Echoes of Hollywood

Night fell, and the sign of the Moorby Bar lit up just as the roar of a massive engine approached. A bright red Ferrari sped to a stop in front of the bar.

A young man, around twenty-five with brown hair, stepped out of the car. The valet at the door, evidently familiar with him, approached promptly.

"Hey, Cameron," the valet extended his hand. "The usual?"

Cameron tossed the keys over and slipped a dollar bill into the valet's hand. "I'll leave at the usual time."

"Got it!" The valet's eyes lit up at the sight of the large bill. "I'll make sure to have your car waxed again."

Cameron waved dismissively and walked into the bar.

Inside, the lights were dim. Since it was still early, the band was setting up, and the deafening heavy metal hadn't started yet.

Cameron found a random spot to sit, ordered a bottle of liquor, and took out a pack of cigarettes, placing it on the table as he slowly started to drink.

A skinny white youth noticed him and walked over, sitting directly opposite.

"Short on supply, Cam?" Clearly, they were acquainted. "I've got some fresh stuff straight from Mexico."

"Let me try one," Cameron snapped his fingers, speaking generously. "If it's good, money won't be an issue."

The skinny guy pulled out a handmade cigarette from a pack and handed it over.

Cameron took it, sniffed it, and then put it in his mouth, taking out his lighter.

"Boss, that's him," a short man with glasses signaled towards Cameron from a nearby corner, respectfully speaking to the person across from him. "He comes here every few days, owns at least five luxury cars, and spends lavishly. He must come from a wealthy family."

"Hmm," the man nodded.

He was a burly black man, most notably with a shiny bald head.

The bald man glanced at Cameron to confirm the target and then turned back to the short man. "You're sure this won't trace back to you?"

"Absolutely not!" The short man said confidently. "I haven't done much, really."

He looked at the skinny guy with Cameron. "That guy's a big fish. Those low-level punks have been trying to pull him in for a while. We can make a lot from him."

The black man nodded again. Compared to their kind, those at the network's endpoints were usually small-time thugs, with no principles and willing to do anything for money, seldom considering the consequences.

This made things more convenient for some tasks.

Cameron took a deep drag, exhaling slowly, and closed his eyes in pleasure, completely immersed in the euphoric sensation.

"How is it?" The skinny guy asked at the right moment.

"Good stuff!" Cameron gave a thumbs-up without opening his eyes. "Better than the last batch! How much do you have? I'll take it all!"

"You want this?" The skinny guy's tone changed. "This is for women. I've got something better. Interested?"

Cameron opened his eyes and looked at the skinny guy, his excitement-clouded brain slowly realizing what he meant.

The skinny guy kept shaking his head and tossed the cigarette pack onto the table in front of Cameron. "You don't just smoke this women's stuff, do you?"

"I..." Despite feeling dizzy, Cameron hadn't completely lost his senses. He knew that touching those substances was a different matter entirely. "I can't use those, or my grandfather..."

"Cam," the skinny guy's face showed a hint of disdain. "How old are you? Still worried about your grandfather? Ask him. How many in his circle don't use? Did he use when he was young?"

Cameron didn't need to ask to know the answer.

The skinny guy pointed at the cigarette pack again, saying, "It's a completely different feeling, a hundred times stronger than this."

Cameron was tempted but still hesitated.

"Just go see, try it, see if it suits you," the skinny guy shrugged. "If it doesn't, you can always stop. No one's forcing you, right?"

Cameron's drug-addled brain was already pulsating with the thought.

Like all addicts initially, Cameron hesitated but then said, "Alright, I'll check it out."

The skinny guy stood up and headed to a private room in the bar, with Cameron closely following.

"Boss, the fish is hooked," the short man in the corner told the bald man. "The atmosphere inside is very influential. Unless he has strong willpower, he'll definitely use it."

The shiny-headed black man nodded in satisfaction.

The short man continued, "Cameron, being addicted to marijuana, has no willpower."

The black man habitually touched his bald head and stood up. "Keep an eye on this. Notify me immediately if anything new happens."

"Got it, boss." The short man put away his playful expression. "I'll drop everything else and focus on this guy."

The night grew deeper. In a temporary parking lot outside the bar, the red Ferrari remained motionless in its spot, as if its owner had vanished.

The success of "Iron Man" pressured Warner Bros. and DC Comics. They proactively contacted CAA, not to negotiate with Murphy, but with Gal Gadot.

Gal Gadot's stellar performance in "Man of Steel" won her many fans, making the film more appealing. However, Warner Bros. and DC Comics faced a dilemma because they hadn't signed a long-term contract with her. To have Gal Gadot continue playing Diana Prince in the upcoming "Wonder Woman" standalone film, they needed to negotiate a new deal with CAA.

Murphy didn't interfere in this matter; it was up to Gal Gadot.

He occasionally checked in on Ross's progress, but most of his energy was devoted to the remaining post-production work on "Inglourious Basterds."

During final editing, Murphy noticed an issue with the cinema explosion scene involving the projection room. Summoning the actors for reshoots would be time-consuming and costly, so he gathered the post-production team to adjust the scene through editing, color grading, and compositing.

Murphy and Jodie Griffiths re-edited the scene first.

"I need the enclosed space of the projection room to create a dramatic, theatrical atmosphere, almost like stage lighting illuminating where the German soldiers fall," Murphy explained to the colorist after editing. "When Shoshanna looks back at the soldier, the soft sidelight on her golden hair should give her a saintly aura, contrasting with the murderous scene from a moment ago."

This would be Margot Robbie's most beautiful moment in the film.

Murphy handed the edited clip to the colorist for grading.

In Hollywood, skilled colorists are rare and highly valued. Post-production enhances the cinematic quality of a film, and color grading is a direct way to modify the visuals.

This work involves adjusting exposure, saturation, contrast, and hue, coloring parts of the image, removing unwanted colors, and highlighting key elements, akin to a film's "makeup artist."

A major challenge in color grading is balancing quality and efficiency, as it's typically the final step in post-production, with previous departments having consumed most of the time. With over 1500 shots in a typical Hollywood film, a colorist has to complete 50 high-quality shots daily, and even more for films with heavy special effects or tight schedules.

This explains why colorists are expensive.

However, Murphy had allowed enough time for the colorist, and the sequence wasn't very long.

A week later, Murphy and Jodie Griffiths reviewed the results, pleased with the work of Susan Charles, the colorist.

With Murphy and Jodie Griffiths' editing, the final effect was stunning.

In the projection room's contrasting light and shadow, interspersed with black-and-white clips from the film-within-the-film, Shoshanna's red dress was striking. The dress, symbolizing blood, seduction, and revenge, turned into a wilting flower at the sound of gunfire, mingling with the bloody dust like the black feathers fluttering at the end of "Dream Traveler."

The soldier in a white uniform, who moments earlier had expressed reluctance to watch the killing, was now enraged, asserting his worth by referencing the "300 corpses in Italy" as proof.

"For a character with youthful impulsiveness and arrogance, who remains evil even in death, white suits better than the black and green of Nazi officers and matches his 'leading man' status that night," Murphy explained to Gal Gadot, who was observing quietly.

"The contrast of red and white gives the scene a romantic beauty, despite depicting the deaths of two very young lives. The reddish-brown texture of the wooden floor, the flickering old projector, and the red-and-white bodies create a classical painting's texture."

Unlike the fast-paced and intense editing of other violent scenes, this sequence had a slower rhythm. Murphy used seven shots to capture Shoshanna's expressions, with slow motion serving as more than a pacing tool—it offered a new way of observing.

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