Although Ronald has decided to move the indoor scenes to Toronto, Canada, some scenes involving indoor and outdoor interactions still have to be shot in New York.
If the indoor and outdoor scenes are shot separately in real locations in New York and in a Toronto studio, and finally combined on the editing table, there will be a technical difficulty. That is the different color temperatures of indoor and outdoor light.
In this way, different types of film will present different color styles. The naked eye can see obvious differences between the balanced color temperature of an outdoor lens under natural light and the balanced color temperature under indoor artificial lighting.
In order to ensure that the edited shots do not feel abrupt to the audience, very complex color correction is required in the post-production process. Especially if the gap between natural light and artificial lighting is too big, the audience will feel as if they are in another movie.
.
This kind of feeling is something that any film director should try to avoid, because such a jump will pull the audience away from a daydream that the movie has finally weaved together, and the audience will have a feeling that this is a movie.
The idea will make the movie-watching experience drop several notches.
Therefore, rather than looking at the boring old-fashioned face of the union representative, Ronald went to the bakery on the corner of 502 Henry Street, Brooklyn, which was rented in advance, and began to shoot the first difficult scene.
Martin Scorsese's parents, Charles and Catherine Scorsese, wore Italian-style coats and were waiting to have their makeup done inside the facade of a small bakery.
Both of them had also been actors before, but their main occupation was opening a dry cleaning shop in Little Italy, Manhattan. Their father, Charles, ironed clothes, and their mother, Catherine, altered trousers. They raised Martin Scorsese, an important American director.
.
The two also had cameos in their son's films. In "Taxi Driver," a photo of the two was included in a newspaper report as the parents of Jodie Foster's character. In "Raging Bull"
, the father Charles also played a named role.
But the couple has never actually appeared in a movie as a couple.
Ronald saw that they were a little nervous, but he didn't care. Anyway, they were two very small characters, and they were not the focus of the audience's attention. They were mainly used to lure Loretta, played by Cher, to Johnny's brother.
The story of Camarelli's bakery.
"Wonderful!" Ronald saw the two people's outfits. Charles was wearing a top hat and Catherine was wearing a down jacket with a fur collar. They went up and complimented him, "It's great. I now know Marty's artistic talent."
Where did it come from?"
"Ah, hahaha..." Mrs. Scorsese was more outgoing and was made to laugh by Ronald.
"At that time, the camera will give you a close-up, and then the girl playing the bakery clerk will hand you the bread. Mrs. Scorsese will take it and say goodbye to you. You just go to the bakery to buy it.
Just keep the same bread and ignore this big guy."
Ronald took a close-up shot of Chun inside the counter. He was a big guy, and amateur actors would inevitably be a little nervous.
"Just call me Catherine. When Marty made a short film before, he asked me to be the heroine. I know what to do." Mrs. Scorsese was very satisfied. This time both of them had close-ups. This of her son
His friends are really good, and they are much more important than the role he plays for his parents!
"a!"
After setting up the lights, Ronald called the start.
"Thank you, Mrs. Fogage. Here's your bread. See you tomorrow."
Catherine Scorsese took the bread. Facing the huge close-up, she was still nervous, her throat was a little itchy, and her voice became smaller, "Goodbye!"
Charles Scorsese became even more nervous and couldn't help but make a swallowing motion. He turned back and went out first, and then Catherine took the bread and followed him out.
"Ring, ring, ring..." The bell on the door reminded me that Loretta, played by Cher, still wearing the boring dark gray coat and black leather boots, passed by the Scorseses and walked in.
Cher walked in front of the counter and entered the close-up range. Ronald looked at the monitor and nodded to the director of photography, David Watkin, and there was no need to stop.
"Is Ronnie Camarelli here?"
"He's in the baking room, why are you looking for him?"
the clerk behind the counter asked, a bit hostile in his tone.
"I have something to talk to him about." Loretta, played by Cher, is of course much more sophisticated than the little girl's clerk. She knows where this hostility comes from. She has not seen her fiancé Johnny for several years but has not met her yet.
