Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 617 Editing should have a story

   "Mr. Mancuso is giving you two a chance, don't let him down."

  Chris and Billy, editing partners who work together. They were brought in by Paramount to cut the footage that Ronald shot.

   "What happened to this hapless Ronald? Why is he being denied access to the editing room now?"

   "I heard that he kept Mancuso from coming off the stage. After this accident, he was retaliated. It's none of our business anyway, just do your own thing."

  The two are pure technicalists. After getting the business, they started to pick up Ronald's samples after shooting, and started from the synchronization of sound and picture.

   "Is there some film missing? Why isn't there a main shot that explains the main storyline?" Chris had seen more than 30 short rolls of film, and looked up to ask his partner Billy.

   "It seems not, it's all here."

   "How do you cut this? It's all five-second short shots, no script or storyboard, we don't even know the story. Did they hide the main shot?"

   "Don't worry, here is the script handed over by Ronald, as well as the shot log and form of the shooting. Look slowly and you will find it."

"Is this the final version of the script? Why is it only fifty or sixty pages long?" Chris picked up the script and found that many places were left blank, especially the love scene between Lone Ranger and Charlie, and some scenes of aerial combat , neither a detailed description nor a storyboard draft.

   There is only a sentence like "The Lone Ranger was highly skilled in the air battle, launched an attack, and shot down three hostile MiG-28s", and then attached (three minutes) such a time to deal with it.

"There is no omission, it is true that the film is all here, the shooting time, location, the lens position used, these shots with special effects models, and the words 'special effects' are specially written on the board, and the record book is correct on."

  Billy was stupid too. You said Ronald and the two producers were playing tricks, they did hand over all the scripts and dailies. You tell them to be honest, and their script is very simple. When shooting, they are all short shots of a few seconds, and there is no main shot to explain the overall plot of a play.

   For example, in the three-minute air battle, if there is a main shot, they can have an idea for editing if they shoot from above how the planes fight, how to approach, and how to get rid of them. Now all the plot is in the director's head, and only he knows how to connect all the shots.

   "What to do?" The two editors suddenly found that what they got was not an opportunity, but a cauldron.

   "Fuck it, we'll just cut it according to our own imagination. Maybe the director is a fool. He came from an exploitative film background, and he made this kind of aerial combat. Maybe it's only now that he realizes he can't make it?"

   "That's right, we have to come up with a first cut version anyway."

   The two editors decided to cut it according to this script, and no one watched the air battle scene anyway.

  …

"Cindy told me that the MV you helped her shoot was edited by herself, and I have a editing problem here that I need your help to solve." MJ in the editing room of his "One World, One Family" single MV , said softly to Ronald.

   Ronald accepted MJ's invitation to watch the MV of his new song "WeAretheWorld" and discuss the editing of the TV special of this single.

   Since the new song "One World, One Family" was recorded on that day in January, both radio broadcasts and radio charts have performed well. The first week the new song was on the list, it rushed into the top 20 of the list, creating the best result of MJ's new song since "Thriller".

   On the night of the recording, MJ arranged for someone to shoot the material for the whole night, from rehearsal to finalization, as well as dozens of big-name singers who participated in the chorus, one-by-one solo singing, all of which were recorded on the tape by the camera.

   "The main problem now is this. The lead singer of one person and one sentence should maintain a balanced appearance time when editing, but some people are late, some people refuse to participate after they arrive, and MJ's key position, you know."

  MJ's manager, Frank Diglio, a short, fat Italian of Italian descent, briefs Ronald. He also pushed for the man who asked Ronald to solve the problem.

   "Well, everyone has about five seconds of appearances, and then it converges into MJ's solo segment, that's fine." Ronald pulled back and forth on the editing table, watching the footage that was shot at that time.

   "The trouble is in the back." Frank Dilio told him to continue reading.

   "Isn't that Bob Dylan?"

After    Ronald saw the singing parts of more than 40 singers pass, what was left was the singing of a single singer, Bob Dylan, who sang twice as many lyrics as other singers.

   "What's the matter?" Ronald looked at Dylan's material, as if he was the only one in the studio, "And he seems to be out of tune?"

   "Pfft!" MJ couldn't help laughing. Bob Dylan is an excellent songwriter, but his voice is not very good, and the basic skills of singing are also lacking.

