"New World" Production is a company that specializes in making low-cost movies. The official shooting time for the 90-minute "Rock and Roll High School" was only three weeks. Excluding the Sunday rest time, it was actually only 18 days.
So it's about how fast you can shoot as many shots as possible. In order to save time, everyone didn't have time to rest after one shot, and they immediately started preparing for the next shot.
The crew are all experienced and very accustomed to the rhythm of New World Production.
Without Ronald's orders, the three strong young men in the photography team began to remove the camera from the crane arm and moved it to the front. The red-haired first photography assistant began to install the gimbal, and then everyone worked together to put the camera up.
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Clothing and make-up, I was quickly touching up Dai Yang’s make-up, and the powder puff was flying.
Soon, Ronald picked up the electric horn and gave another order, and another order was successfully completed.
The next scene is the appearance of the protagonist PJ Soles. She plays Liv Randall, putting the "Ramones" record into the record player on the playground, and Kate Lambeau, the top student, connects the line.
to the school's speakers.
As soon as the switch was turned on, all the indoor and outdoor speakers in the school started playing punk rock music by the Ramones.
The filming of this scene required re-setting. Jim began to instruct the crew assistants to start moving props. "Put the record player here" and put the wires that Dai Yang wanted to connect here. The recording department began to connect the speakers in the playground to the tape recorder that actually played the song.
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Leaving the scene to Jim, Ronald went over to discuss her first scene of the day with PJ Soles.
PJ Soles is a slender beauty. She wears a chosen red top with a black and white spotted collar, which is very eye-catching. She wears leather pants and Converse canvas shoes. In 1978, this was a rock punk girl.
, the most popular dress.
"So handsome! You are so cool today, pj"
"Hey Ronnie, how does it feel to be a director?"
"Yes, maybe I will take a photo with you later as a souvenir of my career as a director."
"Hahaha, no problem. You're great, Ronnie."
"This is your debut scene. Have you figured out how to capture the audience's eyes?"
"Oh, yeah. I plan to give the audience an image of a very energetic girl at the beginning, jumping up and down..."
Ronald's qualifications and acting skills were completely insufficient to guide PJ Soles. Seeing that what she said was similar to the image in his dream, he pretended to appreciate it very much and nodded frequently.
"Perfect, let's do it again later."
At this time, Jim came over and said that the props and scenery had been set up.
"Please..." Ronald made a gesture to guide the two heroines to enter the venue together.
This scene was a long shot, and the director of photography and Ronald mentioned using hyperfocal distance.
The red-haired photography assistant looked at the aperture, and after conversion, he called: "5 meters, 5 meters away from the camera lens is the hyperfocal distance." That means there is no need to focus, and all scenery can be clearly photographed.
Ronald has seen this hyperfocal shooting method several times before on the set of "Rock and Roll High School", and it is said to have a very good aesthetic effect. However, he thinks it is more important to save time, and he can take more pictures if he can.
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Ronald started from the camera, walked 7 steps, and was still far away from the actors. He signaled Jim to start with confidence.
Jim blew the whistle three times and was banned.
"Attention everyone, we are officially filming..."
"High School Life Scene 128, First Shot, First Article."
The scene begins with PJ Soles putting a vinyl record into the record player and pressing the play button.
The camera then moved to Dai Yang, who pretended to be connecting two pieces of exposed copper wires.
Ronald motioned to the recording team to play music. The Ramones' music "Do You Wanna Dance?" began to sound, and "Didi, Didi, Didi, Didi" came from the speaker.
The prelude to...
"cut!"
Ronald felt that he was just a tool. The performance was controlled by the experienced pj himself, and the artistry of photography was left to the director of photography, Mr. Candy. As for himself, he only looked at whether it was the same as the picture revealed in the dream. It had degenerated to just call action and
cut.
"That's fine, since I'm the temporary director and don't know anything."
Ronald comforted himself.
"How about this one?"
Dean Condie confirmed to him that it was okay.
"Do I need to protect one?"
"You are the director!"
"Okay, let's keep one more thing."
After taking this shot, the sun has risen and the magic light will dissipate after ten minutes.
