Exploiting Hollywood 1980 Chapter 900

  Chapter 900 Choosing Women's Clothes

  Ronald chatted with Norio Oga for a while about opera art, and Oga said that he even wanted to sponsor Franco Zeffirelli to make more opera films, even if the box office was not good.

  Ronald agreed to tell Zeffirelli in Italy that he was also a director in the opera industry, and he had a deep connection.

  Seeing Norio Ohga's tone of voice, there was a kind of excited energy. Ronald knew that the other party had already thought of a way to deal with the Columbia acquisition project. So he also bid farewell. For the president of such a multinational company, it is already a luxury to take time to chat with him.

  Before he left, Ronald suddenly remembered something... If he didn't say it clearly, it might cause misunderstanding due to the character of Dongying people.

   "Mr. Dahe, you are so honest with me, are you not afraid that I will buy a few hands of Sony stock in the stock market after I hear the news?"

Norio Oga was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled, "Ronald-san is indeed a master of Japanese culture." In Japanese culture, it would be impolite to mobilize funds to take advantage of it, but Ronald said it directly. Respect for myself, Sony, and the country behind it.

  He waved his hand, expressing that he didn't mind Ronald taking this opportunity to make some money, as a reward for Ronald.

   "Hahaha, I won't take advantage of this." Ronald also smiled, "Actually, I bought some Sony stocks a month ago. Of course, that's because my business is optimistic about you."

   "Hahaha, you really are a rare person who knows the sun..." Norio Ohga was even more satisfied with Ronald's statement.

  The breeze was blowing on the ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan, and the winter wind was blowing a bit cold on the face. Ann Ross, the crew's costume designer, poked her head out of the cabin and shrank her neck from the cold. Above the deck were director Ronald, director of photography Michael Ballhouse, and editorial director Walter Murch, discussing framing on deck. The three of them were wearing thick leather jackets, and when they exhaled, there were streaks of white air.

   Ann Rose hurried back and chatted with her friend in the warmer cabin, Polly Pratt, the art director, "How is this Ronald's level? Is it easy to cooperate?"

"He is a director who respects professionals very much, unlike some people who like to decide everything by themselves. He also respects women." Polly Prattla said that although it was the New Year holiday, there were still many people in the cabin. The secretary who seldom goes to work on Wall Street wears running shoes and puffs one after another.

   "So I need a big aerial shot, and then seamlessly connect to the cabin. At the beginning, I want to play some tricks and get a long shot, so as to catch the audience's attention and explain the place where the story happened."

  The three of Ronald walked back to the cabin from the deck, and he was explaining his shot concept to the director of photography and editor.

"Of course, it can be done. The last shot needs to be shot close to the cabin, then interspersed with a black screen, and then switched to the shot in the cabin, so that the audience will not notice the editing point." Walter Murch pointed his finger He drew a frame and told Luo his own ideas.

   This method of connecting long shots with black screens was invented by Hitchcock. His "Cable of the Soul" is a so-called one-shot movie. The whole film looks like a drama with only one long shot.

  However, with the technology at that time, a box of film can only shoot more than 90% of the length, so the so-called one shot to the end is actually fake. Design a long shot of nine minutes, and then connect it with a black screen in the middle. But the audience didn't understand at the time, and it was quite new to watch this kind of movie for the first time.

"If you want to start with the landmark of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, it's not easy to find such aerial photography pilots and photographers, you have to find the most professional ones." Michael Ballhaus, the director of photography, is a German, and he spoke with an accent. Pointing to the sky in strong English, he told Ronald about his design.

  The helicopter circled the Statue of Liberty for a few laps, and then took pictures of the ferry from a high altitude. When the sun was right in the morning, the Manhattan sea would reflect very beautiful golden ripples. Then it swooped down from the high altitude and followed the ferry for tracking shots...

"This design is very good. I found the most professional NYPD for aerial photography. They are the aerial photographers of Tom Cruise's new film 'Cocktail'. You don't have to worry about their technical level." Ronald reassured Ballhouse that he It also asked Fox to apply for filming assistance from the New York City Hall in advance.

   "Ann, what do you think?" Ronald looked back at the two female generals after chatting with the camera crew.

"Well, there are two options, or you can prepare a Hollywood version of these working girl costumes like Jane Fonda did in '9 to 5', or you can follow the tradition of New York movies and shoot these most authentic costumes .”

  Ann Rose is very familiar with costumes. Although the secretary on the ferry who wore running shoes to work surprised her, she was excited to see the costumes of so many female characters in the script and accepted the challenge.

  Generally speaking, from the golden age of Hollywood, movies will upgrade the costumes of real-life characters. Let the costumes be a class above the characters with similar identities in real life.

