Another filmmaker has left us.
Roger Coman passed away on May 9 at the age of 98.
There may be aquarists who are not familiar with him.
This is not surprising.
Even though he is a godfather in Hollywood.
Widely regarded as the greatest independent filmmaker of all time in American cinema.
is Quentin's idol and the mentor of Coppola, Scorsese, and Cameron.
But he is also "notorious" and not recognized by the mainstream.
He is known as the "King of Bad Movies".
His works are full of pornographic, vulgar, and bloody passages, and have been accused of being too out of line.
Never got an Oscar nomination.
And his film career is like an interesting and eye-opening movie.
Looking back now, compared with the current movie dilemma, it is even more emotional.
Today, why don't you take this opportunity to talk about this legendary filmmaker -
Roger Koeman
Roger Corman
Roger Koeman is a recognized legend in the film industry.
In 1948, at the age of 22, when he first entered the industry, he was still a layman, doing the lowest level of errand work in Hollywood.
But in the same year, he became a script analyst for a major studio and had his own independent office.
Six years later, he became a director and released a film that was both acclaimed and acclaimed.
But at the age of 27, he left Hollywood again.
In the case of poverty and whiteness, he opened a production company independently.
The funds are seriously insufficient, but they continue to launch works and make steady profits.
He has participated in the production of more than 300 films, 280 of which have made a profit, and have traveled to major authoritative film festivals around the world.
His company was also nicknamed the "Roger Film School".
Many young people who love movies have made some achievements after working with him.
Cameron, Coppola, Scorsese and other directors all said that their achievements in movies are inseparable from Roger's words and deeds.
Jack Nicholson, who won the Academy Award for "One Flew Over the Asylum", officially entered the film industry after filming Roger's "Screaming Little Killer".
(1963, The Terror)
In his later years, Roger Corman was invited to make a cameo appearance in the classic film "The Apprentices".
For example, "The Godfather", "The Philadelphia Story", "The Silence of the Lambs".
In the 70s of the 20th century, he was also the largest distributor of European art films in the United States.
Out of his love for the works of Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Fellini and others, he took the initiative to introduce their works to the United States for distribution.
Bergman once wrote to him for broadening his audience.
In 2009, he was awarded the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, establishing his godfathership.
He also has a large number of fans in China.
A few years ago, I came to China to supervise the production of the Internet University, which made fans excited.
However, his work has been controversial.
有评论家形容其风格是「3B」——血腥（blood），胸部（breast）和飞车党（biker）。
Because, his works are all commercial genre films that are pure entertainment.
Cheap action scenes, erotic, bloody scenes that stimulate the senses are indispensable.
Today, it seems that many of them are politically incorrect movies with racist and strong male connotations.
Like the shoddy commercial films that exploded in Hong Kong in the eighties and nineties.
The auction is shoddy, but it never loses money.
made pure entertainment films, and was also pushed to the altar.
Why is that?
In fact, it was the rebellion against Hollywood and the traditional values it stood for that set him on the path to godhood.
In the mid-to-late 20th century, mainstream Hollywood studios still dominated the film market and promoted big stars and big productions.
During his time at FOX, Roger Corman felt that the big studios had a rigid system, low efficiency, and a lack of attention to talent development.
In 1950, Roger reviewed the script "Big Gun", and he almost overturned and rewrote it.
The film received an excellent response after its release, but his name was not mentioned at all, and the remuneration and prestige went to the management.
This drove Roger Corman to the idea of making an independent film.
But it's not so easy to single out the big guys.
Roger Coman didn't have enough money, so catering to the market was the only option.
He dabbled in almost every genre that was a blockbuster back then: westerns, adventure films, crime films, monster films...
It also tries to vigorously reclaim and seek a foothold in marginal genres such as horror films and erotic films that have been excluded from mainstream films.
But even so, it is still not easy to make a steady profit without losing money and win word of mouth.
How did he do it?
Controlling costs and filming to the limit is his specialty.
He said, "There's only one way to make a movie, and it's fast."
He often makes multiple films at the same time, and the sets are reused.
His masterpiece "Little Shop of Horrors" took only two days and one night and cost $3,500.
The motivation for the shooting was simply that the gothic set was left after the previous film, and he felt that it would be a pity to abandon it.
In order to save money and time, he does almost everything.
Try to maximize the angle of view in a single scene and use narration instead of multiple shots.
Hardly any money is spent on props, and sometimes in order to use a car for free, car advertisements will be actively added to the script.
There was a big scene of hundreds of people riding horses, and he directly bought a piece of video material and inserted it in the film to fill the number.
Roger Coman also has a reputation for exploiting staff.
The screenwriter was forced to work overnight, and the actors memorized the words to the limit on the way to the set.
An actor gets a share of the money, but is often forced to make several films.
