Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 669 Unresponsive audience

   Immediately after the opening, it was a tense air battle.

   Over the Caribbean Sea, the Cuban Air Force's MiG-28 used a superimposed tactic. The two-plane formation was so close that it only showed a small dot on the radar.

  Lone Ranger flew upside down over the enemy plane after a random flight and took a photo of the pilot. scared away the opponent.

   "Yeah..." Several supporting actors began to cheer and applaud.

   This is a specially designed opening scene, which allows the audience to concentrate at once and focus on the development of the plot.

The    applause didn't bring the audience's reaction, Ronald looked around, the audience didn't seem to react, neither excited with the plot, nor bored and distracted like the opening scene after the failure. They still stared blankly at the screen as they did at the beginning.

   "What's going on? The head shot didn't go off? The audience's response was very good during the first test screening last year?" Ronald turned his eyes to the two producers.

   He remembered that in the last preview, Don Simpson was looking for audiences from college students, in order to achieve the best results, to give Paramount's high-level confidence.

   Maybe this is the normal reaction of the audience?

   Continue to look down.

   It's time for the Lone Ranger and Instructor Charlie to fall in love. Nothing happened at home, and the two met in the elevator the next day, rekindling hope.

   Afterwards, in class, Charlie criticized the Lone Ranger. The two were racing passionately, and they fell in love with the last kiss. In the music of the Berlin band "Take My Breath", the camera switches to the passionate scene of the reshoot.

   McGillis was a little shy seeing himself on the big screen. Although she has been engaged in acting since middle school, the big screen puts people's images in a big place, so seeing herself and Tom Cruise on the big screen always reminds her of the passion she had with Ronald the previous two days. surging.

   She looked in Ronald's direction, but saw a man with an anxious look on his face unexpectedly, frowning tightly, constantly looking at the audience around him, trying to find some answers he was looking forward to.

   Ronald became more anxious.

   Passionate and romantic scenes, the audience still did not respond. Neither excited nor whistling, swallowing, drinking Coke, etc., are the common actions of seeing handsome guys and girls in bed scenes on the big screen.

   The first two preset emotional climaxes of the audience were all in vain!

   What followed was a low ebb. Because it was caught in a horizontal spiral, when the goose was ejected, its head hit the cockpit cover that flew out of the explosion, and unfortunately died. His wife and children came to the base, Lone Ranger hugged the widow of a weeping comrade-in-arms, and finally the widow gave him the dog tag of the dumb goose as a souvenir.

  If the audience did not watch the first half of the plot, I believe that there are indeed dumb geese and lone rangers in the world, such as fighter pilots, at this low point of the plot, the audience should completely lose their attention.

   They won't feel sad for a character who fails to arouse empathy, and maybe there will be horrible scenes of talking to each other, chatting, picking up girls, and even exiting to the bathroom on a large scale.

   Ronald sat in a chair, twisting and turning. He was a little afraid to look at the audience. For the first time, there is a sign that it may lose the audience's love, how could such a thing happen?

fine!

   After resting restlessly in the chair for two minutes, Ronald found that although the audience did not respond to the previous two high-climax scenes, when they saw the temporary low-level scene before the final high-climax scene, they did have some reactions.

   Some viewers started turning red and stopped eating popcorn. Some even took out a handkerchief and wiped it on their eyes, and even sobbed softly.

   "Ah...it's okay." Ronald put down a little worry, "I didn't expect that the passionate climax in front of the movie didn't make it into the play, and the tragic scene where the audience got here. Am I also very talented in making tragedies?"

   Soon, Ronald's fantasy was shattered.

   In the last aerial battle, the Lone Ranger's companion Hollywood was shot down, and he came to the rescue. With one enemy five, three enemy planes were shot down with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, forcing the remaining two MiG-28s to flee.

   During the first few previews, the audience burst into applause. Any strong counter-attack against the Suwell Union will make the audience feel good.

but……

  After modifying the movie by myself, the audience turned into a lifeless look, and there was no reaction at all.

"congratulate!"

"congratulate!"

  Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, and a few supporting cast hugged each other as they celebrated.

   Actors usually don't know what their scenes will look like after they finish filming. They don't often see such a hearty film like "Top Gun".

  Ronald treats them very well. Regardless of the protagonist or the supporting role, the screen image is well established. Even the two supporting roles, wearing cowboy hats, and deliberately walking backwards in the crowd to get more close-up time, the director didn't care, and they all stayed in the final film.

   This is a very good foundation for their future acting careers. At least future casting directors will think of those scenes in "Top Gun" when they see their names.

"Ronald!" McGillis was also very happy. He didn't expect that in this casual popcorn commercial film, Ronald would make his image so sexy. They were going to go to the bar to celebrate, and McGillis wanted to call him too. Go with Ronald.

  Ronald was over there talking to the two producers in a low voice.

