Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 106 Old Movies

   A few weeks have passed, and several students have applied to transfer departments one after another. In the end, the dozens of students who stayed behind were all determined to pursue their film and TV dreams.

   There may also be a TV station at home and a studio background, not afraid of finding a job after graduation. Ronald seemed to see one or two from the fashionable outfits of several classmates.

  Today's class is in the evening, in the theater. In addition to undergraduate students, there are also many master students to attend the class. For no other reason, the teacher is a hot Hollywood director, Martin Scorsese.

   Scorsese is very interesting. He did not teach a course related to directing, but a class on the appreciation of classic old movies. According to the gossip of classmates, the old man who persuaded him to quit originally wanted to take this course, but he had not competed with Scorsese, so he could only go to film theory.

   A small man with a big beard came in, walked to the stage in front of the theater, picked up the microphone and started to speak.

"I'm Martin Scorsese, and I'm giving you classic film appreciation this year. I'm sorry the class was delayed two weeks because my new film was shot in Los Angeles earlier. I'll finish shooting in New York after that. In that movie, if there is a time conflict, my assistant will come to show the movie, and after you watch it, you can hand over the review assignment to her."

   "I always think that the shortcut to making movies is to watch more classic old movies. Don't just watch Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly, of course they are also worth watching."

   The classmates laughed in response to the occasion.

Scorsese laughed himself, "I mean, you have to start watching from the silent film era. The common techniques of movies were established in the silent film era, so we have to go back to that era. Start from scratch and go through generations of directors. Through the history, you will have a deeper understanding of the current film techniques."

   "Today is the first day, so I won't torture you. I picked a black and white film with sound, which is the 'Grapes of Wrath' shot in 1940 by John Ford, the great Western director.

   The reason for choosing this movie is to show you that all the so-called director's rules can be broken for the purpose of expressing. Of course, the premise is that you have mastered the rules to know when to break him.

What I'm going to draw your attention to is the opening minute, how the star Henry Fonda (Jane Fonda, and Peter Fonda's dad) is silent for that minute and yet captivates the audience attention. "

   Then Scorsese motioned to the teaching assistant to start the movie in the screening room at the back.

   Scorsese didn't say anything about the theory, but let everyone watch the movie and write movie reviews after class. The teaching of a real great director is always simple, and there are not so many terms and theories to persuade the old man.

  The students took advantage of the short time before the screening, and began to talk to each other about Scorsese's purpose. Others cite the "author movie" theory, arguing that Scorsese was trying to train their sense of authorship.

   A black student gave them a disdainful look, put on his glasses, and looked around, as if he wanted to hear what other people had to say. His eyes flicked over Ronald, and he paused, and Ronald nodded kindly to him. The black student also nodded to him and began to look at the screen.

  Ronald thinks it's not so complicated. This is a practitioner, and he despises the theoretician. Scorsese is also shooting a commercial film. Of course, he knows the importance of the beginning. Roger Coleman stuffed some beauties at the beginning, violence, science fiction, and suspense.

   Scorsese is more advanced. The "Grapes of Wrath" he admires must have different techniques to attract attention, so let the students learn from it.

  The movie started showing, and a beam of white light hit the screen.

  The old film copy has been played hundreds of times, the perforations of the film are a little worn, which causes the film to not stick firmly on the projector and will shake back and forth. So the movie screen is also a little jittery. There are also scratches, bursts, and some poorly preserved moldy spots from previous screenings.

   The opening composition is relatively bland, with a still camera facing a telephone pole and an empty street. A man came far away, he walked past the camera, looked to his left, the camera moved with him, the man continued to move forward, and a truck and an old house appeared in the picture.

   does break quite a few rules. Ronald remembers Roger Coleman telling him that he had to get the camera moving as much as possible, not static shots, to stimulate the audience as much as possible.

   But the Grapes of Wrath, there was no footage that stimulated the audience's senses for a minute, and Ronald is still firmly in the spotlight. Maybe this is because he was attracted to this man. Who is he? What is he doing here? Where do you want to go?

  The film is two hours long, and Ronald felt very enjoyable after watching it. It tells the story of a murder suspect who, after being paroled from prison, returns to his hometown of Oklahoma, just in time for the Great Depression. Taking my family to California to find a job was a tough journey.

