Uncle John’s Unsinkable Bathroom Reader (91 page)

In 1975 Levy did, in fact, sue Lennon. But not for failure to live up to his end of the bargain. Instead, Levy sued Lennon for $42 million for breach of an oral agreement, because the singer had promised him that he could sell the album on his mail-order label. Lennon countersued for unauthorized use of his name, likeness, and recordings, as well as for damages to his reputation as a recording artist due to the “shoddiness” of
Roots
and its packaging.

United States District Court judge Thomas Griesa heard the case in January 1976. Lennon’s attorneys argued that because the master tape Levy used to make
Roots
was an unfinished studio dub, the resulting records could only be of poor quality, and thereby damaging to Lennon’s reputation. They also argued that the cover photo of Lennon, a head shot of him with long hair, damaged his credibility, because the photo neither reflected how he looked when the album was made nor evoked the 1950s spirit of the album. To further that point, Lennon showed up for the trial with short hair. William Schurtman, Levy’s attorney, badgered Lennon on the witness stand, accusing him of cutting his hair only for the trial. “Rubbish,” Lennon replied. “I cut it every 18 months.” Everyone in the courtroom, including Judge Griesa, burst into laughter.

On February 20, 1976, Judge Griesa issued his 29-page opinion. Griesa believed that Lennon
had
promised Levy the right to issue the oldies album on Adam VIII, but declared the “tentative verbal agreement” void because Lennon had no legal right to negotiate distribution deals—that was Capitol Records’ job. After hearing arguments for and against Lennon’s countersuit, Griesa ordered Lennon to pay Levy $7,000 for breach of an oral agreement (which, ironically, covered the production costs of
Roots)
, but ordered Levy pay Lennon $110,000 to compensate for the lost income from
Rock ’n’ Roll
due to
Roots
, as well as an additional $42,000 in punitive damages for harming his reputation. (Ironic fact: After the decision was read, Levy’s attorney, William Schurtman, approached Lennon and asked him to autograph his copy of Lennon’s
Two Virgins
LP.)

Rock ’n’ Roll
reached #6 on the British and American album charts. And although it did go Gold over the course of a decade, (more than half a million copies sold), it was ultimately among the lowest-selling studio albums of Lennon’s solo career, only slightly edging out his 1972 dud
Some Time in New York City
. But
Rock ’n’ Roll
would end up being the last album released during his lifetime.

Shortly after the release of
Rock ’n’ Roll
, Yoko Ono announced that she was pregnant with what would be the couple’s only child, Sean, born in October 1975 (on Lennon’s 35th birthday). Lennon decided to retire from the music business and focus his attention on raising his son. In 1980 he returned to the studio to record a new album,
Double Fantasy
, but he was shot and killed that December at age 40, a month before the album’s release to critical acclaim.

Levy’s decades of shady business practices did finally catch up with him. Though he’d been under investigation by the FBI off and on since the early 1950s, in 1986 he was finally caught. He was indicted for conspiring with a Genovese boss to extort money from a music wholesaler. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but while the case was on appeal, Levy died of liver cancer in early 1990. He was 62.

Good news, Uncle John: Principal photography has been completed! Bad news: Your movie is only half-done. (Part IV is on page 433.)

S
HIFTING GEARS
Once filming has wrapped, the number of people working on a movie shrinks from a few hundred to a few dozen. And the workplace shifts from huge soundstages and grand locations to small rooms with computers and video screens. While much of the postproduction work actually begins while the movie is still filming (such as visual effects), most of it isn’t completed until a month or two before the movie’s release. (That’s why movie trailers often have different music, different visual effects, or even different scenes than the final film.)

In charge of the process is the
postproduction supervisor
, who maintains the schedule, hires vendors, brings the actors back if necessary, and keeps the distribution and marketing departments informed of the progress. That way, the director and producer can spend their time looking over the editor’s shoulder.

Without a highly skilled editor fitting all of the pieces together into a well-paced narrative, the movie wouldn’t work. The editor’s first task: create an
assembly cut
of the film—nearly every single take from every single scene, put into order according to the script. The director then spends a few days viewing it over and over, marking the best takes for the editor. With that information, the editor makes a
rough cut
. The director then watches
that
, looking for three main things: the order in which the scenes occur, how the shots are cut together within each scene, and which scenes didn’t work as planned. With a new set of notes, the editor cuts the movie yet again. This fine-tuning keeps going until everyone is satisfied.

It’s said that a good editor will “discover the film” in the cutting room, putting emphasis on an aspect of the movie that the director may not have seen as that important.

Reel-Life Example:
The first rough cut of the original
Star Wars
presented to writer/director George Lucas in late 1976 was a mess. The pacing was slow; some shots lingered too long and others ended too quickly. With the film already behind schedule, Lucas fired his editor and brought in three new ones: Paul Hirsch, Richard Chew, and his own wife, Marcia Lucas. One such quick cut was when one of the sandpeople attacked Luke (Mark Hamill) with a staff. At the end of the original shot, the creature raised his staff above his head and then the shot ended abruptly. Hirsch extended the scene by running the film backwards for a brief second just as the creature’s arms reached their highest point, then repeated that upand-down move four times, adding emotional impact.

