Chapter 25: California sun
The bright sun is no longer blazing, and the air also carries a few strands of chill early and late, entering the Greater Los Angeles area in December. The show's cast and crew have been working at a high intensity for a while now and have started receiving attention from mainstream media outlets.
The latest issue of the Los Angeles Times published news related to "Speed", but unfortunately, the lack of big-name stars and famous directors on the crew made it unappealing. This news only appeared in the entertainment section, occupying a small space in the lower right corner, less than half a palm. Most of the content focuses on the male and female actors with a little bit of reputation, but Director Duke is not mentioned at all.
It is well-known that Lucasfilm excels in content production, but marketing and distributing films independently are not its strengths. The pre-release promotion for "Speed" was almost non-existent, but fortunately, after negotiations, 20th Century Fox agreed to distribute the film. However, the specifics will be discussed after they have seen the sample.
With Duke blowing up a bus into scrap iron, the shooting was finally coming to an end.
Duke sets up his camera on a abandoned communication tower at the Los Angeles International Airport during sunset. Using a wide angle lens, he captures the rare and beautiful scene. He enjoys focusing on the "magic hour" during sunrise and sunset, as it makes the footage look very beautiful on the big screen.
Throughout the entire filming process, Duke used a lot of filming techniques that were common in Hollywood back then, but are now quite rare. For example, he used a medium shot to capture the scene, and mixed in an upward angle to create an exciting feeling. For example, when filming the car chase scene, he made the camera's point of view follow the car's tires... making the audience feel like they were right there in the moment.
The primary consideration for making this film was to appeal to audiences and show them the newest and most exciting thing.
He has been using a wide-angle lens to shoot the sunset at dusk for the fourth consecutive day. If it were not for the time limit of the film, he would certainly have let Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman walk up and down the sunrise and sunset every day.
After getting the perfect shot, Duke handed the camera off to someone else to process and returned to the airport's edge where they were filming the final shot of the movie.
"Lower the angle of the second machine on the crane arm, lower it by fifteen degrees, and that's it."
After taking a look at the male and female leads who were ready, Duke finally reminded them, "Camera one, 360 degrees around, focus on the close-ups of their faces!"
After an exciting life-and-death competition, the male and female lead actors have a passionate kiss. Is it clich? It's very clich, but even if it's been twenty years, most viewers still like to see this kind of scene. Why wouldn't he shoot it?
After Duke shouted "start," Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman, this typical American big girl, kissed each other...
After this shot, Duke shouted in hoarse voice, "I hereby declare... The shooting of "Speed
" is over!"
He breathed a sigh of relief, he carried the immense pressure for 72 days of relentless struggle. Finally, one-third of the long journey was completed.
The applause rang out, loud and chaotic, Duke was not the only one who felt exhausted.
After all, in the past month, everyone has been living in an environment full of noise, racing, collisions and even explosions every day. Even the most energetic people have almost used up all their physical and mental energy.
The crew returns to Universal Studios, stored the film reels and equipment temporarily, then put on their best clothes and headed to a famous nightclub in Beverly Hills for the traditional end-of-production party.
The nightclub's area is not large; it was completely taken over by the crew. Because he has no friends, Duke arrived early. Other people who came later mostly came with a male or female partner. In particular, Keanu Reeves brought along the now-infamous Johnny Depp and River Phoenix.
This was an underground party where alcohol and marijuana were both essential, with people indulging in them everywhere, especially those surrounding Keanu Reeves and Johnny Depp, who enjoyed themselves.
Although he tried marijuana in high school out of curiosity, Duke has no interest in these things. Of course, he would not be stupid enough to stop them; after all, this is the norm in Hollywood, not to mention those who struggle from the bottom up. Little stars, even the well-educated Sophia Coppola, after coming to say hello to him, ran to take a few puffs.
The dark side is everywhere in Hollywood, the place where emotions are magnified and where life-and-death bets are constantly being made with wealth, power, and talent as chips. So many filmmakers are both victims and perpetrators here. The "super perks" that come with an abnormal lifestyle, the heavy pressure, and the excitement of success, to name a few, make it difficult for people to maintain a "healthy personality" by worldly standards.