Director Allen gradually approached, followed by his inseparable good friend Joe Dante. At almost 5 feet 6 inches, Dante is like a basketball guard hiding behind the center and dribbling forward.
Walking in front of everyone, Joe's head popped out from behind Allen. His hair was parted in the middle, which could not hide his rapidly receding hairline. He grabbed Director Allen's arm with one hand, pointed at Ronald with the other and shouted: "Ronnie, Ronnie, how are your preparations today?"
"I have just organized group performances to practice twice. The leading actors have finished moving and have touched up their makeup. Wait for Director Allen to confirm the leading actors' costumes with you. We can rehearse with makeup in 5 minutes. The director of photography said that we can start on time at 6:30. Shoot.”
With that said, Ronald handed over the storyboard he drew yesterday.
Joe Dante took it and took a look: "Is this your storyboard you drew?"
He was particularly proactive today and took over the director's duties. While looking at the storyboard drawings drawn by Ronald in detail, he ordered: "Bring Director Allen's chair over."
Ronald saw that Director Allen was not in good condition. I quickly brought a chair. It's the kind of chair that has a name written on the back, a director's chair. Ronald took the director's arm from Joe and helped him sit down with difficulty.
The director was sweating on his forehead, his face was pale, and he looked a little bad. Ronald leaned close to the director's ear and asked softly: "Would you like a cup of hot coffee, Director Allen?"
Allen nodded. Ronald pulled his assistant Jim and gently told him to bring him a cup of hot coffee.
"Very good, I will shoot according to your storyboard today. PJ, the one you wear in red," Joe Dante said, handing the storyboard to the director of photography. The two began to discuss the details of the shooting:
"The camera starts with a close-up view of the new students, then pulls back, then rises up to give a panoramic view of the playground, and then moves forward to the science club welcome platform where the good girl stands..."
The two of them discussed it, and Joe came over, spread out the storyboards, and told Alan about it. Allen nodded in agreement.
At this time, the performers returned to the playground one after another. Ronald picked up the electric horn and guided the performers into position.
The red-haired photography assistant began to put a black cloth on the film box to prevent exposure, and put his hands in the dark to install the film.
The director of photography called two other strong assistants, and they began to check the installed camera rocker, raised and lowered it a few times, and began testing.
In less than a minute, the red-haired man installed the film in the black cloth bag in the dark. He came over and picked up a roll of black tape and taped it along the edge of the film box. For low-cost movies, they all rent second-hand machines, and they don’t know the quality of the machines. So I taped the gaps with black tape to prevent accidental light leakage and ruining the film.
After wrapping the film box, the director of photography began to instruct the assistants to lift the camera onto the crane arm and install it, and then began to test it by raising and lowering the camera. The crane arm was also rented and second-hand. If not tested, something might go wrong.
Co-director Joe Dante began to talk about the role of Dai Yang, who plays the good girl...
The crew is like a big machine, and each staff member is like a gear, which starts to operate in an orderly manner at the director's order.
Ronald liked this order. A good director is like a general, the film crew is like a team of soldiers, film shooting is a team effort, and the director must have leadership skills.
The leading actors and supporting actors took their positions, ready to start rehearsal. Joe Dante was discussing details with the director who was sitting in a chair.
Ronald picked up the electric horn and began to organize the group performances to act as a human background. "Boys and girls from Van Nuys High School, we are about to start the dress rehearsal. Please take the positions you have determined before. Please stand in the positions you have determined before..."
"Members of the football team, please come to me. Okay, your game uniforms are great. You stand here at the beginning, and after I give the signal, you rush to the map, pick up the freshman, and carry him away as a prank. .do you understand?"
The director motioned to Ronald for the rehearsal to begin. Several actors began to act in a pretentious manner. In order to save the best performance for the official filming, the actors were all on point in moving and rehearsing. The ensemble cast worked well together, except for one or two who peeked at the camera.
Director of photography Dean Candy personally took control of the camera, climbed on the crane arm, and walked through the official camera movement path. The director expressed satisfaction.
Ronald picked up the electric speaker again and said: "All extras, please stand at the starting position." The leading actors and supporting actors also stood at the starting position.
