Director Allan gradually approached, followed by his inseparable good friend Joe Dante. Dante was about 5 feet 6 inches (about 1.70 meters), like a guard on the basketball court hiding behind the center dribbling forward.
Walking through the crowd, Joe's head flashed out from behind Alan. His middle-parted hairstyle could not hide his rapidly receding hairline. He grabbed Director Alan's arm with one hand and pointed at Ronald with the other and shouted, "Ronnie, Ronnie, how are you preparing for today?"
"I just organized the extras to practice twice. The lead actor has finished moving and done his makeup. We are waiting for Director Allen to confirm the costume for the lead actor. We can rehearse with makeup in 5 minutes. The director of photography said that we can start shooting on time at 6:30."
As he spoke, Ronald handed over the storyboard he had drawn yesterday.
Joe Dante took it and looked at it: "Is this the storyboard you drew?"
He was particularly proactive today and took on the director's responsibilities. While carefully reading the storyboards drawn by Ronald, he ordered, "Move Director Allan's chair over here."
Ronald saw that Allan was not in good condition. He quickly brought a chair. It was the kind of chair with a name written on the backrest, which was reserved for directors. Ronald took the director's arm from Joe and helped him sit down with difficulty.
The director was sweating on his forehead, and his face was pale, looking a little bad. Ronald leaned close to the director's ear and asked softly, "Would you like a cup of hot coffee, Director?"
Allan nodded. Ronald pulled his assistant Jim over and gently told him to bring a cup of hot coffee.
"Very good. Let's shoot according to your storyboard today. PJ, you wear the red one," Joe Dante said as he handed the storyboard to the director of photography. The two began to discuss the shooting details:
"The camera starts with a close-up of the freshmen, then pulls back, then rises to give a panoramic view of the playground, and then moves forward to the Science Club welcome stand where the obedient female student stands..."
After the two discussed it, Joe came over and spread out the storyboard and explained it to Allen, who nodded in agreement.
At this time, the extras return to the playground one after another. Seeing this, Ronald picked up the electric bullhorn and guided the extras to their positions.
The red-haired photography assistant began to cover the film box with black cloth to prevent exposure and reached in with his hands to install the film in the dark.
The director of photography called over two other strong assistants, and they began to check the installed camera crane. They 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 pasted it along the edge of the film box. Low-cost movies are all rented second-hand machines, and the quality of the machines is unknown. So black tape is used to cover the gaps to prevent accidental light leakage and ruin the film.
After the film box was wrapped, the director of photography began to instruct the assistants to lift the camera onto the jib and install it, and then began to test it by raising and lowering it. The jib was also rented second-hand, and there was a fear that something might go wrong if it was not tested.
Co-director Joe Dante began to talk to Dey Young, who played the good girl...
The crew is like a big machine, and each staff member is like a gear. At the director's command, they begin to operate in an orderly manner.
Ronald likes this kind of order very much. A good director is like a general, and the crew is like a group of soldiers. Filmmaking is teamwork, and the director must have leadership skills.
The main actors and supporting actors took their positions and prepared to start rehearsal. Joe Dante was discussing the details with the director, who was sitting in a chair.
Ronald picked up the bullhorn and began to organize the extras to stand in position, acting as a good human background. "Dear boys and girls from Van Nuys High School, we are about to start the dress rehearsal. Please take up the positions that have been determined before, please stand in the positions that have been determined before..."
"Football team, please come over here. OK, your uniforms are awesome. You guys stand here at the start, and when I give the signal, you run over to the map, pick up the freshman, and carry him away like a prank. Got it?"
The director signaled Ronald to start the rehearsal. Several actors began to act in a fake manner. To save their best performance for the actual shooting, the actors did not move too much in the rehearsal. The group actors cooperated well, except for one or two who peeked at the camera.
Director of photography Dean Cundy personally operated the camera, climbed onto the jib, and walked through the camera movement trajectory for the official shoot, and the director indicated that he was satisfied.
Ronald picked up the loudspeaker again: "Extras, please stand at the starting position." The leading and supporting actors also stood at the starting position.
