A section of 46th Street in midtown Manhattan has been cordoned off by police since the morning to accommodate the filming of "Famous".
A large team of people moved from Harlan Middle School to the door of a stone building here to shoot the outdoor scene of the theme song dance.
The reason for choosing this building as the gate of the school in the movie is simple. Alan Parker liked the gate of the Academy of Performing Arts, so he found a similar one on 46th Street.
The section of road between the intersections on the left and right sides of the gate was blocked by the producer for three days for filming.
The crossroad at one end that intersects with 46th Street has also been requisitioned for parking prop vehicles.
In order to film this important scene, the crew also hired 30 additional on-site assistants with Motorola wireless walkie-talkies to assist in the on-site shooting.
Ronald stood behind the camera and watched these on-set assistants, uniformly dressed in white T-shirts with "Fame" printed on the chest, listening to the orders of director of photography Michael Seresin.
"My child's father is an Oscar winner." These words on the back of the white T-shirt made Ronald standing next to him smile knowingly.
"When the director announces the shooting, you mainly maintain the order of vehicles entering the venue. After the actor playing Angelou drives the taxi equipped with a horn into the venue, the motorcade begins to prepare..."
After seeing the new choreography from last night, Alan Parker decided to add some authenticity to the scene.
All the vehicles no longer park on the road in advance, but line up on the crossroads that intersects 46th Street, and then drive into 46th Street at a slow speed. Try to make the scene where the dancers stop the vehicles look real.
"All vehicles will enter slowly according to their numbers, and the speed limit is not allowed to exceed 6 miles per hour. I repeat, the speed limit is not allowed to exceed 6 miles per hour."
"Prepare to rehearse." Seeing that everyone's tasks have been assigned, the director gave the order to the first assistant director.
Ronald stepped back out of the director's sight and stood next to an apple box.
The assistant director picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered the cars to move in. The camera operator directed the team to slowly push the machine forward.
The dancers burst out of the gate and danced in the street to the sound of disco songs from the sound team.
At this time, according to the original plan, the leading car should brake, and the following teams would stop one after another, and the drivers would poke their heads out of the cab to observe the situation.
But the driver in the lead seemed to have deliberately made a joke with the dancer. He first faked the brakes and moved the car forward a little. When the dancer stopped and was about to dance, he leaned forward half a foot.
This angered the dancer in front of the car. He originally only showed his back in front of the camera and did not get the chance to show his face. Now he was shaken by the driver. He became angry and slapped the hood of the car hard.
Ask the driver what he wants to do?
The driver was an Italian. When he got out of the car, he started talking in Italian. He raised his hand and pushed the dancer's chest.
This move aroused the dancer's anger, and he wanted to push the driver back. However, he was tall and thin, and fighting was not a physical movement he was good at.
Unexpected reinforcements came from the camera crew. The camera operator handed the machine to his assistant and led the push and pull crews to catch up and push the driver far away. "What the hell are you doing? You didn't know you were filming."
If the scene doesn't go according to plan, will it kill everyone?"
It turns out that the operator was holding the camera on his shoulder and filming on the extended forward line of the car. If the driver applied a false brake to shake the scene halfway through the shot, the unlucky one would be the operator who was staring at the viewfinder behind the camera.
The Italians, who were backed by the Truck Drivers' Union, did not expect the unexpected challenge from the strong men from the British Isles and were temporarily at a disadvantage.
Alan Parker asked director of photography Michael Seresin to stop his people. He walked up to the Italian driver and said:
"I like your use of fake brakes very much, which makes the actors' performances very real. However, you must pay attention to safety during official filming and cannot use such dangerous tricks again. Do you understand?"
Of course, the driver understood the meaning of the director's words and knew that the director was on his side, so he extended his thumb to signal to the director.
Then, when Alan Parker turned his back and walked back, he quickly turned his thumb upside down and challenged the camera operator.
The camera operator smiled contemptuously, pointed at his own eyes, and then pointed two fingers at the Italian guy's eyes. This meant, "I will keep an eye on you, and don't let me catch you being a jerk again."
"
Class barriers have long existed on British film sets. Directors, actors, etc. belong to the upper class and speak with orthodox upper-class accents or Shakespearean accents.
Camera operators, scriptwriters, props, sound recorders, and other jobs all belong to the working class, and most of them speak with a Cockney accent in East London. They are commanded by the first deputy director, just like in the British Army, only the sergeant major is commanded.
to move the big-headed soldiers.
Although director Alan Parker claims to have lived in the East End of London since he was a child, he does not speak a Cockney accent, and even the British crew members do not regard the director as one of their own.
