"Thank you, thank you all. First of all, I want to thank the Academy's judges for awarding me the Oscar for Best Director. I also want to thank my first boss, Mr. Roger Corman, who gave me my first Oscar. The opportunity to guide...I want to thank all the members of the crew...I want to thank my Aunt Karen...
Finally, I would like to thank one of my fellow directors. I don’t want to say his name, but I am able to get here because of his encouragement! "
Ronald finally stood on the Oscar podium and received his first Oscar for Best Director, feeling very high-spirited. Marla, wearing an evening gown, smiled at him in the audience, while fat boy Michael Cimino looked dejected on the other side...
"Ring ring ring ring..." The alarm clock rang at 6:30 on time.
With big dreams in mind, the road still has to be walked at your feet. Ronald still ran to New World Company early in the morning to watch the preview of "Rock and Roll High School."
"Ronnie, are you here? Help me move the copies." Director Allen stopped Ronald who was standing at the door of New World Production.
"Isn't it an afternoon preview?" Ronald picked up a reel of film and carried it to the van.
"Roger temporarily changed the time yesterday. It was changed to 10:30 this morning. He said that free preview audiences were available." Allen gave a "you know" wry smile.
“Are there free tickets for trial audiences?”
"Yes, we actually sell tickets." Joe Dante on the side said, "I heard that scalpers can get 5-10 US dollars per ticket."
"What? Ten dollars a piece?" Ronald looked unbelieving. Usually the ticket price for a movie is only 2 yuan and 50 cents. How can anyone pay 10 yuan for an exploitation movie like "Rock of Ages"? "
"I'm just saying you can't fool him, Joe." Director Allen laughed, "Ronald's price sensitivity is very much like Roger's."
Well, this is a nice way to praise yourself... right?
"So what's going on? Why are there free preview audiences available?" Ronald asked, "Why did it arrive early in the morning?"
"It's Francis Coppola's new film 'Apocalypse Now', which was also previewed this afternoon." Joe Dante explained.
Usually before a movie is officially released, it will find some audiences for one or two test screenings. Collect some audience feedback and make final revisions based on this feedback before release.
Generally speaking, to hold a test screening, the film studio needs to spend money and find people whose age, gender, income and target audience are as consistent as possible to watch the film. The feedback you get in this way is more real.
The general screening method is to call theater members and conduct a telephone survey to ask them if they want to watch a certain type of movie. Before the test screening, the audience does not know which movie they want to watch.
However, Francis Coppola is famous enough that his two "Godfather" movies took the box office all over the world, and he also won the Oscar for Best Director for the second part of "The Godfather". When it was said that it was a Vietnam War-type film released by United Artists, most viewers guessed it was his new film "Apocalypse Now."
The demand to see the test screening was very strong, and the feedback from theater members who called the theater was very good. Some people even heard about the test screening of "Apocalypse Now" and came to open a membership card to ask for tickets. The 1,000 internal tickets for members were quickly distributed, and the theater put the remaining 1,000 tickets for public sale.
Roger Corman was also invited to a test screening of "Apocalypse Now," and Coppola spoke to film industry insiders, and there was another exclusive screening.
He heard about the popularity of the preview screening and immediately became interested. For those spectators who queued up to buy tickets but could not get them, a show of "Rock and Roll High School" was played for them at no cost.
Isn’t this killing two birds with one stone?
At 8 a.m., people were already queuing up at the entrance of the theater, waiting to buy tickets. The all-pervasive scalpers knew about it and started speculating on second-hand tickets. Coppola decided to hold only one public test screening in Los Angeles, and then return to the San Francisco Peep Show Company to continue revisions in preparation for the Cannes Film Festival.
The van drove to the theater where the trial screening was held. The queue at the door was so long that it almost circled the theater. Although it was stipulated that one person could only receive one ticket, the 1,000 preview tickets for "Apocalypse Now" were still unable to withstand the flow of people. When Ronald and the others arrived, they were declared sold out.
"well……!"
Everyone's gentle sighs converged into a loud noise that swept through the entire queue. Those who were unwilling to do so made various actions, covering their faces and sighing, beating their chests and feet... There was also a female fan who was probably just a few spots short of getting in line and had already begun wiping tears. Ronald looked a little fascinated. This is the style of a great director.
"I heard that the Commander-in-Chief specially requested a copy and sent it to the White House yesterday." Joe Dante and Alan Aikush also looked envious. In 1979, Coppola was like one of the Olympian gods in the movie, descending to earth to possess him, and the audience's admiration for him could not be higher.
The film started shooting in 1976, and was followed by numerous newspaper reports. However, after the lead actor was changed, a hurricane blew across the set, and military conflicts broke out in the Philippines where the filming took place, and various accidents, the release date was repeatedly postponed.
The industry has given up hope for this film, and newspapers even changed the title of the film to Apocalypse When? To ridicule Coppola's delay in filming.
However, movie audiences don't accept this. In their eyes, Coppola is still the magical director who made two parts of The Godfather. Who else could film the Vietnam War better than Coppola?
