Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 157 Chapter 108 Duties of the First Assistant Director

   "That's all?" asked the Fedex courier boy in purple overalls.

   "That's all." This is Ronald's script in the copy shop, after punching the copy, and binding it with two 1.25-inch No. 5 copper staples. 96 pages plus the front and back cover, the copper nails are still a bit longer than the copy.

  Ronald used two washers to increase the thickness, and then used a hammer to flatten the heads of the copper nails so that readers would not cut their hands.

   Three copies were sent to CAA's headquarters, which was more expensive than faxing by long-distance telephone, but the advantage was that the text was clear.

Then Ronald sent Michelle Pfeiffer to the fitness center for exercise. Since he resumed a balanced diet, Pfeiffer has attached great importance to his body maintenance. He went to the gym the next day to do aerobic training, and also did yoga at home .

   Today Ronald did not practice in the fitness center, but was invited by director Zeffirelli to his office to discuss preparations before shooting. The Italians started filming and stayed in the office on Saturday to prepare.

  Polygram set aside part of the offices of the New York record company for the film department, and Zeffirelli worked in this building on Eighth Avenue.

   Ronald entered the door and saw a poster of the band signing last month. The poster showed four band members, each holding up a mask and covering his face. This is the KISS band discovered by Casablanca Records under Polygram. The members have always been shown in heavy makeup like cats, and fans have no idea what they look like.

   Find Zeffirelli's office, Ronald knocks on the door.

   "Ha, Ronald, I'm glad you came." Zeffirelli gave him a close salute.

   "I've seen the storyboard you drew about Miss Pfeiffer, how about you, do you want to be my first assistant director?"

"This?"

  Ronald was a little surprised. The first assistant director was the director's right-hand man. He was one of the few candidates who was delineated by the director, and the producer couldn't put his beak on it.

  Before the start, he was like the director's secretary, doing a lot of preparatory work. After the start, he was like the director's arm, executing the director's will in the crew, managing dozens or hundreds of people in a large crew in an orderly manner.

   Ronald is not suitable for being the first assistant director at such a young age. Generally, he should start with the assistant of the second assistant director, then the second assistant director, and then he is qualified to be promoted to the first assistant director.

"Of course, you're only in charge of the story breakdown before the movie starts. My assistant director, Robert Girolami, can't make it through because of the delay in the shooting of Stallone's "Nighthawk". ."

   This is the first assistant director, the first important job in the crew, usually starting the fourth to last week before the film starts. The so-called plot decomposition is to separate each scene in the script and put the scenes in the same scene in a group to facilitate the shooting plan.

  For example, "Endless Love", there are quite a few scenes in the heroine Jade's house, and there are quite a few scenes in the script from the very beginning until the hero David set fire to the house.

   And these scenes will be filmed in one time period to facilitate the carpentry decoration, prop arrangement, and lighting of the crew, which can greatly reduce the cost of shooting.

   Only a few rich and powerful crews will shoot each scene in the order of the script, in order to make the actors' performances more accurate. The filming budget of "Endless Love" is 8 million US dollars, which can only be regarded as a medium production in Hollywood, and was shot according to the principle of centralized shooting.

"You not only have to split the script from the markings on the script, but sometimes the screenwriter's writing may not be accurate, such as here." After the director Zeffirelli shared an agent with Pfeiffer, his attitude towards Ronald became much more friendly, which was considered half-hearted. one's own.

   "For example, in this scene, Jed came down the stairs and saw his lover sleeping in front of the fireplace in the living room. What would you do if you captured it with a camera?"

   "I'll put a fixed camera where Jade comes down the stairs and follow Jade downstairs. Then cut to the reaction shot of the hero David."

"Very good, but there is a problem here. The screenwriter only marked the interior, night scene, and night. The two shots you just mentioned must be lit twice, and Jed has to walk down from the top of the stairs. Here we are There are actually two scenes, the wooden staircase, and the fireplace in the living room.”

  Zeffirelli began to teach Ronald some techniques for splitting scenes.

   "Then in the broken down scenes, put all the same scenes together, and you get a shooting schedule."

  Ronald nodded and began to read the markings for each scene in the script, marking the highlights with a highlighter.

   "In the shooting schedule, you should also pay attention to which scenes are marked that require different makeup, props, vehicles, or special shooting methods."

   "Like the shot of setting fire to Jed's house?"

"Yes, you are very smart, this kind of shot needs to be re-planned, we only have one shot, and safety is also very important. Here is a scene split table from the Romeo and Juliet script I shot in my early years, you can use it as a reference, do Let me have a look when it's over."

"I'll wait for you to do this later, let me chat now, can you drink espresso?" Zeffirelli saw Ronald nod, got up and pressed the button in front of the coffee machine, the high pressure heat of 190 degrees Fahrenheit Water, run through the ground coffee, and instantly extract two cups of Espresso.

   Ronald thanked him, took the small cup, and drank it. Espresso is a kind of espresso. The refreshing effect of a small cup can be worth a large cup of American coffee.

   "Is the heroine Brooke Shields or Meg Ryan? Mr. Zeffirelli?" Ronald asked.

   "Meg Ryan, it's already made an appointment, just waiting for the signing." Zeffirelli also drank his coffee, which is the standard Italian way of drinking, "Don't mention work during breaks."

