Chapter 397 New challenges brought by multi-person long shots
When rehearsing the script, Ronald used the trick he learned from Coppola, and asked people to use a video recorder to record all the actors' dialogue during the rehearsal. Later in the evening, Ronald spent the night with the director of photography.
Watch the video and figure out the problems you will encounter during the actual shooting.
The problem with this movie is that the dialogues between the many actors must be in harmony. Drama films capture the audience's attention mainly by relying on the tension between the plots, making the audience want to know the next character without knowing it.
What happened in between until the end.
Ronald watched the video overnight, and his biggest takeaway was that the more actors there are in a scene, the harder it is to arrange camera positions and direct the actors to give excellent performances.
In a scene between two people, as long as the chemical reaction between the two is good and the emotions are in place, the audience will be moved. But in a scene between three people, there are six times more problems to deal with. Between a and b
, the chemical reactions between b and c, and between c and a must be in place.
Moreover, when the camera moves between the three characters, it has to be connected accurately, which makes Ronald feel dizzy just thinking about it.
Stanley Shanley, when he wrote the script, did not consider how the movie would present such a complicated arrangement of actors. After all, this was his first movie.
Before, Ronald had only dealt with complex scheduling caused by large props. For example, the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet. With that kind of machinery, as long as the manufacturer's engineers help, there will always be a way to make the big toy fly according to Ronald's ideas.
The camera moves.
But the difficulty of managing people is much higher than that of huge machines. How to handle these multi-person scenes is a huge challenge that tests the director's ability.
Another problem is the setting of how many people are shooting. This movie has a lot of indoor scenes. When shooting indoors in a small space, when there are more than two people, the shooting positions cannot be determined until the scene.
For several rivalry scenes between two or three people, Ronald quickly discussed the appropriate shooting positions with the director of photography David Watkin based on the cooperation of the actors, and then shot the scenes at the scene shot by the art director Philip Rosenberg.
Mark it in the photo.
In the entire script, more than 90% of the scenes can be completed with simple designs, but the remaining scenes are very difficult. Ronald, the director of photography and the art director all feel that it is very tricky.
Among them, the two group portrait scenes were the most difficult.
The first scene is a scene in which after her fiancé Johnny successfully proposes to Loretta, played by Cher, Loretta comes to the bakery where her fiancé's long-lost brother Ronnie works and invites him to the wedding.
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This scene is about Ronnie, played by Nicolas Cage, appearing in a self-narration. It requires Nicolas Cage to have an acting breakthrough and let the audience quickly recognize the poor man who accidentally cut off half of his palm because he was distracted while talking to his brother.
people.
In this way, the audience will understand his hatred for Ronnie and his sudden love for Loretta.
Not only should the audience fully fall in love with this messy-haired Italian young man, but they should also see that Loretta is very fond of his sudden burst of passion.
If this scene was not shot well and the audience just felt that Ronnie played by Cage was boring, then the subsequent scene where Loretta spends a night with him under the influence of the super moon would not be convincing.
So Cage’s almost crazy performance style was in perfect harmony with this scene.
But the difficulty of this scene lies in the fact that it is an open space scene. In the bakery, there is first a female salesperson played by Diane, who leads Loretta, the audience's line of sight, into the bakery room of the bakery.
Scenes.
Later, there were two old Italian couples who came to buy bread, and Ronald agreed to let Martin Scorsese's parents play a cameo role.
The relationship between the many characters needs to be clearly explained, and the scenes between the two male and female protagonists need to be consistent. Whether it is camera movement, camera positioning, or performance, they all put forward very high requirements.
"My bakery on the corner of 502 Henry Street in Brooklyn, as long as I make a few edits, the visual continuity for the audience will not be a problem."
Even so, Ronald was still very worried about the connection and rhythm of multiple actors. He went to the real bakery and watched it through the director's viewfinder for a long time.
Several people were still blocked by several large bread baking ovens and bread fermentation equipment. However, if the scene was set up in a studio, this real scene could not be restored. Especially in this shot, there is a heroine pushing in from the outside.
When it comes to the shot coming through the door, it takes a lot less effort to actually shoot it than to set up the scene in a studio.
If this bakery scene only made Ronald worried, then the other round table scene in the kitchen of Loretta's house made Ronald worried all the time, and he was a little resistant instinctively and didn't want to deal with it.
This is No. 19 Cromberry Street in Brooklyn Heights, a common house in Brooklyn located at the junction of the Italian community and the Irish community. It is a two-story building with a red exterior wall and a twisted iron door.
The railings are instantly recognizable as Brooklyn.
If Ronald had some ideas in the last scene, he had no ideas at all in this scene.
At first, only Loretta and her mother Rose were talking in the kitchen. Mother Rose saw her daughter falling in love and sighed.
