Altman finally tells the story, and he tells it so well. Of course, this is not all Altman's credit, the screenwriter Michael Tolkin also contributed, and it can even be said that this film is the success of Tolkin first, and then Altman's success. However, it doesn't matter who is more important. The important thing is that this film is so exciting. Count how many big and small stars appeared in the film, how many business card posters, and how many of them participated in the narrative. . . All in all, this film is a bit difficult to describe, so I will make it simple and just talk about the first shot. It's a pity that there is no clip for this lens on YouTube. I can only talk about it on paper, hoping it will be interesting.
This opening shot is a long moving shot of 8 and a half minutes. It is used in combination with the push rail and the elevator. It is very flamboyant. It literally pays tribute to the opening shot of Touch of Evil, explaining the entire set (an anonymous set), the main characters and the key. Information, and blatantly let the actors commend the long shots through dialogue, belittle the fast-cut style of today's Hollywood movies-The pictures they make these days are all MTV. Cut, cut, cut. Even so, you have to admire the beauty of this lens. There are two aspects to this beauty. On the one hand, it is technical, Altman's choreography, timing, character dialogue, positioning, and close coordination between camera movement and narrative. It can be said that this shot is an excellent example of Altman's group play scheduling skills.
The beginning of the scene is when the chief secretary of the studio boss scolds the new Xiaomi that the boss is not there after receiving a call from the boss-Never say that. He's either in conference, in a meeting. He's always in, revealing the personnel on the set Unspoken rules. Then old Mi asked what was on today's trade paper. Xiaomi said that the letter was delivered late today and the trade paper has not arrived yet. Lao Mi ordered "Go get them. Now! I want them back here before he arrives. "Poor Xiaomi rushed out (pic1). The camera is also pulled out. A Ranger Rover (a high-end car) drives from the left (pic2), and the camera moves to the right. The first protagonist of the film Griffin appears (pic3). Just stepping out of the car, there is a screenwriter. The decent person claimed that Adam Simon rushed to strike up a conversation and pitched (that is, to promote) the idea of his script. They talked and walked (pic4), walked into an office building, and an old and a young happened to walk out of the building (pic5), the camera turned to follow the pair of people, the two talked just as long as mentioned. The lens vs. fast cut. You can also think that this is Altman's classmate who is selling you his long lens aesthetics, which corresponds to the pitch above. When the two of them walked out a few steps, Griffin had walked into his office, appeared in the background of the screen (pic16), and the camera moved towards Griffin again. Griffin is listening to another screenwriter pitching his "Graduate Sequel"/Graduate II's idea (pic7, pay attention to a poster in the background, who can guess what it is. You can go to the album to see the big picture, and the next one is a hint German business card). Halfway through, Xiaomi came in and asked what to do with the script that Adam Simon sent just now. Griffin said it was given to Bonnie (Griffin’s wife, also the story editor of the set, still pretty pp), Then he asked Xiaomi to check how the security let Adam Simon get in. Then the camera shifts to the right, Simon and Bonnie walk out of the office building (note the connection here), the former is still chattering to the latter (pic8). At this time, there was a scream outside the painting. It turned out that Jimmy, the messenger, accidentally fell over while riding a bicycle (according to the aforementioned message that the messenger was late). Bonnie and Simon stepped forward. Note that there is an obvious film falling out of Jimmy's package at this time, and a close-up (pic9) is pushed in front of the camera. Jimmy's fall is of course an accident. If you look at the back of the film, you will see more decisive accidents. After the camera was pushed back, a man driving a white sports car was hitting up with a girl in red (mistaking her for a certain actress, a classic way of hitting up), and asked her how to get to Joel Levinson's office (pic10) (later We found him in Levinson’s office. He is Reggie Goldman, a typical playboy who wants to soak in my goddess Winona Ryder and Meg Ryan). The girl's answer to "Joel Levinson? The head of the studio" is not so much to answer a man's question, but to explain Levinson's identity to the audience. Afterwards, the camera moved to the right following a group of Japanese tourists who were sightseeing nearby. After a few steps, we could find that Xiaomi at the beginning appeared in the camera again (pic11, back view), rushing to chase a car back to the office, and the car stopped. Next, it’s the boss Joel who walked out naturally, connecting the previous conversation about Joel, and more brilliantly responding to the words of old honey at the beginning "I want them back here before he arrives. " There is no shortage of humor. As the boss walked into the office, a few high-level people from the company walked out and talked about the company’s personnel changes as they walked. They mentioned that Reggie Goldman, the son of a Boston bank, the company’s patron, was coming, and Griffin was about to be fired. Maybe Larry. Levy will succeed him (pic12). These people walked and walked outside the Griffin office window (connected). Griffin was calling and discussing the problem of Adam Simon mixing in with the security guard (taking Griffin's last shot), and then Griffin continued to listen to another pitch. Then the camera turned out again, and the old man with a long pitch lens came again. This time it was his dad working for Rope of Hitchcock. The story of Rope is actually not that good, but the "no" cut