Immediately following the opening scene, there was a tense air battle.
Over the Caribbean Sea, the MiG-28s of the Cuban Air Force adopted a superposition tactic. The two-plane formation was very close and only showed a small dot on the radar.
After a casual flight, the Lone Ranger flew upside down above the enemy plane and took a photo of the pilot, scaring the enemy away.
"Yeah..." Several supporting actors began to cheer and applaud.
This is a specially designed opening scene to make the audience concentrate immediately and focus on the development of the plot.
The applause did not bring about any reaction from the audience. Ronald looked around. The audience seemed to have no reaction. They were neither excited with the plot nor bored and distracted like they were after the failure of the opening scene. They were still as they were at the beginning,
Staring at the screen blankly.
"What's going on? The first shot didn't work? The audience responded very well to the first test screening last year?" Ronald turned his attention to the two producers.
He remembered that during the last test screening, Don Simpson specially found the audience from college students, in order to achieve the best effect and give Paramount's executives confidence.
Maybe this is a normal reaction from the audience?
Keep looking down.
It was time for the Lone Ranger and instructor Charlie to fall in love. Nothing happened between the two of them at home. They met in the elevator the next day and their hope was rekindled.
Later in class, Charlie criticized the Lone Ranger, the two drove passionately, and sealed their love with a final kiss. With the music of the Berlin band "Take My Breath Away", the camera switched to a reshoot of the passionate scene.
McGillis was a little shy when he saw himself on the big screen. Although he started his acting career in middle school, the big screen enlarges the image of people so that when he saw himself and Tom Cruise on the big screen
The lingering love always reminded her of the passionate passion she had had with Ronald two days ago.
She looked in the direction of Ronald, only to see him unexpectedly showing an anxious expression, his brows furrowed, and he kept looking around at the audience, trying to find some answers to his expectations.
Ronald became increasingly anxious.
The audience still didn't react to the passionate and romantic scenes. They were neither excited nor whistled, swallowed, drank coke and other common actions seen in sex scenes between handsome men and beautiful women on the big screen.
The first two preset emotional climaxes for the audience have failed!
What followed was a low point. Because he was trapped in a horizontal spiral, when the goose was ejecting, his head hit the canopy that exploded and flew out, and he died unfortunately. His wife and children came to the base, and the Lone Ranger hugged his crying comrades.
The widow finally gave him a goose dog tag as a souvenir.
If the audience didn't pay attention to the first half of the plot, and I believe that there are indeed such fighter pilots as Goose and Lone Ranger in the world, by this low point of the plot, the audience would have completely lost their attention.
They won't feel sad for a character who fails to arouse empathy. They may end up talking to each other, chatting, picking up girls, or even leaving the bathroom on a large scale.
Ronald sat on the chair and twisted around. He was a little afraid to look at the audience. It was the first time that he might lose the audience's love. How could this happen?
fine!
After staying uneasily on the chair for two minutes, Ronald discovered that although the audience had no reaction to the previous two climax scenes, there was some reaction when they saw the temporary low point before the climax at the end.
Some audience members' eyes began to turn red and they stopped eating popcorn. Others took out handkerchiefs to wipe their eyes, and some even began to sob quietly.
"Ah... not bad." Ronald let go of his worries, "I didn't expect that the passionate climax from before was not included in the scene, but the audience was attracted by the tragic plot here. Do I have a high talent for shooting tragedies?"
Soon, Ronald's illusions were shattered.
In the final air battle, the Lone Ranger's companion Hollywood was shot down, and he went to the rescue. With one against five, he shot down three enemy planes with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, forcing the remaining two MiG-28s to flee.
In the first few test screenings, the audience burst into enthusiastic applause. Any strong counterattack against the Suwei Alliance will make the audience feel happy.
but……
After I modified the movie, the audience became lifeless again, with no reaction at all.
"congratulate!"
"congratulate!"
Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, and several supporting actors all hugged each other as they celebrated each other.
After actors finish filming a movie, they usually don't know how their scenes will be edited in the end. It's not often that they see a movie as hearty as "Top Gun."
Ronald treats them very well. Regardless of the protagonist or the supporting role, the screen image is well established. Even the two supporting roles, wearing cowboy hats, and deliberately walking backwards in the crowd to get more close-up time, the director also
There was no fuss, everything was left in the final film.
This will be a very good foundation for their future acting careers. At least when casting directors in the future see their names, they will think of those scenes in "Top Gun".
"Ronald!" McGillis was also very happy. He didn't expect that in this casual popcorn commercial film, his image would be so sexy by Ronald. They were going to the bar to celebrate, and McGillis also wanted to shout
Ronald goes with him.
Ronald was talking quietly to the two producers over there.
"Is it a problem with my reshoots? It ruined the rhythm of the original film?"