Then the father joined in, and while discussing her marriage with his daughter, his lover was accidentally exposed.
Then Loretta's aunt and uncle came to see the cash that she had taken yesterday and had not deposited in the bank. The family began to join the extended family discussion, and then watched the opera "La Bohème" with Loretta
, Ronnie, who fell in love with him, came to meet his girlfriend's family for the first time.
Finally, the old grandfather came down from upstairs and solved his son's affair problem.
Finally, everyone happened to meet Loretta's fiancé, Johnny, who had returned from Italy. Because his dying mother recovered from health after seeing him, Johnny thought he was contaminated by Loretta's bad luck and wanted to break up with her.
engagement.
Many characters will appear in the whole scene, many clues will develop here, and finally they will be solved in a super powerful ending.
"How do we arrange the camera position?" Ronald looked at the director of photography. The two looked at each other for a long time, confused.
This scene and all the scenes were written by screenwriter Shanley according to the rhythm of a Broadway play. But the movie is not a play, and it is impossible for everyone to see the whole scene in one shot.
Ronald made sure to put in multiple cameras to capture close-ups of everyone, over-the-shoulder dialogue scenes, and some overall dialogue.
However, if the camera angle is slightly wrong, it is inevitable to see other cameras. The angle is strictly according to the design. If the actor improvises a little, he will be out of the shot or brought to other cameras.
Ronald played the videotape of the rehearsal at the scene. He stood left and right, but he could never find a suitable route that could take everything into consideration.
Moreover, there are so many characters in this ensemble play, and it is impossible to strictly follow the design according to individual emotions.
If the actors are too concerned about their positioning and angles, the interaction between the actors and the particularly smooth emotions will be destroyed.
In short, do you prefer to be a gangster for the sake of good show? Or do you want to ensure quality and not pursue the most credible improvisational performance method? Ronald must make a difficult decision.
Finally, David Watkin, the director of photography who won the Oscar for Best Cinematography for "Out of Africa," spoke.
"Ronald, I think you still have to find the actor's chemistry and the rhythm of the dialogue first, and then we can design the camera location."
"Reason?" Ronald frowned, squatting on the ground, trying to find a camera angle from the long Italian dining table that was parallel to the eyes of the actors sitting at the table.
"Well, this is life. We always have to find something that we can grasp first. Instead of pursuing the best of both worlds, it is better to find one first.
Anyway, your ending scene is mainly the result of the performance between the actors."
"David, what you said makes sense." Ronald put down the viewfinder. He understood that what Watkin said was the correct idea.
First, through on-site rehearsal, everyone can reach the best performance state, and then according to their movements, different camera positions are designed.
However, Ronald's shooting method has always been to shoot through the dream scene and work backwards to the scene.
He always prepared the shots for each scene at the beginning of filming.
For him, this approach of not making separate shots first, but deciding on the shooting and editing details based on the actor's condition at the filming site, always felt a little unsafe.
"Listen to me, Sidney Pollack did this all the time when they were filming, Dustin Hoffman, and Jessica Lange; Meryl Streep, and Robert Redford,
Countless times I have seen him shoot for half an hour before he has decided on the camera or location."
David Watkin mentions the two films directed by Sidney Pollack, "My Lady" and "Out of Africa", which were both box office and critical successes.
Neither of these two movies had a big concept, but the plot and the wonderful performances of the actors made the audience immersed in the scene, and finally won the Oscar.
"Just do it like this." Ronald had no choice. This was a scene beyond his directing experience. What did a wise ancient person say? "If you drive to the front of the mountain, you will definitely
In a blink of an eye, the day of filming began, and Ronald looked at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center at the intersection of Columbia Street and 61st Avenue.
Ronald rented the exterior streets here for a day and a half to shoot.
Cher appears at the beginning of the movie. She is an accountant who works part-time everywhere and prepares taxes for others. In her middle age, her husband died in a car accident. In Italian culture, widows are very unlucky. Men who have other choices generally
I won't go into a formal relationship with the widow.
What she came to this time was a small company outside the Metropolitan Opera House, where she was doing tax filing paperwork for her boss.
The opening shot shows the exterior wall of the opera house with a poster for the newly released opera "La Bohème". The Italian-controlled Truck Drivers Union is unloading trucks at the back door of the opera house.
Loretta has gray hair and a weathered face. She looks like a single woman who has to work hard to support herself and has no time to dress herself up.
The part-time flower shop owner finally gave Loretta a bouquet of unsold red roses.
Loretta, played by Cher, looked at the red rose. Although her mouth was unforgiving, she still showed the unique smile of a woman who sees a red rose. She picked up the flower and smelled it first.
"cut!"