  For example, in the "Working Girl", the secretary Tess is an ordinary blue-collar working class. She wears very distinctive clothes. She doesn't pay attention to colors and fabrics, but she also has a style that competes with others.

  If it was Jane Fonda's working women's movie "Nine to Five" a few years ago, it would be elevated to the general college graduate white-collar attire. Not expensive, but in line with the dress code of white-collar women, conservative color matching, pay attention to fabrics.

"No, no, I don't need to be elevated, I need clothing that roughly matches the real situation." Ronald felt that Tess had a transformation plot in the script, and the audience must understand her cross-class attitude from the perspective of perception. Different identities wear different clothes.

   "Teresa, when you were a secretary, where did you usually buy clothes?" Ronald looked back at his old friend who had been teaching actors how to be a Wall Street secretary and the shareholder of leg warmers, Theresa Kate.

"In fact, the secretary has the largest number of employees on Wall Street. In the basements of large office buildings, there are usually clothing stores for secretaries. We don't have time to shop, and the boutiques on Fifth Avenue can't afford it. We usually settle there." Theresa Kate replied to Ronald.

   "If you want to buy it, you can go to Building 7 of the World Trade Center. The clothing store on the ground floor there is the largest. We usually go there to buy. There are many styles and cheap." A few people dressed like secretaries came to intervene. They asked Ronald, "Are you going to make a movie? With secretaries like us?"

   "Advertisement, we are shooting an advertisement, a clothing advertisement." Ronald fooled the past with nonsense. If he let them know that it was a Harrison Ford movie, it might attract onlookers again.

   "Sigourney's clothes, let's go to the boutique on Fifth Avenue to buy them?" Ann Ross wrote down Ronald's request, to restore the truth, not to raise or lower.

"You make up your mind, I want a woman who was born on Long Island, went to prep school, went skiing in Europe, graduated from the Ivy League, and wants to hook a Wall Street investor. You go to clothes like this," Ronald described. A bit of Catherine's background.

  Going ashore, Little Bud, who was already waiting, drove a van and pulled several key people who were preparing for the film to Wall Street, and began to inspect the scene.

   "Well, that doesn't quite fit." Polly Platt took a few Polaroid shots in several high-rise offices, and after seeing them, she wasn't happy with the tone.

  In the first half of the working girl, Tess works in the secretarial office area with a partition in the middle of the floor, while the white-collar boss works in a separate office near the window, which is better for celebrities. So the first half of the movie has a bit of blue-gray temperament.

In short, it is necessary to show the feeling of a blue-collar worker on the assembly line, "Have you ever seen the opening of the peach apartment, Jack Lemmon in the big office of the insurance company, that kind of feeling like a small part of a big machine. These office buildings Neither is industrial enough, nor hopeless enough.”

   "So where is it suitable?" Ronald turned his head and asked Theresa Kate. She had worked as a secretary on Wall Street for more than ten years and must be familiar with this kind of thing.

"I haven't seen the peach apartment, but if you want to find the feeling of the assembly line, I don't think there is any more suitable than the World Trade Center. In that place, waiting for the elevator at noon is like jumping out of a trench, and entering and exiting the lobby feels like the Normandy landing. soldier."

   "Hehehe, just the World Trade Center", everyone was amused by Trisha Kate's metaphor.

   Everyone walked to Building 1 of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. There were not many visitors in the lobby. Looking up at the surroundings, Ronald made eye contact with everyone. This place is really nice.

  The twin towers of the World Trade Center are barrel-shaped structures, and the information desk and elevator room are in the middle of the lobby. It is surrounded by the "back"-shaped support of the steel structure, and the outside is wrapped in gray cement. The glass curtain wall is covered by concrete walls at the ceiling and floor of the floor.

  Although the sun is at its best around noon, most of the light is blocked by the walls. In addition, the interior color is monotonous, except for gray cement and brown marble, which gives people a depressing feeling.

   "This is where Tess should go to work." Satisfied, Polly Pratt took out her Polaroid and started recording.

   "Ting..." The elevator in the middle sounded, and two of them reached the ground floor at the same time.

   "Shall we go and have a look?" Ronald invited the team to go to the elevator room to have a look. The last scene where Tess turned defeat into victory was filmed at the elevator door.

   "Oh... oh..." The tall and burly Ronald walked over first, but was pushed back by the crowd rushing out of the elevator. Those employees who looked like secretaries rushed quickly.

   "It's really **** like a war..." Ronald really believed Theresa Kate's metaphor. The public elevators are mainly used by secretaries and low-level white-collar workers. The secretaries who have just arrived at meal time and only have an hour at noon have to squeeze into the elevator and rush to Chinatown a few blocks away to have a cheap lunch. You have to run back to squeeze into the elevator to go back to the office.

