Ronald and Jim began to look at the shooting materials of Group 2, and they made a plan for which shots to shoot in the next five days.
Gale helped contact the cameraman and scheduled a meeting at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow, Monday, to shoot the opening shot at Mount Carmel High School.
The next morning, Ronald met the cameraman, a British cinematographer commonly seen in Hollywood.
They began making some small talk to build up some rapport at first and then began talking about today's shooting.
The three of them quickly became familiar with each other and worked together to prepare for the filming.
"I want a still shot, about 3-5 seconds, of a ray of gentle sunlight shining on the teaching building."
"Wait, wait, gentle sunshine? How do you want me to photograph gentle sunshine?" the cameraman protested.
"Take a normal shot. The sunlight after sunrise is naturally gentler, right?"
"Well, I'll adjust the parameters to make the aperture smaller. This Kodak daylight film is an old model, probably one year old. It will be slightly whitish so that the yellow sunrise can be a little 'gentler '."
"As you say."
"Roger Corman has handed us the same garbage left over from the previous show," Jim complained.
Cut!
Finish.
"Where are we in the next shot?"
"Wait, under a big sign with the school's name on it."
"That means there are none left. Let's get in the car and look around to see if there's anything suitable."
After removing the camera from the stand, the three of them packed up and got into the crew's van.
"You know that big sign over there? We want to get a close-up shot," Ronald asked the driver.
"A big sign? Well, there's a billboard on the back wall of the school. Do you think it'll work?"
The driver stepped on the accelerator, and the car arrived behind Mount Carmel High School. The area where the stadium used to be was covered with weeds half a person tall. The stadium was surrounded by a wire fence and was close to the road. There was a large billboard on the roadside at the perfect height.
"Very good, you have very good taste."
"Put up the name of the school that Jim drew."
The four of them took down the folding ladder and placed it on the billboard. Ronald and the driver were on each side, and Jim was directing from below, "A little higher on the left, a little higher, good, just right."
The billboard was labeled "Vince Lombardi High School" in green letters on a yellow background.
Vince Lombardi is one of the greatest football coaches, having won two consecutive Super Bowl titles. He coached military-like discipline in his football team. His philosophy is similar to that of the Principal in "Rock n Roll High School". In other words, the character was created based on Vince Lombardi.
The photographer confirmed OK through the viewfinder.
Ronald took out the clapperboard, filled in the scene number, slapped it in front of the camera, and then looked at the clock, "One, two, three, four, five... OK, Cut!"
The shooting of Group 2 was scattered and trivial. They only needed to shoot one or two shots in one place. Most of the time was spent waiting for light, assembling and disassembling cameras, and arranging scene props.
Ronald fully understood what Roger Corman taught him about focusing on the scene. It would be too slow to shoot one shot in one place.
The three of them had some experience and cooperated well. In three days, they shot most of the shots that Jerry Zucker planned to shoot.
Jim also directed a motorcycle scene. He rode the motorcycle himself, and the photographer sat in front of him, holding the camera and shooting a subjective shot. According to the photographer, the scene the audience sees will be like riding on a motorcycle.
This was, of course, Jim's idea. He used the old method of slowing down the speed to shoot, and he captured the motorcycle driving at a slow speed of 20 miles per hour, but he made it look like a car racing.
After the shoot that day, Ronald and his team sent the finished film to New World Productions, waiting for it to be developed and printed, when they happened to meet the owner, Roger Corman.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Corman."
"Oh, Ronald, how's your shoot going?"
"We have completed most of the second unit shooting. Tomorrow, we will go to Mount Carmel High School. Director Allan will use two cameras to shoot the explosion scene. The day after tomorrow, there will be a telephone booth scene. We had to wait for the two main actors, PJ and Dey Young, to finish the gymnastics class scene. Then the shooting of 'Rock n Roll High School' can be wrapped up."
"Very good, I like your work style very much, fast, accurate and artistic." Roger praised him.
"I've already written your recommendation letter and asked Gale to send it out along with your application. When you graduate from college, don't forget to come and make a movie for me."
"Of course, Mr. Corman. Not all bosses in Hollywood give opportunities to newcomers like me and Jim like you do." Ronald thanked Roger Corman from the bottom of his heart. The boss was very generous with the talents he recognized, so Ronald had the opportunity to direct alone.
"Where's Jim? Ask him to come to my office, and I'll have him report to the stunt department for the new film. His mind is full of stunts and models. He has already contacted me several times."
"He seems to be waiting for you at Gale's, Mr. Corman. You can see him when you go up."
Roger Corman nodded and walked into the office.
Hearing that his application had been sent out, Ronald couldn't help but look forward to college life. Which is better, Columbia University or New York University in Manhattan? The sunshine in Westwood, Los Angeles is also very good, and the UCLA located there is also quite suitable, and it is very close to Hollywood.
Ronald stood at the front desk, drinking instant coffee and imagining his college life.
After about two drinks, Jim came downstairs and shouted to himself happily,
"I'm going to build a stunt model, Ronnie!"
"Congratulations!" Ronald hugged Jim tightly. It is worth celebrating that one can realize his dream and turn his hobby into a job.
"When do you go to work?"
"After Christmas Holidays"
"That's perfect. We can also attend the packing party for 'Rock High School' together."
Jim's excitement hadn't subsided yet, and he suddenly remembered:
"Oh, I brought my short film with me. Do you want to watch it together later?"
"Okay, are you going to wait for Gale to join you? Has she seen it?"
"She said she only watched the last minute and didn't watch the whole thing."
"Then you go call her, I'll ask the photographer to prepare the VCR in the conference room." Ronald didn't know how to connect the VHS VCR to the TV.
After a while, the four people started watching Jim's short film in the conference room.
The quality of this VHS tape is very poor, and the title "Xenogenesis" appears at the beginning.
Letters appeared on the screen one by one like typing on a typewriter, and Jim also added some electronic sound effects, a bit like the Atari game console.
Then came the cast and crew list. The Sony TV was only 21 inches in size, so the subtitles were not clear. Ronald and the other two had to distinguish them carefully.
The subtitles were long and boring. The opening subtitles in black and white took up one minute of the 12-minute short film. Fortunately, the director's name finally appeared.
It is Hollywood custom that the last line in the opening credits is the director, and it is American custom to put the most important people at the end of the list.
Director:
Then the letters one by one spelled out a name.
James Cameron.