"Thank you, thank you all. First of all, I want to thank the Academy judges for awarding me the Oscar for Best Director.
I also want to thank my first boss, Mr. Roger Coleman, who gave me my first opportunity to hold a guide tube...I want to thank all the members of the crew...I want to thank my Kai
Aunt Lun...
Finally, I would like to thank one of my fellow directors. I don’t want to say his name, but I can only get here because of his encouragement!”
Ronald finally stood on the Oscar podium and received his first Oscar for Best Director. He was in high spirits. Mara, wearing an evening gown, smiled at him in the audience, while fat boy Michael Cimino
The other side is crestfallen…
"Ring, ring, ring..." the alarm clock rang at 6:30 on time.
With a big dream in his heart, the road still has to be walked at his feet. Early in the morning, Ronald ran to New World Company to watch the preview of "Rock and Roll High School".
"Ronnie, are you here? Help me move the copy." Director Allen stopped Ronald who was standing at the door of New World Production.
"Isn't it an afternoon preview?" Ronald picked up a reel of film and carried it to the van.
"Roger temporarily changed the time yesterday to 10:30 this morning. He said there were free trial screenings available." Allen gave a "you know" wry smile.
"Are there free tickets for trial audiences?"
"Yes, we actually sell tickets." Joe Dante on the side said, "I heard scalpers can get 5-10 US dollars per ticket."
"What? Ten dollars a piece?" Ronald looked unbelieving. Usually the ticket price for a movie is only 2 yuan and 50 cents. How can anyone pay 10 yuan for an exploitation movie like "Rock of Ages"?"
"I'm just saying you can't fool him, Joe." Director Allen laughed, "Ronald's price sensitivity is very much like Roger's."
Um, this is a nice way to praise yourself...right?
"So what's going on? Why are there free preview audiences available?" Ronald asked, "Why did it arrive early in the morning?"
"It's Francis Coppola's new film 'Apocalypse Now,' which was also previewed this afternoon." Joe Dante explained.
Usually before a movie is officially released, it will find some audiences for one or two test screenings. It collects some audience feedback and makes final modifications based on this feedback before it is released.
Generally speaking, to hold a test screening, the film studio has to spend money and find people whose age, gender, income and target audience are as consistent as possible to watch it. Only in this way can the feedback obtained be more real.
The general screening method is to call theater members and conduct a phone survey to ask them if they want to watch a certain type of movie. Before the test screening, the audience does not know which movie they want to watch.
However, Francis Coppola is famous enough. The two "Godfather" films have taken the box office all over the world, and he also won the Oscar for Best Director for The Godfather Part II. Most viewers would have guessed that it was a Vietnam War-type film released by United Artists.
It's his new film "Apocalypse Now."
The demand to see the preview screening was very strong, and the feedback from theater members who called the theater was very good. Some people even heard about the preview screening of "Apocalypse Now" and came to open a membership card to ask for tickets.
The 1,000 internal tickets for members were quickly distributed, and the theater put the remaining 1,000 tickets for public sale.
Roger Corman was also invited to a test screening of Apocalypse Now, and Coppola spoke to film industry insiders, and there was another exclusive screening.
He heard about the overwhelming demand for tickets to the preview screening and immediately got an idea. For those who queued up to buy tickets but could not get them, a show of "Rock and Roll High School" could be shown to them at no cost.
Doesn't this kill two birds with one stone?
At 8 a.m., people were already queuing up at the entrance of the theater, waiting to buy tickets. The all-pervasive scalpers knew about it and started speculating on second-hand tickets.
Coppola decided to have only one public test screening in Los Angeles, and then return to the San Francisco Peep Show Company to continue revising, waiting to participate in the Cannes Film Festival.
The van drove to the theater where the preview screening was held. The queue at the door was very long, almost circling the theater. Although it was stipulated that one person could only receive one, 1,000 preview screenings of "Apocalypse Now, which is available on-site."
The tickets still couldn't withstand the crowds, and when Ronald and others arrived, they were announced to be sold out.
"well……!"
Everyone's gentle sighs converged into a loud noise that swept through the entire queue. The unwilling people made various actions, covering their faces, sighing, beating their chests...
There was also a female movie fan who was probably just a few spots short of getting in the queue and had already started wiping tears. Ronald was a little fascinated by what he saw. This is the magnificence of a great director.
"I heard that the Commander-in-Chief specially requested a copy and sent it to the White House for release yesterday." Joe Dante and Alan Aikush also looked envious. In 1979, Coppola was like a movie star.
One of the Olympian gods descended to earth to possess him, and the audience's admiration for him could not be higher.
The film started filming in 1976, and was followed by numerous newspaper reports. However, after the starring was changed, a hurricane destroyed the studio, and military conflicts broke out in the Philippines where the filming was made, and various accidents, the release date was repeatedly postponed.
The industry had given up hope for the film, and newspapers even used the title to change the film's name to Apocalypse When? to mock Coppola's delay in filming.
However, movie audiences don't accept this. In their eyes, Coppola is still the amazing director who made the Godfather Part Two. Who else can film the Vietnam War better than Coppola?
