Ronald and Jim began to look at the shooting information of the second team, and they made a plan on what shots they would shoot in the next five days.
Gale helped contact the photographer and agreed to gather at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow Monday to shoot the opening scene at Mount Carmel High School.
The next morning, Ronald met the photographer, a British photographer common in Hollywood. Ronald deliberately changed slightly into the tone of the "New Concept English" recording, with a touch of British BBC radio accent.
The photographer laughed happily and told some jokes about himself being drunk and making a fool of himself to build rapport.
The three of them quickly became familiar with each other and worked together to prepare for the shoot.
"I want a still shot, about 3-5 seconds, of a gentle ray of sunshine shining on the teaching building."
"Wait, wait, gentle sunshine? How do you want me to take pictures of gentle sunshine?" the photographer protested.
"Shoot normally. The sunlight after sunrise is relatively gentle, right?"
"In this way, I will adjust the parameters to make the aperture smaller. This Kodak daylight film is an old model. It is estimated to be a year old from the factory. It will be slightly whiter, so that the yellow sunrise can be 'gentler'."
"Listen to you."
"Roger Corman gave the last crew the same crap again," Jim complained.
Cut!
Finish.
“Where are we next shot?”
"Wait, it's under a big sign with the school's name on it."
"That means there are none. Let's get in the car and look around to see if there's anything suitable."
After removing the camera from its stand, the three of them packed up and got into the crew's van.
"Do you know that big sign there? We need to take a close-up shot." Ronald asked the driver.
"Big sign? Well, there is a billboard on the back wall of the school. Do you think it will work?"
The driver stepped on the accelerator and the car arrived behind Mount Carmel High School. Where the stadium used to be, weeds grew half as tall as a person. There is a barbed wire fence surrounding the stadium, which is right next to the road. There is a large billboard at the right height on the roadside.
"Very good, you have a very good sense and the place you chose is very good."
"Put the school name on it that Jim drew."
The four took down the folding ladder and set it up on the billboard. Ronald and the driver were on one side, and Jim was directing from below, "A little higher on the left, a little higher, okay, just right."
The billboard was labeled "Vince Lombardi High School" in green letters on a yellow background.
Vince Lombardi is the most famous football coach and has won two consecutive Super Bowls. He coached on Army football teams, emphasizing discipline. It’s similar to Principal Toga’s school management philosophy in “Rock and Roll High School”. In other words, the character of Principal Toga was modeled after Vince Lombardi.
The photographer confirms OK through the viewfinder.
Ronald took out the slate, filled in the scene number, slapped it in front of the camera, and then raised his hand to look at the watch: "One, two, three, four, five..., okay, Cut!"
The shooting of the second team was scattered and trivial. They only needed to shoot one or two shots in one place. Most of the time was spent waiting for the light, assembling and disassembling the camera, and arranging scene props.
Ronald thoroughly understood what Roger Corman taught him about focusing on a scene. It was too slow to shoot a shot in such a place.
The three of them all had some experience and cooperated tacitly. In three days, they shot seven or eight of the scenes that Jerry Zucker planned to shoot.
Jim also directed a motorcycle scene. He rode the motorcycle himself, and the cameraman sat in front of him, holding the camera and shooting a subjective shot. According to the photographer, what the audience sees will be like racing on a motorcycle.
This was of course Jim's idea, and he resorted to the old method of downgrading photography. The 20-mph motorcycle was driven at a slow speed, which gave him the feeling of racing.
After finishing the shooting that day, Ronald and the others sent the film to New World Productions and were waiting to be sent for development and printing. They happened to meet the boss Roger Corman.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Coleman."
"Oh, Ronald, how was your shoot?"
"We have completed most of the second-unit shooting. Tomorrow we will go to Mount Carmel High School. Director Allen will shoot an explosion scene with two cameras. There will also be a phone booth scene the day after tomorrow. We have to wait for the two protagonists PJ and Dai Yang to shoot. Once the gymnastics scene is over, the filming of 'Rock 'n' Roll' can be wrapped up."
Packing is a lingo in Hollywood, which is equivalent to wrapping in Chinese, which is a metaphor for the end of the filming phase. Everyone packed up the camera and film to signify that the shooting was complete.
"Very good. I like your working style very much. It's fast, accurate, and artistic." Roger praised him.
"I have already written your letter of recommendation and asked Gale to send it with your application. After you graduate from college, don't forget to make a movie for me."
"Of course, Mr. Corman. Not all Hollywood bosses give opportunities to newcomers like me and Jim like you do." Ronald thanked Roger Corman from the bottom of his heart. The boss recognized the talents he , was very hands-off, and Ronald had the opportunity to direct alone.
"Where's Jim? Ask him to come to me in the office, and I'll ask him to report to the stunt department for the new movie. This guy's mind is full of stunts and models, and he's already called me several times."
"He seems to be waiting for you at Gale's place, Mr. Coleman. You can see him when you go up."
Roger Coleman nodded and walked into the office.
After hearing that his application had been sent, Ronald couldn't help but look forward to college life. Which is better, Columbia in the Ivy League, or New York University in Manhattan? Speaking of which, the sunshine in the Westwood District of Los Angeles is also very good, and UCLA located there is also very suitable, very close to Hollywood.
Ronald stood at the front desk, drinking instant coffee and thinking about his college career.
After about two drinks, Jim came down from upstairs and shouted to himself with joy,
"I'm going to be a stunt model, Ronnie!"
"Congratulations!" Ronald hugged Jim tightly. As a human being, being able to realize your dreams and turn your hobby into a job is something worth celebrating.
"When do you go to work?"
“After the Christmas break”
"That's great, we can also go to the 'Rock and Roll High School' packing party together."
Before Jim's excitement subsided, he suddenly remembered:
"By the way, I brought my short film. Can we watch it together later?"
"Okay, do you want to wait for Gail to come with you? Has she seen it?"
"She said she only watched the last minute and not the whole thing."
"Then you go call her, and I'll ask the photographer to prepare the video recorder in the conference room." Ronald really didn't know how to connect the VHS recorder to the TV.
After a while, the four of them started watching Jim’s short film in the conference room.
The resolution of this VHS tape is very poor, and the title "Xenogenesis" appears at the beginning.
Each letter appeared on the screen like a typewriter, and Jim also added some electronic sound effects, a bit like the popular Arida game console.
Then there are the credits. The Sony TV is only 21 inches in size and the subtitles are not clear. The three Ronalds still need to distinguish carefully.
The subtitles are very long and boring. In a 12-minute short film, the opening subtitles with white text on a black background only take one minute. Fortunately, he finally saw the words "Director" appear, and Ronald knew that the subtitles were finally coming to an end.
It is Hollywood's custom to put the director at the end of the opening credits, and America's habit of putting the most important person at the end of the list.
director:
Then the letters spelled out a name.
James Cameron.
"Is this James you, Jim?" Jim is the short name of James, and Ronald never asked Jim's full name.
"Yes."
