Chapter 11 Film Director: From Beginner to Master in 10 Minutes
Roger took Ronald into the large room next to the principal's office. On the door was written "Detention".
This is where the principal of a public school exercises his power.
He can keep a few naughty students after school for punishment.
The two sat at a corner of the conference table. Roger Corman took a sip of coffee and said slowly:
"Most of the directors who work for me are newcomers in the industry. So I will talk to every new director before they direct for the first time. I will tell them about my directing experience so that they can get started quickly."
"Although you are a temporary director who is only directing for one day, I treat you equally and will talk to you as well."
"In the next 10 minutes, I will tell you about my experience as a director. I have directed more than 50 films, and many directors have not made as many films as I have in their entire lives."
"The most expensive part of making a movie is the shooting stage. The pre-production and post-editing don't cost much. In the middle shooting stage, money is spent like water every day. So in my opinion, there is only one way to shoot a movie, and that is to shoot quickly."
"Do you mind if I take some notes?" Ronald asked. After getting Roger's approval, he took out a small notebook and a ballpoint pen from his waist bag and quickly wrote down "shoot expensively, save time and effort, and shoot fast in the middle."
"On the set, you should sit down whenever you have a chance, because directors need to stand for a long time and walk a lot. You should rest whenever you have a chance, otherwise you will be very tired and affect the next day's shooting. That's why the director's chair has a name, to prevent others from sitting on it."
"Find a chair to sit on..." Ronald wrote in his notebook.
"The most important thing in a movie is the first roll of film at the beginning (about 11 minutes), the audience wants to know what happened. The second most important thing is the last roll of film, the audience wants to know how it ends. The ones in the middle are irrelevant, shoot whatever you want."
"The first roll is the heaviest..." Ronald wrote again.
"When writing the script, pay attention to concentrating the play on a few main scenes. Each scene can shoot many scenes, saving money and time. If the scene can use natural light, or there is free light, write more scenes, so as to save the cost and time of lighting arrangement."
"Concentrate the scene, save natural light, and do less lighting..." Ronald looked up after writing, waiting for the next line.
"Can you take shorthand?" Roger was interested.
"Yes, I took a correspondence course in shorthand when I was in grade 10," Ronald answered. "I had health problems at the time and had difficulty speaking. My aunt was afraid that I wouldn't be able to find a job in the future, so she asked me to learn a skill. Fortunately, I recovered later."
Roger Corman watched him taking shorthand with great interest...
"Don't be in a hurry when rehearsing. Spend as much time as necessary. The time spent on rehearsal will be saved during filming. No rework means speed."
"Rehearse as much as possible..."
"Be confident on the set. The crew will always pay attention to what the director is doing, especially at the beginning of filming. Give them clear and specific instructions. As soon as you come in, tell them what the shot is like, so that they will recognize you and give you the greatest support."
"In fact, the technical details of filming are not difficult. As a new director, you can master various techniques in about a week, and smarter ones can master them even faster. But the performance of the actors is always a big problem, and you need to learn and accumulate experience as much as possible."
Roger talked eloquently, "How to inspire and encourage actors to give full play to their acting skills while controlling them within the overall framework of the film is the gold standard for distinguishing good directors from bad directors."
"In addition to spending time rehearsing, you should also communicate with the actors as much as possible. Many mistakes are caused by a lack of mutual understanding between the director and the actors."
"If he is a method actor, you can discuss with him the highest task, what does this role require? What is his motivation?"
"Give the actor the script for tomorrow's shooting in advance. Don't give the script on the day of the shoot, so there is no time to digest it."
"If the actors have the ability to improvise, let them improvise. Not every actor can improvise, more comedians. But this is also a matter of the director's style. I personally mainly follow the script."
"Keep the camera moving. The camera is the audience's eyes. The human eye does not like still things. If something is still on the screen for more than 5 seconds, the human eye begins to get bored. So keep the camera moving, or add something fresh and exciting to the picture."
"The plot of a low-cost movie is not important. People don't come to see the story. They come to see women in bikinis shooting terrorists with machine guns, or a group of high school girls singing and dancing in cool clothes."
"Always trust your DP, if you have a good one. If he says he got it, then he got the shot you wanted because you can't see it yourself. If your DP is not good, then change him or do it yourself."
The best light for outdoor shooting is around sunrise and sunset, which is called magic light. But magic light is very short. Make full use of time. If you want to shoot longer, you can find a hillside and shoot the main shot at the foot of the hill first. After sunset, climb up the hillside to chase the light. It's not sunset yet at higher places, so you can shoot close-up shots on the hillside. Bring a photographer, a reflector, and the actors to climb the mountain. Because close-up shots can't see the background, there will be no mistakes..."
Roger began to talk about his various secrets to saving money on low-cost movies, and Ronald recorded them quickly.
"You already know the Hollywood method. One main shot, two over-the-shoulder shots, and then close-ups..."
"Always have a sense of humor. Film is a very torturous business, with all kinds of accidents and emergencies. You need to have a good sense of humor to find ways to flexibly deal with these troubles that are not in the shooting plan. "
Ronald's shorthand is very fast. He would often finish writing down what Roger had just said, and then look up at him with curious eyes.
Roger Corman was a little proud. This might be the happiest time for him as a teacher. He couldn't help but say more about things beyond his directing experience.
"If you want to express a certain theme through a movie, put it in the background story. Never jump out directly in the movie and let the character promote a certain value. Put it in the subtext so that the audience will accept it imperceptibly. If you say it directly, the audience will be disgusted by your preaching."
"To date, I have directed and produced no less than 200 movies, and only one lost money, which was "The Invaders" in 1962. Because I wanted to promote equality and progressive values so much, I let the protagonist talk directly about the racial equality of black people. This is the only movie of mine that lost money, although the reviews were good."
"The last one, if you want to be a filmmaker, you must persist, persist and persist. If you want to get rich, go into real estate. "
Uh," Ronald complained in his heart, "You've made so many profitable movies, why haven't you made a fortune yet? I heard that you are a multimillionaire. But I don't ask for money in the film industry, I just want to gain experience first..."
He closed the notebook and put it in his waist bag. The two stood up and walked out. Ronald followed behind and turned off the fluorescent light switch. Roger Corman nodded in satisfaction.
It's rare to find such a stingy multimillionaire.
(End of this chapter)