Although the tickets have been sold out, there are still many movie fans who are unwilling to leave for a long time. Some people hold cardboards and write high-price tickets on them, hoping that someone will be willing to sell them.
The cinema quickly put away the "Vietnam War Movie Preview" sign and advertised "New Film Preview - High School Girls, Rock and Roll Punk, Disco Dance, Must See, Free Preview".
There were many disappointed spectators who bought tickets to enter the venue as if they were here. They couldn't see Apocalypse Now, but it was good to watch a youth movie.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Ronald frowned, this does not seem to be the target audience of "Rock and Roll High School".
The audience who came to see "Apocalypse Now" were either fans of Coppola or lovers of war movies, and a few were readers of the original novel "Heart of Darkness". Among these people, there were not many high school students.
audience.
"Alan, Joe, these test audiences, are they okay? Can such test audiences reflect real evaluations?" Ronald said to the two directors in the past.
"Don't worry, Roger is very experienced." Joe comforted Ronald with a serious look. Maybe he was also comforting his good friend Alan Aikush.
"Roger will get the desired reaction from a small number of teenage viewers." Allen also said, "He will not look at the final survey data, but directly look at the reaction of the target customers."
"Our cinemas are mainly drive-in cinemas, late-night cinemas in cities, old cinemas, and cinemas in small towns, where the audiences are not picky." Qiao also added.
The two of them looked a little preoccupied and absent-minded. Ronald understood that this was the natural reaction of the creator, and he had experienced it himself, so he stopped trying. It would be up to the audience to judge whether he should be excited or anxious after the movie.
Helping to move the copy into the screening room, Ronald found a seat to the side of the theater and sat down. There were still 10 minutes left before the show, and the crowd was not full, and it looked like more than a hundred people. Ronald counted the numbers.
The gender ratio is still more male than female, with only one quarter of the female population.
As soon as the light dimmed, the movie officially started. Ronald had watched the movie countless times in the editing room and had long since lost interest. He only watched the phone booth scene where he appeared. Most of the time, he watched the movie.
He turned his head and secretly observed the audience's reaction.
Some male audience members enjoyed watching the scene. They shouted and whistled loudly during the beauty dance scene in the gymnastics room. The scene where the Ramones entered the school and the students rebelled also won their applause.
.
On the other hand, the rock music part, which had high hopes, did not receive much applause. Maybe they don't listen to the Ramones' music that much.
After the movie was over, Ronald went to the bathroom. Several men inside were still deliberately imitating the dance moves of the beautiful women in the movie. It seemed that they liked these scenes.
After washing his hands and drying them, Ronald arrived at the entrance hall. The sound of some women talking came from the other direction.
"I particularly like Liv Randall. She is such an independent woman!"
"Yes, it would be great if I could be as brave as her."
"Oh, I am very afraid of the principal of my high school. There are not many people who can face the power and freedom of resistance like her!"
"Yes, I am very afraid of my boss now. He is just like Principal Toga. He is an old-fashioned person. He still reads the Bible to us in the office every day."
Ronald looked sideways and saw that there were several young women waiting for a seat outside the bathroom, while they were chattering about the plot.
Unexpectedly, when female viewers watched this movie, what attracted them most was the rebellious and independent rock n’ roll hottie played by PJ Soles. It was not the handsome guy, not the rock punk, or the dance, but the protagonist Liv...
Randall's independent spirit.
The trend of female independence makes young women generally envy those independent professional women who can go to work and earn money, live without having to look at men, take care of children and handle housework at home. Liv Randall is one of those independent professional women
What it was like in high school.
Ronald returned to the entrance of the screening room. Director Allen and several staff members were handing out questionnaires to the audience to collect their feedback on the film. I took a few photos and saw that the ratings were not very high.
Ronald quietly pulled over the director Allen and told him what he found in the bathroom. Allen was also a little surprised and immediately went to discuss it with Joe.
"Hey, Jim, why are you here?"
Ronald noticed a familiar figure flashing past, and Cameron was also in the movie theater.
"I came here with Mr. Coleman. He had just officially promoted me to be the head of the stunt model, and I was also responsible for the design of the stunt photography track."
Cameron smiled, having just been promoted by his boss Roger Coleman. He lowered his voice slightly:
"The method you mentioned last time was very useful. When Roger entered the workshop yesterday and saw the completed model on display, he was full of praise. He called me here today and decided to put me in charge of the entire model manufacturing department."
"Congratulations, Jim. You know, Roger is very cost-conscious." Ronald winked.
"Ronald, Jim, take this." The one who spoke was Roger Corman who came over and gave each of them an envelope. "Tonight, Coppola will show it again in the theater for people in the industry.
It’s a show, you should also go and see it, it will be very beneficial to improve your artistic level.”
Ronald took it and saw that it was an invitation for an internal preview of United Artists, starting at 5:30 pm.
Roger Coleman then went to deliver tickets to other employees.
"Roger told me that Coppola once served as his assistant." Ronald quietly passed on the gossip to Cameron.