Hollywood Production - Chapter 14

Duke had quit his temp job, and for the rest of the day, he would report to the ‘Speed’ studio in West Hollywood on time every day.

The studio system can be said to be the practice of major Hollywood companies. Whenever a film with a high investment is approved, the production company will set up a corresponding studio to coordinate the film’s funds, preparations, personnel, shooting, advertising, sponsorship and surrounding areas. Depending on the work, some studios that make big movies can often exist for several years or even a dozen years.

Pre-production and post-production for a film can often be more tedious than the actual shooting, especially for commercial productions with lots of big scenes.

Lucasfilm has a strong background and appeal in the industry, while ‘Speed’ studio has only been established for a little over ten days. some crew positions were already filled by the people who work with Lucasfilm on a regular basis.

For many positions, Lucasfilm can fill the positions internally. For example, the soundtrack was handed over to “Skywalker Sound”, and the special effects production was handled by Industrial Light and Magic.

The entire preparatory process is closely related to the director. What kind of lens language is needed, the potential impact of the actors’ performances on the film, the inspection of the studio and other departments to determine the lighting and scenery, clarifying the post-editing ideas, and exchanging the sound effects with “Skywalker Sound”. This is what Duke must prepare in the early stage.

Renting props, making sets based on Duke’s advice, contacting cheap rental cars, finding suitable roads and locations, etc., will all be done by professionals. Hollywood’s production line is both cooperative and highly specialized.

In the following month, Duke completed most of the sketches for the split shots, and the preparatory work for the film was more than halfway done. According to Robin Grande, they will probably not be able to start shooting before mid-September.

“There will be at least five large explosions during filming.”

In the meeting with the crew, Duke said of his request, “The two explosions in the opening scene of the film, and the scene of the bus colliding with the plane, we can use a scale model to shoot on set…”

He had to save money, there was no way out. “As for the first bus explosion in the street and the house explosion, it has to be filmed on the spot.”

“Duke…”

One of Robin Grande’s subordinates said at this time, “The approval for the street explosion has passed.”

“I’m looking for the right home,” another one said. “We’ve got people looking at city hall records looking for detached homes in the greater Los Angeles area waiting to be demolished.”

“Model making is in progress…”

When Duke looked over, the head of the Industrial Light and Magic’s special effects team said, “We won’t affect your shooting plan.”

The atmosphere of the meeting seemed to be good, at least on the surface. But Duke knew that he can’t convince all of the crowd. The cast mostly used Hollywood veterans. These people were very shrewd. Whatever thoughts they had in there heart will not be shown on the bright side.

Duke doesn’t care what these people think because he knows he has the support of George Lucas. He doesn’t think he needs to prove himself to anyone because he knows he is good at his job. He knows that it is not realistic to try to become friends with these people, but he also knows that their doubts about him will disappear once they start shooting.

It took many of them several years or even more than ten years to get to where they are now, but he has risen to such high level and become a director with an investment level of tens of millions of dollars. This creates a feeling of imbalance and envy among many of them.

None of this is important to Duke. As long as they can maintain a working relationship on the surface and do not affect the production of the film, he doesn’t care about it. What he needs most now is success!

One success in Hollywood can change a lot for an individual. They will no longer be the same person. They will also have the money to set up their own production company. In the future shooting, he will try to reduce the inevitable internal friction of each crew as much as possible!

After discussing some special effects production issues, the dominance of speech was gradually taken away by Robin Grande, who is the most powerful person in this office.

—

As the early preparations for the film entered the final stages, the selection of suitable main actors was naturally put on the agenda.

After the rest of the group left the office, which was being used as a conference room at the time, only Duke, two associate directors, and a few producers remained. Robin Grande was one of the producers who stayed.

“I recommend Keanu Reeves for the male lead.”

After Robin’s assistant changed the coffee for everyone, Duke was the first to say, “Although he’s not a great actor, but he’s good enough for this role and he has a certain reputation. Plus, the pay is low enough.”

“I’ve seen his movies and I’ve seen him in person.”

Crone, the first assistant director, has nearly ten years of experience in the industry raised a different opinion at this time. He said, “Keanu Reeves is too skinny! Don’t forget, this is an action movie, he needs strong muscles!”

Duke’s eyes scanned Crone’s face quickly. he was not in a hurry to refute. This was not the first time the other party objected to his opinion.

“Let’s put Keanu Reeves in the scope of the audition and send an invitation to his agent.” Robin Grande took over the topic, “Our main priority for the next two weeks is to finalize the hero and heroine, as well as a few key supporting roles.”

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