Chapter 4 Fake Script
"Fake script?" Jenny asked with a smile.
"Yes, ask the principal to borrow the venue and extras for free, and don't reveal the plot of the movie."
This is the consistent style of New World Production: stingy!
Van Nuys High School agreed to lend the school playground for free for filming, organize students to be extras for free, and provide breakfast and lunch for free. This is all because of the fake script presented by the producer.
"Rock High School" is a typical low-cost movie, full of various elements of rock, rebellion, love, etc. that teenagers like. The plot is very simple: The cheerleader of "Vince Lombard High School" is a rebellious rock girl. Together with her good friend, the good girl, she invited the popular rock band "The Ramones" to hold a concert at the school, which pissed off the old-fashioned female principal.
In the end, the roof of the high school's teacher office building was overturned and the school was renamed "Rock High School".Such a plot, of course, the school authorities of Van Nuys Public High School, where the filming took place, would not agree. The director asked Ronald to write a fake script "High School Life" to fool the school authorities.
The story Ronald wrote was: The new female principal of the high school rectified the school spirit and made the students who were addicted to rock music realize that life is not just about rock music. Some of the students were admitted to college, some became supermarket cashiers, and some worked in factories. Everyone had a bright future. "Okay, I know." Jenny began to erase the title on the clapperboard with an eraser and re-wrote "High School Life" with a pen.
"You notify the relevant personnel and don't let it get out of the way. We will only shoot in this school for one day."
"No problem." Jenny smiled and joked, "Ronnie, you are talking more and more like a director."
Ronald smiled and waved his hand, "I'm just here to get the credits."
At this time, a group of people on the other side of the camera burst into a burst of rapid talking, and the voices became more and more sharp, as if they were about to quarrel.
"I'll go see what happened. See you later, Jenny."
"See you later."
He walked quickly into the crowd and saw Jim surrounded by three female protagonists, like 1,500 ducks calling. "Can we start the rehearsal?"
"Where's the director? "Where's Joe? He said last week that he would give me a close-up." ...
Ronald smiled and shook his head. Jim was like a poor little chicken, confused by the questions quickly asked by the three female leads. Before he could answer the previous question, he was immediately interrupted by the next question.
So he asked the director of photography: "The extras have walked through the positions and rehearsed twice, and are waiting to move together with the actors. Mr. Condie, what happened? Can't we start yet?"
The director of photography was lying behind the camera to check the framing. After hearing this, he stuck his head out from behind the camera and looked at him: "What they want is a result, and Jim gave them a lot of explanations, so..." Ronald also understood. There were countless things on the set. The script only wrote that the protagonist wore white shoes, and the director had to choose the most suitable pair of shoes from the several pairs of shoes prepared for the costumes.
The director had to make dozens of such decisions every day. From small things like what shoes the actors wear to big things like 50 extras dancing and how to choreograph each person's dance moves. The actors didn't trust Jim's choice, but Jim was eager to explain why he chose this instead of that.
"Jim, where is the director? Where is Joe? Should I wear a red coat or a black one today? This is a low-budget movie with only $100 for costumes, and I couldn't buy any suitable clothes. I spent all my salary on the clothes.
You know, that day at Fred Segal's clothing store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Rod Stewart (famous singer) was behind me. I got the red one a minute earlier than him, otherwise he would have bought it, and it cost me $300. And this black one was..." The first female lead PJ Soles talked about the two clothes, and she knew them like the back of her hand.
"Ms. Soles!" Ronald shouted, "You should wear the red one in today's scene." "Call me PJ. Wear red? But black is also good."
Because you wear red in the videotape, Ronald thought so, but he had to make up a reason.
"Ms. PJ Soules, we will shoot this scene today at sunrise. The light before and after sunrise is light blue, which will make the black color look wrong. And your red coat is very suitable. The light blue is the complementary color of red, and it will definitely stand out in the photos. And your role is a rock girl, so red is more suitable."
"Really? Then I'll choose the red one." "Ms. Mary Woronov, the director promised to add a close-up of you last week. It will be in today's shooting schedule, I promise. You walk to the camera from a distance and appear in the headmistress's uniform."
Ronald took the shooting schedule from Jim's hand and turned to a page with a piece of paper of a different color glued on it. He pointed to Mary, who played the headmistress: "Look, this is the shot."
"Dey Young (Dey Young) Young, you play the role of a good schoolgirl, and you are the protagonist of the first shot. Let's start positioning and focus measurement. After 20 minutes, no, to be exact, 18 and a half minutes, the extras are in place, and we can start rehearsing. "
The problem was solved neatly, and the director of photography gave him a thumbs up.
Mary Woronov, who plays the headmistress, has acted in several New World Productions films, and Dai Young, who plays the role of a good schoolgirl, is a newcomer. The two have little experience, so they are ready to start positioning.
PJ Soules, who plays the protagonist, the rebellious rock female cheerleader, is the biggest star in the crew and gets the highest salary. She played the main role in the horror film "Carrie" which sold well two years ago, and "Halloween" which is currently being released, so there is a stand-in.
Before the official shooting, the lighting team will see the effect of the light on the face, and the photography team will pull out a tape measure to measure the distance from the actor's eyes to the camera. Movie cameras don't have autofocus, so you need to use a tape measure to measure the focal length and manually focus to capture the sparkling eyes on the screen.
Some actors don't want to waste time, so they have a double with a similar height and weight to do these things for them. PJ Soles is the only actor in the crew who has this treatment. While the double was taking her place, PJ went to the temporary dressing room in the teaching building to change clothes and touch up her makeup.
The first assistant photographer, the focus puller, and the chief coolie, the red-haired assistant photographer, quickly took the tape and looked for the initial position of the actor in the storyboard drawing on the ground. After finding it, he used tape to stick a T-shaped indicator mark on the ground, which was the actor's standing position.
Then he took out the tape measure, hung one end on the camera, and pulled the other end in front of the actor's eyes to record the reading. Then he went back to calculate the corresponding focus and marked it on the focus ring next to the camera body. When it came time to shoot, the focus puller would turn the corresponding mark to ensure that the focus was on the actor's eyes.
This process was repeated several times to complete the shooting and positioning of the first shot. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Ronald picked up the bullhorn: "Where's the makeup? Gigi, touch up the heroine's makeup."The time has come to 05:55, and Ronald is getting anxious again. The director hasn't arrived yet. At this time, PJ Soles has changed her clothes, put on makeup, and walked out of the temporary dressing room in the teaching building.
She was still a little hesitant, wearing a red coat, and holding a black coat in one hand, constantly comparing it to her body, "Where's the director? I still have to ask the director."
Everyone looked at Ronald, and Ronald broke out in a sweat. Why is he looking at me? I don't know where the director is? But the clothes must be red in the end. He still pretended to be confident: "Director, director..."
"The director is here!" Jim, who was standing opposite, shouted.
A tall and thin man, about 6 feet 6 inches (about 2 meters) tall, walked in at the school gate. With explosive curly hair and facial features that vaguely have Middle Eastern ancestry, he is Alan Akush, the director of the "Rock High School" crew.
(End of this chapter)