Ronald and Norio Ohga chatted about the art of opera for a while, and Ohga said that he even wanted to sponsor Franco Zeffirelli to make more opera films, even if the box office was not good.
Ronald promised to tell Zeffirelli in Italy that he was also a director in the opera industry and had deep connections. He would be very happy if someone was willing to provide financial support.
Seeing that there was a particularly excited energy in the tone of Norio Ohga's words, Ronald knew that the other party had already thought of a way to deal with the Columbia acquisition project. So he also said goodbye. Such a president of a multinational company could find time to talk to him.
Chatting by yourself is already a luxury.
Before leaving, Ronald suddenly remembered something... If he didn't explain it clearly, the Japanese character might cause misunderstanding.
"Mr. Dahe, if you are so honest with me, aren't you afraid that I will buy a few shares of Sony stock in the securities market after learning the news?"
Norio Ohga was stunned, then smiled, "Ronald-san is indeed a master who is familiar with Japanese culture." In Japanese culture, it is indeed rude to mobilize funds to take advantage, but Ronald said it directly like this.
Respect for yourself, Sony, and the country behind you.
He waved his hand, indicating that he didn't mind Ronald taking this opportunity to make some money, and regarded it as a reward for Ronald.
"Hahaha, I won't take advantage like this." Ronald also laughed, "Actually, I bought some Sony stocks a month ago. Of course, that's because I'm optimistic about your business."
"Hahaha, you are indeed a rare person who knows the sun..." Norio Ohga was even more satisfied with Ronald's statement.
…
The breeze was blowing on the ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan, and the winter wind was a bit cold on the face. Ann Ross, the costume designer of the crew, poked her head out of the cabin and shrank her neck from the cold. On the deck was director Luo Luo
Nader, director of photography Michael Ballhaus, and editing director Walter Murch were discussing framing on the deck. The three of them wore thick leather jackets, and when they exhaled, there were streaks of white air.
Ann Ross hurried back and chatted with her friend Polly Platt, who was the art director in the warmer cabin, "How is this Ronald? Is he easy to work with?"
"He is a director who respects professionals very much, unlike some people who like to decide everything by themselves. He also respects women." Polly Pratt pulled Ann. Although it was the New Year's holiday, there were still many people in the cabin.
The secretary who rarely goes to work on Wall Street wears running shoes and puffs away one after another.
"So I need a big aerial shot, and then seamlessly connect it to the cabin. At the beginning, I want to play a little trick and get a long shot, so that I can grab the audience's attention and explain where the story takes place."
The three of them, Ronald, walked back to the cabin from the deck. He was explaining his shot ideas to the director of photography and editor.
"Of course, this can be done. The last shot needs to be shot close to the cabin, and then interspersed with a black screen, and then transferred to the shot inside the cabin, so that the audience will not notice the editing point." Walter Murch pointed with his finger.
I drew a frame and told Luo my ideas.
This method of connecting long shots with a black screen was invented by Hitchcock. His "Rope of Souls" is a so-called one-shot movie. The whole film looks like there is only one long shot, like a drama.
However, with the technology at the time, a box of film could only shoot more than nine minutes in length, so the so-called one shot to the end was actually false. A nine-minute long shot was designed, and then a black screen was used to connect it. But the audience at the time didn't understand.
It was quite refreshing to watch this kind of movie for the first time.
"If you want to open with the Statue of Liberty, the landmark of Manhattan, it's not easy to find such aerial photography pilots and photographers. You have to find the most professional ones." The director of photography, Michael Ballhaus, is a German and he uses an accent.
Pointing to the sky in strong English, he told Ronald about his design.
The helicopter first circled the Statue of Liberty a few times, and then took pictures of the ferry from a high altitude. When the sun is right in the morning, the surface of Manhattan will reflect very beautiful golden ripples. Then it swooped down from a high altitude and followed the ferry for tracking shots...
"This design is very good. I hired the most professional NYPD to assist with the aerial photography. They are the aerial photographers for Tom Cruise's new movie 'Cocktail'. You don't have to worry about their technical level." Ronald reassured Ballhaus that he
Fox was also asked to apply to New York City Hall for filming assistance in advance.
"An, what do you think?" Ronald finished chatting with the camera crew and looked back at the two female generals.
"Well, there are two options, either prepare a Hollywood version of these office girl costumes like Jane Fonda shot in '9 to 5,' or you can follow the New York film tradition and just shoot these authentic costumes
.”
Ann Rose is very familiar with costumes. Although she was surprised by the secretary wearing running shoes to work on the ferry, seeing the costumes of so many female characters in the script made her excited and accepted the challenge.
Generally speaking, starting from the golden age of Hollywood, movies will upgrade the costumes of real-life characters, making the costumes one level higher than real-life characters with similar identities.