On the first day of shooting, Ronald did not arrange any particularly difficult shots. He just asked the team and actors to start with easy shots to get a feel for the situation and get the team working together.
During a break in filming, Cher asked her personal hairstylist to rearrange her gray hair.
Others don't need to bring it, but the hairstylist must bring it.
Cher is proud of her long, black and shiny hair, which she enjoys being cared for by a personal hairstylist anytime and anywhere.
The hairstylist Ronald hired could not get started, so he could only inform the other party of the desired effect and let Cher's personal hairstylist arrange it. Only he could touch Cher's hair.
Next, we have to transition to a shot of Cher walking on the road outside the opera house wall like a withered old aunt.
This opera was "La Bohème", which was Pavarotti's famous opera that Ronald knew. It was this opera that Loretta went to see with Johnny later.
Discover the way through the mountains."
"David Watkin, Philip Rosenberg, set design.
Julia Taylor, on-set director.
…
Ronald Lee, lightning operator."
In addition to the big title of "La Bohème" on the poster, the names of the crew also wrote on the poster of the opera in the movie.
Of course, this was an arrangement made by Ronald, so that the staff who could not appear on the screen had an opportunity to proudly point to the screen and shout to their families, "That's my name."
However, the work of these staff members on the crew has been turned into particularly important positions to make their families happy.
In order to cooperate, Ronald also changed his position to the least noticeable "lightning operator".
While you are having a moment of silence, you can also promote your flagship product.
"Say, have you ever worked with Ronald before?"
When Cher was taking a break from filming, she asked Olympia Dukakis, who plays her mother.
"No, what's wrong?" Dukakis was surprised. The director's authority on Broadway was even stronger. He had never heard of anyone openly talking about the director behind his back on the set.
"I always feel like I've made a mistake. My last movie, Witches of Easttown, was with Jack Nicholson.
My next movie, the leading actors are Liam Neeson and Dennis Quaid, both handsome guys. In this movie, look at Nick's chicken coop."
"Hahaha..." Dukakis burst into laughter. Nicolas Cage's appearance really looked like a fool. He even wore dentures specially for the character, typical Italian rotten teeth.
The two played sisters on the set. In fact, the age difference was only a little over ten years, so they got along very well.
"I said, have you acted in Ronald's movies before? I feel like he doesn't really guide our acting." Cher whispered to Dukakis. This was the issue she wanted to really explore.
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"No, but the director is the person who knows a script the most. We just need to cooperate with the director and act out the character's reaction." Olympia Dukakis has an old-school Broadway style, and the director is always right.
"I'm afraid that we made a bad movie. My performance is not as thoughtful as the last movie. Every shot has a special design. Here it seems that I acted casually and Ronald also shouted."
Dukakis shrugged helplessly. This was also where she was a little dissatisfied with Ronald. He didn't have every shot carefully crafted. It seemed that just a casual performance could meet his requirements.
"It's very good. Your directing method is really natural. Cher hardly needs to act too much. Your casting is really great, and the effect of her true performance is very good."
On the other side, the photographer David Watkin praised Ronald highly, saying that he is indeed a disciple of Scorsese. When making a movie, casting is a hundred times more important than acting.
This is Scorsese's creed. If there is no composite candidate, he would rather not shoot.
"Hahaha, I also think Julia Taylor's level is very high."
"Hey hey, this is a marble wall here, imported from Italy, tell your people to be careful", the manager of the Metropolitan Opera House started to perform when he saw Ronald's staff and started to tear down the posters on the wall.
Warning, the tape they use to secure the poster seems to leave an ugly mark on the marble.
"How could this happen? Don't you know that different tapes need to be used on different walls to avoid leaving marks?" Ronald pulled the head in charge of the props over and asked him what was going on.
"The Metropolitan Opera is just making a fuss out of a molehill. That's what we've always done. If there's anything that needs cleaning, isn't it already included in the rent?"
"Well, you make a phone call." Ronald suddenly had an idea in his mind, and he asked the head of the props team to find Daydream's prop expert.
In a hardware chain store, they discovered that different adhesive tapes are needed to deal with different materials. Anyway, this is a small market. They only need to purchase adhesive tapes with similar raw materials, and then produce specific adhesive tapes and put their own company's brand on them. Hollywood
These film studios will definitely like seeing the tapes classified into different categories.
In this small market, its own production capacity can be supplied to everyone, and the price is slightly higher, which can also make those high-purchasing managers happy.
Anyway, editing tape is also a tape, and prop tape is also a tape. Maybe it can be turned into a small monopoly business.
Soon, the staff of Daydream sent different labeled tapes with the logo cut out and divided into categories. The props group used it, and it turned out to be very easy to use. When dismantling the set, just peel it off.