Hollywood Road

Perhaps influenced by his own experience, Murphy has always believed that language without action is more persuasive, and language lacking action support is nothing more than just talking.

To persuade Frank Miller, just find him and say what he will be like. It is of no use. The other party is over fifty years old. He is not a person without knowledge, and is far from being impressed by simple words.

Inside the CAA company, there is an analysis of Frank Miller, who believes that he is still a suspicious person in addition to his talent for comic creation.

In this world, nothing of value is readily available. To persuade Frank Miller to obtain the basic conditions for opening comic copyright negotiations with DC, Murphy must prove to Frank Miller that he can transfer the soul of the original Both the beauty and the black and white phantom have become movies.

How can I prove it? Murphy chose to shoot a short film-level video related to comics first to impress Frank Miller with real and convincing images.

After Murphy talked with Bill Rossis, Bill Rossis summoned Philip Raschel, Helena Espola, Jack Watson and David Robbie who had worked with him. After experiencing the success of two films in succession, these people also like to continue to cooperate with Murphy, just like Hollywood companies are always chasing successful directors, they also tend to cooperate with successful directors.

And the objects of cooperation are familiar people.

These people quickly agreed after receiving the call from Bill Rossis.

Apart from them, Murphy also needed an actress. Because it was an experimental filming, it was impossible to pay much. Bill Rossis found a model and an actor from among the many contracted clients at the bottom of CAA. actress.

In addition, a small studio under the digital domain was contacted to produce special effects for the shots.

Because this is a self-funded experimental shooting, all funds can only be paid by the Stanton Studio for the time being. With the current financial strength of the Stanton Studio, there is no need to worry about the expenditure of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

After getting these things done, Murphy called everyone into a conference room in CAA to communicate before shooting.

"Philip,"

In the conference room, Murphy stood at the forefront of the long conference table, "Sony's HFC-950s camera is required for shooting, and you are responsible for renting it for one day."

"Okay." Philip Raschel nodded.

"Also," Murphy said again, "this picture should be very stylized, showing emotions and emotions through bright colors in a black and white vision. The tone of black and white is also a binary division of morality and humanity, but through Color makes it responsible, beyond monotonous masking!"

The two had communicated on the phone before, and Philip Raschel had also read comics, but these were not problems.

"Paul," Murphy continued, "contact a studio suitable for green screen shooting."

He ordered one by one, "Jack, the costumes and makeup of the female characters should be bright red enough, and a **** skirt should be prepared. Helen, you should design a character background that conforms to the comic style as soon as possible..."

Finally, Murphy looked at the rearmost position on the left hand side of the conference table. It was the actress Bill Rossis found, a British actress who was born and raised in the United States.

He looked at the other person's long blond hair, "Ruth, you need to cut your hair short! If you have objections..."

For many actresses, long hair is their second life, and Murphy is not sure whether the other party will cut their hair to fit the image in the comics. If she is not happy, then change someone.

Sienna Miller, who was sitting there, remained silent, knowing that she was not qualified to speak among these people.

Now that the problem came to her own head, Sienna Miller did not hesitate, "I can cut my hair anytime."

Although it is only an experimental project, if the project can be established, the female character she played in is very likely to become an important role in the feature film.

This is a rare good opportunity.

As for James Franco, who played a male role, Murphy didn't say anything. With his current acting skills and film style, dealing with this kind of role is just a trivial matter.

After the communication meeting, Murphy asked Stanton Studio’s finances to allocate 100,000 U.S. dollars to temporarily use the expenses of this experimental project. With enough money as support, this temporary crew was also operating at high speed, Philip Rasher You finished the camera rental in half a day, Paul Wilson negotiated a studio with Disney Studios, and Sienna Miller cut off a long hair with Jack Watson...

The most important post background production. After Helena Espola took out the design drawings and modified them according to Murphy's requirements, the two of them went to the special effects studio in the small town of Venice and had a full meeting with the special effects person in charge. One day of communication.

Murphy also prepared a continuous storyboard to serve as a reference for filming and actors performing positions.

Due to the original agreement, Dark Horse Comics wanted to transfer the film copyright of "Sin City" in their hands, or invest in the filming of their own. Frank Miller agreed to be the most basic prerequisite, in order to impress this famously stubborn one. Guys, Murphy completed this experimental short film completely with the requirements of making a formal feature film.