Ronald looked at the shooting log, and there was a panoramic view of the students fleeing after the female principal came to the playground to lecture and threatened to give students detention.
"Okay, let's take another shot of this and then rest."
After Ronald discussed with the director of photography, he directed the group to walk to the middle of the playground.
"Mr. Candy, are these enough people?"
"There's still a bit of space, and it can't be filled up enough for the camera."
"Come on, come on. All the crew assistants, costumes, makeup, and stand-ins who don't have filming duties, please stand in the back row for me!"
Ronald rushed about 20 crew members to the back row of the playground and stood in the back row during the camera, and no one paid attention to their clothing or age.
"Recording...camera...
Start shooting action!”
"One, two, three, run!" Ronald said "zero", and the group of performers began to dance like birds and beasts.
"cut, cut"
Ronald stopped hurriedly. "Running too fast? Mr. Candy, what do you think?"
"Yes, and all the extras ran out of the screen from the nearest direction. The shot only lasted less than 2 seconds, which was not long enough."
Jim suddenly interjected: "Can you shoot it in fast motion?"
The director of photography rarely replied: "You mean to downgrade the shooting?"
"Yes." Seeing that Ronald didn't quite understand, Jim explained to him in a low voice:
"Downgrade shooting means shooting at a relatively low camera speed, so that when projected at the normal speed of 24 frames per second, the actors will act like they are in fast motion, just like when we watch early silent films, achieving a comical effect."
"Director, how do you decide?" Director of Photography Dean Candy still tried to speak as little as possible.
"Okay, let's shoot at a reduced speed." Ronald said and walked towards the extras. "We still have to solve the problem of insufficient time." He thought about the scene he dreamed about last night and had an idea in his mind.
"Boys and girls, let's change the running method next. With me as the center line, all the people to my left should run to the right; all the people to my right should run to the left."
"Everyone returns to the starting position and starts." Ronald turned back and said to the camera team.
"Don't you have a rehearsal?" Jim asked.
"No, I want this to be the first time without rehearsal. Let them be unprepared and let us capture real reactions."
…
"One, two, three...run!" A few minutes later, Ronald gave the order again. This time, all the extras ran in the opposite direction from last time. The crowd inevitably collided, dodged, and screamed. This time, it was long enough.
.”
"Cut!" Ronald turned to the director of photography, "Mr. Condi, let's go call the boss, Mr. Coleman first?"
The director of photography looked at the light. The magic light moment was almost over and said, "Okay, let's go together."
"Okay, the crew will take a 30-minute break." Jim picked up the electric speaker and began to announce a 30-minute break and began arranging the scenery for the next scene.
Ronald took the director of photography and explained it to the dean of students sent by the school to supervise. The two of them entered the principal's office and started calling the office of New World Productions.
On the old-fashioned dial telephone, each digit dialed had to wait for the dial to turn, while Ronald organized his speech to his boss Roger Coleman.
"Beep...beep...beep...beep, after waiting several times, someone finally answered the phone. Good morning, New World Production Company."
A pleasant female voice came from the other end of the microphone, softly and softly.
"Is that Gail? I'm Ronald, an assistant on the set of 'Rock of Ages.'"
"Oh, Ronnie. Calling the company so early? If I hadn't come to the company early this morning, no one would have answered your call. Is something okay?"
"Um, yes, I was worried about calling too early and no one would be there. Is Mr. Coleman in the office? Listen, there's an emergency here, and Mr. Dean Condy, the director of photography, is right next to me. Director Allen is out
He collapsed on the set and Joe sent him to the hospital. We need a new director."
The person on the other side of the phone is Roger Corman's assistant to the president, Gale. He is the assistant to the president of New World Corporation. He is not the kind of person who sits in an office in a big studio. Roger Corman, a stingy boss, hires people to death.
In addition to handling things in the office, Yong. Gale also travels to various locations for him, as busy as a real estate agent.
"Don't panic, I'll call Roger right now. Wait for my call back. What's your phone number? (818) 778-6801? Okay, don't go away, I'll hang up later."
Putting down the receiver, Ronald looked at Dean Condy next to him.
"So, Mr. Candy, what do you think happened to the director? Why don't you let me take him to the hospital, and Qiao Hao can stay and continue directing?"