My younger brother Ronnie has another curiosity.
A female clerk with messy hair walked out of the counter and walked around Loretta.
Judging from the body shape, she is a very typical little Italian girl. She walks a little stiffly. She wears a floral jacket on the upper body, a white shirt underneath, a green skirt on the lower body, and woolen gray stockings on the feet.
A pair of bulky thick-heeled leather shoes.
At first glance, she looks like a young girl who has just begun to fall in love. She is not very good at dressing herself up, but she is invincible in her youth.
The clerk walked to the door, turned back to Loretta and shook his head, motioning for her to follow him to the bakery opposite to meet Ronnie Camarelli, who was baking bread there.
"cut!"
Ronald was very satisfied with the two's rivalry.
After consulting David Watkin, this article was left for printing.
"How did I perform?"
The female clerk ran over, opened her big eyes to Ronald, and asked for the director's opinion like a baby. She changed her dull look just now.
"Very good, perfect!" Ronald smiled and touched the actress's head.
She is clearly Diane Lane, who will be making a cameo appearance as the storegirl for the next two days.
Ronald was generous with his praise, and Diane's acting skills exceeded his expectations. After applying makeup, Diane not only looked like an Italian girl, but her walking figure was also clearly designed carefully and full of life details.
The culture surrounding Cher's role clearly contained the anger that the girl knew in her heart about a woman coming to find her crush.
But when she heard that the other party wanted to see Ronnie for something, she quickly fulfilled her duties as a store clerk and did not take matters into her own hands. She was very much like the kind of good girl who works in a store owned by relatives, friends and elders.
It can be said that this performance is beyond the acting skills required for a small cameo role. Ronald was deeply moved by the serious preparation that Diane made for this role.
If Coppola hadn't delayed her three movies in a row, if Diane had this kind of acting skills, appearance, and the fans she had accumulated in the past, she would definitely be the heroine of every major production.
"This character is a little too young for you, but because it is a love story for middle-aged people, so..."
Ronald admired Diane's performance very much. Her acting skills, playing a small role, can greatly enhance the immersive weight of the movie itself.
Just like Roger Corman's The Student, Jonathan Demme said, the whole movie is integrated. For any small role, if you can carefully find an actor that the audience likes, then the overall grade of the movie can be improved.
One level.
Although it is not intentional to use high-profile actors to play low-profile supporting roles, the actual effect is that in "Moonlight", any supporting role has the acting skills to play the protagonist in other movies.
"Don't say that, I'm already very happy. This role is very enjoyable to play."
"It's hard for you to wear such ugly clothes." Ronald adjusted her collar and signaled that he would continue.
"Oh", Diane stopped chatting with Ronald and ran to the side to wait for the next shot. Her eyes were always on Ronald's body.
"Ronnie is still interesting." Diane was actually quite happy.
This small role is not a simple cameo. And it is not a vase-like role, but a role with content. Although the makeup does not highlight her beauty, and she does not have beautiful clothes to wear, the three simple scenes will leave an impression on the audience.
Very deep impression.
It can be said that among all the small roles in this movie, this role is the one that impressed the audience the most. I have acted in several not-so-good movies. With a movie like this that fully utilizes my acting skills, maybe any film critic can recognize it.
How about saying something about yourself?
The next scene was shot on the roadside.
Chrissy, played by Diane, reluctantly takes a woman (Loretta) to meet her crush Ronnie.
After leaving the store, she strode in front because she didn't want to talk to Loretta. Such an awkward mentality made her walk stiff, as if she wanted to escape her crush Ronnie and meet other women. This was unmistakable.
reality.
Loretta, played by Cher, followed behind. The two of them turned a corner and reached another road that intersected at the corner of the street. They walked into the barbecue room through the entrance of a basement.
"Cut! Very good, very good! Let's have another one."