   "So you want to tune Dylan's singing to the same duration as everyone else, and then highlight the climax of MJ's singing. He is the core of the song, right?"

   "You know what to do." Frank Dilio laughed and lit a cigar.

"In this way, you can still give each person a sentence of singing, which is about three to five seconds long. Then smoothly transition to the four lines of MJ's lyrics, which appear twice before and after. Dylan's lyrics are supplemented separately. We can use fade and picture-in-picture to get close-up of several other famous singers, so we can keep the balance of playing time.”

   Ronald quickly found a way to cleanly solve the editing arrangement of more than 40 singers.

"How did you get so many famous singers to sing at home?" Ronald wondered. He added Bruce Springsteen, Cindy Lauper, Diana Ross, and Lionel Lee. The close-ups of Qi and others were picked out and given special treatment.

   These singers have been famous for a long time, and they are not necessarily in the same record company as MJ. Although his current record has broken the sales record, it seems that inviting these people to come one by one does not seem to have such a big appeal.

"This is to raise money for refugees in Africa. Last year, there was a severe drought in Africa, and there were food shortages in many places. Last year, singers from Britain got together and sang a song of 'Do they know it was Christmas?', and all the income went to the disaster victims. Donate. So our American singers also have to cooperate once.

   Quincy Jones came up with this idea, let MJ take the lead, and invited Lionel Richie to produce, and then the team got bigger and bigger, everyone wanted to come in, and finally a total of forty-five singers were invited to sing. "

   "So it is", Ronald nodded after listening to Frank Dilio's explanation. His hands and feet are very fast, and he has cut the MV of the song with a total length of seven minutes.

   "Now everyone is arranged in order according to the click position, distance and distance." MJ is very satisfied, he has four lyrics to himself, repeated twice, and is the champion of all singers.

   "Forty-two, forty-three..." Ronald silently counted the heads, "Aren't there forty-five people here?"

   "Hahaha, Prince gave up himself." Frank Dilio couldn't stop laughing. Originally, Prince and MJ are now in a competitive relationship, and because he starred in the autobiographical film "Purple Rain" last year, which was a huge success, he faintly overwhelmed MJ in the entertainment industry, so this time the chorus is reasonable. to invite him.

  Frank Dilio instructed someone to put a big sign at the door, "Please leave your Ego at the door". Prince, who was already known for his ego (Ego), turned around and left after seeing the sign. This allows MJ to enjoy two long lyrics solo.

   "But will the audience be surprised that so many of us sing together?" MJ was worried again.

   "Indeed, I also had the same feeling when I watched it. I don't know what brought all the popular singers in America together."

  Ronald played it back and forth quickly twice, and he found that there was also an acquaintance in it, Kenny Loggins, the one who participated in the bidding for the episode of "Top Gun", also sang a solo line in this song. Because he painted a very strong rock makeup, I didn't recognize it before.

   "So what?" MJ wants to do things perfectly.

"You need a storyteller. This kind of short shot of three to five seconds for each person, it is difficult to naturally form a story that the audience can understand, so you can either gradually adapt to the audience's cognition and be able to tell the story. Know the ins and outs of the story, but you don't have enough material here.

   Or just be lazy and let someone tell the story of donating to the African victims at the beginning, so that the audience can be immersed in the story. "

   "So, what kind of person is better to find a narrator to tell a story?" Frank DiLio introduced Ronald to satisfy MJ's perfectionist tendencies and to be more trusted in front of him. Hearing this, I hurriedly asked Ronald who was the better candidate.

   "I think you need a star with a good image, preferably a woman. Her public image is best and charitable, peaceful, and can naturally arouse the sympathy of the audience."

   "Isn't that what you're describing as Jane Fonda? She's the incarnation of the goddess of peace. She made those anti-war films in the 1970s, tsk tsk."

   "Ah, yeah, she's a good candidate." Ronald agreed.

   "Ms. Jane Fonda, I'm Michael Jackson's manager Frank DiLio, and we'd like to invite you to do the opening narration and tell this story for a song that calls for donations to African victims."

   "Why are you looking for me? I can't even sing." Jane Fonda didn't refuse, but she was a little surprised.

   "Someone here strongly recommends you."

   "Jane, it's me, Ronald. This MV fits your image very well."

   "Oh, hahaha, it's you, Ronald. Okay, I'll go, you tell me the location of the shoot."

   (end of this chapter)