Although the tickets have been sold out, there are still many movie fans who are unwilling to leave for a long time. Some people hold cardboards and write high-price tickets on them, hoping that someone will be willing to sell them.
The movie theater quickly put away the "Vietnam War Movie Preview" sign and advertised "New Film Preview - High School Girls, Rock and Roll Punk, Disco Dance, Must See, Free Preview."
There were quite a few disappointed spectators who bought tickets as if they were here. They couldn't see Apocalypse Now, but it was good to watch a youth movie.
Ronald frowned. This didn't seem to be the target audience for "Rock and Roll High School."
The audience who came to see "Apocalypse Now" were either fans of Coppola or lovers of war movies, and a few were readers of the original novel "Heart of Darkness". Among these people, there are not many high school students.
"Alan, Joe, are these test audiences okay? Can such test audiences reflect real evaluations?" Ronald said to the two directors in the past.
"Don't worry, Roger is very experienced." Joe comforted Ronald with a serious look. Maybe he was also comforting his good friend Alan Aikush.
"Roger will get the desired response from a small number of teenage viewers." Allen also said, "He will not look at the survey data at the time, but directly look at the reaction of the target customers."
"Our cinemas are mainly drive-in cinemas, late-night cinemas in cities, old cinemas, and cinemas in small towns, where the audiences are not picky." Qiao also added.
The two of them looked a little preoccupied and absent-minded. Ronald understood that this was the natural reaction of the creator, and had experienced it himself, so he stopped trying to dissuade him. It was up to the audience to judge whether they should be excited or anxious after the movie.
Helping to move the copy into the screening room, Ronald found a seat to the side in the theater and sat down. There were still 10 minutes left before leaving the venue, but the crowd was not full, probably a few hundred people. Ronald counted the gender ratio, and there were still more men than women, with only a quarter of the women.
As soon as the light dimmed, the movie officially started. Ronald had watched the movie countless times in the editing room and had long since lost interest. He only watched the phone booth scene where he appeared. He spent most of the time tilting his head, secretly observing the audience's reaction.
Some male audience members enjoyed watching the show, shouting and whistling loudly during the beauty dance scene in the gymnastics room. The footage of the Ramones entering the school and the students revolting also won their applause.
On the other hand, the rock music part, which had high hopes, did not receive much applause. Maybe they don't listen to the music of the Ramones that much.
After the movie, Ronald went to the bathroom. Several men inside were still deliberately imitating the dance moves of beautiful women in movies. It seemed like they enjoyed these scenes.
After washing his hands and drying them, Ronald arrived at the entrance hall. The sound of some women talking came from the other direction.
"I particularly like Liv Randall. She is such an independent woman!"
"Yeah, I wish I could be as brave as her."
"Alas, I am very afraid of the principal of my high school. There are not many people who can resist power and freedom like her!"
"Yes, I am very afraid of my boss now. He is just like Principal Toga. He is an old-fashioned person. He also reads the Bible to us in the office every day."
Ronald looked sideways and saw that it was several young women waiting for a seat outside the restroom, while chattering about the plot.
Unexpectedly, when female audiences watched this movie, what attracted them most was the rebellious and independent rock hottie played by PJ Soles. Not handsome guys, not rock punk, not dancing, but the independent spirit of the protagonist Liv Randall.
The idea of nymphomaniacs makes young women generally envy those independent career women who can go to work and earn money, live without having to look at men, and do not have to take care of children and handle housework at home. Liv Randall is exactly what those independent career women were in high school.
Ronald returned to the entrance of the screening room. Director Allen and several staff members were handing out questionnaires to the audience to collect their feedback on the film. I took a few photos in the past and looked at them, and the ratings were not very high.
Ronald quietly pulled over director Allen and told him what he found in the bathroom. Allen was also a little surprised and immediately went to discuss it with Qiao.
"Hey, Jim, why are you here?"
Ronald noticed a familiar figure flashing past, and Cameron was also in the movie theater.
"I came here with Mr. Coleman. He had just officially promoted me to be the head of the stunt model, and I was also responsible for the design of the stunt photography track."
Cameron was smiling, having just been promoted by his boss, Roger Coleman. He lowered his voice slightly:
"The method you mentioned last time was very useful. When Roger entered the workshop yesterday and saw the completed model display, he was full of praise. He called me here today and decided to put me in charge of the entire model manufacturing department."
"Congratulations, Jim. You know, Roger is very cost-conscious." Ronald winked.
"Ronald, Jim, take this." The one who spoke was Roger Corman who came over and gave each of them an envelope. "Tonight, Coppola will show it again in the theater for people in the industry. It’s a show, you should also go and see it, it will be very beneficial to improve your artistic level.”
Ronald took it and saw that it was an invitation for an internal preview of United Artists, starting at 5:30 in the evening.
Roger Coleman then went off to deliver tickets to other employees.
"Roger told me that Coppola once served as his assistant." Ronald quietly passed on the gossip to Cameron.
"Oh, Roger is really well-connected..."