In order to have more protection, Ronald called the second one. In fact, from a performance point of view, this is not necessary. This kind of play that is performed as soon as it is performed without careful rehearsal is the most emotionally charged.
Standing far away behind the camera, Ronald could smell the unwillingness emanating from Diane.
Soon it was time for lunch, and the Screen Actors Guild representative came again and pointed at his watch to signal Ronald to stop filming to ensure the right of all actors and staff on the crew to eat.
Ronald no longer wanted to argue with him, pulled down his New York Yankees baseball cap, sat on the director's chair, closed his eyes and meditated.
Diane brought him a burger and a can of Coke, and pushed him. Ronald woke up, picked up his own burger and Coke, made a toast gesture with Diane, and started eating.
"Cheers!" Diane laughed out loud, and actually came up to bump the Coke can with Ronald, and then took a few sips as well.
"Oh, it's rude to disturb other people's sleep, beautiful lady."
Next to him is director of photography David Watkin, who is actually sleeping in a chair.
"Sorry, we woke you up," Ronald apologized to the hilarious Watkin, with whom he worked in Sweden on a Saab commercial and with Walter Murch in Britain on "Return to Oz."
When he was young, Ronald knew the habits of this old man who had a great personality and liked classical music more than being a cinematographer.
When he is on the set, he especially likes to sleep at every opportunity. This is also because Watkin's level is so high that he can immediately make plans for many lighting arrangements with just one glance, and the lighting team will meet the requirements immediately after they come up with them.
Of course, this is also because of David Watkin's special thinking habits. He always likes to simplify things rather than complicate them.
For example, for indoor lighting, he likes to simplify it to a single light source to achieve the effect, rather than a complex multi-light system. In Hollywood's stacked bed-frame lighting method, if the lens is deflected fifteen degrees, the lighting must be re-arranged to maintain the effect.
Consistent. And with his single light source lighting method, no matter how the camera is moved indoors, there is no need to re-set the scene.
Diane looked at Watkin and then at Ronald, very confused. "Mr. Watkin, do you always sleep when you are on the set?" Coppola's crew, he and photography knew the history.
When working with Steve Baran, I wanted to discuss light and camera movement in every shooting break.
"Of course, what else can keep you from getting more tired when working on the set? The only thing is to sleep!"
"Hahaha..." Diane was amused by him and laughed.
"Mr. Watkin is a very philosophical person. The dot matrix light source he invented, also called the Wendy light, allows us to re-light when shooting night scenes without having to walk five meters. This has saved many anxious directors.
"
Ronald explained Watkin's philosophy to Diane. Not all directors of photography can fall asleep on the set.
"By the way, Ronald. When Murch and I were communicating before the shooting started, he said that now his editing tapes are all taken care of by your factory for him. You also invented and manufactured a lamp yourself?"
After hearing Ronald talk about his beloved invention, the Wendy lamp, David Watkin stopped dozing off and came over to ask Ronald.
"Ah, that's not an ordinary lamp. It simulates lightning effects. It's much brighter than the electrical short-circuit method usually used in Hollywood. It's reproduced very well on film. It's also used on some Broadway stages." Rona
De looked at Watkin and replied.
"What about that? My Wendy lamps are mostly handmade now. Can you cooperate with me, just like the model you cooperated with Murch?"
"Of course. If you are willing, you can use the patent to invest in shares, and then we can work together to sell your Wendy lights to all the crews in Hollywood who need to shoot night scenes. Wouldn't it be great?"
Seeing that he had a small business, Ronald became more energetic. After discussing it with Watkin, they finalized the cooperation. Then they called their own people and asked them to discuss the details.
"It seems that I can go to see more operas and listen to more symphonies in the future, and I can also buy a recording of Rachmaninov's First Concerto played by Rubinstein."
David Watkin had talked a lot with Walter Murch about "Moonlight" before. He was surprised to find that Murch, who was originally in poor financial condition because of his failure as a director, showed him the film.
In the family photo, several children are wearing good public high school uniforms.
