Chapter 17 Watching the Samples

  The sample is the result of the daily shooting, which is developed and printed. It is the original appearance without color adjustment and editing. At this time, a clapperboard appeared on the screen and hit it. This is the script supervisor Jenny hitting the clapperboard, Ronald thought to himself.

  The first shot was shot by director Allen and Joe. At the end, no one called for a long time. Dae Young looked at the camera out of character, and Ronald shouted Cut! The sound was also projected.

  Immediately after that, Ronald shot the second shot. After the clapperboard was hit, the picture was similar to the previous one.

Kate, played by Dae Young, was scared by the muscular man when the football team passed by, and her expression was more realistic.

  It was not only Ronald who felt good about himself. He heard the boss lady Julie in the front row saying, "The second one is better."

  Then the principal stepped in and threatened the students to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, and everyone ran away.

  After the slow-motion filming, it was played at normal speed. The extras were like early silent film actors, running away from the playground in a weird way, inevitably bumping and dodging, and some even screaming.

  "This one is good." It was director Joe Dante who was talking. Roger in the front row turned around and asked, "Did you come up with this, or did Alan decide?"

  "It was Jim's idea to slow down, and I came up with the idea of ​​having them run in the opposite direction." Ronald replied.

  "Oh, this is very interesting..." Roger wanted to continue, but a clapboard sounded and the third take started. Everyone turned around to watch.

  ...

  In the dark screening room, Ronald couldn't see everyone's expressions, but from the low voices, it seemed that the feedback was good.

  The shot of the two beauties dancing was played, and Jerry Zucker shouted "Wow" and blew a loud whistle.

  Roger turned around and asked, "Is this the shot I saw yesterday? These two dancing girls are very photogenic and they dance well."

  "This is the dancer Sienna. I found them among the crowd at Van Nuys High School. I think they look good, so I gave them a close-up shot. There is also a side medium shot of them later."

  The next shot was the shot of the male protagonist Tom coming out of the building and walking through the crowd to the dining table to eat breakfast. Roger Corman couldn't sit still again and turned around and said, "This is really a genius shot. The loneliness in the crowd directly conveys a sense of alienation. How did you do it?"

  "I let the male protagonist Vincent stay in the center of the picture, but deliberately walked a half beat slower, not in the same step with the others..."

  ...

  The sample film was screened very quickly. After the shot of Liv Randall and Kate Lanbao, two best friends, walking together towards the grass in the sunset, the projection room cut off the picture and turned on the ceiling light.

  Roger Corman seemed to be in a good mood. Joe Dante came over and hugged Ronald, "It's a good shot, good boy." He patted him on the back.

  "Thanks, Joe."

  "Which university's film school did you graduate from, Ronald? Your name is Ronald, right?" Jerry came over and asked.

  "Me? I didn't finish the film school, I graduated from high school i am dropout college student ." Ronald was a little confused as to why Jerry would talk to him.

  "What? Graduated from high school, you must be kidding. Was your high school art teacher Spielberg? Or did you hook up with Francis Coppola's sister in high school? Or is your grandfather John Ford?"

  The people Jerry Zucker named were all famous directors. Ronald didn't know for a moment whether he was complimenting in a joking manner or making a sarcastic remark.

  "I was kidding." Jerica explained when Ronald was most embarrassed, and then started telling jokes:

  "To be honest, did your dad buy you a Super 8 camera? Have you been making short films since the 8th grade? Let the cheerleader in school go to your house to shoot? Hahahahaha."

  Super 8 is a home camera produced by Kodak, which uses Kodak's movie film. Not counting the camera, a roll of film costs $5, which Aunt Karen can't afford.

  Ronald replied, "No, I don't..."

  "Hahaha, I see, your family must own a movie theater, and you sell tickets at the door. Two tickets, two cups of Pepsi, a bucket of popcorn, salty, five dollars and fifty-eight cents, your change, sir." Jerry Zucker is very good at interrupting others and making jokes that are either real or fake. If you feel that he offends you, he will say "I'm just kidding."

