New World Pictures is a company that specializes in making low-budget movies. The 90-minute "Rock 'n' Roll High School" officially took only three weeks to shoot; minus the rest time on Sundays, it was only 18 days.
So we shot as much as we could. In order to save time, we didn't have time to rest after taking one shot and immediately started preparing for the next shot.
The crew are all experienced and very accustomed to the rhythm of New World Production.
Without Ronald's order, the three strong guys in the camera crew began to remove the camera from the jib and moved it to the front. The red-haired first assistant cameraman began to install the pan/tilt head, and then everyone worked together to put the camera on it.
She was quickly touching up Dey Young's makeup, with powder puffs flying.
Soon, Ronald picked up the trumpet and gave orders again, and another one was completed successfully.
The next scene is the appearance of the protagonist, PJ Soles. She plays Riff Randell, who puts a Ramones record into the record player on the playground, and Kate Rambeau, a top student, connects the line to the school's speakers.
As soon as the switch was turned on, all the speakers indoors and outdoors in the school began playing punk rock music by the Ramones.
The scene needed to be re-set. Jim began to direct the assistants to move the props. "Put the record player here." Dey Young put the wires here. The recording department began to connect the speakers in the playground to the record player that played the songs.
Leaving the scene to Jim, Ronald went over to discuss her first scene of the day with PJ.
PJ Soles is a slender girl. She is wearing a red top with a black and white spotted collar, which is very eye-catching. She is wearing leather pants and Converse canvas shoes. In 1978, this was the most popular outfit for rock-punk girls.
"So cool! You're looking good, PJ."
"Hey Ronnie, what's it like being a director?"
"Yes, maybe I will take a picture with you later, as a commemoration of my career as a director."
"Hahaha, no problem. You're great, Ronnie."
"This is your debut scene. Have you thought about how to capture the audience's attention?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm going to start by giving the audience an image of a very energetic girl, jumping around..."
Ronald's qualifications and acting skills were not enough to guide PJ Soles. Seeing that what she said was similar to the image in his dream, he pretended to be very appreciative and nodded frequently.
"Perfect, let's do it this way later."
At this time, Jim came over and said that the props and scenery had been set up.
"Please..." Ronald made a gesture and led the two heroines to enter together.
This scene is a long shot, and the director of photography and Ronald suggested using hyperfocal distance.
The red-haired photography assistant looked at the aperture, converted it, and shouted: "5 meters! 5 meters away from the camera lens is the hyperfocal distance." That means there is no need to focus, and all the scenery can be captured clearly.
Ronald had seen this hyperfocal shooting method several times before in the "Rock 'n' Roll High School" crew, and it was said to have a good aesthetic effect. However, he felt that it was more important to save time and take as many shots as possible.
Ronald started from the camera, took 7 steps, still far away from the actors, and assured Jim to start.
Jim blew the whistle three times to end the show.
"Everyone, please pay attention. We are officially starting to shoot..."
"High School Life Scene 128, First Shot, First Line."
The scene begins with PJ Soles inserting a vinyl record into the record player and pressing the play button.
The camera then moved to Dey Young, who pretended to connect two pieces of wire with exposed copper wires.
Ronald signaled the recording team to play some music. The Ramones' "Do You Wanna Dance?" began to play, and the prelude of "beep, beep, beep" came from the speakers...
"Cut!"
Ronald felt like a tool. The performance was controlled by the experienced PJ, and the artistic quality of photography was handed over to the director of photography, Mr. Cundey. As for him, he only looked at whether it was the same as the picture revealed in his dream. He was reduced to just calling Action and Cut.
"That's fine. I'm just a temporary director, and I don't know anything."
Ronald comforted himself.
"How about this one?"
Dean Cundey confirmed that it was okay.
"Do you need to protect one?"
"You are the director!"
"Okay, let's keep one more."
After taking this shot, the sun had risen, and the light would dissipate in a dozen minutes.
Ronald looked at the shooting log. There was a panoramic shot next. It was a shot of the female principal coming to the playground to give a lecture and threatening to keep the students in school. Then the students on the playground fled.
