Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 97 Unscrupulous Director

On the morning of the first day of    shooting the big scene, within two hours of starting the film, the crew lost the camera operator.

  Director of Photography Michael Serresin had to go into the field himself, as a camera operator, or what some would call a shot.

  The director ordered to restore the original, and prepare for the second official shooting.

   In the chaotic reversing scene, the American camera pusher slipped out of the studio and dialed the phone again.

   At ten o'clock in the morning, everything on the scene returned to the initial test state, and Allen was ready to announce the second shooting.

   "Recording? Camera?"

   "Stop! This has to stop"

   was also the representative of the International Cinematographers Union in a suit and leather shoes, and loudly stopped the shooting at the scene.

   "I received another report that the director of photography of your crew also acted as the camera operator, which is prohibited by the union regulations." The proud union representative handed director Alan Parker a stop work order.

   "Hey dude, you can't do that, we stopped ground traffic in half of Midtown Manhattan, we have a time limit, we can't stop work," cried the DP.

   "I'll give you two hours." The union staff is not completely unreasonable. "If it exceeds two hours, a camera operator with union qualifications must be rehired."

   "I won't accept a **** union clerk to tell me how the **** to make a movie!" Alan Parker rushed in front of him furiously.

   "Okay! As you wish", the union staff retracted the 2-hour grace period, "Now we must stop work until you find a suitable camera operator."

   Ronald was on the corner of the street, chatting with a few white T-shirts. They also saw the farce.

   "Why can't a DP be an operator at the same time?" Ronald asked one of the older white T-shirts.

"I heard that in the early years of Hollywood, the director of photography was the one who was in charge of the camera, so that he could see whether the shot was in line with his intention. However, the International Photographers' Workers' Union strongly intervened in the crew in the 1970s. The director can’t take the camera, and has to hire a dedicated camera operator.”

"Since then, in places with strong labor unions, such as New York and Los Angeles, filming has been forcibly divided into two types of work. Of course, the advantage is that a new position is created out of thin air, hehehe." Bai T-shirt smiled happily, he is also a labor union one of the beneficiaries.

   "What's the downside?" Ronald asked.

   "With one more person, many subtle artistic ideas are inevitably out of shape."

  …

   "Come here, Ronald." Producer David Da Silva waved him over.

   "Hello, David."

   "See that little guy in a peaked cap? He's the new operator we hired, and your job is to make sure he doesn't touch the camera, doesn't get in the way of filming, and only gets paid."

  The producer still agreed to the blackmail of the union representative and hired one of his affiliates.

   "First time on a movie set? Dude?" Ronald greeted Cap.

   "Ah, yes, the first time. My cousin said he could arrange for me to be a photographer."

   "Do you know what photographers are best at? It's light metering! Very few people can measure the intensity of light at one time." Ronald took a mechanical light meter and handed it to the cap,

“Every time the director shoots, you have to calibrate the intensity of the sky light. Whether we can get every shot or not depends on how well you meter the light. If the needle is less than zero, you have to call the director of photography to pause immediately. ."

   "Can I trust you? Dude? It's up to you whether our entire team can get a good picture."

   "Oh, yeah? Of course you can trust me, how do I get this thing?" Cap hurriedly asked.

After Ronald taught the cap to measure the sky, he walked to the camera until Michael Seresin, "Michael, before every shot, you have to look at the cap, and after he nods, you can shoot as usual. ."

   "A positive number is always measured anyway." Ronald chuckled.

  Director of photography Michael Ceresin inexplicably glanced at the cap, the other party waved the light meter in his hand excitedly, and nodded vigorously at him

   "Camera?" Director Alan Parker confirmed before shooting.

   "Full speed." Michael Ceresin looked back and focused on the next shot.

   "Action!"

  The team led by Cadillac cars slowly drove into 46th Street from the crossroad.

The    "Hot Stuff" music played again, and Ronald stood with the cap to prevent him from doing anything to spoil the shot.

   Each time the dancers rushed down the street with all their strength, dancing differently from the last time.

   rushed ahead this time and stopped the Cadillac who was braking suddenly. It was a male dancer and Lucy. Lucy climbed onto the roof and began to dance to disco rhythm.

  The Italian-born driver, this time following the director's instructions, wanted to make some tricks to surprise the dancers and make real reaction expressions and movements.

  After he stopped the car, when the dancer climbed onto the roof of the car, he lightly tapped the accelerator again, and the car sped forward.

  The dancers on the roof were greatly taken aback by this unexpected movement, and several dancers fell on the roof.

   Lucy was squeezed by other dancers and fell from the side.

   She brought down the other dancers on the ground beside the car, and several people sat on the ground together, including Antonia.

   Seeing the fall, Ronald rushed up.

  Lucy sat on the ground, clutching her ankles.

   "How are you? Lucy?" Ronald asked as he squeezed in through the circle of dancers.

