"Fake script?" Jenny asked with a smile.
"Yes, I asked the principal to borrow the venue and extras for free, so as not to reveal the plot and name of the movie."
This is the consistent style of New World Pictures: stingy!
Van Nuys High School agreed to lend the school playground for free filming, organize students to act as extras for free, and provide breakfast and lunch for free. This was all in consideration of the fake script presented by the producer.
"Rock 'n' Roll High School" is a typical low-budget movie, full of various elements of rock, rebellion, love, etc., that teenagers like. The plot is very simple.
The cheerleader of "Vince Lombardi High School" is a rebellious rock girl. Together with her good friend, the good girl, she invites the popular rock band "The Ramones" to hold a concert at the school, which makes the old-fashioned female principal angry. In the end, she overturns the roof of the high school's teacher office building and changes the name of the school to "Rock 'n' Roll High School".
Of course, the school authorities of Van Nuys Public High School, where the film was shot, would not agree to such a plot. The director asked Ronald to write a fake script called "High School Life" to fool the school authorities.
The story Ronald wrote was: The new female principal of the high school rectified the school spirit and made the students who were addicted to rock music realize that there was more to life than just rock music. Some of the students were admitted to universities, some became supermarket cashiers, and some worked in factories. Everyone had a bright future.
"Okay, I got it." Jenny began to erase the title of the movie on the clapperboard with an eraser and wrote "High School Life" again with a pen.
"Please inform the relevant personnel and don't let anyone know. We will only be filming in this school for one day."
"No problem." Jenny smiled and joked, "Ronnie, you're talking more and more like a director."
Ronald smiled and waved his hand, "I'm just here to get a credit."
At this time, a group of people on the other side of the camera burst into rapid talking again, and the sound became more and more sharp, as if they were about to quarrel.
"I'm going to see what's going on. See you later, Jenny."
"See you later."
Walking quickly into the crowd, I saw Jim surrounded by three female protagonists, like ducks quacking.
"Can we start rehearsing?"
"Director? Should I wear a red coat or a black coat today?"
"Where's Joe? He said he'd feature me last week."
…
Ronald smiled and shook his head. Jim was like a poor little chicken, confused by the questions quickly asked by the three female protagonists. Before he could answer the previous question, he was interrupted by the next question.
So he asked the director of photography: "The extras have already walked through the positions and rehearsed twice. They are just waiting to move together with the actors. Mr. Condie, what happened? Can't we start yet?"
The director of photography was leaning behind the camera to check the framing. Hearing this, he stuck his head out from behind the camera and looked at him: "What they want is a result, but Jim gave them a lot of explanations, so..."
Ronald also understood. There were countless things to do on the set. The script only said that the protagonist wore white shoes, and the director had to choose the most suitable pair of shoes from several pairs of shoes prepared for the costumes.
The director has to make dozens of such decisions every day, from small things like what shoes the actors wear to big things like how to choreograph the dance moves of 50 extras. The actors don't trust Jim's choices, and Jim is eager to explain why he chose this instead of that.
"Jim, where is the director? Where is Joe? Should I wear a red coat or a black coat today? This is a low-budget movie with only $100 for costumes. I can't buy any suitable clothes. I used all my salary to buy costumes. You know, that day at Fred Segal's clothing store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Rod Stewart (singer) was behind me, and I got the red one a minute earlier than him, otherwise he would have bought it and spent $300 on it. And this black one was in..." The first female lead, PJ Soles, talked about the two coats, and she knew them like the back of her hand.
"Ms. Soles!" Ronald shouted, "You should wear the red one for today's show."
"Call me PJ. In red? But black is nice too."
'Because you're wearing red in the dream', Ronald thought, but he had to make up an excuse.
"Ms.Soles, we are shooting this scene today at sunrise. The light before and after sunrise is pale blue, which will make the black color look wrong. And your red coat is very suitable, light blue is the complementary color of red, so it will definitely stand out in the photos. And your role is a rock girl, so red is more suitable. "
"Really? Then I'll choose the red one."
"Ms. Mary Woronov, the director promised last week to add a close-up of you. It will be in today's shooting schedule, I promise. You will walk to the camera from a distance and appear in the headmistress's uniform."
Ronald took the shooting list from Jim and turned to a page with a piece of paper of a different color glued on it. He pointed it to Mary, who played the headmistress, and said, "Look, this is the shot."
"Ms. Dey Young, you play the role of a good girl who is a top student. You are the protagonist of the first shot. Let's start positioning and testing the focus. After 20 minutes- no, to be exact, 18 and a half minutes, the extras will be in place, and we can start rehearsing."
He solved the problem neatly, and the director of photography gave him a thumbs up.
Mary Woronov, who plays the headmistress, has starred in several New World Productions films, while Dey Young, who plays the good girl and top student, is a newcomer. Both of them have little experience and are ready to start their roles.
PJ Soles, who plays the rebellious rock cheerleader, is the biggest star in the crew and gets the highest salary. She played a role in the horror film "Carrie", which sold well two years ago, and "Halloween" which is currently being released, so she has a stand-in.
Before the official shooting, the lighting team will see the effect of the light on the face, and the camera team will use a tape measure to measure the distance from the actor's eyes to the camera. Movie cameras do not have automatic focus, so you need to use a tape measure to measure the focal length and manually focus to capture the sparkling eyes on the screen.
Some actors don't want to waste time, so they have a double with similar height and weight to do these things for them. PJ Soules is the only actor in the crew who has this treatment. While the double is taking her place, PJ goes to the temporary dressing room in the teachers' building to change clothes and touch up her makeup.
The first photography assistant, who was also the focus puller and the chief coolie, the red-haired photography assistant, quickly took the tape and looked for the initial positions of the actors in the storyboard. After finding them, he used tape to stick a T-shaped indicator mark on the ground, which was the actor's position.
Then, take out a tape measure, hang one end on the camera, pull the other end to the actor's eyes, and write down the reading. Then, go back and calculate the corresponding focus and mark it on the focus ring next to the camera body. When it comes to the actual shooting, the focus puller will turn the focus to the corresponding mark at the position to ensure that the focus is on the actor's eyes.
After repeating this process several times, the first shot was completed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Ronald picked up the megaphone: "Where's the makeup? Gigi, touch up the heroine's makeup."
The time has come to 05:55, and Ronald is getting anxious again. The director hasn't arrived yet. At this time, PJ Soles has changed his clothes, put on makeup, and walked out of the temporary dressing room in the teaching building.
She was still a little hesitant. She was wearing a red coat and holding a black coat in one hand, constantly comparing it to her body. "Where's the director? I still have to ask the director."
Everyone looked at Ronald, and Ronald broke out in a sweat. Why are you looking at me? I don't know where the director is. But the dress was definitely red. He still pretended to be confident: "Director, director..."
"The director is here!" shouted Jim, who was standing opposite to them.
A tall and thin man, about 6 feet 6 inches (about 2 meters) tall, walked to the school gate. He had explosive curly hair and his facial features vaguely had Middle Eastern ancestry. He was Allan Arkush, the director of the "Rock 'n' Roll High School" crew.