"Okay, let's take one more shot of this, and then we'll take a break."
After Ronald had finished discussing with the director of photography, he directed the extras to walk to the center of the playground.
"Mr. Cundey, are these enough?"
"It's still a little empty and can't fill the shot."
"Everyone, everyone, all the crew assistants, costume designers, makeup artists, and stand-ins who don't have any filming tasks, all stand in the back row!"
Ronald drove about 20 crew members to the back row of the playground and had them stand in the back row in the camera so that no one would notice their clothes and age.
"Recording...Camera...
Action!
"One, two, three, run!" Ronald shouted, and the extras began to scatter.
"Cut, Cut!"
Ronald hurriedly called a halt. "Too fast? What do you think, Mr. Cundey?"
"Yes, and the extras all ran out of the frame from the nearest direction. The shot lasted less than 2 seconds, which was not long enough."
Jim suddenly interrupted: "Can you shoot it in fast motion?"
The director of photography replied, "You mean downgrading the shooting?"
"Yes." Seeing that Ronald didn't quite understand, Jim explained to him in a low voice:
"Decelerated shooting means shooting with a relatively low camera speed so that when the normal speed of 24 frames per second is projected, the actors will appear to be in fast motion, just like when we watch early silent films. It achieves a funny effect."
"Director, what's your decision?" Director of Photography Dean Cundey still tried to speak as little as possible.
"OK, we'll use slow motion shooting," Ronald said as he walked towards the extras. "We also have to solve the problem of insufficient time." He thought about the scene he had dreamed of last night and came up with an idea.
"Boys and girls, let's change the way we run. With me as the center line, everyone on my left, run to the right; everyone on my right, run to the left."
"Everyone, go back to your starting position and start." Ronald turned around and said to the camera crew.
"No rehearsal?" asked Jim.
"No, I want this to be the first time without rehearsal. Let them be unprepared and capture their real reactions."
…
"One, two, three... run!" A few minutes later, Ronald gave the order again, and this time, all the extras ran in the opposite direction. The crowd inevitably bumped into each other, dodged, and screamed. This time, it lasted long enough."
"Cut!" Ronald turned to the director of photography and said, "Mr. Cundey, should we call Mr. Corman first?"
Cundey looked at the light, and the light moment was over. "Okay, let's go with it."
"Okay, the crew will take a 30-minute break." Jim picked up the loudspeaker and began to announce the 30-minute break and began to arrange the scenery for the next scene.
Ronald took the director of photography and explained something to the dean of studies, who was sent by the school to supervise. The two of them went into the principal's office and started calling the New World Productions office.
It was an old-fashioned rotary phone, where one had to wait for the dial to turn for each digit dialed. Ronald was organizing his speech to his boss, Roger Corman.
"Beep…beep…beep…beep. After waiting for several beeps, someone finally answered the phone. Good morning, New World Pictures."
A pleasant female voice came from the other end of the microphone, soft and gentle.
"Is that Gail? I'm Ronald, an assistant on the 'Rock 'n' Roll High School' crew."
"Oh, Ronnie. You called the office so early? If I hadn't come to the office early today, no one would have answered your call. What's the matter?"
"Um, yes. I was worried that if I called too early, no one would be there. Is Mr. Corman in the office? Listen, there's an emergency here. The director of photography, Mr. Dean Cundy, is right here with me. Director Allan had a problem and collapsed on the set. Joe has taken him to the hospital. We need a new director."
The person on the other end of the phone was Roger Corman's assistant to the president, Gail. The assistant to the president of New World Pictures was not the kind of person who worked in an office at a big studio. Roger Corman, this stingy boss, would use his people to the utmost. In addition to handling things in the office, Gail also had to run around for him, busy like a real estate agent.
"Don't panic. I'll call Roger right away. Wait for my call back. What's your phone number? (818) 778-6801? OK, don't go away. I'll call you back later."
Hanging up the receiver, Ronald looked at Dean Cundey beside him.
"So, Mr. Cundey, what do you think happened to the director? Why didn't you let me take him to the hospital so that Joe could stay and continue directing?"