   "My ankle is twisted, it doesn't seem to be too serious." Lucy stood up struggling with one foot, and jumped twice on one foot while holding the car.

   "Don't move, I'll help you." Gene, also from Harlem, put one of Lucy's hands on his shoulders, and accompanied Lucy by jumping to the side to rest on one foot. The doctor on site hurried over to check Lucy's ankle.

  Antonia was taken aback. She had been admitted to the New York City Ballet. If she was injured, it would be bad. She sat on the ground, still in shock.

   Ronald stepped forward and squatted down, asking Antonia's injury with his eyes.

Antonia moved her hands, feet, neck, and waist, "I'm fine, I saw Lucy fall and bring it to the other dancers. In order to avoid them, she fell to the ground on her own initiative." She also struggled to stand up. .

  Ronald saw that the buttocks of her dance clothes were dirty, and the fall did not seem to be easy. So he stepped forward to stop Antonia. Squat down and let Antonia wrap her arms around her neck, support her waist with one hand, bend her legs with the other, and pick her up.

   Ronald took Antonia a few steps and put her on the chair next to the resident doctor.

   After the doctor checked Lucy, she sprained her ankle and needed to rest, so she basically said goodbye to filming. The dark-skinned, always open-minded girl cried sadly.

  The doctor examined Antonia again. After asking a lot of questions, Antonia was fortunately not injured. She just put her hand on the ground and scratched a little of the skin at the base of her palm.

   Ronald let out a long breath and leaned over to watch the doctor apply medicine to Antonia's palm. Then he stood up and turned around and walked to the Italian-born driver.

   A group of dancers performed, and the Italian drivers had begun to confront each other. This time was different from the previous two, causing injuries to the group performance, and the dancers insisted that the driver who started the Cadillac get out. Several of the black dancers were also clamoring to beat him.

  Ronald separated the crowd, and everyone had some confidence in the young man who invented leg warmers for dancers and won cooling measures, and let him walk in front of the driver.

   Ronald stared at the driver who caused the accident for ten seconds without speaking. The other party finally began to avoid his sight, when Ronald suddenly said:

   "Why did you do that sudden dangerous move?"

   "It was the director who hinted at me..." The driver who caused the accident said half a sentence, then realized that something was wrong and stopped.

   There was an uproar, some people didn't believe it, and accused the driver of talking nonsense.

  Ronald glanced back at the director who was talking to the producer in the distance, then turned back and said to the drivers: "In any case, you are not suitable to continue driving on the crew..."

  The representative of the Actors Union also came over and said to everyone: "Don't be afraid, children, you have all received the wages stipulated by the union, and the Film Actors Union will protect your legal rights."

  …

"Alan, you can't do this dangerous action again for the sake of performance." The producer just finished negotiating with the actors' union, "We pay the minimum wage set by the union for dance group performances. In theory, they can Union members have claimed themselves and even went on strike.”

   "I didn't make him start the car suddenly, David. I just made him do something special to surprise the actor,"

   "Don't treat me like a child, Alan." The producer was a little angry, ignored Alan, and walked towards the group.

   Allen seemed to realize that someone was looking at him after saying the shirk responsibility, and turned his head to look at the group dance, just in time to meet Ronald's eyes.

  …

   "There can be no more dangerous sudden movements, the driver of the accident is not allowed to work in the crew, apologize to the injured dancers, the actors involved will be paid an extra week's wages, and then, the injured Lucy and the other two will be shown a scene in the future."

   Ronald reported the cast's request to producer David Da Silva.

"that's it?"

   "That's all, do you think it's okay? If you agree, you can resume shooting." Ronald replied.

   "The representatives of the Actors Union over there are launching a group strike. But the group actors are really just wanting more wages and more shots. The strike is not particularly beneficial to them. If you agree, there will be no strike."

   "Of course, I can promise to let them resume shooting. I owe you one, Ronnie." The producer breathed a sigh of relief, for fear that the delay in the shooting of the big scene would greatly exceed the budget.

   Not to mention, just contacting the city hall to block the road is not something that can be done in the short term.

   Ronald pulled the driver who caused the accident, apologized to everyone, then took him away from the group and escorted him out of the set.

  The driver also thanked Ronald. If he hadn't reasoned with both sides today, he would have been beaten badly.

   "It's not my fault, brother, it's your director who asked me to do this." The driver was still explaining along the way.

   "What exactly did the director tell you? Did he tell you to start the car suddenly?"

   "He said he liked my performance and gave the actors a real reaction. He asked me to officially shoot another unexpected action, and he also said that he should be careful not to make dangerous actions..." The more the driver spoke, the lower his voice became.

"It's a director who does everything he can to meet his shooting requirements." Ronald looked back at Alan Parker again, remembering what the taxi driver Burt had reminded him of that the director would not let the actor shoot. During the bath.

   (end of this chapter)