Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 381 Lightning special effects
"Everyone, please line up. After a few minutes, everyone can get the coupons and go to watch the movie." The assistant of the film crew said to a large group of moviegoers at the entrance of El Rey Cinema, directing them Shot in a row at the entrance of the cinema.

Ronald and the camera crew lay on the roof opposite the film, and took a long shot of the team below, "Yes, this angle is fine, try to capture some pictures of the team, and don't exceed the range of more than 100 of us."

With a "snap", Ronald held the slate in his hand and hit it in front of the camera.

"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, the director of photography lying next to Ronald Albert had filmed in both Mexico and California, reminds Ronald.

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

Ronald thought to himself, this was also forced by the budget and there was no other way.Really need to invite more than 100 group performers to set up the filming, plus the cost of clearing the theater to compensate the cinema, and the need to hire LAPD to maintain order, the expenses are scary.

"Okay, enough shots have been captured, you can go to distribute coupons." Arthur said.

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

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

Ronald made an agreement with the El Ray Cinema in advance, and gave them two seconds of frontal shots of the cinema in the movie, and persuaded the manager of the El Ray Cinema to let them shoot for free.

Then, at the box office of the movie theater, more than 100 moviegoers were recruited with a [-]% discount coupon, and asked them to act as if they were queuing at the movie theater entrance.

"Thank you, thank you." Ronald breathed a sigh of relief after sending out the coupon.This shot was not reported to the Los Angeles City Hall. Fortunately, it was a long-term view of fast in and fast out, and it didn't take much time.The police were not found either.

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

The manager of the El Rey Cinema coordinated the change of the words on the large glowing signboard on the roof of the theater from "A Fair Man" to "Stay up late and 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 became empty in an instant.

"Okay, let the group performers get off the bus quickly." Ronald quickly waved to the big bus opposite.The driver in the car opened the door, and the assistants handed various props to the group performers who had put on makeup, and they filed out and lined up on the edge of the sidewalk.

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

This shot imitates the shooting method of TV station interviews, so these group performers are required to make various happy smiles at the camera, just like passers-by seeing the TV station's live broadcast truck and camera.

"Action!" Ronald gave instructions to the photography director Arthur.

Arthur Albert himself carried the camera and shot the faces of the extras from the angle below.He moved forward slowly, taking pictures of everyone's smiling faces.

These ensemble performers are all attracted by the comet that comes once every 500 million years, and come to the streets to watch the comet come.

The number of people who can be included in the viewfinder for the close-up shot is very limited. Twenty group performers scanned it from beginning to end, and after editing it with the overhead shot just now, they can use montage to create a special impression, like standing on the street. It was full of people, and many, many people came to see it.

There are a few wearing comet headgear, a few holding "I love comet" cards, and two extras acting as a couple, kissing the camera, similar to the live TV interviews during the New Year's Eve.

It was past eight o'clock in the evening, but the roadside outside the close-up shots was actually empty.But people's imagination will automatically add the scene of more than 100 people queuing up just now into the background of this story.Although there are only more than 20 people in the close-up, the audience will feel that there are huge crowds.

"How is it, Arthur?"

"No problem." Arthur replied.

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

Because this time the slate is at the end of the shot, not the front, so when the slate is played, the slate must be turned upside down.It is convenient for later identification.

They also wrote on the slate 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 with Ronald and Arthur.

Because this scene is mainly to introduce the scene where the crowd is very curious about comets and they are all out, it doesn't matter if there is no dialogue.

"Okay, everyone, get in the car, hurry up!" Ronald saw that the photography director Arthur signaled OK, and quickly directed the extras to rush to the bus.

"Let's go, let's go." Ronald held up the camera that Arthur was carrying, and was the last one to get into the car.He patted hard on the driver's seat a few times, "There seems to be a patrolman on the other side, let's go quickly."

"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 performers.This guerrilla-style shooting method saves money, but it is not very friendly to group performances.There is no RV for a powder room, everyone does their makeup on the big bus.

If caught by the LAPD, there will be trouble.So Ronald paid them wages at [-] times the minimum wage.

"Let's go to the next shooting 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 effects."

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

The car soon arrived at the shooting location of the house of the two leading actresses, Regina and Samantha.This is a middle-class community in Los Angeles. On the lawn outside the room, a row of headlights has been lined up.

"Beth, thank you for coming to help." Ronald was the first to get off the bus and shook hands with a woman in electrician's clothing and boots.

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

Bess is a rare female electrician, tall and burly, she took Ronald to the back of the row of lights, two very thick cables were lifted in the middle, placed on two wooden on the shelf.

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

Ronald nodded.

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

Suddenly, a very bright light came from the bulbs of the row of headlights, illuminating the face and the house on the opposite side pale.

"Crack" Bass cut off the switch again.Brightness drops suddenly.

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

"The brightness is enough, I probably want such a rhythm, pa... papa" Ronald beat a few times.

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

An experienced electrician will short-circuit the power cord of the light in a controlled manner for a short period of time.This increases the voltage and then emits a bright light several times brighter than the rated brightness.Then control the short-circuit time intermittently by hand to simulate the effect of lightning.

Of course, there are risks in doing so.Sometimes the electrician is inexperienced, and the short-circuit boost time is too long, which will cause the bulb to burst.So Ronald asked Cameron to find an experienced expert in the industry, Bess, to operate the scene of the comet emitting a flash of destruction.

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

In addition to the group performers who just got off the bus, the father who played the two heroines and the official stepmother were also in the crowd.

The stepmother is Sharon Farrell, a beautiful actress who still has charm.She's actually a few years older than Catherine Mary Stuart, who played the eldest daughter, and Kelly Maroney, who played the younger daughter.

But this industry is cruel to actresses.Everyone in the industry says that actresses can only play three roles: virgin, slut, and grandma.

Behind this metaphor, in fact, few people in Hollywood will shoot stories about 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 in love, older female characters who fall into a romantic love scene with the male lead, and mothers and grandmothers of younger girls.

Sharon Farrell has already passed the first two stages and started playing the mother directly.Many actresses will resist this day, and some will even give false ages.But 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 acted like a good stepmother in front of your husband."

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

"In [-], Halley's Comet returned, and at that time many people thought they would die," an old man talked about his experience of seeing Halley's Comet last time in the group performance.

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

She walked up to her husband and started talking about her two stepdaughters.

"Very well, let's start shooting."

"Recording? Camera? Action!"

At Ronald's order, the camera started rolling.

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

"What's that?" the old man asked back.

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

Ronald made a gesture.The lighting team turned on the dark red light, and the scene was illuminated into a dark red atmosphere.

The electrician bass made a few quick short-circuit operations, and a few more flashes.

Stepmother Sharon Farrell looked at her arm, which seemed to be starting to itch.

There was another flash of light, and Sharon Farrell covered her eyes with her ten fingers covered in red nail polish, "Ah..."

"Cut!"

Ronald was happy with the shot.

(End of this chapter)