Chapter 34 Trust Your Intuition

Ronald stood on the editing machine and started the film.

There was a rumbling sound of film reeling, and an image appeared on the frosted glass, a close-up of the old-fashioned Principal Togar.

"If the main culprit comes forward, I can let the others go..."

Kate Rambeau took the initiative to raise her hand and take responsibility.

"Kate, I'm going to make you stay detention." Principal Toga announced the punishment.

"And me, I'm also the main culprit." Riff Randell said, standing on the table.

"Who are you?" Principal Togar asked fiercely.

Riff stretched out her hand. "Riff Randell... get out of here!"

"Get lost? Fine, you and Kate will stay for detention."

"The scene I shot will be cut to later here," Ronald thought.

The camera switched to the scene where Riff and Kate were comforting each other.

With a panning shot, the two people walk into the meadow in the sunset and walk away. The sunset dyed their hair golden.

"Very good? There are no problems with the camera, no bloopers, and the actors' expressions, emotions, and the use of light. There are no problems at all. It's simply perfect."

Ronald looked confused. What was the problem? He stood there for half a minute and rewound the film to watch it again.

The principal speaks, punishes the student, and then cuts to that perfect, poetic shot.

Still didn't see anything.

Ronald turned around and looked at Allan.

However, Joe Dante stopped Alan from answering, looked at Ronald, and said slowly:

"Ronald, it's best for you to figure out the reason yourself. If someone else tells you, you won't get the real deep knowledge. If you can see it yourself, then you are talented and can be a successful director."

After that, Joe took the smiling director Allen and the editor out for lunch.

"Remember, look at it from the audience's perspective," Joe added before leaving.

Is this a test? Okay, I accept it!

Ronald saw this as a challenge to himself. I have a natural talent as a director, right?

Stand in front of the editing machine and rewind and play again.

And then again, and again...

After many attempts, nothing came of it!

The more anxious he got, the more he couldn't come up with an idea. Ronald paced slowly in the room, thinking about what Joe Dante had said before he left: "If you can see it yourself, then you have real talent as a director."

Be calm!

From his tone, it seemed that this was not a technical problem but a problem of artistic talent. Ronald began to think, reason, and analyze.

But this shot is very good. As the sun sets, the two good friends walk hand in hand forward, with the edges of their hair reflecting a golden light. No matter how you look at it, it is obvious that this shot could have been taken by someone with extremely high artistic taste.

There can't be a problem here.

Wait a minute. What did Joe say before he left?

"From the audience's perspective? So it can't be seen from the director's perspective?" Ronald muttered to himself and continued to walk around in circles in the editing room.

From the audience's perspective?

The audience just watches the plot, the beautiful actresses, and the beautiful shots.

Are there any problems with these?

Ronald rewound the film and watched it again.

Both actresses are photogenic, and the lighting in the picture is just right. As for the performance? There is no problem with the performance, at least Ronald himself can't see it.

Still can't see anything!

"Shitttt..."

Ronald was a little anxious and sweating.

I quickly went to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water on my face to cool down.

There is still a lot of time. Ronald calmed down for the time being and continued to think.

I should not analyze what they said, but what they did. How did Joe discover the problem?

"Allan found no problem the first time he watched it. But Joe discovered the problem when he went up to the stage. What's the difference?" Ronald began to think.

"I cut this shot here and made a mark." Ronald began to reconstruct everything he had done.

Then Allan came up, he rewound to the beginning of my shot, and started replaying it. He stepped on the stop pedal. At this time, Alan was still very satisfied and said that my choice of editing point was fine.

Then Joe came up and he also rewound the tape. Ronald closed his eyes and imitated Joe's movements.

Hmm, it seems like Joe rewound the tape for a longer time, and he watched it together with the previous footage.

Ronald hurried forward and tried to restore Joe's rewind time according to his memory.

I can't remember…

However, the editor, Larry, finally stopped the film at a close-up of the old-fashioned principal, which shows that the problem starts here.

The editor also said that it wasn't my fault, so was it the editing problem?

The problem with editing...

What Joe was talking about was the editing problem!

After going around in circles, Ronald still couldn't see the problem.

Ronald poured another cup of black tea from the thermos and tried to calm down.

Joe said that if he can see the problem, then I am someone with some talent, but what if he can't see it? It doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't have talent.

Besides, even if he doesn't have talent, he won't starve to death. He can go back to being a photographer and take wedding photos for people and live a good life.

