"Yes, asking the principal to borrow the venue and extras for free will not reveal the plot of the movie."
This is the consistent style of New World Production: stingy!
Van Nuys High School agreed to lend out the school playground for filming for free, organize students to act as extras for free, and provide a free breakfast and lunch. This was all based on the fake script produced by the producer.
"Rock and Roll High School" is a typical low-cost movie, full of various rock, rebellion, love and other elements that teenagers like. The plot is very simple:
The cheerleader of "Vince Lombardi High School" is a rebellious rock and roll girl. Together with her good friend and obedient female high school student, she invites the popular rock band "The Ramones" to come to the school for a concert, which makes the old-fashioned female principal angry. Finally,
The roof of the high school teacher's office building was ripped off and the school was renamed "Rock and Roll High School."
Of course, the school administrators at Van Nuys Public High School, where the filming took place, would not agree to such a plot. The director asked Ronald to write a fake script "High School Life" to fool the school administrators.
The story written by Ronald is: The new female principal of the high school rectified the school spirit and made the students who were addicted to rock music realize that there is more to life than rock and roll. Some of the students were admitted to college, some worked as supermarket cashiers, and some worked in factories.
, everyone has a bright future.
"Okay, I get it." Jenny began to erase the title on the slate with an eraser, and then wrote "High School Life" with a pen.
"Please notify the relevant personnel and don't reveal your secret. We will only be filming in this school for one day."
"No problem." Jenny smiled and joked, "Ronnie, you are talking more and more like a director."
Ronald smiled and waved his hand, "I'm just here to be a part of the cast and crew."
At this time, a group of people on the other side of the camera burst out into a burst of rapid talking, and the sound became more and more shrill, as if they were about to start a quarrel.
"I'm going to find out what's going on. See you later, Jenny."
"See you."
Walking quickly into the crowd, it was Jim who was surrounded by three female actors, as if 1,500 ducks were quacking.
"Can we start rehearsing the moves?"
"Where is Mr. Director? Should I wear a red coat or a black coat today?"
"Where's Joe? He agreed last week to feature me."
…
Ronald shook his head with a smile, and Jim was like a poor chicken who was dizzy by the rapid questions from the three female leads. Before he could answer the previous question, he was immediately interrupted by the next question.
So he asked the director of photography: "The extras have already moved into position. They have rehearsed twice and are waiting to move into position together with the actors. Mr. Candy, what happened? Can't we start yet?"
The director of photography was lying behind the camera to check the framing situation. After hearing this, he stuck his head out from behind the camera and looked at him: "What they want is a result, and what Jim gave them is a lot of explanations, so..."
Ronald also understood. There were countless clues on the set. The script only said that the protagonist wore white shoes, and the director had to choose the most suitable pair from the several pairs of shoes prepared for the costume.
The director has to make dozens of decisions like this every day. It ranges from what shoes the actors wear to how 50 extras dance and how everyone's dance moves are choreographed. The actors don't trust Jim's choice, but Jim is eager to explain.
Why did he choose this instead of that.
"Jim, where's the director? Where's Joe? Should I wear a red coat or a black one today? This is a poor low-budget movie. The costume fee is only $100. I can't buy the right clothes. I'll take all the money from the film."
Bought clothes.
You know, that day at the Fred Segal clothing store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, behind me was Rod Stewart (the famous singer Rod Stewart). I got this red one minute before him, otherwise he would have bought it.
It cost me 300 US dollars. And this black one was in..." The first heroine, PJ Soles, talked about the two pieces of clothing like a treasure.
"Miss Sowers!" Ronald shouted, "You should wear the red one for today's play."
"Call me pj. Do you want to wear red? But black is also good."
Because you were wearing red in the tape, Ronald thought, but he had to make up a reason.
"Miss PJ Sowers, we shot today's scene at sunrise. The light before and after sunrise is bluish, which will make the black stand out incorrectly.
And your red coat is very suitable. The light blue is just the complementary color of red, so it will definitely stand out in the photo. And your role is a rock girl, so the red one is more suitable."
"Really? Then I'll choose the red one."
"Ms. Mary Voronov, the director has promised to add a close-up of you last week. It is in today's shooting schedule. I promise. You will walk in front of the camera from a distance and appear in the uniform of the headmistress."
Ronald took the shot sheet from Jim's hand, turned to a certain page, and glued a piece of paper of a different color to it, and pointed it to Mary, who played the headmistress: "Look, this is the shot."
"Miss Dey Young, the obedient school girl you played is the protagonist of the first shot. Let's start walking, measuring the focus, and wait for 20 minutes. No, to be precise, it will be 18 and a half minutes later.
, once the extras are in place, we can start rehearsing.”
The problem was solved neatly and the director of photography gave him a thumbs up.
Mary Voronov, who plays the headmistress, has acted in several New World Productions movies, and Dai Yang, who plays the good school girl, is a newcomer. The two of them have little experience and are ready to start taking roles.
PJ Soles, who plays the protagonist of the rebellious rock cheerleader, is the biggest actor in the cast and earns the highest salary. He was featured in the hit horror film "Carrie" the year before last and in the currently released "Moonlight"
, she has played major roles, so she has a stand in.
Before the official shooting, the people in the lighting team need to see the effect of the light on the person's face, while the camera team needs to use a measuring tape to measure the distance between the actor's eyes and the camera. Movie cameras do not have automatic focus, so they need to use a measuring tape to measure the focal length.
Only manual focus can capture the sparkling eyes on the screen.
Some actors don't want to waste time, so they have a stand-in who is similar in height and weight to do it for her. PJ Soles is the only actor on the crew who has this treatment. When the stand-in took her place, PJ went to the teaching building.
Temporary dressing room for changing clothes and touching up makeup.
The first photography assistant, also the focus puller, the red-haired photography assistant who is the chief coolie, quickly took the tape and found the initial position of the actor in the storyboard on the ground. After finding it, he taped a T-shaped indicator mark on the ground.
It's the actor's position.
Then take out the measuring tape, hang one end on the camera, and pull the other end in front of the actor's eyes, and write down the reading. Then go back and calculate the corresponding focus point, and write down the mark on the focus ring next to the camera body. When it comes time to officially shoot, shoot
At any position, the focus puller will turn to the corresponding mark to ensure that the focus is on the actor's eyes.
After repeating this process several times, the filming of the first shot was completed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Ronald picked up the electric horn: "Where's the makeup? Gigi, you touch up the heroine's makeup."
The time has come to 05:55, and Ronald is getting anxious again. The director has not yet arrived. At this time, PJ Soles has changed his clothes, touched up his makeup, and walked out of the temporary dressing room in the teaching building.
She was still a little hesitant. She was wearing a red coat and holding a black coat in one hand and kept gesturing to her body, "Where's the director? I still have to ask the director."
Everyone looked at Ronald. Ronald sweated all of a sudden. Why are you looking at me? I don’t know where the director is. But he definitely chose red for his clothes. He still pretended to be confident: "
Director, director..."
"The director is here!" Jim standing opposite shouted.
A tall and thin man walked out of the school gate, about 6 feet 6 inches (approximately 2 meters) tall. He had a head of curly hair and facial features that had a hint of Middle Eastern descent. He was none other than the director of the "Rock of Ages" crew, Alan Aikush.