Did it work?
Yes. Lucas has since credited the editing as one of the main reasons for the unparalleled success of
Star Wars
.

Why do so many movies have a “typical Hollywood ending?” After the rough cut of the film is finished, the studio will show it to test audiences and focus groups who then answer a series of questions: “Did you understand the plot?” “Did you like the ending?” If the majority of viewers answer “no,” the studio will mandate a new ending (often a happier one) and bring the principal actors back in for additional photography, sometimes called
pickups
or
re-shoots
. New sets often have to be built, because movie sets are designed to last only the few days they’re needed and are then destroyed.

Another reason for additional photography: Sometimes the director or producer feels something is missing—perhaps a reaction shot that further explains a character’s motivation. According to screenwriter John August (
Big Fish
), “In most cases, it’s not that you’re adding something great, but rather that you’re replacing something sucky.”

Reel-Life Example:
The 2007 horror thriller
The Invasion
, a remake of the classic sci-fi film,
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
, was German director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s first English language film. Test audiences (and Warner Bros. execs) found the film too “claustrophobic” and “moody,” so producer Joel Silver took the extreme step of bringing in a new director to reshoot much of the film. In fact, he brought in
three
directors—Larry and Andy Wachowski, directors of
The Matrix
trilogy, and their longtime collaborator,
James McTeigue—to redo all the action scenes and the ending.

Did it work?
No. After arriving in theaters a year and a half after its original announced release date,
The Invasion
was lambasted by critics and bombed at the Box Office.

ADR, or lip-synching—also called
looping
—occurs months after filming has wrapped. Although the director would love it if every bit of dialogue recorded during filming was usable, much of it is not—either due to low audible levels, extraneous noises, or performances that didn’t quite hit the mark. In addition, naughty words need to be changed so the film can be shown on broadcast television, or if the studio just wants a more family-friendly rating.

Reel-Life Example:
In the 1999 comedy
Galaxy Quest
, when Gwen (Sigourney Weaver) sees the “Chompers” that she must run through, the audience hears her say, “Well, screw that!” but her lips are obviously saying…something else.

Did it work?
Yes. After the original cut was deemed “too dark,” much of the violence and language was toned down in postproduction, making
Galaxy Quest
more accessible to a younger audience that helped it earn more than twice its $45 million budget.

Working against tight deadlines, digital effects artists pore over every layer of every frame, striving to combine digital and traditional shots, often “painting” out green screens and adding in background plates (such as a fake sky)…hoping that the director will approve of their completed shot.

Reel-Life Example:
One of the most effects-heavy movies ever made was 2003’s
The Return of the King
, the conclusion to the
Lord of the Rings
trilogy. One particularly complex shot featured two giant, elephantlike creatures (called
mûmaks
) crashing into each other, and then tumbling to the ground. After working on the shot for six months, the digital artists were disheartened when director Peter Jackson informed them that it lacked the size, force, and impact that he was looking for. But time was running out—they only had
two days
to redo it. Working nonstop, the effects team was able to match up with Jackson’s vision.

Did it work?
Yes. Jackson’s insistence on perfection in every
aspect of the filmmaking process was rewarded with massive commercial
and
critical success, culminating with eleven Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Every scene of a big-budget movie contains dozens of separate and distinct sounds: squeaky floor boards, slamming doors, barking dogs, cars, thunder, coughs, sneezes, crashes, explosions, and so on. Each must either be found or created in post-production. The
sound designer
will first search through vast sound effects libraries (which explains why you’ve heard the exact same hawk screech in so many movies). What can’t be found must be created by
Foley artists
—named after influential Hollywood sound effects man Jack Foley. Working in either a soundproof room or outdoors if required, these technicians pull from a giant bag of tricks.

Reel-Life Example:
For the 2008 animated comedy
WALL-E
, in which a discarded robot must save humanity, producer Jim Morris brought in veteran sound designer Ben Burtt, who first made his mark on the
Star Wars
films. Since WALL-E must communicate without words, Burtt used the same technique he used 32 years earlier for R2-D2: he recorded his own voice making kid sounds and then ran those through a synthesizer.

Did it work?
Yes. Because the speechless robot was given a human foundation for his vocal utterances, audiences were able to identify with his plight, helping
WALL-E
to become a huge summer hit.

Music is divided into three categories: The
soundtrack
consists of songs played over the top of the scene that help convey mood. These are found by the
music supervisor
, working from a director’s wish list. This process is usually started before postproduction begins, as negotiating payments and securing rights can be a lengthy process. The second category is
source music
, sometimes called
incidental music
. This may be the background music played at a restaurant or a carnival ride at a fair. Rights have to be secured for incidental music as well, unless it’s in the public domain. The third category is the
score
, original music that a composer creates specifically for the film.

In most cases, the composer isn’t brought in until well into
postproduction. Once on board, he or she will watch the most recent edit of the film—often accompanied by a
temp track
of preexisting music to help convey what the director is looking for. Then it’s up to the composer to write the music, and for the music supervisor to hire an orchestra and book studio time to record it. This is also an area where creative differences often occur.