Chapter 7 Ask the Boss for Instructions

"New World" Production is acompany that specializes in shooting low-budget movies. The official shooting time for the 90-minute "Rock High School" is only three weeks, and minus the rest time on Sundays, it is actually only 18 days.

  So they shoot as fast as they can. In order to save time, everyone has no rest time after shooting a take, and immediately starts preparing for the next shot.

 The crew are all experienced and very accustomed to the rhythm of New World Production.

 Without Ronald's order, the three strong guys in the camera team began to remove the camera from the jib and move it to the front. The red-haired first photography assistant began to install the pan-tilt head, and then everyone worked together to put the camera on it.

  The costume and makeup were quickly touching up Dae Youngg's makeup, and the powder puffs were flying.

  Soon, Ronald picked up the electric speaker and gave orders again, and another take was successfully completed.

  The next scene is the appearance of the protagonist PJ Soules. She plays Liv Randall, who puts the record of the "Ramones" band into the record player on the playground, and the top student Kate Lanbao connects the line to the school's speakers.

  As soon as the switch was turned on, all the speakers indoors and outdoors in the school began to play the punk rock music of the Ramones.

  The shooting of this scene required a new set. Jim began to direct the assistants of each crew to move the props. "Put the record player here." The wires that Dae Young was going to connect were placed here. The recording department began to connect the speakers in the playground to the recorders that actually played the songs.

  After handing the scene over to Jim, Ronald went over to discuss her first scene of the day with PJ Soules.

  PJ Soules was a slender beauty. She wore a red top that she had chosen, and the collar was a black and white spotted pattern, which was very outstanding. She wore leather pants and Converse canvas shoes. In 1978, this was the most popular outfit for a rock punk girl.

  "Looks great! You're really hot today, PJ."

  "Hey, Ronnie, how does it feel to be a director?"

  "Not bad, maybe I'll take a photo with you later, as a commemoration of my directorial career."

  "Hahaha, no problem. You're great, Ronnie."

  "This scene is your entrance scene. Have you thought about how to capture the audience's attention?"

  "Oh, yeah. I plan to give the audience the image of a very energetic girl at the beginning, jumping around..."

  Ronald's qualifications and acting skills are not enough to direct PJ Soules. Seeing that what she said was similar to the image in his dream, he pretended to be very appreciative and nodded frequently.

  "Perfect, we'll do it again later."

  At this time, Jim came over and said that the props and scenery had been set up.

  "Please..." Ronald made a gesture and led the two heroines to enter together.

  This scene is a long shot. The director of photography and Ronald mentioned that hyperfocal distance should be used.

  The red-haired assistant photographer looked at the aperture and converted it, saying, "5 meters, 5 meters away from the camera lens is the hyperfocal distance." That means that there is no need to focus, and all scenes can be photographed clearly.

  Ronald had seen this hyperfocal distance shooting method several times before in the "Rock High School" crew, and it was said to have a good aesthetic effect. But he felt that it was more important to save time, and take as many takes as possible.

  Ronald started from the camera and walked 7 steps, still far away from the actors. He signaled Jim to start with confidence.

  Jim blew the whistle three times to end the scene.

  "Everyone, pay attention, we are officially shooting..."

  "High School Life 128th Scene, First Shot, First Take."

  The camera started with PJ Soules, who put a vinyl record into the record player and pressed the play button.

  The camera then moved to Dai Yang, who pretended to connect two pieces of wires with exposed copper wires.

  Ronald signaled the recording team to play music. The music of the Ramones, "Do You Wanna Dance?", began to sound, and the prelude of "beep, beep, beep" came from the speakers...

  "Cut!"

  Ronald felt that he was just a tool. The performance was controlled by the experienced PJ, and the artistic quality of photography was handed over to the director of photography, Mr. Conti. As for him, he only looked at whether it was the same as the picture revealed in the dream. He was reduced to just calling Action and Cut.

  "It's good like this. Anyway, I'm a temporary director and I don't know anything."

  Ronald comforted himself.

  "How about this one?"

  Dean Conti confirmed with him that there was no problem.

  "Do you need to keep a take?"

  "You are the director!"

  "Okay, let's keep another one."

  After shooting this shot, the sun had risen, and the magic light would dissipate in more than ten minutes.

