Exploiting Hollywood 1980

By 1979, the holidays were over for the first day of work.

At 8 in the morning, Ronald returned to the office building of New World Productions. Immediately, I felt that I was right to choose to give up the portrait photography business.

When he saw the movie poster in the corridor, he was excited and wanted to work impatiently. Sometimes people's rational thinking is not as real as the body's reaction.

As soon as he arrived at the New World Productions office building, Ronald felt his body eager to try. There is something in the blood vessels waking up, resonating with the film, and can't wait for them to be sensitive, printed and played according to their own wishes.

It is better to go to the assistant to the president on the second floor to find out the news. Seeing that Gale was already busy at his seat, Ronald hurriedly stepped forward to say hello.

"Hi Gail, Happy New Year. You look great."

Gail wore a new professional dress, still sporting a Sassoon bob. A few new photos were placed on the desk, including a single photo of herself, a photo with Cameron, and a group photo of three, all taken by Ronald.

She was delighted to see Ronald, "Ronald, are you here? How was your vacation?"

"Very good, how about you?"

Ronald and Gal chatted about the movements of acquaintances.

The filming part of "High School of Rock" was completed, and the crew members immediately dispersed and went their separate ways. The actors are already on their way to the next crew, as are the technical staff such as photography, recording, etc.

The real shooting time of the movie is not long. It is only the director who runs through the whole preparation and the long work in the later stage. That's what boss Roger Coleman said, filming is long at both ends and short in the middle. Shooting parts that cost a lot of money should be done as soon as possible. After editing and mixing, you can take your time.

But that's just a Hollywood philosophy. No, it's more precisely the philosophy of low-budget exploit mogul, Roger Coleman.

Polanski has been filming "Tess" for more than 6 months, and it has not been finished yet. I don't know how he fooled investors. And investors can also bear him to grind foreign workers like this?

Gossip with Gail continued, Ronald found that several of his acquaintances also went their separate ways.

Cameron went to the new sci-fi film crew, started a new job designing and building stunt models, and Roger Coleman named the new movie "Battle of the Stars." Ready to go the way of copycat "Star Wars", and also engage in space opera.

PJ Sowers went to Warner Bros.' big-budget, $15 million budget "Little Maze as a Soldier." But unfortunately, she still did not become the leading actress in the blockbuster movie, and this time she played a supporting role for the popular star, Oscar winner Goldie Hahn.

But the most surprising thing is Jenny, who actually became a screenwriter and went to revise the script for the movie "Black Horse". This was shot by Francis Coppola's "Diorama" company. I heard it was very artistic, and it was directed by Coppola's big brother, Carol Ballard.

"Wow," Ronald couldn't help but sigh, how could such a good thing not have his own share?

Gail saw the envy in his eyes and reminded, "Jenny's last name is Rosenberg."

Ronald was stunned for a moment, then realized that Rosenberg was a common Jewish surname. It seems that Jenny has a family background, and has caught up with the most powerful Jewish circle in the film and television industry.

...

"You came to the editing room to report today? I'll take you there"

Gale and Ronald knocked on the door of a editing room, Director Alan Akush was already inside, and when he saw Ronald coming, he stood up to greet him, "Ronald, you're here, welcome. "

Alan's height is close to 2 meters, which makes Ronald very stressed, "Hello, director, what do you need me to do, please tell me."

"Joe, Joe? You take Ronald to familiarize himself with the equipment, teach him how to load the film film and tape into the machine, and teach him how to synchronize the sound and picture." Allen asked Joe Dante to teach him how to get started.

"Hi Ronald. It's great to have you in the editing room, and we can continue to work together."

Joe Dante stroked his hair, revealing the line of hair that was already set back. He took Ronald to the film cabinet in the corner of the room and brought out a few reels of film. Then, according to the number on the film, I found the same period audio tape.

It was the first time Ronald saw a film tape. It was 35mm wide like film, but the middle was empty, and there were only some lines on the sides. These lines were used to record the sound magnetically.

The final tape recording, at the laboratory, is added to both sides of the film, and the sound is synchronised with the image during projection.

There is a table in the corner of the room. There are two spinning-wheel-like plates on it, and a crank handle.

"This is the film winder. Load the film, shake the handle, and you can pull the film up." Joe Dante demonstrated to Ronald.

"Then put the tape on the second reel as well, with the sound playback head, so that when you shake the handle, the image and sound will advance together." Joe Dante motioned Ronald to try.

"The speed at which you crank the handle, it's best to keep it at 24 frames per second, which is the standard speed for movie projections." Joe reminded Ronald.

"Okay, stop here."

Ronald stopped cranking the handle, and so did the film and tape.