After a week of preparation, all the work is ready. Murphy's temporary crew is also assembled at the Disney Studios. Since only one day is leased, the shooting must be completed as soon as possible.

In the morning, Helena-Espola’s team built a prop balcony and also set up a green screen around the balcony. The shooting will take the green screen as the background.

After lunch, the crew entered the on-site shooting stage.

There are only two actors in the whole scene, James Franco and Sienna Miller. Murphy completely delegated the shooting to Philip Raschel, and he sat behind the director's monitor to watch the actual effect of the shooting.

Before filming started, Murphy deliberately walked to the venue and took a look at Sienna Miller's makeup effects. As the only character in the film with a strong color, the red she represents must be gorgeous enough in the black and white world.

Sienna Miller cut her hair short, probably because of her makeup, her eyes looked very deep, and further down, her retro red lips looked like she had just been stained with blood, and her clothes were also blood red.

"No... no problem, right?" Sienna Miller was a little unconfident.

Murphy nodded to her, "Relax, you are very good now."

After speaking, he turned back to behind the director's monitor and said loudly, "Start shooting in three minutes!"

Everyone in the temporary crew is doing the final check, and James Franco and Sienna Miller have also walked to their respective positions.

Filming started on time, Sienna Miller wearing a gorgeous red dress walked towards the edge of the balcony, and Philip Raschel gave a panoramic close-up from behind.

Seeing this close-up picture, Murphy immediately raised his right hand and shouted, "Stop!"

Sienna Miller turned her head and looked to Murphy's side, not understanding where she had made a mistake.

Murphy didn't care about the actors, and said loudly to Jack Watson's makeup and costume team, "Jack, come here!"

Jack Watson ran over immediately, Murphy didn't talk nonsense, and said directly, "The clothes are still not bright enough."

"This is the reddest dress I have ever seen..." Jack Watson scratched his head a little, "I'll let someone look for it again."

Murphy looked at Sienna Miller's red dress again, shook his head, and said, "In this way, change the **** dress, I will let the special effects studio solve it through post-production special effects."

Just as Jack Watson was about to leave, Murphy called out again, "Jack, and red lips, also changed to nude."

Since the effect of clothing and makeup is not up to the point, then use digital special effects to solve it. Murphy is not a stubborn and uncomfortable person, and immediately made a decision.

The shooting didn’t go too smoothly. Philip Raschel made two mistakes during photography. After all, this was different from the previous photography style. After he found the status, James Franco and Sienna Miller also performed performances. Wrong, but fortunately, this is a green screen performance, and they do not need to show shocking acting skills. When the sun outside turned to the west, Murphy announced the end of the shot, which was only a few minutes away.

After a busy week, just for these short few minutes, the preparation work for filming takes far more time than the shooting itself, and it also consumes a director's energy.

The shooting done in a day is just the most basic footage. Murphy personally sent this shot to the special effects studio in Venice and told them to finish it as soon as possible.

If you want to complete it as soon as possible, you must pay sufficient fees. This is the simplest business rule.

After Murphy paid half of the funds in advance, the studio specially selected two teams to produce and render this shot and background image at the same time.

After waiting for a full ten days, Murphy did not get the finished version of this shot until mid-September. He reviewed it for the first time, and the effect was basically satisfactory, and the picture was very in line with the style of the original comic.

Then, he ran to the Death Star Building where CAA was located, and found Bill Rossis.

"Bill, help me determine Frank Miller's itinerary as soon as possible," Murphy said directly as soon as he walked into Bill Rosses' office. "I need to know whether he is in New York or Los Angeles."

Bill Rossis nodded, picked up the phone, dialed several numbers in a row, and waited patiently for a while. About fifteen minutes later, a call came back. He picked up and said a few words. Write down a place name on the notebook, deduct it and look at Murphy.

"Frank Miller has been in Los Angeles all this time," he looked down at his laptop. "He is on vacation and doesn't want to be disturbed."

Murphy frowned slightly, and Bill Rossis said again, "He will be at a party in Malibu tomorrow night, and I will find a way to get your admission ticket."