The sample film is the result of daily shooting, which is printed out. It is the original appearance without color adjustment and editing. At this time, a clapperboard appeared on the screen and hit it with a snap. It was the script supervisor, Jenny, hitting the clapperboard, Ronald thought to himself.
The first shot was shot by directors Allan and Joe. In the end, no one called for a long time to stop. Dey Young looked at the camera out of place, and the sound of Ronald shouting "Cut!" was also played.
Immediately following was the second take taken by Ronald. After the sound of the board being hit, the scene was similar to the previous one. Kate, played by Dey Young, was frightened by the muscular man and took half a step back when the football team passed by. Her expression was also more realistic.
Ronald wasn't the only one feeling good about himself. He heard Julie, the proprietress in the front row, saying, "The second one is better."
Next, the principal stepped in and threatened the students to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, and everyone ran away.
After being shot in slow motion and played back at normal speed, the extras fled the playground quickly with weird movements, like early silent film actors. In the process, they inevitably collided and dodged, and some of them even screamed.
"This is a good one." It was director Joe Dante who was speaking. Roger in the front row turned around and asked, "Did you come up with this or did Allan decide on it?"
"It was Jim's idea to downgrade them, and it was my idea to make them run in the opposite direction," Ronald replied.
"Oh, this is very interesting..." Roger was about to continue, but a clapboard sounded, and the third track began. Everyone turned around to watch.
…
Ronald couldn't see everyone's expressions in the dark screening room, but from the low voices, it seemed that the feedback was pretty good.
The scene showed two beauties dancing, and Jerry Zucker yelled "Wow" and blew a loud whistle.
Roger turned around and asked, "Is this the shot I saw yesterday? These two dancing girls are very photogenic, and they dance well."
"These are the dancers Siana found among the extras at Van Nuys High School. I thought they looked good, so I gave them a close-up shot. There's also a mid-shot of them from the side later on."
The next shot was a shot of the male protagonist, Tom, coming out of the building and walking through the crowd to the table to eat breakfast. Roger Corman couldn't sit still again and turned around and said, "This is really a genius shot. The loneliness in the crowd directly conveys a sense of alienation. How did you do it?"
"I kept the male protagonist Vincent in the center of the picture, but deliberately made him walk a beat slower, not in step with the others..."
…
The sample film was screened very quickly. After the shot of Riff Randell and Kate Rambeau walking towards the grass together in the sunset was shown, the screening room cut the picture and turned on the ceiling lights.
Roger Corman seemed in a good mood. Joe Dante came over to hug Ronald and patted him on the back, saying, "Great shot, boy."
"Thanks, Joe."
"Which university's film school did you graduate from, Ronald? Your name is Ronald, right?" Jerry also came over and asked.
"Me? I didn't go to film school. I only graduated from high school." Ronald was a little confused as to why Jerry would talk to him.
"What? High school graduation? You must be kidding. Was your high school art teacher Spielberg? Or did you hook up with Francis Coppola's sister in high school? Or is your grandfather John Ford?"
The people Jerry Zucker mentioned were all famous directors, and Ronald didn't know whether he was complimenting them jokingly or making sarcastic remarks.
"I'm kidding," Jerry explained when he saw Ronald was embarrassed, and then again started telling jokes:
"Honestly, did your dad buy you a Super 8 camera? Have you been making movies since the 8th grade? Let the cheerleader at school come to your house to shoot? Hahahahaha."
Super 8 is a home video camera produced by Kodak, which uses Kodak's movie film. Not counting the camera, a roll of film costs $5, which Aunt Karen can't afford.
Ronald responded, "No, I didn't..."
"Hahaha, I get it. Your family must own a movie theater, and you sell tickets at the door. Two tickets, two cups of Pepsi, a bucket of salty popcorn, five dollars and fifty-eight cents, and here's your change, sir." Jerry Zucker is very good at interrupting others and making jokes that are both true and false. If he feels that you are offended by him, he will say, "I was just kidding."
Ronald interrupted him several times when he was about to speak, and he felt a little angry. Jerry Zucker not only had a receding hairline but also had buck teeth. He walked up to Ronald and threw out another joke.
Ronald became annoyed and didn't want to talk to him anymore, but Jerry talked more and more excitedly, and he laughed so hard that his back bent, "Hahaha, you know, I have something funny to tell you, hahaha..." as he reached out to hook Ronald's shoulder.
Ronald felt a buzzing sound, and the blood rushed to the top of his head through the pulse behind his ears. He instinctively reached out to block Jerry's hand, then stepped forward and kicked him hard.
Fortunately, reason prevailed and controlled the wrestler's instinct. Others only saw Ronald holding Jerry's hand and not letting him put his arm around his shoulder. Only Ronald's ears turned red.
The boss's wife, Julie Corman, couldn't stand it anymore and came to the rescue, separating him and Jerry. "It's a great film. I haven't seen such a great new director in a long time. The last time was when I was a producer for Martin Scorsese's movie "Mean Streets". He is also like you; he can draw beautiful storyboards."
Ronald was a little embarrassed by Julie's praise and said quickly, "Thank you, Mrs. Corman. You are too kind."
"After we finish watching the rest of the samples, come to the president's office. Roger wants to talk to you." Julie whispered.
Julie glanced at Roger Corman, who was talking to the producer. Julie patted Ronald on the shoulder and signaled him and Jim to leave first, as they still had to discuss the samples shot two days ago. It was not convenient for Ronald and Jim to listen in on these discussions.
Ronald and Jim opened the door of the screening room and walked out. Gail also sneaked out, turned around, and stuck the door with his foot to leave a crack, and whispered, "Ronnie, Julie likes you very much. If you want to leave your name on the subtitles, her opinion is very important."
Ronald made a gesture of thanks, and Gale went back in. Ronald looked at Jim and touched his chin: "It seems that the sample we shot is not bad?"
"Yes, I think it's very good," Jim nodded. "I didn't expect that an ordinary master shot in your footage could convey such an emotion to the audience. I have to think about it carefully. That's how Kubrick's movies shocked me back then."
"Roger seems to be very satisfied with both of us and might give us some new jobs." The two walked out of the office together and chatted in the yard.
"Have you figured out what you're going to do?"
"I have always been interested in movie set pieces and like to study the set pieces in '2001: A Space Odyssey.' I heard that director Kubrick built a Ferris wheel to shoot the weightlessness scenes."
Jim suddenly changed his tone and said in a very low voice, "Gale told me that Roger might be in a big-budget science fiction movie next year. He was inspired by the success of 'Star Wars'. I want to be in that group to do stunt design."
"Really? Is there any plan for the movie?" Ronald was very happy for Jim. His dream was to make a science fiction movie.
"I heard it's a sci-fi version of 'Seven Samurai', remaking Kurosawa's story into a Star Wars setting."
"Akira Kurosawa? Seven Samurai?" Ronald looked confused.
Jim saw his expression and knew that he had not seen this classic work by the famous Japanese director. "Then you have seen 'Magnificent Seven, ' right? The theme song of the Marlboro cigarette commercial is from this movie."
"I've seen this. Thump-thump, thump-thump-thump, thump-thump-thump-thump-thump." Ronald hummed the theme song.
"Yes, The Magnificent Seven is a remake of The Seven Samurai. We're going to remake one too." Jim took out a cigarette and lit it. "Would you like one too?"
"No thanks."
"What about you? Have you figured out what to do?"
"I will first be the still photographer for this crew. The stills I take can be displayed in my photography studio in the future."
"Okay, let's take a photo together then and invite Gale along."