The staff all exited the range covered by the cameras, and everyone waited patiently and expectantly.
Co-director Joe Dante gave star Dai Yang two more details to pay attention to. Everyone held their breath and waited for the arrival of the magic light.
Just after 06:28, the light in the air suddenly began to flow like an athlete hearing the starting gun. The sun has not yet risen above the horizon, but it is slowly lighting up the sky and background.
This is a beautiful color. The metal body of the camera has a light blue luster, as if it is covered with a layer of armor.
The hairpins worn by several female high school students and the large black-rimmed glasses worn by the obedient female top student also began to shimmer with light reflections. Everyone seemed to dare not breathe, waiting for the magic light to come.
The red-haired photography assistant trotted to the actor to measure the light, then ran back to the camera and reported the light metering data to adjust the aperture.
The uncle carrying the long recording pole raised the long recording pole above the actors' heads, trying to get as close as possible to collect the sound, but keeping it far enough away so as not to be caught by the camera.
"The light is just right!" the photography director yelled.
After receiving a look from director Allen, Ronald picked up the electric horn and said, "Okay, let's get ready for our first official shoot!"
Jim sounded the whistle three times in cooperation, "Beep...Beep...Beep..." This was the signal to notify the restricted area.
Everyone stopped whispering and waited for orders.
Ronald looked to the director, and Joe Dante motioned for him to start. Ronald said through the electric horn:
"recorder?"
"It's on!" the recording team replied.
"camera?"
"Run at full speed!" The redhead signaled that the camera's motor had accelerated to 24 frames of film per second and could start shooting.
Picking up the trumpet slate, scribe Jenny ran to the camera, held it up, and began to say: "'High School Life' Scene 127, first shot, first time."
He slammed the clapperboard down and quickly exited the shooting area.
"Start shooting. (Action!)"
Alan Arkush, sitting in the director's chair, said softly.
"Action!"
Ronald loudly delivered the director's orders using an electric speaker.
The show begins.
A freshman looked at the map on the wall. There was a red cross on it, and underneath it was written: "Your location is here."
"Where am I?" the freshman said to himself.
The director of photography directed the camera to move laterally, and then slowly retreat. The viewfinder slowly zoomed out from the freshman's upper body to his whole body, and then continued to retreat. Three members of the rugby team entered the frame from the right.
"Oh, there's a new student here!" "New student, new student!"
Members of the football team, dressed in game attire, rushed over to carry the extras playing the new students.
"Where are you going to get me!"
"Put it in the locker room!"
"Oh, don't, don't throw me into the locker room."
The camera's crane arm rises to the top of the head at a constant speed and begins to switch to a bird's-eye view. The football players carried the freshmen out of the camera view. Then the camera slowly moved, and the screen framed the science club's orientation platform where the obedient female top student was.
The camera points to the female academic tyrant played by Dai Yang, one of the heroines. It began to descend slowly, then stopped and pointed to the table in front of her.
There are several bottles for chemical experiments on the table, filled with water of different colors of red, green and blue. Next to them is a sign saying "Science Club, Kate Lambeau, Chemical Reaction Demonstration".
Ronald stood not far behind the camera and watched the filming. This is one of the rare highlight scenes in this low-budget movie. It cost a lot of money and will be cut into the opening scene of the movie in the future.
Today's first shot seemed to be going well. I secretly compared the real shots and the dream revelations. They were basically the same. Ronald nodded. We'll see if the director is satisfied later and leave this one for development.
But the director hasn't stopped yet, and it seems he has some special ideas. Do you want the shot to be longer so it's easier to edit? Or are there any other special artistic considerations?
No, this is too long. The actor's expression had begun to stiffen, and Dai Yang, who played the good girl, began to turn her head to look at the camera. She was looking for the director, asking for a signal from the director whether to continue acting.
Why don't you call Cut?
Ronald also turned around to see what director Allen was thinking.
The director, who is nearly two meters tall and thin, sat on his chair and gradually tilted his head. Is he using this angle to move the camera? No, how could the director...
Ronald quickly picked up the electric horn:
"Cut! Cut! Cut!"
Everyone was frightened by his urgent shout and turned their heads suddenly.
"The director fainted!"