  Ronald looked at the shooting log. There was another panoramic shot next, which was the female principal coming to the playground to give a speech and threatened to keep the students in school. After that, the students on the playground fled.

  "Okay, let's shoot this one again, and then take a break."

  After discussing with the director of photography, Ronald directed the group actors to walk to the middle of the playground.

  "Mr. Condie, are these enough?"

  "There's still some space, we can't fill the camera."

  "Everyone, everyone, all the crew assistants, those who don't have any filming tasks, the costumes, makeup, and stand-ins, stand in the back row!"

  Ronald drove the 20 or so crew members to the back row of the playground. If they stood in the back row in the camera, no one would notice their costumes and ages.

  "Record... Camera...

  Action!"

  "One, two, three, run!" Ronald shouted below zero, and the extras began to scatter.

  "Cut, Cut,"

  Ronald hurriedly called a halt. "Running too fast? What do you think, Mr. Condie?"

  "Yes, and the extras are all running out of the frame from the nearest direction. The shot is less than 2 seconds long, not long enough."

  Jim suddenly interrupted: "Can we use fast motion?"

  The director of photography replied for the first time: "Do you mean slow motion?"

  "Yes." Seeing that Ronald didn't quite understand, Jim explained to him in a low voice:

  "Slow motion means shooting with a relatively low camera speed, so that when the normal speed of 24 frames per second is projected, the actors will become like fast motion, just like when we watch early silent films. A funny effect is achieved."

  "Director, what's your decision?" Director of photography Dean Condie still tried to speak as little as possible.

  "OK, we will use slow motion." Ronald said as he walked towards the extras, "We still have to solve the problem of insufficient time." He recalled the scene he dreamed of last night and had an idea in his mind.

  "Boys and girls, let's try another way of running. With me as the center line, everyone on my left, run to the right; everyone on my right, run to the left."

  "Everyone, go back to the starting position and start." Ronald turned around and said to the camera crew.

  "Don't you want to rehearse once?" Jim asked.

  "No, I want this to be the first time without rehearsal. Let them not be prepared, and we can capture the real reaction"

  ...

  "One, two, three... run!" Ronald gave the order again a few minutes later, and all the extras ran in the opposite direction of last time. The crowd inevitably collided, dodged, and screamed. This time the duration was enough. "

  Cut!" Ronald turned to the director of photography, "Mr. Condie, should we call our boss Mr. Coleman first?"

  The director of photography looked at the light, and the moment of magic light was basically over, "Okay, let's go together."

  "Okay, the crew will take a 30-minute break. "Jim picked up the loudspeaker and began to announce a 30-minute break and began to arrange the scenery for the next scene.

  Ronald took the director of photography and explained to the dean of studies who was sent by the school to supervise. The two entered the principal's office and began to call the office of New World Productions. It was

an old-fashioned dial phone, and each number dialed had to wait for the dial to turn. Ronald organized his speech to his boss Roger Corman.

  "Beep...beep...beep...beep, after waiting for several beeps, someone finally answered the phone. Good morning, New World Productions."

  A pleasant female voice came from the other end of the microphone, softly.

  "Is that Gail? I'm Ronald, an assistant to the 'Rock and Roll High School' crew."

  "Oh, Ronnie. Calling the company so early? If I hadn't come to the company early today, no one would have answered your call. Is there something wrong?"

  "Uh, yes, I was worried that no one would be there if I called too early. Is Mr. Corman in the office? Listen, there's an emergency here, and the director of photography, Mr. Dean Condie, is right next to me. Director Allen has a problem and fainted on the set. Joe has taken him to the hospital. We need a new director."

The person on the other end of the line was Gail, Roger Corman's assistant to the president. He was an assistant to the president of New World Company and was not the kind of person who worked in an office at a big studio. Roger Corman, this stingy boss, would use his people to the utmost. In addition to handling things in the office, Gail also had to run around on site for him, busy like a real estate agent.

  "Don't panic, I'll call Roger right away. Wait for my call back. What's your phone number? (818) 778-6801? OK, don't go away, I'll call you back later."

  After hanging up the receiver, Ronald looked at Dean Condie beside him.

  "So, Mr. Condie, what do you think happened to the director? Why didn't you let me take him to the hospital so that Joe could stay and continue directing?"

  (End of this chapter)