  Ronald was interrupted by him several times when he was about to speak, and he felt a little angry. Jerry Zucker not only has a receding hairline, but also has buck teeth. He walked up to Ronald and threw out another joke.

  Ronald became annoyed and didn't want to talk to him anymore, but Jerry became more and more excited as he talked, and he laughed so hard that his back bent, "Hahaha, you know, I'm going to tell you something funny, hahaha...", and said that he was about to hook Ronald's shoulder.

  Ronald felt a buzzing sound, and the blood rushed to the top of his head through the pulse behind his ears. He instinctively wanted to reach out to block Jerry's hand, and then step forward to step in and give him a hard blow.

  Fortunately, reason prevailed and controlled the wrestler's instinct. Others only saw Ronald holding Jerry's hand and not letting him put his arm around his shoulder. Only Ronald's ears turned red.

  The boss's wife Julie Coleman couldn't stand it anymore, so she came to help and separated him and Jerry. "It's filmed very well. I haven't seen such a great new director for a long time. The last time was when I was a producer for Martin Scorsese and filmed "The Human Torch". He is also like you, he can draw beautiful storyboards."

  Ronald was a little embarrassed by Julie's praise, and hurriedly said, "Thank you, Mrs. Coleman. You are too kind."

  "After we finish watching the rest of the samples, come to the president's office. Roger wants to talk to you." Julie whispered.

  As she said that, Julie glanced at Roger Corman, who was whispering to the producer again. Julie patted Ronald on the shoulder and motioned him and Jim to go out first. They still had to discuss the sample film shot two days ago. It was not convenient for Ronald and Jim to listen in on these discussions.

  Ronald and Jim opened the door of the screening room and walked out. Gail also sneaked out, turned around and stuck the door with her foot to leave a gap, and whispered: "Ronnie, Julie likes you very much. If you want to leave your name on the subtitles, her opinion is very important."

  Ronald made a gesture of thanks, and Gail went back in. Ronald looked at Jim and touched his chin: "It seems that the sample film we shot is not bad?"

  "Yes, I think it's very good," Jim nodded, "I didn't expect that an ordinary main shot in the picture you shot could also convey an emotion to the audience. I have to think about it carefully. Kubrick's movie shocked me like this back then." "

  Roger seems to be very satisfied with the two of us. It may be possible for us to do some new work." The two walked out of the office together and chatted in the yard.

  "Have you decided what you want to do?"

  "I have always been interested in movie stunts, and I like to study the stunts in '2001: A Space Odyssey.' I heard that director Kubrick built a Ferris wheel to shoot the weightlessness scenes."

  Jim said here, and suddenly changed his voice and said, "Gail told me that Roger may be in a big-budget science fiction film next year. He was stimulated by the success of 'Star Wars.' I want to join that group to do stunt design."

  "Really? Is there any plan for the movie?" Ronald was very happy for Jim. His dream was to make a science fiction movie.

  "I heard it's a science fiction version of 'Seven Samurai', remaking Kurosawa's story into a Star Wars setting."

  "Kurosawa? Seven Samurai?" Ronald looked confused.

  Jim looked at him and knew that he had not seen this classic work by the famous Japanese director. "Then you've seen 'Magnificent Seven', right? The theme song of the Marlboro cigarette commercial is from this movie."

  "I've seen this one. Thump-thump, thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump." Ronald hummed the theme song.

  "Yes, The Magnificent Seven is a remake of Seven Samurai, and we are also going to remake one." Jim took out a cigarette and lit it, "Would you like one too?"

  "No, thank you."

  "What about you? Have you decided what to do?"

  "I will be a still photographer for the Rock High School crew first, and the stills I take can be placed in my photography studio in the future."

  "Okay, then we will take a group photo and call Gail along."

  (End of this chapter)