Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 247 Shooting Schedule
"Fast-paced Richmond High School" movie project officially launched.Universal Pictures has scheduled this youth film to be released around late July next year, after the summer vacation in 1982.

There is no exact release time, because the schedule of small productions depends on the situation of large productions.

For big productions with big-name stars, the next year's schedule will be set at the film fair held in Las Vegas in April every year.The major producers and theater buyers will find a suitable arrangement there, so that the big productions of the major studios will not collide in terms of time.

Small productions like "Fast-paced Richmond High School" will fit in between the gaps of big productions, and flexibly adjust their schedules according to their box office situation.

Because the schedule is not very certain, the studio will leave enough time margin for production work.

Three months later, which is the beginning of April next year, the studio will hope to complete the final editing and small-scale test screening of the whole film at this time point, and make some final fine-tuning according to the results of the test screening, and then Make positive copies and rent them out to theaters.

On this basis, push forward another 3 months, that is, before the Christmas holiday in 1981.The movie must be packed and shut down at this time.

Set aside 3 months to complete the initial cut and fine cut of the film, wait for the film studio executives to find the audience to come to the internal test screening, and then decide whether to make major revisions to the finished film, this is the so-called final cut right.

Two months before that, it's time for filming and production.

In 1980, the average production cost of the eight major studios was $800 million. A small production of 300 million US dollars is considered a very shabby configuration.During the shooting, money is burned every day. It is impossible to prolong the shooting cycle for a long time, so you can take your time.

However, the 90-minute film length determines that even if the Roger Corman-style shooting method is used, it is impossible to save a lot of time.Therefore, the "fast-paced" shooting time was set at 8 weeks.

After deducting the Christmas and New Year holidays, it means that the crew will start the production in mid-October this year at the latest.

And in September before that, all actors and technical teams had to be in place.Including but not limited to camera crew, recording crew, lighting crew, makeup, costumes, and hairdos.The crew has officially entered the operation stage.

In the next few months, Ronald, as the director, will work with the producers to determine candidates for key positions.Director of Photography, Art Direction.These two key people have to work with the director to determine the tone and setting style of the entire film.

After determining the key candidates, the director will also work with them to scout the film's location to find the locations needed in the plot.Determine the shooting location, cost, and if the budget is not enough, modify the relevant scenes of the script.

During this period, another main job of the director is to audition the main actors with the producer, and the film has a lot of main actors.

In short, during this period of time, Universal also considerately gave more margin, allowing the "fast-paced" production office to be established a little earlier.

Adding up all the zeros and zeros, a "small production" has to be prepared almost a year backwards from the release date.And that's not counting the time spent writing and revisiting the script before, waiting for studio executives to agree to green-light the project.

Of course, these are just agendas on paper.In actual operation, many things can be accommodated, and problems need to be handled flexibly.Small productions do not receive much attention from the studio executives, and the director still has a lot of decision-making power.

Before Ronald started working, Universal will set up a production office, which will be placed in a row of bungalows next to Universal Studios. There are more than a dozen empty offices here, waiting for new crews to move in at any time, and to send off old crews. leave.

Ronald went to see him, and he was assigned to the furthest office, next to the bathroom.There are two desks in the great room, facing each other, belonging to Ronald and the executive producer.On the other side is the accountant's desk.

During the preparatory stage, there were only these three people in the office of the "Fast-paced" crew.There is no secretary, so you have to bring your own tea and coffee.

The executive producer who was in charge of the day-to-day stuff wasn't in place, and the accountant wasn't there either.After getting acquainted with the environment in advance, Ronald flew back to New York, because there was still an important thing waiting for him to deal with, which was to suspend school.

Aunt Karen was not too happy. Ronald was a first-generation college student in her family. Her sisters and brothers-in-law all expected Ronald to be successful.Now I take a break from school in the second grade to shoot a movie.

There is no guarantee for the future. No matter whether the film is successful or not, Ronald may not be able to get a bachelor's degree.

She talked to Ronald seriously, "Ronnie, it's your parents' wish to send you to college..."

"I know, so I just went through the formalities of suspending school, and I can come back to continue studying when I have time."

"Have you thought about your future? If your career as a director is not going well, if you want to come back and find a decent job, a college degree is indispensable."

"My ability is completely enough to find an editing job in the film industry. You don't have to worry. If it's not possible, there are leg warmer factories that can make money. As for education, Donna can definitely get into the Ivy League."

