Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 381 Lightning Special Effects

"Everyone, please line up. After a few minutes, everyone can get coupons to enter the movie theater." The assistant of the film crew said to a large group of moviegoers at the entrance of the Elle Cinema, directing them Filmed in a row in front of the cinema.

Ronald and the camera crew were lying on the roof opposite the film, shooting a long-range view of the team below, "Yes, this angle is fine, you can try to capture some of the team's pictures, and don't exceed the range of more than 100 of us. "

With a    "pop", Ronald hit the camera with a slate in his hand.

"Aren't you afraid they will sue you? America's laws are much stricter than Mexico's. If they see their own footage on the screen, they can theoretically sue." Arthur Arthur, the director of photography lying next to Ronald Albert has made films in both Mexico and California, reminding Ronald.

   "So I asked not to shoot face-showing shots, not many people in the distance would recognize me."

   Ronald thought, this is also forced by the budget, there is no way to do it. If you really have to invite more than 100 group performances to stage the filming, plus the cost of clearing the venue to compensate the cinema, and having to hire the LAPD to maintain order, the expenditure can be terrifying.

   "Okay, enough shots are captured, you can go and issue coupons." Arthur said.

   Ronald nodded and waved vigorously at the assistant below. Then quickly ran downstairs, went to the crowd lined up at the entrance of the cinema, and gave them coupons one by one. .

   "Thank you, thank you, this is a coupon for El Ray Cinema, thank you for your cooperation."

  Ronald agreed with Elle Cinema in advance, and gave them two seconds of frontal footage of the movie theater in the movie, and persuaded the manager of Elle Cinema to let them shoot for free.

   Then, at the ticket office of the movie theater, with a 50% discount coupon, he recruited more than 100 moviegoers to watch the movie, and asked them to line up at the entrance of the movie theater.

   "Thank you, thank you." Ronald let out a long sigh of relief after distributing the coupons. This shot was not reported to the Los Angeles City Hall, but fortunately it was a fast-forward and fast-out view, and it didn’t take much time. Neither was found by the police.

   "Then grab the sign and exterior of this movie theater."

  The manager of the Elle Cinema cooperated to change the words on the large illuminated signboard on the roof of the cinema from "Pretty Boy" to "Stay up late to watch the comet together". The film crew took the opportunity to take a close-up.

   The audience who cooperated at the door just now have all entered the cinema to watch the last movie, and the street instantly became empty.

   "Okay, let the group show get off the bus quickly." Ronald waved quickly to the bus opposite. The driver in the car opened the door, the assistants handed all kinds of props to the makeup group, and they filed out, lining up on the edge of the sidewalk.

   "Remember your actions, remember your actions..." Ronald told each group performer, "We only have one chance to shoot, everyone pay attention to smiling at the camera."

   This shot is to imitate the filming method of the TV station interview, so these group performances need to make all kinds of happy smiles to the camera as passers-by see the live broadcast cars and cameras of the TV station.

  “Action!”, Ronald gave instructions to DP Arthur.

   Arthur Albert personally carried the camera and shot the faces of each group performer from below. He moved forward slowly, taking pictures of everyone's smiling faces.

   These group performances are all attracted by the comet that occurs once every 65 million years and go to the street to watch the comet arrive.

The number of close-up shots that can be included in the viewfinder is very limited. Twenty group performances have been swept from beginning to end. After editing with the overhead shot just now, a montage can be used to create a special impression, as if standing on the street. It was full of people, and many, many people came to see it.

   There are a few wearing comet headdresses, a few holding "I love comets" cards, and two group performers playing a couple, kissing for the camera, similar to the live TV interviews on New Year's Eve.

   It was past eight o'clock in the evening, and in fact, the roadside outside the close-up shots was completely empty. But the human imagination will automatically supplement the scene of more than 100 people lining up as the background of this story. Although there are only more than 20 people in the close-up, the audience will feel that the crowd is full of people.

   "How is it? Arthur?"

   "No problem," Arthur replied.

   "Crack", Ronald turned the board upside down and hit the camera. This means that there was no screeding at the beginning of this scene, and the final scene and scene were recorded by the final screeding.

  Because this time the board is played at the end of the shot, not the front, so when the board is played, the board must be turned upside down. Easy to distinguish later.

   They also wrote on the scene board that there was no simultaneous recording, reminding the editor to add music in the later stage to cover up the noisy sound of the scene and the dialogue between Ronald and Arthur.

  Because this scene is mainly to introduce the scene where the crowd is very curious about the comet and dispatched in full force, it doesn’t matter if there is no dialogue.

   "Okay, everyone, get on the bus, hurry up!" Ronald saw the director of photography Arthur signaled OK, and quickly directed the group to rush to the bus.

   "Go, go." Ronald entrusted a camera that Arthur was carrying, and was the last to get into the car. He patted the driver's seat hard a few times, "There seems to be a patrolman opposite, let's go."

   "This is yours, yours, yours..." The assistant sent everyone a copy of the storyboard, and then asked everyone to sign the form to record the shooting time.