After chatting with him, I found out that I had used my invention to partner with Ronald and made some money through dividends. After paying off some loans, I could change schools for my children.
Watkin has great trust in Murch, who is also a master of technology, but after all, unlike Murch, he has a mentorship to Ronald. Today, he just took the opportunity to express his idea of wanting to form a partnership. Unexpectedly, he and Ronald
Ronald hit it off immediately.
I don’t know why such a small invention can still be sold at a good profit.
Ronald is also very happy. He has another good product, and it is facing the same market. Marketing and channels can share costs.
Lightning lights, editing tape, scenery tape, and Wendy lights, what these products have in common is that users do not pay for them themselves, but buy them for work.
For them, it saves them a little trouble and they can make up many reasons to get the studio to pay the bill. The studio doesn't care about these small amounts of money, as long as the stuff is good, it can speed up efficiency, prevent accidents, and save one day of filming.
The cost savings are dozens of times the price of these devices.
The staff members changed their shifts and came back one after another to prepare for filming the scene in the basement barbecue room.
Diane also got on the public trailer to prepare for the afternoon scene. Before she got on the bus, she looked at Ronald again. This man was actually very kind and brought good luck to the people around him. Many people were with him,
He has become richer. No wonder he is very popular in Hollywood.
"a!"
After two hours, the lighting team set up the lights, and David Watkin made an OK gesture to Ronald.
"a!"
"Ronnie, Ronnie"
The clerk Chris, played by Diane, opened the door of the baking room.
The camera gradually retreated and saw more of the environment of the bakery. It was a rather rough place. There were a lot of baguettes in the oven on the wall. This was specially made by the people in the bakery for filming.
.
"Someone is looking for Ronnie." Chris, played by Diane, let Loretta into the grill and stood by the door, frowning, wanting to see what Loretta and her crush Ronnie were doing.
relation.
Although it was late autumn, the people inside were all wearing sweatshirts and were still sweating. The makeup was sprinkled with water on their bodies, creating the effect of being dripping with sweat.
Nicolas Cage on the other side was wearing a small vest, with a large section of his thick chest hair exposed, and his messy hair standing straight up. At first glance, he looked like a hormonal volcano.
"Are you here in place of my brother Johnny?" He looked at Loretta coldly.
In the camera, Loretta, played by Cher, walks towards the camera from the door, while Chrissy behind her is still standing there, feeling uneasy.
David Watkin used the hyperfocal distance technique introduced to Hollywood by Orson Welles here to create the effect of deep focus.
In the current popular aesthetic trend in movies, in many scenes, when the focus is on characters close to the lens, a shallow focus lens will put the background characters and environment behind them out of focus and blur them out.
But for this scene, Watkin went against the trend a bit, using the deep focus effect that was popular when black-and-white sound films first appeared in the 1930s. The distant background characters and the nearby characters were both in focus and remained clear.
The change in Loretta's demeanor when she was talking to Ronnie, and the expression on Chrissy's face after she heard the conversation between them, were all accurately captured.
Although Ronald could not clearly see the expressions of the two people on the small monitor, when the film was developed, washed into prints, and projected on the big screen, the faces of the two actors Cher and Diane
, will become the focus of the audience's attention.
Therefore, Watkin also deliberately asked the two actors to stand on the same axis, with only a slight staggered angle. This way, when presented on the big screen, the audience does not have to keep looking back and forth on their faces, but only stares at them.
Just by looking at one part of the screen, you can see the different moods of the two characters.
In this kind of movie that wins by plot and actor's performance, this kind of narrative technique is very important. Deliberate design and arrangement, as well as the cooperation and execution of masters during filming, can present the audience with an effortless and can-do movie.
Understand what the director wants to say.
"Yes", Loretta gets closer and closer, talking to the character Ronnie behind the camera.
"What are you here for?"
"I'm getting married to Johnny, so I want to invite you to the wedding..."
"So, you're going to marry my brother Johnny? I have no life left. My brother Johnny took my life away."