"No, absolutely not. There must be something wrong with this audience. I watched it very well, and you feel good watching these actors too." Don Simpson denied it flatly.
"That's right, it's definitely not your problem." Bruckheimer said the same.
"Top Gun does not have any twists and turns in the story. It is completely a high-concept movie. It is composed of some good-looking story clips and is completed with the fast editing techniques of music videos and commercials.
The two passionate scenes you re-shot were put in seamlessly without changing the overall rhythm and emotional ups and downs. I believe no one can do it better."
"Then what's going on?" Ronald saw the audience leaving, so he simply ran out, used his movie-watching magic weapon, and went to the bathroom to eavesdrop on the audience's thoughts.
Not only did the audience not respond in the screening room, they also didn't respond even when they went to the restroom.
Ronald found that the audience had no desire to speak, and most communicated with eyes. No one talked about the exciting scenes of air battles or the passionate scenes between the male and female protagonists.
"This is not normal, this is not normal!"
Ronald muttered to himself, was it really the audience that had the problem, as Don Simpson said?
But in such a short few months, can the values of the American people change so much?
They suddenly don't like the drama of shooting down Soviet Union fighter jets?
Or do they suddenly dislike watching a handsome guy like Tom Cruise fall in love with a beautiful woman like McGillis on the screen?
Didn’t you hear that the commander-in-chief is surrendering to the alliance?
Don Simpson and Bruckheimer came over, but none of the three could find the problem.
"Don't worry, that's just the way movies are. Sometimes test screening audiences respond well, and sometimes they respond poorly." Bruckheimer tried to comfort him, but halfway through, he didn't believe it himself.
"What happened in the past six months that caused such a big aesthetic change for the audience?"
Ronald began to feel his heart beating faster and faster, as if a huge fear was coming from the universe and was about to hit him.
"Is a director's performance like a magician about to encounter Waterloo in Top Gun?"
"You know what? I think of a past incident when I first entered the industry."
Ronald went to the counter and bought a pack of cigarettes, and started smoking in the corner with the two producers.
"Back then, Jane Fonda starred in a dull movie called China Syndrome. It was a very boring anti-nuclear story. A core leak occurred in a nuclear power plant, and then it melted through the earth, and the nuclear fuel ran to China on the other side of the earth.
country.
This was originally a very ridiculous story, but when it was released, the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant accident happened. Suddenly, this movie became a prophecy, and everyone wanted to see what the nuclear accident on the screen was like.
.
Boom! It ended up making $50 million at the domestic box office and made Jane Fonda a box office darling again."
"You!" Don Simpson seemed to have heard a horror story after listening to Ronald's story.
Ronald is hinting that "Top Gun" may be the opposite of "China Syndrome". Some recent limited changes have made audiences no longer like air combat and movies that are tough on the Soviet Union.
"So, what happened that caused such a big shift in people's response in half a year?" Bruckheimer is still calm. If the root of the problem can be found, there may be hope.
"When was the last time you heard the commander-in-chief call the Suwei Alliance an evil empire?" Don Simpson suddenly asked.
"Hiss! It seems like it's been a long time." Ronald also understood a little bit.
It seems that after the new General Secretary Mikhail took office, the attitude of the commander-in-chief towards the alliance is not as hostile as before.
"I remember that he also said that this new general secretary is different from the previous three. He is a figure who can communicate with the West. He is looking forward to meeting him." Ronald added.
"I remember it was said in the newspaper that the two countries would still conduct nuclear disarmament negotiations."
"By the way, have you seen the movie 'White Nights' starring Baryshnikov, the ballerina who defected? There were many plots of the two countries detente in that movie, and in the end, the ballerina unexpectedly returned to the alliance.
The dancer who defected finally returned to America."
"I know, I know. I heard that the Princess of Britain in the White House actually wanted to dance with Baryshnikov."
The three of them became more and more anxious as they talked, and began to complain that the commander-in-chief was not tough enough.
"Didn't you say you want to defeat the evil empire? It turns out he's a softie too."
"If there is another crisis like the Iran hostage incident, maybe the audience's taste will change back?"
"Disarmament, disarmament, disarmament of the whole army, no one can watch naval air combat."
"Ronald, aren't you going to the bar party with us?"
McGillis came over again and invited Ronald to celebrate with him.
"No, I have something else to do and I have to make a call when I get back."
"Then I'll go with you too." McGillis saw Ronald in a bad mood and didn't know what happened. However, the considerateness of a mature woman allowed her to greet her friends and see Ronald off in person.
Nader returns to the hotel.
"Are you okay, Ronnie?" Tom Cruise also came over to say hello.
"It's okay, I have a little headache, let Kelly take me back to the hotel."
The actors are still ignorant of these audience reactions, and they are still intoxicated with their own screen image.