Hollywood Road

Perhaps influenced by his own experience, Murphy always believes that words are more convincing without actions, and words without action support are nothing more than words.

If you want to convince Frank Miller, you just find him and tell him what you will do. It is useless. The other party is over fifty years old. He is not an ignorant person, and it is far from being able to be moved by simple words.

Inside the CAA company, there is an analysis of Frank Miller, who believes that apart from his talent in comic creation, he is also a suspicious person.

In this world, nothing of value is at your fingertips. In order to convince Frank Miller to obtain the basic conditions for starting comic book copyright negotiations with DC, Murphy must prove to Frank Miller that he can use the soul of the original work, Both Wonderful and Black and White Phantom are turned into movies.

How can I prove it? Murphy chose to start with a short film-quality video related to the comics, impressing Frank Miller with real and convincing images.

After Murphy spoke with Bill Rossis, Bill Rossis called up the likes of Philip Lascher, Helena Espora, Jack Watson and David Robbie who he had worked with , After experiencing the success of two films in succession, these people also like to continue to cooperate with Murphy, just like Hollywood companies are always chasing successful directors, they also tend to cooperate with successful directors.

And the partner is a familiar person.

After these people received the call from Bill Rossis, they quickly agreed.

Apart from them, Murphy still needs an actress. Since it is an experimental shooting, it is impossible to pay much. Bill Rossis found a model and an actor from among the many contracted clients at the bottom of CAA. actress.

In addition, a small studio under Digital Domain was also contacted to create special effects for the captured footage.

Because this is a self-financed experimental shooting, all funds can only be paid by Stanton Studio for the time being. With the current financial strength of Stanton Studio, there is no need to worry about the expenditure of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

After finishing these, Murphy called everyone into a conference room in CAA to have a communication before shooting.

"Filly,"

In the conference room, Murphy stood at the front of the long conference table, "Sony's hfc-950s camera is needed for shooting, and you are responsible for renting it, and it can be done in one day."

"Okay." Philip Raschel nodded.

"and also,

"Murphy added, "This picture should be very stylized. In the black and white vision, the emotions and emotions are highlighted through bright colors. The black and white tone is also a binary division of morality and humanity, but it is also responsible for it through color , beyond the monotonous masking! "

The two had already communicated on the phone before, and Philip Lascher had also read the comics, so these were not problems.

"Paul," Murphy continued to order, "contact a studio suitable for green screen shooting."

He ordered one by one, "Jack, the costumes and makeup of the female characters should be bright red enough, and a nude dress should also be prepared. Helen, you must design a character background that conforms to the comic style as soon as possible..."

In the end, Murphy looked towards the farthest position on the left hand side of the conference table. That was the actress Bill Rosses had hired, a British actress who was born and raised in the United States.

He looked at the other person's long blond hair, "Ruth, you need to cut your hair short! If you have any objections..."

For many actresses, long hair is their second life, and Murphy is not sure whether the other party will cut off her hair to conform to the image in the comics. If she is not happy, then change to another person.

Sienna Miller, who sat there, remained silent, knowing that she was not qualified to speak among these people.

Now that the problem is on her own head, Sienna Miller did not hesitate, "I can cut my hair anytime."

Although it is only an experimental project now, if the project is really approved, the female role she plays is very likely to become an important role in the feature film.

This is a rare opportunity.

As for James Franco, who played a male role, Murphy didn't say anything. With his current acting skills and the style of the film, it's just trivial to deal with this kind of role.

After the communication meeting, Murphy asked Stanton's studio to allocate 100,000 U.S. dollars for the temporary expenses of this experimental project. With enough money as support, the temporary crew also started running at high speed. Philip Lasher I got the camera rental in half a day, Paul Wilson negotiated the studio with Disney Studios, Sienna Miller cut off her long hair accompanied by Jack Watson...

The most important post-production background production, after Helena Espora took out the design drawings and modified them according to Murphy's requirements, the two of them went to the special effects production studio in the small town of Venice, and had a thorough discussion with the special effects director. Communication of the day.

Murphy also prepared a running storyboard that served as a reference for shooting and casting.

