Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 5 On-set experiences
  Jimmy took Tang De and drove for half an hour before arriving at a large studio in New York.

There are container-style buildings here, all in black and white, crawling on the ground with dark doors, like giant beasts swallowing the crew coming and going.

There are not a thousand but eight hundred crews working in New York at the same time every day. The entire film industry has developed rapidly in recent years and become more and more prosperous.

But the trouble that comes with it is that costs are getting higher and higher. The number of films scheduled by major film companies this year has dropped compared to before, but the number of low-cost independent film projects has increased year by year.

Many studios have begun to oversupply, and a large number of crews line up every day waiting to shoot.

However, in addition to the crew, there are also a large number of extras wandering around the set with the idea of ​​becoming famous in Hollywood.

"Wow, what's going on?" Tang De looked at a group of scantily clad Yingying Yanyan walking by. They had various skin colors and very good figures. Just looking at them was eye-catching.

Some of them even winked at them as they passed by.

Jimmy smiled knowingly, blew a kiss in return and explained: "As you can see, they are all extras!"

"Movie extras?"

Jimmy shrugged: "There are everything, commercials, movies, MVs. There are too many extras every day. You have to know that Hollywood doesn't have so many requirements for extras. You can be a member of the Screen Actors Guild or a free agent, as long as you have an image." suitable……"

Tang De repeated meaningfully: "The image is suitable..."

"Yeah!" Jimmy chuckled: "You know who is the happiest in this place?"

"Casting director!" Without waiting for Tang De to reply, he continued: "Those girls are like bees, constantly collecting nectar from your flower until you give her what she wants."

"An opportunity?" Tang De understood.

"Yes, it's an opportunity!"

"Listen, brother." Jimmy put his arm around Tang De's shoulders and said in a low voice: "Opportunities are important to everyone, including us. As long as we can gain a firm foothold, those girls will pounce on you in large numbers in the future. , even if I push it, I won’t push it away.

"But first you have to finish today's work. Apollyon Bailey, the director of the crew, this commercial is the job he took. He worked for Martin Scorsese before, you know. It's "Casino" Director, give him the job of assistant director."

"Sounds pretty awesome." Tang De knew the name of Martin Scorsese, a well-known senior director in Hollywood. He also knew that Martin Scorsese would win 10 Oscars this year for "Gangs of New York" Nominations for awards.

Well, even though Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis joined, they stayed with me throughout the whole process and failed to win any of the 10 nominations. I don’t know if the old man’s mentality collapsed that night.

"Yes! It's really awesome! Do you know how much effort I put into hugging his lap..."

Seeing Jimmy foaming at the mouth and about to talk about his previous experiences, Tang De quickly interrupted him: "Stop, stop, let's talk about the key points."

"Okay, the point is, this director Apollyon is now out to work alone, and he recently took on a big job." Jimmy finally talked about today's work content: "Domino's huge outdoor advertisement, and a female star was invited! Isn’t it great!”

Tang De nodded and patted Jimmy on the back: "Good brother, so what are we going to do? Don't tell me, we are just ordinary lighting porters, just follow the instructions of the director and photographer."

"Of course not!" Jimmy waved his hands repeatedly, then stretched out a finger to point at Tang De's chest: "You, my good brother, are the lighting assistant for this commercial shooting. And I am the lighting engineer!" Tang De De raised an eyebrow: "What? I remember that you studied directing at the beginning. After being on the crew for so long, you even learned about lighting?"

Jimmy smiled and said: "Of course, isn't that very simple? Just raise the headlight high, install a soft box, and tilt it at 45 degrees to hit the background. Then put light shields around it to focus the light on the actor's face. Come on, isn’t it over?”

As he spoke, he moved his hands back and forth with his hands, as if the lighting engineer's work was like the gameplay of The Sims in his eyes.

Tang De shrugged and did not correct his good brother's contempt. If it was just an ordinary commercial shoot, it would be exactly what Jimmy said.

But if it comes to some more troublesome camera requirements, I wonder if Jimmy can still laugh.

After talking about the lighting, Jimmy lowered his voice and said: "So, brother, this is a rare opportunity. Don't offend anyone, do you understand?"

"Don't worry." Tang De nodded. He was here to make money and expand his contacts, and he would not struggle with money.

Jimmy showed a big smile: "As long as you know clearly, including set managers, makeup artists, photographers, assistant directors, actors...etc., I'm sorry, there are too many people on the crew. Sometimes I can't remember them. Come on. Leave the communication with other people to me!"

After the two people discussed everything, they also came to the studio on the second floor, which was a studio of about 30 square meters in the corner. At this time, there were already staff inside carrying various equipment and props.

"Wow, it looks like the scene is almost set. Hey, George!" Jimmy greeted the others skillfully after he walked into the set. It can be seen that he is very comfortable here and everyone knows him. White boy.

However, Tang De was very curious about how Jimmy persuaded the director to choose the two of them. Was it really because of drinking? Or took a forbidden passage?

That's kind of bad, but to be honest, this guy's ass is pretty good.

"Come on, Don De, look at what we have!" When Jimmy started shouting, he immediately put aside his distracting thoughts and stepped forward to count the lighting equipment with Jimmy.

The lighting equipment in the studio is still very complete, including various types of photography lights, snoots, light barriers, reflectors, foam boards, etc. Tang De couldn't put it down and touched it for a moment, feeling that the memory of photography in his body was being awakened, and instinctive reactions began to emerge from the bottom of his heart.

"Jimmy, let's arrange them first!" So Tang De directly picked up a lamp and walked to the arranged scene. It was a huge mountain background printed as a poster, and there were rows of scattered heights on the ground. cardboard with mountains and forest serves as foreground.

"Wait a minute! Brother!" Jimmy was startled and did not dare to let others hear his voice. He quickly came to Tang De and whispered: "What are you doing, brother! The director hasn't come yet, and we don't know. What does he want to shoot?”

Tang De spread his hands: "Relax, brother. This scene is very simple. Look at the poster at the back. The director probably wanted the actors to eat pizza in front, so the location is probably here..."

He stretched out his foot and stepped on a random place. The next second, a field attendant came over with a tape and glued the position into a fork shape. It should be the position that the photographer had already communicated.

Jimmy was stunned for a moment: "Okay, you guessed it right."

"Then the effect the director wants is very simple. It is nothing more than to bring out the depth of field of the entire scene and create the feeling of a real person on the plain." Tang De pointed to a few points: "So just put the photography lights on those It’s fine as long as it’s in the right location, and it can save some time.”

After saying this, he looked at Jimmy and found that his good brother was staring at him, his eyes widening.

(End of this chapter)