Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 338 Helping each other

   "Boom, boom... boom, boom"

   The heavy drums began to beat, and Ronald, who was lying on the bed, tried to open his eyes. Could it be that he drank too much champagne at the party and forgot to turn off the TV?

   A skeleton warrior made of silver and white metal jumped out on the TV, with only two red eyes, and a thick gun in his hand.

   “BiuBiuBiu…”

   The gun fired was not a bullet, but a laser. Huge helicopters, robots, and humans in military uniforms.

   "Hey, dreaming again?" Ronald was refreshed. Which actor did he see today, triggering the dream?

   "Skynet, the computer that controls all these robots, sent two Terminators through time and space, from the future back to our time..."

   A somewhat muffled female voice narrated in.

   "Is it Jim's Terminator?" Ronald thought to himself, "It turns out that the Terminator is still filmed, but I have to take a good look."

   Under the bluish background light, a burst of lightning intertwined, and a naked muscular man appeared.

   "Isn't this a bodybuilding champion? It seems that the muscles didn't explode when they took Mr. Olympia before." No wonder I dreamed that the Terminator robot was played by Schwarzenegger.

  The Terminator entered the bar, robbed others of leather jackets and boots, and took a shotgun.

   Another burst of lightning intertwined, this time it was a handsome naked man, his luck was not very good, he fell next to a police car, he knocked out the policeman with one punch, then put on the police uniform and drove away in the police car.

   "This is probably a human resistance soldier." Ronald watched with great interest, and Jim's director was very good.

  The Human Resistance Army, through the laptop in the police car, found the address of the leader of the Resistance Army, "John Connor, a ten-year-old boy.

   "The script changed?" Ronald thought, the script he had read was coming back to kill his mother. However, there is still a child's play. Jim seems to be of a very high level. It is difficult for child actors to direct well.

   In a trance, the camera turned to the street.

  The Terminator, played by Schwarzenegger, drove a Harley motorcycle to find John Connor on the street. He found Connor riding a small motorcycle on an elevated road, and the speeder began to chase.

   At the same time, the human resistance fighters who found the address also began to look for them, and the two saw John Connor playing game consoles in the mall at about the same time.

  The Terminator pulled out a shotgun and aimed it at Connor in the aisle, and the resistance fighters on the other side of the aisle also pulled out a small pistol and aimed it at the Terminator.

   "Get down!" The Terminator shouted, then took the lead and shot the resistance fighter.

   "Hey?" What kind of plot is this? Killed the human protagonist not long after the opening?

   The "Rebel Soldier" paused after being hit, then stood up straight, and continued to walk forward. A large hole hit by a bullet in his body began to repair and restore.

   "Ah yo I..., this is a robot." Ronald thought to himself. The suspense was well set. At first, I thought it was a human resistance army, but I didn't expect it to be another robot terminator, the liquid metal robot that can transform into millions.

   But is this script changed by magic or what? Why are the two robots fighting? Stealing power?

   was in a trance again, John Connor took the opportunity to escape from the mall and drove off on his little motorcycle.

The two Terminators continued to chase. The liquid metal robot grabbed a big truck and tried to kill Connor. The Terminator played by Schwarzenegger appeared in a Harley, grabbed Connor with one hand and put it on his motorcycle, and then Fancy reloading the shotgun with one hand and blowing the truck tank backwards.

   was in a trance again, Ronald couldn't understand a little, why didn't the Terminator kill Connor after saving him, and took him to rescue his mother Sarah Connor?

  John Connor asked the Terminator the purpose of saving himself. It turned out that he was a robot recoded by the Resistance Army, sent by the old Connor to protect his young self.

   In a big battle in the mental hospital, the two rescue Sarah, and the Terminator tells the origin of Skynet. The three decided to kill the designer of the Skynet chip, change history, and prevent mankind from falling into a nuclear war.

The    liquid metal robot arrived and killed the black chip designer in the shootout. The two sides are in a street chase again. The liquid metal robot can't be killed, and he will repair it himself.

   In the end, the helpless people drove the car to the steel plant, where the liquid metal robot was finally eliminated in the steel blast furnace. And the last chip that humans can evolve into Skynet is in the mind of the Terminator played by Schwarzenegger.

   For the future of mankind, he voluntarily self-destructed.

"Dong dong, dong dong... dong dong, dong dong" The heavy drum beat began to beat again, and the actor who played Sarah Connor had a man's chin. She told the audience with a low narration that she woke up in the original historical Skynet The day when nothing happened, they have changed history.

"what!"

   Ronald shouted and was awakened by himself.

  Why is it so beautiful? How come the special effects are so realistic?

   The image of the liquid robot transforming into someone else is flawless. And he was frozen on the ground by liquid nitrogen. After encountering the high temperature of the explosion, he returned to liquid state. Countless mercury-like droplets aggregated together and recovered into a robot. How was this filmed?

  Is the gap between people really that big?

   This kind of scene can't even be photographed by George Lucas and Spielberg.

   Ronald fell into deep self-doubt.

   "Congratulations, Jim, you wrote a good script."

   Two days later Ronald found Gail Heard's apartment and handed Jim Cameron his script revisions.

   Ronald finally figured out that what he dreamed might not be the Terminator, but a sequel to the Terminator.

  The Terminator robot played by Schwarzenegger in the first movie is the villain, which is why Sarah Connor runs away when he sees him in the mental hospital.