Due to the original agreement, DC wanted to transfer the film copyright of "Sin City" or invest in the filming by itself. Frank Miller's agreement was the most basic prerequisite. In order to impress this famously stubborn guy, Murphy completely This experimental short film was completed with the requirements of making a formal feature film.

After a week of preparation, all the work was ready, and Murphy's temporary crew also assembled at the Disney studio. Since the lease was only for one day, the shooting had to be completed as soon as possible.

In the morning, Helena-Espora's team built a prop balcony and set up a green screen around the balcony. The green screen will be used as the background for shooting.

After lunch, the crew entered the stage of on-site shooting.

With only two actors, James Franco and Sienna Miller, for the entire scene, Murphy handed over the shooting entirely to Philip Lascher, who sat behind the director's monitor to watch the shoot in action.

Before the shooting started, Murphy deliberately walked to the venue and looked at the makeup effect of Sienna Miller. As the only character in the film with strong color, the red she represents must be bright enough in the black and white world.

Sienna Miller cut her hair short, probably because of her makeup, her eyes looked particularly deep, and further down, her retro rich red lips seemed to have just been stained with blood, and her clothes were also blood red.

"No... no problem?" Sienna Miller was a little unsure.

Murphy nodded to her, "Relax, you are very well now."

After speaking, he turned back to the director's monitor and said loudly, "The filming will start in three minutes!"

Everyone on the makeshift crew is doing their final checks, and James Franco and Sienna Miller are taking their places.

The shoot started on time, with Sienna Miller in a gorgeous red dress walking towards the edge of the balcony, and Philip Raschel giving a panoramic close-up from behind.

Seeing this close-up, Murphy immediately raised his right hand and shouted, "Stop!"

Sienna Miller turned her head and looked at Murphy, not understanding where she made a mistake.

Murphy didn't care about the actors, and shouted to the makeup and costume team responsible for Jack Watson, "Jack, come here!"

Jack Watson immediately trotted over, and Murphy didn't talk nonsense, and said directly, "The clothes are still not bright enough."

"This is the reddest dress I've ever seen..." Jack Watson scratched his head, "I'll ask someone to find it again."

Murphy glanced at the red dress on Sienna Miller again, shook his head, and said, "Well, for a nude dress, I'll let the special effects studio solve it through post-production special effects."

Just as Jack Watson was about to leave, Murphy stopped him again, "Jack, and red lips, also changed to nude."

Since the effects of clothing and make-up cannot be achieved, digital special effects can be used to solve it. Murphy is not a stubborn person who does not know how to adapt, so he made a decision immediately.

The shooting was not very smooth. Fili Raschel made two mistakes in photography. After all, this is different from the previous photography style. Wrong, fortunately, this is a performance against a green screen, and they don't need to show shocking acting skills. When the sun outside turned to the west, Murphy announced that the shooting of this few minutes of footage was over.

A busy week, just for these few short minutes, the preparations for filming are far more time-consuming than the filming itself, and it also consumes a director's energy.

The shooting done in one day was only the most basic shot material. Murphy personally sent this shot to the special effects studio in Venice and told them to finish it as soon as possible.

If you want to complete as soon as possible, you must pay enough fees. This is the simplest business rule.

After Murphy paid half of the funds in advance, the studio specially selected two teams to produce and render this shot and background picture at the same time.

After waiting for a full ten days, Murphy did not get the finished version of this shot until mid-September. He reviewed it immediately and was basically satisfied with the effect, and the picture was very in line with the style of the original comic.

Then, he ran to the Death Star building where CAA was located, and found Bill Rosses again.

"Bill, help me determine Frank Miller's itinerary as soon as possible," Murphy said directly as soon as he walked into Bill Rossis' office, "I need to know whether he is in New York or Los Angeles."

Bill Rosses nodded, picked up the phone, dialed several numbers in a row, and waited patiently for a while. After about fifteen minutes, a call came back. He answered it and said a few words. Write down a place name in the notebook, snap it off and look at Murphy.

"Frank Miller is in Los Angeles these days," he said, glancing down at his notebook. "He's on vacation and doesn't want to be disturbed."

Murphy frowned slightly, and Bill Rosses said, "He will attend a party in Malibu tomorrow night, and I will try to get you a ticket." (To be continued.)