   After finally squeezing into the elevator, several members of the crew looked up and down inside the elevator. The World Trade Center was built in 1973, and the elevators are still old-fashioned, not as big as the current ones, and everyone feels crowded in the elevators.

   After getting a general idea of ​​the World Trade Center, Ronald agreed to take pictures here. The upper floors are mainly offices of financial companies. Within two months of the stock market crash, many companies have begun to withdraw from bankruptcy, and they can also borrow cheaper offices for filming.

  In short, the impact of the stock market crash on the World Trade Center is still there. The crew caught the cheapest rent when shooting, and it is estimated that the shooting will save a lot of money at that time.

  Everyone had lunch at the Window of the World restaurant on the 107th floor of the North Tower. Then the troops were divided into two groups, the director of photography Ballhouse and the director of editing Murch, and continued to find suitable scenes in other buildings in the World Trade Center.

  Ronald and the two female generals went to Fifth Avenue together to find white-collar clothing for the two heroines, Catherine and Tess.

   This is the shopping center most visited by tourists, with clothing, jewelry, shoes, and all kinds of women's high-end clothing.

Ann Ross found a boutique that was not the most expensive or the most upscale, on the road crossing Fifth Avenue, and gave instructions to the manager, "This little red coat and this swirl skirt, find more of these." style clothes."

   Ronald looked into the store, the clothes were not very outstanding, "Is it a little cheaper?" He asked Polly.

"No no, Ronald, you don't understand. Catherine's family is good, but she is a white-collar worker after all, not a socialite. It is impossible to wear custom-made fashions at work every day. Such a tasteful professional woman wears clothes from this store. This kind of ready-to-wear.” Polly explained to Ronald that custom-made fashion is not something that professional women can wear every day.

   "Oh..." Ronald touched his chin, his understanding of women's clothing was still not deep enough.

  Different from custom-made fashion, most professional women still mainly wear ready-to-wear in general business occasions. It is completely different from the Hollywood women that Ronald is familiar with.

  Working girls are more low-key and conservative. The fashion trend started from advanced customization, and then gradually spread to advanced ready-to-wear. Business situations also need to be a little more conservative.

"I suggest you go to see the ready-to-wear fashion shows of CK, Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren and other brands. The clothes there are what this movie needs. Tell me what you like." Ann Ross Picked out a few clothes and showed them to Ronald.

   "Why do you want me to see it? I believe in your eyes." Ronald looked at the clothes and shoes An picked, and thought they were all pretty.

   "After all, this is a commercial film, Ronald. Men must judge whether women's clothing is beautiful. Your feeling is more accurate. After all, half of the audience is male, hahaha" Ann Ross laughed.

   "I see," Ronald also laughed, no wonder there are many plots in Hollywood, that is, the heroine changes clothes for the male protagonist to see. Women are the ones who please themselves.

"Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and the basics, get me a few copies." Ronald asked the stall owner to find fashion magazines for him in the past few months at a newsstand next to his apartment. .

   "Okay, would you like some Playboy, attic?" The shopkeeper showed a smile that any man could understand, and handed him the few copies that Ronald called. Then he opened the place where the magazines were stacked on the second layer of the stall, and showed it to Ronald.

   "I want to see more clothes..." Ronald laughed, he really wanted to see clothes.

"Clothes? Ha, you know women..." The store owner pointed at Ronald a few times with his fingers. These young elites in leather jackets don't just want their female partners to be good. They like temperament now. , have their own occupation.

   "Here you are, Sports Illustrated. There's a swimsuit show." The store owner pulled out a few copies from the other side and quickly handed them to Ronald.

"thanks". Ronald handed over the banknotes, put a roll of magazines, Sports Illustrated inside, added a copy of Forbes as a cover, and went upstairs.

   Aha...

   Ronald ordered takeaway, opened a bottle of Coke, and read a fashion magazine. There were quite a lot of professional attire on the fashion magazines, and Ronald also saw the catwalk photos of his old acquaintance, the model Cindy Crawford.

  He picked up the phone and called his agent.

   "Richard, is there any fashion show in New York recently? The kind of business wear, find me a few better tickets."

   "Do you want to see Cindy and Christie? I'll check." Richard understood that Ronald wanted to meet "old friends".

   "They happen to have a few ready-to-wear shows in New York. They are not haute couture fashion, and the quality is relatively low. It happens that there are no gossip reporters there. If you want, I will let them send the tickets to your apartment."

   "Er..." Ronald thought I didn't mean to meet them, but after another thought, good clothes have to be worn on beautiful women to look good, just to see the effect.

   "Okay, do you have any in these two days? Find two for me."

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end