For example, in this "Working Girl", the secretary Tess is an ordinary blue-collar working-class person who wears very unique clothes. She doesn't pay attention to colors and fabrics, but she also has a unique style.
If it were Jane Fonda's professional women's movie "9 to 5" a few years ago, it would be upgraded to the clothing of ordinary college graduates and white-collar workers. It is not expensive, but it conforms to the dress code of white-collar women, with conservative color matching and attention to detail.
Fabric.
"No, no, I don't need to be taller. I need clothes that are generally in line with the real situation." Ronald felt that there was a plot of Tess's transformation in the script, and the audience must understand her cross-class character from a perceptual perspective.
Different identities wear different clothes.
"Theresa, when you were working as a secretary, where did you usually buy clothes?" Ronald looked back at his old friend Theresa Kate, the shareholder of the leg warmers who came to teach actors how to be Wall Street secretaries.
"In fact, the largest number of employees on Wall Street are secretaries. In the basements of large office buildings, there are usually clothing stores for secretaries. We don't have time to shop, and we can't afford the boutiques on Fifth Avenue, so we usually settle there."
Theresa Kate replied to Ronald.
"If you want to buy, you can go to Building 7 of the World Trade Center Building. The clothing store on the ground floor there is the largest. We usually go there to buy. There are many styles and cheap prices." Several people nearby dressed like secretaries came to interrupt. They
Asked Ronald, "Are you going to make a movie with secretaries like us?"
"Commercial, we're filming a commercial, a clothing commercial." Ronald fooled them with nonsense. If they knew it was a Harrison Ford movie, they might attract onlookers again.
"Shall we go to the boutique on Fifth Avenue to buy Sigourney's clothes?" Ann Ross wrote down Ronald's request to restore the authenticity and not to raise or lower the clothes.
"You make up your mind, I want a woman who was born on Long Island, went to prep school, often skis in Europe, graduated from Ivy League, and wants to hook up with a Wall Street investor. You look for clothes based on this." Ronald described.
A little background on Catherine.
After landing on the shore, Little Bud, who was already waiting, drove a van and took several key people who were preparing the movie to Wall Street and began to inspect the scene.
"Well, that's not appropriate." Polly Platt took several Polaroid photos in several high-rise offices. After viewing them, she was very dissatisfied with the color tone.
In the first half of "Working Girl", Tess works in a secretary's office area with partitions in the middle of the floor, while her white-collar boss works in a separate office near the window with better conditions for celebrities. Therefore, the first half of the movie has a blue-gray tone.
temperament.
In short, it is necessary to show the feeling of a blue-collar worker on the assembly line. "Have you ever seen the opening of Peach Blossom Apartments, where Jack Lemmon is in the big office of the insurance company? It feels like small parts on a big machine. These office buildings
They don’t have the industrial temperament and are not enough to make people despair.”
"So where is the right place?" Ronald turned to Theresa Kate and asked Theresa Kate. She had worked as a secretary on Wall Street for more than ten years and must be familiar with this kind of thing.
“I have never seen Peach Apartment, but if you are looking for the feeling of an assembly line, I think there is no place more suitable than the World Trade Center. In that place, waiting for the elevator at noon is like jumping out of a trench to charge, and entering and exiting the lobby feels like the Normandy landing.
Soldier."
"Hehehe, it's the World Trade Center." Everyone was amused by Theresa Kate's metaphor.
We all walked to Building 1 of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. There were not many visitors in the lobby. We looked up and looked around. Ronald made eye contact with everyone. This place is really nice.
The twin towers of the World Trade Center are barrel-shaped structures. The information desk and elevator room are in the middle of the lobby. They are surrounded by "back"-shaped supports of steel structures, and the outside is wrapped in gray cement. The glass curtain walls are on the ceiling and floor of the floors.
There is a cement wall to cover it.
Although the sun is at its best near noon, most of the light is blocked by the walls. In addition, the color inside is monotonous, with gray cement and brown marble, giving people a depressing feeling.
"This is where Tess should work." Polly Platt was satisfied, took out the Polaroid and started taking notes.
"Ting..." The elevator in the middle rang, and two of them arrived at the bottom at the same time.
"Shall we go take a look?" Ronald invited the team to take a look in the elevator. The last scene where Tess turned defeat into victory was filmed at the entrance of the elevator.
"Oh...oh..." The tall Ronald walked over first, but was pushed back by the flow of people rushing out of the elevator. Those employees who looked like secretaries rushed very quickly.
"This is really like a fucking war..." Ronald really believed Theresa Kate's metaphor. Public elevators are mainly secretaries and low-level white-collar workers. It's just lunch time and secretaries who only have one hour at noon.