   "Thank you for your cooperation." Ronald picked up the microphone on the bus and thanked the group. This guerrilla-style shooting method saves money and saves money, and is actually not very friendly to group performances. There is no RV as a powder room, everyone is doing their makeup on the big bus.

   In case of being caught by LAPD, there will be trouble. So Ronald paid them 1.2 times the minimum wage.

   "Let's go to the next filming location, outside the heroine's stepmother's house. Everyone saw the storyboard in your profile. It's just a simple outdoor scene with some lightning special effects."

  Ronald is on his way to the next filming location to explain.

  The car soon arrived as the filming location of the house of the two heroines Regina and Samantha. This is a middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles, and a row of headlights has been lined up on the lawn outside the room.

   "Thanks for your help, Bess" Ronald got off the bus first and shook hands with a woman in an electrician's suit and boots.

   "No problem, Cameron's friends are my friends."

Beth was a rare female electrician, tall and tall, and she led Ronald to the back of the row of lights, where two thick cables were lifted in the middle and placed on two wooden on the shelf.

   "I can show you the effect, but it does a lot of damage to the light bulb, so in order to prevent the light bulb from blowing up during the real shot, now I can only briefly demonstrate the effect."

   Ronald nodded.

  Bass connected the two cables, put on thick insulating gloves, and pressed a guillotine switch.

   The bulbs of the row of headlights suddenly fanned a very bright light, making the faces and houses on the opposite side pale.

   "Pop" Bass and cut off the switch again. Brightness drops suddenly.

   "That's it, do you think it's okay?" Beth asked.

   "Bright enough, I probably want a rhythm like this, smack... smack slap" Ronald took a few beats.

  The special effects of lightning are very difficult to shoot. If you shoot at the sky in a thunderstorm, in fact, the sensitivity of the film is not enough, and it is difficult to capture the moment of lightning.

  Experienced electricians will short-circuit the power cord of the light in a controlled manner. This will raise the voltage and then emit light several times brighter than the rated brightness. By controlling the time of the short circuit intermittently by hand, the effect of lightning can be simulated.

   Of course, there are risks involved. Sometimes the electrician is inexperienced, and the short-circuit boosting time is too long, which will make the light bulb burst. So Ronald asked Cameron to find an experienced expert in the industry, Bess, to operate the scene of the comet's annihilation flash.

  More than 20 group performers were divided into several piles outside, looking up at the comet, the strong light flashed by the lamps, shone on their faces, like the strong light from lightning. In this way, only the reflection of the actor's face can be shot, and the complex special effects scene of the comet flash can be avoided and saved a lot of money.

   In addition to the group performance that just got off the bus, there were also official actors who played the father of the two heroines and the stepmother in the crowd.

  The stepmother is Sharon Farrell, a beautiful actress who still has a charm. She is actually a few years older than Katherine Mary Stuart, who played the eldest daughter, and Kelly Maloney, the youngest.

   But this industry treats actresses very cruelly. Everyone in the industry says that actresses can only play three roles: virgin, slut, and grandma.

Behind the metaphor    is that very few people in Hollywood will shoot stories of middle-aged women because audiences don’t like to watch them.

   In this way, the roles that actresses can play are quite limited, young girls who are in love, slightly older female characters who fall into romantic love scenes with the male lead, and mothers and grandmothers of younger girls.

  Sharon Farrell has passed the first two stages and started playing mother directly. Many actresses will resist this day, and some will even give false ages. But the wrinkles on the face don't lie.

   "Sharon, when you come out of the room, you just quarreled with Samantha and slapped her, but you still act like a good stepmother in front of your husband."

  Ronald talked to her for a play, then got the lights ready and walked first.

   "In 1910, Halley's Comet returned. At that time, many people thought they would die." An old man, in the group performance, talked about his experience of seeing Halley's Comet last time.

  Sharon Farrell has short curly blond hair, a black velvet collar tied around her neck, and red nail polish on all her fingers, dressed like a wealthy suburban housewife.

   She went to her husband and started saying that the two stepdaughters were not.

   "Very well, let's start shooting."

   "Recording? Camera? Action!"

  Ronald gave an order and the camera started to roll.

   "In 1910, Halley's Comet returned, and at that time many people thought they would die." The old actor began to speak to other groups, and a flash of light like lightning flashed, illuminating everyone's faces.

   "What is that?" the old man asked back.

"Honey, Samantha is still a little bit rebellious, ah, what is that?" Sharon Farrell, who played the stepmother, was also awakened by the lightning. She hugged her husband and looked up at the sky, bursts of flashes of light. on their faces.

   Ronald a gesture. The lighting group turned on the dark red lights, and the scene was illuminated into a dark red atmosphere.

  Electrical bass is another few quick short-circuit operations, and a few more flashes.

  Sharon Farrell, the stepmother, looked at her arm, as if it was starting to itch.

   Another flash, Sharon Farrell covered her eyes with her fingers covered in red nail polish, "Ah..."

   "Cut!"

   Ronald is very happy with this shot.

   (end of this chapter)