"Excuse me?..." Loretta, played by Cher, showed an incomprehensible expression in the camera. She invited her fiancé's brother to attend the wedding, but why did he say something about life...
"I don't understand what you said?" Loretta didn't understand, but deep down, she seemed to understand that Ronnie's original impulse and desire in life was destroyed by Johnny.
"Johnny is getting married. Now he has the meaning of his life. I didn't have it yet, but he has taken it away."
"I'm not here to piss you off..." Loretta also wanted to explain. She was temporarily freed from the radiation of Ronnie's strong vitality and regained her sanity. She was just looking for an unlikeable fiancé.
The younger brother I spoke to just went to attend a wedding.
"What on earth is life!" Nicolas Cage suddenly raised his voice, "What is life!"
"They all say that bread is life, but I am in this small house that is too hot, making bread, bread, bread every day..."
Cage took the baguettes out of the oven viciously and threw them into the basket.
"I stay here every day with my stinky sweat, shoveling this stinky bread ball in and out with a shovel. Where is my life?
You want me to go to your and my brother’s wedding? Huh? Sweetheart? Then where is my wedding?”
"Chris, give me the biggest bread knife on the wall, I can't..."
Chrissy, played by Diane, stood there and was almost moved to tears by Ronnie. How come such a man doesn’t have a woman to love him?
"No, Ronnie, I won't give it to you." Diane was there, shouting in her newly acquired Italian accent.
"Chris, give me the knife quickly... I want my own..."
"Maybe, I should come at another time." Xueer looked at it for a while, she didn't know whether Ronnie was telling the truth or just making nonsense.
"No, I want you to watch here." Nicolas Cage said viciously to Cher, "Do you understand me?"
"Yeah," Xueer shook her head.
"It's no one's fault, it just happened." Nicolas Cage took off the glove on his left hand, revealing a wooden prosthetic hand inside.
"I got engaged five years ago and my brother Johnny came to see me. He wanted to buy some bread from me. I got distracted while talking to him and the bread cutter cut my hand off.
Isn’t it funny? My fiancée became disabled because she found out about me, and then she left me.”
"This is the misfortune between you and Johnny? But it's not Johnny's fault? It's no one's fault, it's just bad luck." Loretta, played by Cher, heard the two brothers' hearts for the first time.
Knot.
"I don't care!" Nicolas Cage suddenly burst out and knocked down the free iron bucket in front of him.
"I have no hands! I have no wife! Johnny still has his hand! Johnny still has his wife! Do you want me to reconcile with him and go to his wedding?"
Loretta was shocked. There had never been a man with such strong primitive instincts in her life. She was not worried at all that the man would hurt her, but expressed sympathy for his misfortune.
"It's just a matter of time. When a man opens his eyes in the morning, he kisses his dream goodbye."
Nicolas Cage put away his temper, as if his anger just consumed too much energy. He spoke softly to Loretta, as if he was speaking to himself.
Everyone in the bakery was shocked by this huge contrast. A man like Ronnie, after giving up his dream due to an accidental disability, turned into a person shoveling dough in the bakery every day. Life is really huge.
tragedy.
The camera focused on several people and took several reaction shots.
Xueer's face was expressionless in shock, but the surging impulse in her heart almost broke through the boundaries of reason. Like Ronnie, she gave up on her dream because she was said to be a broom star.
Chris's eyes were red and she tried her best not to shed tears. The man she had a crush on was indeed a man with big dreams, so pitiful.
A tear finally broke through the barrier in the eye socket and flowed out from Diane's left eye.
The tears accumulated all her strength, so that they instantly broke through the obstruction of her cheekbones, lips, and chin, and fell to the ground.
"I loved him, but I never told him, because after he lost his fiancée and his hand, he could never love anyone again."
"cut!"
"Pah, pah, pah..." After waiting for a few seconds, everyone, led by Ronald, began to applaud for this wonderful performance.
All the actors were perfect and it was a perfect show.