   The misery and helplessness under various capitalist economic crises are fully expressed in the story. In recent years, the economy has been bad, and it is somewhat similar to the Great Depression. Ronald also resonated with the movie.

  The video was over, Scorsese had already left, and the teaching assistant started to send out the outline of the course, the requirements for homework and other materials. Ronald ran into the black student with glasses again.

   "Hi, hello." Ronald stepped forward and greeted, "I haven't seen you in the undergraduate course, are you a master's student?"

   "Yes, I'm Sheldon Jackson Lee, I know you, you were in 'High School of Rock' and I've seen the reviews of Sisko and Albert."

   Ronald couldn't help but smile. This family, who was also surnamed Li, didn't say his nickname "Sleepy Luo". Hi, nice to meet you.

   "Me too, you have been in the crew, I'm preparing my graduation film recently, can you come to my crew to help?"

  Disease Academy of Arts students must make a short film and submit it as a graduation thesis after graduation. Ronald had known this for a long time. In order to save costs, many students help each other, you will be my assistant director, I will be your photographer, and so on.

   However, this black man is quite demanding. He has been in the crew and has filming experience before he is willing to invite him out.

   "Of course, when you let me know, I'd be happy to help." The college understands the needs of students, so many classes are put in the evening, allowing them to shoot films during the day.

   "That's great, let's exchange phone numbers." Sheldon took out a pen and paper and exchanged phones, "What have you been doing lately? Are you going to any production?"

   "I recently worked on MGM's 'Famous Around the World', and now that filming is done, I'm just in time for school."

Sheldon is a little envious of his resume, "I also hope to be able to study in the crew, but my ultimate goal is to be a director and shoot black stories. So I hope to make my own short film and go to the film festival, so maybe it will There are producers willing to invest in me."

   "You will surely succeed." Ronald bid him farewell.

   Back home, Ronald had a late night snack and poured a cup of black tea. Studying is still quite stressful, various homework, reading, writing, and busy nights are often things.

  Antonia is still doing a newcomer training. I heard that Balanchine is more satisfied with her and will give her a small official role next year. So now she devotes all her body and mind to the practice, both of them are very busy, and only talk on the phone at night.

   The video recorder snapped and started recording automatically. Ronald set a timed recording to record late-night old movies on CBS, NBC and other TV stations, and watch and study repeatedly when he has time.

   This is what Walter Murkey taught him in his reply. Walter is very candid, saying that he is just a Craftsman and knows some techniques and art of picture and sound editing. Ronald asked him big questions about the production and marketing of the film, and he didn't have an answer.

   But in the letter, Walter repeatedly reminded the importance of Ronald's old movies. Now, apart from the occasional old movies on TV, the only way for ordinary people to watch is in the class of the film school. This is a stage that all masters go through, and it requires careful study.

  Walter Murkey also told him that the film has undergone two major technological revolutions, the first time from silent to sound, and the second from black and white to color. The consequences of the two revolutions resulted in mass unemployment of the original technicians because they could not adapt to the new technology.

   But their techniques are not outdated, so the new generation of filmmakers after the technological revolution are often doing the process of reinventing the old techniques of the previous generation. Many techniques that reached a high artistic level in the era of silent and black and white films have since been lost.

   Watching a lot of old movies with the photographer’s eyes will help you pick up these relics and enrich your arsenal for making movies.

  Ronald heard Martin Scorsese say the same thing today. He couldn't help but pay more attention to watching old classic movies. If there is a chance, he should also build his own videotape library and study it over and over again.

   "Ring, ringing, ringing..." The phone rang.

  It's Antonia, Ronald picked up the phone happily, "Hi dear."

   "Ronnie, the No. 1 girl in the American Ballet was injured suddenly. After the B corner was on top, they didn't have the B corner. They asked me to try the B corner, and I was selected!"

   "Really? Congratulations! It's really nice." Ronald was happy for Donia from the bottom of his heart. This was the best career start ever.

   "However, I will go on tour with them for half a year, and we won't be able to meet for half a year." Antonia said in a low voice.

   "Don't be sad, Donia, didn't we agree? You are working hard to develop your ballet career, and I will work hard to make money and try to buy your dance company."

  "Puchi", Antonia over there was amused, "You always make me happy, Ronnie."

   "I'll go to your place tonight, you'll take me to the airport tomorrow, and I have to go west with the group."

   (end of this chapter)