Although small productions may not have good treatment, she and Catherine Mary Stuart shared a motor home, and Ronald often let them sleep more during their breaks.
a while.
"Kelly, are you awake? I'm about to ask my assistant to call you. I'm almost ready to put on makeup." Ronald said to Kelly Maroney, "Where's Katherine?"
"Catherine is making coffee."
"Make-up, where are the people who put make-up on the two heroines?" Ronald started shouting again.
"The make-up artist is gone, and no one answered the call to her home. Yesterday someone heard that she seemed to say that the salary of a big crew is higher or something." The first assistant director came over and explained the situation clearly in a few words. People in small crews often say
Suddenly, halfway through my job, I got a better job and ran away.
"Ask someone who knows how to put on makeup to help." Ronald covered his face. A low-cost production is like a guerrilla army. If something goes wrong, just do something simple. It is impossible for a crew to stop and wait for the makeup artist.
"Director, I can do my own makeup, that's what we do on daytime soap operas." Catherine Mary Stuart heard about the makeup artist's failure.
"Can you draw Kelly Maroney too?"
"Um...of course." Catherine didn't expect Ronald to climb up the pole so quickly, and was stunned for a moment.
In this scene, two sisters had a knot in their hearts. They heard the song was still playing on the radio, so they went to the radio station to find survivors. They accidentally met another survivor, Hector, who came along the radio station. The next day, both sisters
I wanted to go on a date with him, so we got into an argument.
"a!"
The camera focused on the two sisters on the balcony and turned to a close-up view. The younger sister, Samantha, was still wearing a cheerleading uniform. Her long legs and blond hair were very sexy. Two identical outfits were prepared for Kelly Maroney.
Let her change.
she asked her sister Regina.
"So, did you have sex with him last night?"
"Who? What?" Regina answered.
"Who else? That handsome and humorous man."
"Jesus, is this why you ignored me this morning?"
"cut! cut! cut!"
"Who the hell screamed cut!" Ronald was angry. He finally found the magic light time in the morning to shoot this scene where the sisters opened their hearts and strengthened their relationship. Both heroines performed very well.
I know which fool called it quits and ruined everything.
"It's me, Ronald."
Ronald looked back and saw that it was producer Wayne Crawford. He quickly swallowed the curse words he was about to blurt out, "Wayne, why did you say stop?"
I saw the producer anxiously pointing to the office building opposite Ronald and behind the two actresses, "There is a glass cleaner there."
Ronald looked up and saw a cleaner hanging from the window of the skyscraper opposite, cleaning the glass. Today was Saturday, and the office building was closed, which happened to be the time for them to clean the glass curtain wall.
Ronald quickly got behind the camera and looked over, only to see the upper end of the viewfinder, where the cleaner just slid down one level and entered the background frame.
"Oh, fuck." Ronald cursed. How could there be workers cleaning glass exterior walls in the apocalypse? This gang was too big and had to be reshot.
He picked up the electric horn and said, "Hi, hi, friend across the way, can you go up for a while? We are filming a movie and you are cheating."
"Huh? Are you talking to me?"
"Yes, it's you. Can you go up and wait? We'll finish shooting this shot right away."
After a period of fuss, the cleaners finally slid up a few floors to give the crew some time to film.
"a!"
"Okay, listen, I didn't 'do' him last night, why are you always so sad?" Regina looked helpless at this sister who always wanted to ruin her romantic relationship.
"Why are you sad? My sister has always attracted the attention of every boy I know, and now, she has to attract the attention of possibly the last man in Los Angeles!" Samantha rushed forward and pushed Regina.
Regina showed an expression of astonishment, then took a step forward and looked at her sister. The opposing emotions between the two were displayed very cleverly in the picture.
Two girls come face to face, neither giving in to the other in Kevin Costner's Probably The Last Man in Los Angeles.
On the balcony railing behind them, there is a Pepsi can and a Mac-10 submachine gun, two representative symbols of the capitalist world - consumerism to satisfy one's own desires, and high-tech weapons to protect one's property.
"Hahahaha..." The two finally couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.
"cut!"
The camera was quickly moved downstairs, and a dark red filter was installed. Then a shot looking up was taken. The two sisters still stood in the same place, relatively speechless. Compared with the contradiction between looking at the same boy, in this
Supporting each other to survive in the last days is obviously more important.
In the zoomed-out shot, there are only skyscrapers and streets. It is completely empty, representing the last bit of persistence of the two valley girls in the empty city of Los Angeles in the apocalypse.
The next scenes went relatively smoothly, with PD's police car and Catherine Mary Stuart riding a motorcycle to check for survivors next to the police car.
Under the dark red sky, the props team used a blower to stir up the red powder produced by grinding the red bricks purchased by the crew. Regina was riding a motorcycle, sitting alone. There were only two sets of clothes in the police car. The police officer
Has been reduced to ashes.
This means that the last line of order in the city has collapsed, and you need to fight on your own from now on.
"Lunch time! Take a half-hour break. The actors eat first, then the staff." After shooting all the shots in the morning, the first assistant director began to arrange lunch.
Ronald put on his sunglasses. The red powder just now was Cameron's idea. Although it is very cheap, it will fall on people's heads and bodies when blown. Wearing sunglasses can prevent the powder from floating into the eyes.
He wiped his hands, walked to the front of the RV that served lunch, and queued up to get his meal. Everyone ate the same thing, the hamburgers were wrapped in tinfoil and heated, and they added a cup of Coke that was refilled on site.
"Who are these people? They're not from our crew, are they?"
One of the responsibilities of the second assistant director is to count the heads of people who eat. Many actors in the entertainment industry have huge expenses. They will go in groups to the movies where the actors they know are starring. Sometimes the crew will not
I was too concerned about it, so I just posted it.
However, "Night of the Comet" is a small production, and the number of people for lunch is also very tight. Ronald and the producers don't want dozens or hundreds of people to come to eat every day.
"Don't you give out charity lunches here? The last time the church used an RV to give out free lunches." An old man wearing a woolen hat and in tatters came out and asked Ronald and the others.
"We are here for a movie shooting lunch, not charity." The second assistant director stepped forward to stop the homeless people who were collecting more than 20 party items, "I'm sorry."
At a glance, Ronald saw that they were all very shabby vagrants. They were weak and some were very thin from hunger. There were men, women, old and young, of all ethnic groups. And they were not begging for money, but for lunch.
, I think they are really unfortunate people.
Although the current economic momentum is good, the unemployment rate is still very high. Many poor people who are old and weak and have no value for exploitation and no family to take care of them are abandoned by the big machine of capitalism after losing their jobs. They have no social security and cannot afford a hot meal.
Ronald felt some compassion and asked the first assistant director, who had dealt with all kinds of people, "Gordon, who is usually in charge of them? What do they usually eat, and do they have a place to live?"
"Mind your own business, Ronald. These people are usually taken care of by churches and charities. They are either white or Latino, and they don't even get government relief.
Although some people are indeed pitiful because they are divorced, unemployed or bankrupt, there are also many people who abuse illegal drugs or gamble. If you show a little sympathy, they will follow the crew and cause trouble without giving them money."
"At least give them a hot meal. I will pay for the lunch for these twenty or so people. Anyway, after we finish shooting this scene, the location will be almost done. I won't be able to control their affairs tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll go talk to the producer."
After that, each homeless man got a lunch, opened the steaming tinfoil bag, and they started to wolf down it. Some women even shed tears.
"Call the church?" Ronald said to his assistant, "Move these poor people over and out of the frame. We have to continue filming."