   "Is it because of my reshoots? It ruined the rhythm of the original film?"

   "No, absolutely not. There must be something wrong with this audience. I watched it very well, and you feel good watching these actors." Don Simpson denied it.

   "Yes, definitely not your problem." Bruckheimer said the same.

   "Top Gun doesn't have any twists and turns in the story, it's a high-concept movie, made up of some good-looking story clips, completed with the quick editing of MVs and commercials.

   The two passionate scenes you re-shot were seamless and did not change the overall rhythm and emotional ups and downs. I believe that no one can do better. "

   "What the **** is going on then?" Ronald saw the audience exit, so he simply ran out, took out his magic weapon for watching movies, and went to the bathroom to eavesdrop on the audience's thoughts.

   Not only did the audience not respond in the theater, but also when they went to the bathroom.

  Ronald found that the audience did not have the desire to speak. At most, they used eye contact. No one talked about the highlights of aerial combat and the passion of the hero and heroine.

   "This is not normal, this is not normal!"

   Ronald muttered, is it really the audience that is the problem, as Don Simpson said?

   But can the values ​​of the American people have changed so much in such a short period of time?

   They suddenly don't like the drama of shooting down the Solvay Union fighter?

   Or did they suddenly dislike watching handsome guys like Tom Cruise and fell in love with a beauty like McGillis on the screen?

   Haven't heard that the commander wants to surrender to the alliance?

  Don Simpson and Bruckheimer came over, but none of the three could find the problem.

   "Don't worry, that's how movies are. Sometimes the audience reacts well to the test screening, and sometimes it doesn't." Bruckheimer tried to comfort, but halfway through, he didn't believe it himself.

   "In the past six months, what is it that makes the audience have such a big aesthetic change?"

  Ronald began to feel his heart pounding faster and faster, as if a great fear was coming from the universe and was about to hit him.

   "A director acting like a magician is about to encounter Waterloo in Top Gun?"

   "Do you know? I remember an incident when I first entered the industry."

   Ronald went to the counter to buy a pack of cigarettes and smoked in the corner with the two producers.

"Back then, Jane Fonda starred in a dull movie called Huaguo Syndrome. It was a very boring anti-nuclear story. A nuclear power plant had a core leak, then melted through the earth, and the nuclear fuel ran to Huaguo on the opposite side of the earth. country.

   This was originally a very funny story, but when it was released, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident happened. All of a sudden, the movie was a prophecy, and everyone wanted to see what was going on with the nuclear accident on screen.

  ! It eventually made $50 million at the domestic box office and made Jane Fonda a box-office darling again. "

   "You!" Don Simpson heard Ronald's story as if he had heard a horror story.

  Ronald is suggesting that "Top Gun" may be the opposite of "Hua Guo Syndrome". Some recent limited changes have made audiences no longer like aerial combat and movies that are tough on the Soviet Union.

   "So, what happened to cause such a big shift in the public's response in half a year?" Bruckheimer is still calm, and if he can find the root cause of the problem, there may be help.

   "When was the last time you heard the Grand Commander call the Sower Alliance an evil empire?" Don Simpson asked suddenly.

   "Hey! It seems like a long time." Ronald also understood a little.

   It seems that after the new general secretary Mikhail took office, the commander's attitude towards the alliance was not as hostile as before.

   "I remember, he also said that the new secretary-general is different from the first three. He is a figure who can communicate with the West, and he is looking forward to meeting with him." Ronald added.

   "I remember that in the newspapers, it seemed to say that the two countries still have to negotiate on nuclear disarmament."

"By the way, have you seen the movie 'White Night' starring Baryshnikov, the ballerina who defected? There are a lot of plots in the movie where the two countries are reconciled. In the end, this guy unexpectedly returned to the alliance. The defector dancer who eventually returned to America."

   "I know, I know, I heard that the British Princess in the White House actually wanted to dance with Baryshnikov."

   The more they talked, the more anxious they became, and they began to complain that the commander was not tough enough.

   "Didn't you say you want to defeat the evil empire? It turned out to be a softball."

   "If there is another crisis like the Iranian hostage incident, maybe the audience's taste will turn back?"

   "Disarmament, disarmament, disarmament, whoever will come to watch the naval air battle."

   "Ronald, aren't you going to the bar party with us?"

   McGillis came again and invited Ronald to celebrate.

   "No, I still have something to do. I'll call when I go back."

"Then I'll accompany you too." McGillis saw Ronald in a very bad mood and didn't know what happened, but the thoughtfulness of a mature woman made her greet her friends and see Ronald in person. Nader goes back to the hotel.

   "Are you all right? Ronnie?" Tom Cruise also came to say hello.

   "It's okay, I have a headache, let Kelly take me back to the hotel."

  The actors are ignorant of these audience reactions, and they revel in their screen image.

   (end of this chapter)