"But you're a man, it's always a bit weird to run a women's dance supplies business."

"Don't worry, my video will be a hit."

"Then you must promise to get a college degree in the future, Ronnie."

"I promise, Aunt Karen."

After persuading his aunt, Ronald drove to New York University and went to the office building to go through the formalities of suspension of school.

Then he turned the car and went to the home of the teacher Scorsese who had made an appointment in advance.

Isabella prepared black tea for him.Scorsese was lying halfway on the couch with a blanket over his legs.

Although he did not win the Oscar for Best Director, "Raging Bull" received good reviews from the film critics, which once again won him the trust of the studio, and a new film is under preparation.

"Ronald, you are very good. Among the several students I have taught, you may be the first to direct a film independently. Youth film, huh? Very good, the first film should have a certain overlap with your own life part."

"Thank you." While drinking black tea, Ronald saw Isabella go to the kitchen to serve them meatballs.

"Marty, what's the subject of your new film this time?"

"Ahem, I hope to make a movie about Christ Jesus and let Robert De Niro play Christ himself." Scorsese coughed twice and replied, "I have not been in good health recently, and De Niro Not interested in playing him, we might turn to comedy."

"It's always been Marty's wish to make a movie about Jesus at the last moment." Isabella simply warmed up hot meatballs in the kitchen and served them to Ronald and Marty.

"Thank you, Isabella." Scorsese's wife actually has a good image and is suitable for filming or commercials, but she has always only played the role of a housewife at home, and occasionally appeared on TV.

"Is your mother, Ms. Bergman, okay?" Ronald asked.

"She's recuperating in London and she hasn't been doing well since the operation."

After Ronald finished eating the meatballs and got up to leave, Scorsese stopped him, "Ahem, I have another present for you, Isabella, pass me that box."

"What is this?" Ronald asked curiously.

"open to take a look."

Ronald took it apart and saw that it was a small director's viewfinder.

"I used this when I was filming 'The Seas Were Too Difficult', and I gave it to you. It can help you see the frame range of different focal length movie lenses when scouting. There is no depth of field, but it is light enough and suitable for running around. .”

"Thank you, Marty." Ronald hung the viewfinder around his neck, said goodbye and went home.

Donna at home had already returned from school, and when they met, she asked Ronald Xingshi, "Why don't you use the Commodore computer that Diane and I gave you? I saw it when my aunt and I went to clean your apartment two days ago. "

"It's not that I don't use it, but the tape drive takes a long time to start up and save. It's not convenient for me to take it to a print shop, so I took a typewriter with me last time I went to Los Angeles."

"I knew it, here it is." Donna took out another box, "It's convenient to use this."

Ronald finally saw that it was a machine bigger than a walkman, with a long gap on it, and he didn't know what it was for.

"This is called a floppy drive. This is a floppy disk. It is very convenient to use this to start the typing software Wordstar." Donna handed him a few more floppy disks.

Just like the name, the 5-inch floppy disk is really soft.Ronald took it and inserted it into the floppy drive, just put it down.

"Okay, it's much more convenient this way, I'll take it this time."

"This time, Diane and I bought it together for you."

"Oh, thank her for me." Ronald put away the floppy drive, "Where is she now? I haven't seen her come home since Oscar."

"She's in a new cast, this time it's like a racing movie 'Six Pack', with singer Kenny Rogers."

Ronald nodded. For actors, the time to participate in a movie is very short, and they don't need to participate in the early preparations and later editing.The combined rehearsal and shooting time is usually 2-3 months, so they can participate in many more films than directors every year.

If only they could get enough offers.

"The last movie about her punk girl, is the editing done? When will it be released." Ronald asked.

"I heard that there was a problem with the editing, and the director couldn't cut a complete 90-minute video. Diane called several times to ask, and each time said that it was almost ready."

"Oh, that's really unfortunate." Ronald knew about this kind of thing. Inexperienced novice directors sometimes did not shoot movies according to the consideration of editing, but just according to their own interests. Take one if you are interested.Sometimes there is not enough material when editing, and it often gets stuck like this.

Either reshoot, or re-edit the script, cut the existing material into a 90-minute film and pull it down.

Although I have editing skills and a few scenes from my dreams for reference, I still can't be careless, and I have to take every day of shooting seriously.

If you accidentally made such a low-level mistake, it would be ridiculous.After losing the trust of the studio, it will be difficult to go on the road of directing.

(End of this chapter)