is awesome. X. The other party It is said that a tracking shot in The Sheltering Sky is also very good. The old man said he hadn't seen it. When I contacted the Absolute Beginner mentioned by the previous guy, he hadn’t seen it either. It seemed that he was pitching his dad (Dad is still the key grip of Touch of Evil) rather than pitching him. Own. After they walked out, Bonnie and her assistant walked towards each other and brought the camera back to Griffin's office. This time I’m discussing Hollywood’s attitude towards political films--Political doesn’t scare me. Radical political scares me. Political political scares me. Halfway through the discussion, Xiaomi came in again and interrupted them. Postcard. We will find that this postcard is the most important prop of the film. So far the first shot is over, and the postcard is presented as the accent of the end of the shot. The other party said that a tracking shot in The Sheltering Sky is also amazing. The old man said he hadn't seen it. When I contacted the Absolute Beginner mentioned by the previous guy, he hadn’t seen it either. It seemed that he was pitching his dad (Dad is still the key grip of Touch of Evil) rather than pitching him. Own. After they walked out, Bonnie and her assistant walked towards each other and brought the camera back to Griffin's office. This time I’m discussing Hollywood’s attitude towards political films--Political doesn’t scare me. Radical political scares me. Political political scares me. Halfway through the discussion, Xiaomi came in again and interrupted them. Postcard. We will find that this postcard is the most important prop of the film. So far the first shot is over, and the postcard is presented as the accent of the end of the shot. The other party said that a tracking shot in The Sheltering Sky is also amazing. The old man said he hadn't seen it. When I contacted the Absolute Beginner mentioned by the previous guy, he hadn’t seen it either. It seemed that he was pitching his dad (Dad is still the key grip of Touch of Evil) rather than pitching him. Own. After they walked out, Bonnie and her assistant walked towards each other again and brought the camera back to Griffin's office. This time I’m discussing Hollywood’s attitude towards political films--Political doesn’t scare me. Radical political scares me. Political political scares me. Halfway through the discussion, Xiaomi came in again and interrupted them. Postcard. We will find that this postcard is the most important prop of the film. So far the first shot is over, and the postcard is presented as the accent of the end of the shot.
It can be seen from the above that the information density of this lens is quite high. From time to time, Altman’s favorite multi-track dissolving editing is used as the sound bridge to connect the paragraphs inside the lens. The multi-track dissolving editing also serves as a kind of sonic deep focus, instead of optic deep. focus echoes. Explained a lot of important information, including all kinds of comments on Hollywood, such as business (the unspoken rules of on-site personnel, etc.), sex (that strikes up a conversation with men and women), politics (Hollywood's attitude towards political movies). Although there are many characters in this shot, it is well connected and distinguished between primary and secondary. Griffin occupied the longest time as the first protagonist, his appearance (driving the Ranger Rover, this car was also mentioned later, and appeared at the end, making the film structure a loop.), his identity, job responsibilities ( Responsible for deleting and selecting the script), in the film, he raced against the clock to listen to the writer's pitch at the first moment; but what is more interesting is the two characters that did not appear in the shot: Larry Levy and Reggie Goldman. Both of these are potential threats to the protagonist (Reggie's father pressured the set to cause the personnel change, and Larry later replaced Griffin); neither of them made a clear appearance, but Larry made a shot. Called here (the phone called by Xiaomi at the beginning of the film), and later the senior executives mentioned Larry when they talked about the candidate to replace Griffin. Strictly speaking, Reggie actually appeared in the mirror, but the audience can only see his back (pic10). At that time, the audience did not know that he was Reggie Goldman mentioned below. They are both outside the painting, in a dark place, posing a threat to the protagonist Griffin in the brightest place. That's not a big deal, there is a more important figure outside the painting, that is, the sender of the postcard. You must know that both Larry and Reggie appeared on the stage one after another, but he never showed up. We still couldn't confirm his name until the end of the film. His presentation was just postcards, and he really dominated the film. The man behind the scenes, that is to say, the more people hiding outside the painting, the more lethal the protagonist and the more dominant the narrative of the film.
There are a few things worth mentioning in this shot. For example, the first picture shows the situation of making a costume film. Someone shouts action (so-called lay bare the device), and then the film officially starts, which means that the whole film is very self-contained. -conscious, the audience consciously feels that they are watching a movie, a movie about the movie industry.
In addition, this shot also mentions The Graduate, Scorsese, and Harvey Keitel. These films and people are of course connected with the new Hollywood. At the same time, a TV star played by a movie star was mentioned in a pitch. These are all Altman’s self-comments, pointing out his own identity, the standard bearer of the new Hollywood. After the end of the new Hollywood period, he has alternated between TV and movie for many years, and it seems that the sequel to graduate 25 years later is mentioned. He hinted to the audience that he was ready to regroup with The Player.
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