The scenes at the beginning of    were deliberate tricks by Cameron. This made the audience mistakenly think that this time Schwarzenegger was still the villain robot, so in the first half hour, he rescued John Connor, which was the first major reversal of the plot, just to revive the audience's curiosity. rise.

  Ronald was quite sure that what he dreamed of was a sequel movie.

  Because the special effects inside are obviously ahead of the current film industry. Lucas's Star Wars special effects, I don't know how to make the details, but I can always think of a general idea.

   And those liquid metal robot deformation lenses in the dreamland have no idea. While Cameron is a special effects genius who can produce great results at a low cost, Ronald doesn't believe he can make that kind of shot right now.

   Maybe some new technology has come out in the future to make that kind of special effect possible.

   "Ronald, do you have an idea?" Cameron saw Ronald's visit, and hurriedly took the revision from Ronald's hand and read it.

   "What budget are you going to find to make this movie?"

   "Me and Gale expect to spend between eight and ten million."

"That's impossible. I marked some scenes that were too expensive to realize. You can control the special effects. I just have doubts about the effect of some shots, such as the liquid robot. The current technology will only feel fake. ."

  Cameron frowned and found that the story of the liquid metal robot had been deleted.

   "Any more?" he asked.

"You have too many scenes, Jim." Ronald pointed to the table he made, "so many scenes, the cost of each set, the cost of lighting, and the total length of the shooting, it can make you bankrupt. ."

   Ronald pointed to the scene in the script and carefully analyzed it for Cameron.

   "These scenes can be merged together, so you don't need too many transitions, each transition is troublesome, wastes time, and increases labor costs...

  These scenes can be shot in night scenes, mostly shopping malls, parking lots, streets, so that you can directly use the lights in these scenes without artificial lighting...

  Trust me, when I was filming 'Fast Pace', the progress of the arcade scene was more than double that of other scenes...

And these scenes are merged and shot together, you can also save the time of rehearsal, so when you shoot the scenes of the actors' dialogue, you can arrange them to shoot on a day without waiting for the lighting time, and the emotions can be matched when editing... …”

   The doubt in Cameron's eyes gradually turned into a sudden realization.

Everyone has worked for Roger Coleman. Needless to say, there are some things that need to be said. This modification of the script is completely based on the economics of shooting, and try to shoot more economically without destroying the picture and drama. .

"It's roughly like this. When you shoot, you will find that spending money every day is like running water, so on the whole, you are not afraid that some scenes will be difficult to shoot, but you are afraid that some scenes will be difficult to film in advance. If the shooting plan is delayed for one more day, your expenses will be reduced. Uncontrolled rise."

"In addition, I suggest that you secretly shoot some scenes and do not report for the record. Otherwise, the cost of LAPD's dispatch to clear the scene will be a lot of money, and there will be strict time limits. Of course, if you can persuade the seven major studios, take To a big budget of more than 10 million, that's another story."

  Ronald recalled the past when he was filming "Famous in the World", when NYPD dispatched to block the road, and it was impossible to shoot more than a minute.

Cameron looked at the proposal and recalled what Ronald said, "Ronnie, this is the best proposal I have heard since I wrote this script, I have to calculate it carefully and change it like this, Gale would have a much higher chance of getting an investment."

   "This is your script" Jim took out a copy of Ronald's "Night of the Comet" script in the drawer and handed it over, which was full of Cameron's notes.

   "The actor's makeup problem, you can solve it like this...

  The main features of zombies are that their faces are blue and their eye sockets are enlarged. They can do without rubber and plaster, and do not need special makeup, let the conventional makeup solve...

  The ashes after people are evaporated by the comet, there is no need to use the pigment powder commonly used in Hollywood, it can be replaced by a common building material...

  There is also a red sky. If you shoot for Coleman, you can actually be lazy and use a little trick to get it done, but this requires redesigning some shots, so that the audience will not be too dramatic...

The problem with    is this deserted city. I have been thinking about it for a long time, but there is no way to save money and ensure the viewing effect of the audience. "

  Ronald read the notes carefully, and Jim made detailed annotations for many special effects makeup and special effects models.

   But the scene of the deserted city, Ronald didn't want to compromise.

  There are three or four concentrated scenes before and after the plot. If you delete it or replace it with small scenes such as schools and shopping malls, it will be impossible to bring the audience into a sense of apocalyptic reality, and the overall appeal of the movie will be greatly reduced.

Ronald doesn't really want to make a Roger Coleman-esque exploitative film, the kind of film that New World costs 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, the audience is with a kind of I know you're a bad film, I just came to see it Beauties and plasma attitudes come.

   This kind of movie Ronald has long been made, and if he continues to make it, he will not improve. The mainstream film circle might forget about himself.

   Calculate the amount of money that Jim can save for his ideas. The cost of this night of the comet, it seems that it can be made without two million. In this way, with the 500,000 investment promised by Roger Coleman, he still has a funding gap of more than 1 million to invest.

   Ronald couldn't help but envy Cameron. He had his girlfriend Gail to help with investment and distribution, and only concentrated on artistic creation.

   "Jim, I'll add your name to the screenwriter. These changes helped me a lot."

   "Help each other, and I'll add your name to the Terminator screenwriter too."

  Ronald has experience in directing, coordinating and editing. Jim also has experience in special effects makeup and special effects models. A friend who is also a director helped each other and gave advice, which was very helpful to the creation of the two.

   (end of this chapter)