"Did you find it? This is the scene where Jenny is playing the board, but there is no sound on the tape. Do you know why?" Joe asked, pointing to the picture on the film.

Ronald still remembers that every time a movie was shot, the tape recorder was turned on first, the camera turned on last, and the director called last.

"Because the tape recorder is on first, the recording is a bit longer than the film."

"Yes, your job is to cut out the tape that didn't record anything at the beginning and keep it in sync with the film."

No nonsense, Joe Dante brings a bunch of tools right away.

"It's your friends at work, white tape, scotch tape, and guillotine. Start by sticking 10 feet of white tape on the end of the film and tape, and write the shot number, content."

Ronald complied, picking up a pen and writing "Rock High School Game 2 Mirror 3"

"Then put the film film and audio tape on the roller, find the frame of the recording board, and then find the "pop" of the audio tape, and cut off the extra parts in front, understand?"

Ronald tried it out, he found it quickly, and he successfully tried it once.

"Those extra film and tapes are thrown away. Then join up the useful parts. Use Scotch tape for the film and white tape for the tape to keep the slate in sync with the camera and sound. Good!"

"I'll teach you how to use the connector, which is much faster than sticking duct tape by hand."

Joe Dante took a small connector.

"Put the end of the film on this grid, put scotch tape on it, put the other connector here, tape the other side, and..."

Saying that, press down the lever of the connector, pop!

Ronald picked up the film and looked at it, and sure enough, it fit perfectly.

Then Ronald himself operated with scrap film a few times.

Joe Dante saw that Ronald got started quickly, and observed that he found a few board spots, and after receiving a few films, he let him be responsible for the synchronization of the sound and picture.

Director Allen nodded with satisfaction when he saw Ronald entering the working state. Before the synchronization of the sound and picture, the director had nothing to do in the editing room. After staring for a while, he went out to play with Joe Dante.

To synchronize the sound and picture of a roll of film, Ronald handed the film over to Larry, the film's senior editor. See how he does the first cut.

Larry, the editor, cut the large roll of film that Ronald had synchronized, cut it one by one according to the shots, and rolled each shot into a small roll, which was convenient for the editor to assemble into a movie later.

The film was shot for a full 25 hours, with a total length of 120,000 feet (38,000 meters). Synchronizing it with audio and video is not a small project. Repeating the same work every day is very boring. If Ronald didn't want to learn the technique of editing, he really couldn't stand it.

Editing is almost always done by women in the big studios of the golden age of Hollywood. The reason is that women are meticulous and make fewer mistakes. In this editing room, apart from Ronald, the other two assistants are girls.

Soon, Ronald found himself completely bad at this kind of meticulous, repetitive work. Compared with the two assistants, he made more mistakes and his work efficiency was much lower. Editing assistants pay attention to three shifts, people rest, machines do not rest, and work 24 hours a day.

Ronald was inefficient and could only work more night shifts instead of robbing two female assistants for machines. Going back and forth, I made myself a little bit upside down.

After two weeks of continuous work, the situation is even worse. During one night shift, I made three mistakes in a row. Ronald couldn't take it anymore, and he proposed to Director Allen to take a day off to adjust his state.

...

Have a good sleep and wake up naturally. Ronald went out to buy a TV. He needs to change his mind.

After a while, he brought back an old-fashioned color TV from the second-hand electrical appliance store and put it on the cabinet in the living room.

Connected to the power supply, pulled out the antenna, and changed several stations, CBS, NBC, ABC three stations can receive, the signal is not bad. There is also a public education TV station, PBS, which puts on science and education programs.

Ronald began to switch channels, enjoying the pleasure of watching TV alone.

"Persian unrest continues to worsen as King Pahlavi's family leaves Persia by private jet for England..." ABC's "International News Tonight"

"Persian National Petroleum Corporation announced the suspension of oil exports, international oil prices are expected to rise, Persian crude oil production accounts for 10% of the world's total production..." NBC Economic Review

"Don't do this to me... JR, you are also a member of the Youying family." This is CBS's prime-time evening drama "Jumen's Enmity ()".

Ronald stopped turning the channel dial and sat on the sofa to watch the TV series "Jumen Enmity". It's about the feud between the families of two major oil tycoons in Dallas.

Ronald rarely saw any impressive footage. After watching a lot of film footage, my taste is a bit picky, and watching TV shows is just to see beautiful actresses.

The plot is exaggerated, and the footage is a bit rough. Fortunately, there is a beautiful heroine. Ronald watched it for half an hour until the end of this episode.

Yawning, Ronald got up and turned off the TV. There is really a TV, and there are no good programs. I have to go to work tomorrow and continue the boring work.