All staff members left the area covered by the camera and waited patiently and expectantly.
Co-director Joe Dante gave the lead actor, Dey Young, a few more details to pay attention to. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the magic light to arrive.
Just after 06:28, the light in the air suddenly began to flow, like an athlete hearing the starting gun. The sun had not yet risen from the horizon, but it was slowly lighting up the sky and the background.
This is a beautiful color. The metal body of the camera has a light blue sheen, as if it were covered with a layer of armor.
The hairpins worn by several high school girls and the black-framed glasses worn by the good girls also began to reflect light. Everyone seemed to be afraid to 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 to report the light metering data to adjust the aperture.
The guy carrying the long recording pole raised the long recording pole above the actor's head, trying to get as close as possible to collect the sound but keeping far enough away to avoid being captured by the camera.
"The light is perfect!" the director of photography exclaimed.
Receiving a signal from the director Allan, Ronald picked up the bullhorn and said, "Okay, now we have our first official shoot. Get ready!"
Jim cooperated by pressing the whistle three times, "Beep... Beep... Beep..." This was the signal to notify the ban.
Everyone stopped whispering and waited for orders.
Ronald looked at the director, and Joe Dante motioned for him to start. Ronald said into the bullhorn:
"Recorder?"
"It's on!" the recording team replied.
"Camera?"
"Full speed!" The red-haired man indicated that the camera's motor had accelerated to 24 frames per second and that filming could begin.
Picking up the small clapperboard, Jenny, the script supervisor, ran to the camera and held it up, and began to say: "'High School Life' Scene 127, first shot, first time."
He slammed the clapperboard down with a loud bang and quickly left the shooting area.
"Action!"
Allan Arkush, who was sitting in the director's chair, spoke softly.
"Action!"
Ronald loudly conveyed the director's orders through the bullhorn.
The show has begun.
A freshman looked at a map on the wall. There was a red cross on it, and below it was written: "Your location is here."
"Where am I?" the freshman asked himself.
The director of photography directed the camera to move sideways, then slowly back off, with the frame zooming out from the freshman's upper body to his entire body, then continuing to back off, and three members of the football team entered the frame from the right.
"Oh, there's a new student here!" "New student, new student!"
The football team, in their game uniforms, rushed over and picked up the extras playing the freshmen.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Put it in the locker!"
"Oh, please don't throw me into the locker room."
The camera's jib rose evenly to the top of the head and began to switch to a bird's-eye view. The football player carried the freshman out of the camera frame. Then the camera slowly moved, framing the welcome stand of the Science Club where the good girl and the top student were.
The camera pointed to the female academic master played by Dey Yang, one of the female protagonists. It began to descend slowly and finally stopped, pointing to the table in front of her.
There were several bottles used for chemical experiments on the table, filled with red, green, and blue colored water. There was also a sign next to them that read "Science Club, Kate Rambeau, Chemical Reaction Demonstration."
Ronald stood not far behind the camera and watched the filming. This was a rare highlight in this low-budget movie, which cost a lot of money and would be edited into the opening scene of the movie in the future.
The first take today seemed to go smoothly. He secretly compared the actual take with the revelation in the dream. The two were basically the same. Ronald nodded. He would see if the director was satisfied and keep this one for printing.
But the director hasn't called a halt yet, it seems he has some special ideas. Is he keeping the shot longer to make editing easier? Or is there some other special artistic consideration?
No, this is too long. The actors' expressions have become stiff, and Dai Yang, who plays the good girl, has turned her head to look at the camera. She is looking for the director, asking him to give her a signal whether she should continue.
Why don't you shout Cut yet?
Ronald also turned around to see what Director Allen was thinking.
The director, who was nearly two meters tall and thin, sat on the chair and gradually tilted his head. Was he moving the camera at this angle? No, how could the director...
Ronald quickly picked up the electric horn:
"Cut! Cut! Cut!"
Everyone was frightened by his rapid shouting and turned their heads to look over.
"The director fainted!"