The short and stocky camera operator simply looked down on the skinny and bad style of the Italian driver. It was like a British hero on the football field who could beat seven sissies.
The first assistant director picked up the radio and started calling the truck driver in the back.
One by one, the cars slowly backed out of 46th Street and returned to their starting position.
Ronald watched the assistants direct the traffic like traffic police and restore everything to its original state. The field manager patrolled with props to ensure that everything was restored to its original position to avoid confusion.
The choreographer pointed out some problems to the dancers and took everyone back to the building to wait for the official filming.
For a large crew of more than 100 people, it takes time to restore the original state. It is not as easy as rewinding the tape on the video recorder.
When everything returned to normal and formal shooting could begin, Ronald looked at his watch and saw that more than half an hour had passed.
"No wonder you have to apply for three days of shooting time. If you shoot like this, you won't be able to get a few shots in one day." Ronald nodded secretly. These are experiences that cannot be learned from textbooks. You need to work hard on the set to know it.
of.
"Attention all departments, the next one will be officially shot!"
Instructions for shooting large scenes must be given via radio. In addition to the main camera on the guide rail on the road at the scene, there is also a second camera on the second floor of a store on the roadside.
After careful planning, the director of photography can prevent the two cameras from photographing each other, so as not to interfere with each other.
The motorcade entered 46th Street like ordinary traffic on the road.
"Give me something hot, baby, just tonight"
The dance troupe rushed into the street. The Italian driver in the lead did not show any tricks on the car, but suddenly braked and stopped in front of the troupe.
The second camera crew on the second floor captured the impact of sudden braking on the convoy. The series of sudden braking of the convoy was very beautiful. The driver in the lead was worthy of participating in movie shootings often, and he understood the director's intention very well.
Next, the extras should climb onto the leading Cadillac and start dancing on the roof. Other dancers dance in the middle of the stopped traffic, turning the entire 46th Street into a disco.
The Italian driver in the lead still remembered the director's hint and wanted to give the extras some surprises to inspire real reactions.
He shifted the gear to neutral and stepped on the accelerator.
"Boom, boom"
The dancers who originally planned to climb on the roof of the car were frightened and suddenly dispersed from the front of the car.
"Cut!", the director stopped the filming. The actor did not perform as planned. After being frightened, he did not continue the performance and stopped aside.
The hot-tempered camera operator put the camera on the ground and jumped forward in a few steps. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" he pointed at the Italian driver who was still in the car and scolded him.
The driver shifted into first gear, stepped on the accelerator, and the car sped forward a foot, barely stopping in front of the operator. The driver wanted to scare him, but why was he being so coquettish? I don’t know about the Italian Truck Drivers Union.
Is it great?
The camera operator, who was a third-generation fan of West Ham United in East London, couldn't bear it anymore and punched the hood of the Cadillac, causing a hole in the frame of the camera.
The driver who got out of the car and yelled for trouble was pushed to the ground by the operator.
At this time, all the drivers in the motorcade got out of the car to seek justice for the driver of the first car. The dancers on the other side also rushed forward and stood firmly with the camera crew.
Ronald looked on with cold eyes. This fight should not be fought. Both sides were relatively restrained. It seemed that they would have to wait for the leaders to negotiate to resolve the matter.
Sure enough, after negotiations between the first assistant director and the heads of the drivers, both parties agreed: the crew would compensate for the repair costs of the Cadillac's hood, and the driver would promise to follow the director's instructions in future filming and not carry out surprise attacks again.
In addition, the driver asked the camera operator to verbally apologize to the driver who was pushed to the ground.
Director Alan Parker pointed at the operator without saying a word, and raised his hand to tell him to apologize quickly and not delay the filming.
"You're a fucking softie, Allen. I won't apologize to that bitch." When the operator heard this strange request, he scolded the director on the spot. "How can a winner apologize to a loser?
of?"
"Michael, take care of your people." The director did not speak directly to the operator.
"Huck! I resign, I can't work for a weakling." The photographer operator yelled in a Cockney accent from East London.
The dancers all surrounded the uncle and defended him. After all, the uncle had a conflict with the Italians because he stood up for them.
"Don't worry!" The uncle comforted the young people in turn, "I am protected by the union and can get full salary and return tickets."
"With my qualifications, I can find a new job in two weeks. I'm glad I won't be working for this asshole who doesn't care about your safety or health."
"I've seen a lot. Don't look at that sissy Alan Parker who talks about making movies that reflect humanity every day. I think he is the most inhumane. Children, you have to protect yourselves, you know?"