   "Mr. Zeffirelli, how do you keep your English without an accent? Most Italians in New York always speak English with some Italian accent." Ronald asked a flattering question.

   "Call me Franco." Zeffirelli was still reminiscing about the taste of Espresso, "It's actually quite a legend, you won't believe it if I say it."

  Ronald made an air of listening intently.

"It started when I was a child. My father and mother were not a couple. My father, Cauchy, may they rest in peace, was a silk merchant in Florence, my mother was a housewife, and I was an illegitimate child. ."

  Zeffirelli began to recall the past, and now he can talk about his childhood experiences more calmly.

"In Italy, illegitimate children can't use their father's surname, so my mother came up with Zeffiretti as my surname, which means "Little Sea Breeze" in Mozart's opera, but the employee in charge of registration, misspelled it as Zeffirelli."

"My mother died when I was six, and my father hired English tutors for me, and I've been growing up in an expat community in England, a bunch of old British women, leftovers from the First World War. old maids and widows, aged in Italy, Florentines call them the Scorpions."

"During World War II, they also visited Mussolini and had afternoon tea with him, keeping the British expatriate community from being destroyed by the Italian army. After the Allied forces logged in, I also used the English I learned from them. Interpreter and guide for British and American troops."

  …

   After listening to director Zeffirelli's teenage experience with relish, Ronald took the script to leave and went home to decompose the script.

   "Bell bell bell..."

   "Ronnie, here's a girl named Helen looking for you." Donna called from the dance supply store.

   "Helen?"

   "Is that you, Ronald, I'm here to buy my leg warmers. After your movie was released, the classmates in the high school of performing arts were crazy to buy your leg warmers."

   turned out to be the daughter of PBS Vice President Gerald, Helen Slater.

   "Of course, you can choose whatever you want. Two are free, and the rest will be 40% off." Ronald said on the phone.

   "Aren't you coming? My mom saw the commercial you shot for my version of the Carpenter song and brought you a thank you gift."

   "Ah, thanks. Well, I'll be there right away, soon." Ronald walked to the RTKD dance supply store.

   "What is this?" Ronald took a large package from Helen Slater.

   "Open it and take a look." Helen looked a little smirk.

  "Okay", Ronald forcefully opened the package, which turned out to be a large placard that read "Eliminate all human nuclear weapons."

   "My mother is an anti-nuclear public interest human rights lawyer." Helen giggled.

   "It's a very fancy gift." Ronald put the placard in the store and looked at his watch, "I'll invite you to dinner with Donna, Helen."

   "Why don't you invite us to a movie, I haven't seen the famous one."

"Uh, please forgive me, I can't stand seeing my image on the screen so many times, I always feel so pretentious." Ronald felt that Gerald didn't want his daughter to see all kinds of negative things in the Academy of Performing Arts. , maybe using the R-class as an excuse to forbid his daughter to go.

   "Okay," Helen Slater was a little sullen.

   "Why don't we watch Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, have you seen it?" Ronald suggested.

   "Okay, I haven't seen it yet." Helen turned happy again. Teenagers are always in a good mood.

   A large package of leg warmers for Helen is free of charge, and the rest will be dealt with 40% off. Ronald took Helen and Donna to the cinema not far away.

   The "Empire Strikes Back", which was released soon, is still popular now. Although it was a morning show, it was still quite full.

   "The Empire Strikes Back" has a much larger budget than the fourth "A New Hope", and the special effects are even more amazing. Ronald watched with great enthusiasm, and some scenes felt a little familiar, maybe he had seen it in a previous life.

  Helen and Donna can't take their eyes off of them, the space chase of X-fighters and Tie-fighters, the funny flip-flops of Master Juda, and the space monster that almost swallowed the Millennium Falcon. The audience burst into exclamations.

The plot comes to the scene where Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader duel with a lightsaber in a spaceship. Luke is forced to stand at the end of the spaceship, and one hand is cut by Darth Vader with a lightsaber. break. Luke angrily shouted "You killed my dad."

  Darth Vader stepped forward, and Ronald somehow said the line ahead of time, "No, I'm your dad!"

   "I'm your dad!" Black Jazz on the screen also said the same line, Luke shouted "No..." and fell down, just to be caught by the Millennium Falcon.

  Helen and Donna looked at Ronald:

"How did you know?"

   "So how did you know?" When the three of them were having lunch, Helen asked Ronald again why he could call out that reversed line in advance.

   "At this point in the plot, in accordance with the usual development route, it has entered a dead end. Only an unexpected reversal can make this scene the climax of the movie.

   I was wondering what I could do as a screenwriter. There is only one way, Vader is Luke's father Anakin, so he can't help shouting out. ' Ronald explained to the pair.

   Donna looked incredulous, "Did you secretly see it first?"

   "It's not like, I saw him surprised when he saw Han Solo being carbonized," Helen said.

   "Is your father busy lately?" Ronald didn't know why he blurted out, and changed the subject.

   "Yeah, he's been so busy lately that he can't even make an appointment with his secretary," Helen replied.

   "Really? What is it?" Ronald asked.

   "I don't know, my dad didn't mention it."

   Send Helen and Donna back to the shop, Ronald walked home alone and continued to break down the script.

   (end of this chapter)