Not only the performances of the two protagonists are on point, but the small role played by Diane is also very good. The male and female protagonists meet for the first time and suddenly connect with each other, like they have been lovers for many years. This is a very abnormal and difficult to understand plot.
, highlighted from the perspective of a bystander.
Ronny Camarelli is a man with great dreams. He lost his fiancée and his dreams because of his disability, so he could only join the baking business passed down from his family.
Loretta also had a dream, but it was suppressed for a long time due to social pressure and prejudice against widows.
On a specific occasion, Ronnie broke out and spoke his innermost thoughts in a monologue that touched my heartstrings.
Especially Nicolas Cage, who imitated the acting method of the early German Expressionist film "Metropolis" and asked hoarsely to the wooden prosthetic hand, "I have no hands, I have no wife!"
If it weren't for Cage, a particularly explosive actor, the effect of the performance would be much worse. Such unreasonable characters and plots must be promoted by reasons beyond common sense. This kind of explosive power is exactly what is needed.
It is especially needed when the audience is shocked.
Moreover, such a crazy character must have a certain degree of control. After Cage broke out, he immediately ran out of energy and turned to whispering. In this way, the audience will be shocked and understand the reason why Ronnie suddenly went crazy.
people.
This kind of balance between madness and normality is indeed not something that ordinary actors can perform with ease. If Cage hadn't been influenced by his uncle Coppola and watched "Metropolis" every day to understand his acting skills, he wouldn't have been able to do it so seamlessly.
After seeing David Watkin make another OK gesture to Ronald, several actors calmed down and began to hug each other and congratulate each other.
Ronald was also relieved. The second most difficult scene to shoot was finally passed thanks to the explosive acting skills of several actors.
Ronald picked up a baguette and broke it off. The baguette just came out of the oven was very crispy and very delicious. Ronald also broke off a small piece and handed it to Diane, who thoughtfully took out a handkerchief and asked him to
She wiped her eyes.
"I didn't expect that your explosive power was so good." Ronald exclaimed. He didn't expect that this kind of supporting role is actually more difficult to play than the protagonist.
After all, the protagonist has a well-established foreshadowing and the opponent's reaction is exciting.
This kind of supporting role has no background story in the front and no opponent to react to in the back. It all depends on your own imagination. And you must be able to perform at a high level from the beginning. Diane's performance is no different from those of veteran Broadway actors.
"Hee hee, Mama's experimental theater company acted in a play, and he even acted with Meryl Streep."
"So you are also an old actor, the young one." Ronald laughed and ruffled Diane's hair.
Diane finished her part and went home to reunite with her father, Bert.
Next, the crew filmed several outdoor scenes at the Metropolitan Opera House and Catholic Church in New York.
Because of a one-night stand with her fiancé's brother, Loretta came to the church to confess. The godfather "severely" criticized Loretta and punished her by reciting two "rosaries" in order to atone for her sin. The mother in the church helped him cover up and did not go home for the night.
, the one-night stand with Ronnie. Loretta was surprised to find that her mother discovered that her father Cosmo was having an affair.
Later, Loretta and Ronnie went on a date and went to the opera house to watch an opera. In the opera house, they found that their father and lover were also watching the opera "La Bohème". The two fathers and daughters had a tacit understanding. Cosmo complained about his daughter, you
But she was engaged, and her daughter retorted, "You are married."
Ronald was very happy when filming these scenes. Screenwriter Stanley Shanley's writing skills are really strong. He wrote the characteristics of the Italians vividly in just a few strokes.
When this movie is made, it will be very different from other movies that reflect the lives of Italians. There are no gangsters or singing and dancing, but it can still tell the story of Italians at a glance.
Soon, the location shooting in New York was completed.
The union representatives are really strict. During the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, the crew is not allowed to work overtime in New York.
Ronald had no choice but to disband the crew one day in advance. Everyone went back to spend the holidays and flew to Toronto in the New Year to shoot in a non-unionized place.