Aunt Karen is a waitress in a restaurant and supports herself and her cousin. Who can say that she is not successful?

Speaking of Aunt Karen, by the way, what did she say to me on the phone last time?

"When you have no direction, rely on your intuition to find the direction, and don't start thinking to solve the problem before your intuition points you in the right direction."

"Trust God to guide you."

When you have no direction, trust your intuition.

Ronald reflected on his experiences since joining the "Rock n Roll High School" crew.

After discovering that the bassist was unwilling to cooperate, he persuaded Roger Corman to give him the right to shoot the film and chose Demi Moore as the model to advertise in the newspaper...

It can be said that every successful decision is made based on the direction given by intuition rather than prior analysis, thinking, and reasoning. In the words of many religious believers in America, it can also be said to be "God's guidance."

Of course, after determining the direction, when it comes to finally solving the problem, these rational analyses, extensive thinking, and continuous efforts are needed.

But that initial bit of weak inspiration, whether it was God's guidance or the feeling of a reborn person, seemed to be felt intuitively without any need for thinking.

Also, after making a decision based on intuition, your body will become particularly excited and your thinking will be very smooth, as if your physical and mental strength have doubled.

So what was my instinct this time?

Yes, intuition is...

The footage I took was fine!

So, there was something wrong with the footage that someone else had taken?

Ronald stood on the editing machine and simply rewound an extra section of the film.

This time, the image that appeared on the frosted glass was of extras dancing disco on the playground. The dance was very amateurish and a bit distracting.

Kate flirted with Tom but was ignored. This script is quite stupid. Tom is a handsome guy; how could he not understand that the beautiful girl was flirting with him?

As expected of a film produced by a company that is a master of exploitation films, the story is casual, the non-main actors are amateurish, and the audience didn't come to see this anyway; they had already expected these silly, unrealistic plots.

When the audience buys the tickets, they know that it is not a serious drama, so they don't care about the plot and performance. Anyway, the main audience is young people, and they come to see the beauties and rock and roll.

The scene continued to move forward, showing the principal, detention as punishment, and then the sisters in the sunset, which he had taken himself.

Beautiful pictures, among all the shots, the one I took is the best. The story of this movie is not worthy of this shot...

Wait, the story doesn't deserve my beautiful shot?

"I see!"

Ronald shouted happily.

He finally understood that he had shot this scene too poetically.

"Rock n Roll High School" was originally an exploitation film, with villains making a lot of noise, beauties dancing and singing, some gags thrown in, and everyone just having a good laugh.

It is very abrupt to suddenly insert a warm and touching scene here.

The audience's emotions were aroused, and they were looking forward to the subsequent story, but what followed was the same bloody plot again.

For example, it's like the TV series "The Rich Family" that I've been watching at home these days. If a line from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is suddenly inserted into the daily conversation between the rich young master and the beautiful woman, then the conversation is cut back to the daily quarrels of the rich.

The audience will simply find that piece of Shakespeare weird rather than appreciate its aesthetic value.

At this time, Allan and Joe pushed the door open and said, "What do you understand, Ronald?"

"This scene doesn't match the... well, tone of the movie."

Joe nodded. "Yes, it seems that you understand that if a shot is taken too well, it may have a bad impact on the whole. You are really talented."

"Always remember that the whole is greater than the part," Joe Dante concluded.

"What should I do?"

Ronald looked up and asked Joe, feeling terrible, as if he had spent countless efforts to write a beautiful love letter, but the girl took it to her best friend and made fun of his spelling mistakes one by one.

"Don't worry, Ronald," Joe Dante laughed.

"The advantage of low-budget exploitation films is that the audience is not picky. They already know it's an exploitation film, so they don't plan to see any artistry."

"In the middle of the movie, it is allowed to insert some dance, explosions, and funny clips. The audience expects to see a hodgepodge. It's okay to add a poetic shot."

"Besides, we can't get the money for a reshoot." Director Allan winked at him.

Ronald let out a long sigh. As long as it could be preserved, it didn't matter if it was a little abrupt.

When the film is released, I can show it to my friends, "I shot this part…" This feels pretty good. After all, it's my first screen work, and it even has subtitles, Ronald thought happily.

After passing Joe Dante's test and coming up with the correct answer, Ronald felt relieved. Only then did he realize that he was very hungry.

He went to McDonald's and ordered a double Big Mac, extra fries and a Coke, and a chocolate ice cream sundae.

It seems that I always feel particularly hungry when I am guided by my intuition.