There was no stuntman in the action scenes, and accidents such as actors being injured and boats being flooded occurred, and he insisted on dealing with them until the end of filming.
He exploits not only the actors, but also himself.
At one time, he worked as a producer, actor, set designer, driver and other types of work.
After filming, he cleaned up the scene alone and carried away props.
It's just because he doesn't want to waste money on this kind of place.
Even to avoid wasting time, he doesn't say polite words like "thank you" and "hard work".
But many people are happy to work with him.
Because he will give the most practical help to the newcomer.
Sometimes a temporary hired handyman, showing a little talent, will soon be promoted to director.
At a time when there was still serious sexism in big Hollywood studios, he was only talented, hired many female directors, editors, and screenwriters, and also broke the age barrier.
Female producer Gail Anne Hurd began her career at Roger & Company
But in the end, his success lies in the movie itself.
In order to attract audiences, Roger has been constantly exploring and innovating.
Take the initiative to chase the trend, integrate into the current hot topics, and turn the nuclear radiation problem during the Cold War into an important element in horror movies.
It also pioneered the fusion of horror genre and comedy elements.
In addition, we collect feedback from the audience in a timely manner and constantly update the shooting techniques.
Therefore, under the rough surface, there is a lack of freshness and vitality in large factory films.
(1958)
Many of his film concepts and stories are quite advanced.
In the '50s, Roger made a movie called "Fast and Furious," about a man who escaped from prison and escaped from the police in a drag race.
Later, Roger licensed the name "Fast and Furious" to Universal, and the now well-known "Fast and Furious" series was born.
So far, every time Universal releases a new "Fast and Furious", it has to pay Roger a copyright fee.
In 1975, Spielberg's Jaws came out, and the New York Times commented:
"Isn't Jaws just a high-budget Roger Corman movie?"
Similarly, 1979's "Alien" is considered to be the product of Roger-esque B-movies combined with commercial capital.
Roger's hastily completed "Little Shop of Horrors" became a niche classic, was adapted into a stage play on Broadway, and has been remade in the past two years.
The aesthetics of Roger's films are also good, and the composition and color are still loved by many people.
It is not difficult to see that in China, Roger-style movies are still effective.
In the 80s and 90s, a large number of Hong Kong commercial genre films appeared, similar to Roger's B-grade films.
Low cost, high efficiency, "flying paper" shooting method.
Police movies, comedies, action movies, martial arts movies and other genres are colorful.
It looks shoddy up close, and it looks vibrant from afar.
Naturally, there is no shortage of eye-catching restrictive movies.
But there are also many unique and widely circulated works.
is like Wang Jing, who has been named the "king of bad movies", has been complained of vulgarity, spoofing, and plagiarism.
But it is undeniable that he has brought out many Hong Kong stars, fed many filmmakers, and funded Xu Anhua to help Hong Kong literary films open up a way of life.
His "God of Gamblers" series, "Jiupin Sesame Official" is still talked about today.
The 2010 word-of-mouth film "Ocean Paradise" was inspired by Wang Jing's "Stupid Child".
You will find that there is a fundamental difference between the so-called "bad movies" mentioned above and the "bad movies" we often talk about today.
The "rottenness" of these films is due to the lack of filming cycle and funds, and the lack of carving and polishing, resulting in insufficient presentation effects.
But the story is fun and engaging.
Because of this, it can be small and big in the market, so that it will leave a name in film history.
But if you look at the present, you will find that things are reversed.
Many of today's bad movies are a kind of "exquisite" bad movies.
Big investment, big production, big stars, but it's boring.
Many movies claim to have sharpened their appetite for ten years, but the results are disappointing.
On the contrary, many small-budget movies have become good films by word of mouth, such as "Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department" and "Hidden in the Dust" in the past two years, and "Sherlock on the Plains" a few years ago.
This is true not only in China, but also in Hollywood.
The special effects are getting stronger and stronger, the story is getting worse and worse, and the blockbuster bombardment under the guidance of IP has long made people aesthetically fatigued.
Roger Coman once commented on Marvel movies, "Marvel movies are good-looking movies, and the special effects are particularly amazing. But Marvel movies are like adding a story to the special effects, (rather than adding special effects to the story), and you feel like the special effects are the main character."
Now that Roger Corman has died, a generation of filmmakers influenced by him is still sticking to the old-school strategy of "story first", so that technology does not swallow our true emotions.
Thanks to his courage to leave the big studios, there are now many established independent film studios, so that many ambitious creators do not have to compromise too much.
The dilemma that once held Roger Coman in the way may still exist, but those who come after him don't need to be forced to go to the top like him.
But then, is there no need for a new "Roger Koeman" now? Don't you need a thousand bizarre "bad movies"?
The opposite may be true.