We have to squeeze into the elevator, rush to Chinatown a few blocks away to get some cheap lunch, and then have to run back immediately before we can squeeze into the elevator to go back to the office.
After finally squeezing into the elevator, several people from the crew looked up and down inside the elevator. The World Trade Center was built in 1973, and the elevator was an old-fashioned model, not as big as today's. Everyone in the elevator felt very crowded.
After roughly understanding the situation of the World Trade Center, Ronald agreed to shoot here. The upper floors are mainly offices of financial companies. Not two months after the stock market crash, many companies have begun to go bankrupt and withdraw. You can also borrow cheaper offices.
Photography.
In short, the impact of the stock market crash on the World Trade Center Towers is still there. The crew took advantage of the cheapest rent time for filming, and it is estimated that they can save a lot of money by then.
Everyone went to the Window of the World restaurant on the 107th floor of the North Tower for lunch. Then they split into two groups, director of photography Ballhaus and editing director Murch, to continue looking for suitable scenes in other World Trade Center buildings.
Ronald and the two heroines went to Fifth Avenue together to look for white-collar clothes for the two heroines Catherine and Tess.
This is the most popular shopping mall with tourists. Clothing, jewelry, shoes, and all kinds of high-end women's clothing are all available.
Ann Rose found a boutique that was not the most expensive or high-end on the road that intersected with Fifth Avenue. She gave instructions to the manager, "Look for more of this little red coat and this swirly pattern skirt."
Style clothes come.”
Ronald looked at the store. The clothes were not very outstanding. "Are they a little cheaper?" he asked Polly.
"No, no, Ronald, you don't understand. Catherine's family is well off, but she is a white-collar worker after all, not a socialite. She can't wear custom-made clothes every day when she goes to work. Such a tasteful professional woman wears the clothes in this store.
We sell this kind of ready-to-wear." Polly explained to Ronald that custom-made fashion was not something that professional women could wear on a daily basis.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Oh..." Ronald touched his chin, his understanding of women's clothing was still not deep enough.
Unlike that kind of customized fashion, most professional women still wear ready-made clothes in ordinary business situations. They have completely different styles from the Hollywood women that Ronald is familiar with.
Working girls are more low-key and conservative. The fashion trend starts from haute couture and then gradually spreads to haute couture. Business occasions also need to be more conservative.
"I suggest you go to the ready-to-wear fashion shows of CK, Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren and other brands. The clothes there are what this movie needs. If you like anything, just tell me." An.
Ross picked out some clothes and showed them to Ronald.
"Why do you want me to look at it? I believe in your judgment." Ronald looked at An Tiao's clothes and shoes and thought they were pretty good-looking.
"This is a commercial film after all, Ronald. The beauty of women's clothing must be judged by men. Your feeling is more accurate, after all, half of the audience is male, hahaha" Ann Ross laughed.
"That's it." Ronald also laughed. No wonder there are many scenes in Hollywood where the heroine changes her clothes and shows them to the hero. Women only look good to please themselves.
…
"Give me a few copies of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and other basics." Ronald asked the stall owner to find fashion magazines from recent months at a newsstand next to his apartment.
.
"Okay, would you like some copies of Playboy, Penthouse?" The shopkeeper smiled like a man, and handed him the ones Ronald named. Then he opened the magazine stack on the second floor of the stall.
place, show it to Ronald.
"I want to see more people wearing clothes..." Ronald laughed, he really just wanted to see clothes.
"Clothes? Ha, you understand women..." The shop owner pointed at Ronald a few times with his fingers. These young elites wearing leather jackets don't just want their female companions to be in good shape. They now like to have temperament.
Yes, those who have their own profession.
"Here you go, Sports Illustrated. There's a swimsuit show on it." The shop owner took out a few books from the other side and handed them to Ronald quickly.
"Thank you." Ronald handed over the banknotes, put a roll of magazines, Sports Illustrated inside, and a Forbes outside as a cover, and went upstairs.
Aha...
After ordering takeout, Ronald opened a bottle of Coke and looked at a fashion magazine. There were a lot of business attire in fashion magazines, and Ronald also saw catwalk photos of an old acquaintance, the model Cindy Crawford.
He picked up the phone and called his agent.
"Richard, are there any fashion shows in New York recently? Business-style ones. Find me some better tickets."
"Do you want to meet Cindy and Christy? Let me check." Richard understood that Ronald wanted to meet "old friends".
"They happen to have a few ready-to-wear shows in New York. They are not high-end couture shows and are relatively low-grade. They happen to have few gossip reporters going there. If you want them, I will ask them to send the tickets to your apartment."
"Um..." Ronald thought that I didn't mean to see them specifically, but then he thought about it, good clothes must be worn on beautiful women to look good, so just see the effect.
"Okay, if you have any in the past two days, find two for me."