Still Creating Otherworldly Effects

奧斯卡特殊貢獻獎得主 實至名歸

By John Anderson

But Mr. Trumbull, 69, is hardly finished with his contributions. At his home and studio in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts, about 320 kilometers from New York City, mad experiments in cinema are taking place. Mr. Trumbull is working on new production paradigms. 
69歲的莊伯對電影業的貢獻可沒結束。在他距紐約市約320公里的麻州伯克夏區住家兼影棚裡，瘋狂的電影實驗正在進行，他要建立新的電影製作典範。

“Kubrick was pushing into this new, nonverbal territory that took the audience on an adventure in space,” Mr. Trumbull said, recalling his debut, as a visual effects supervisor on “2001.” “It wasn’t about the normal cinematic dynamics of close-ups and over-the-shoulder shots and reversals and conflicts and plot. He was trying to go into another world of first-person experience. I said, ‘Sign me up.’ ”
莊伯說：「庫柏力克往這個不用語言表達的新領域推進，把觀眾帶入太空探險的情境」；回憶起他首次下海，擔任「2001年太空漫遊」視覺效果監督時的情景。「這跟特寫鏡頭、肩上攝影、翻轉等正規電影的效果，以及劇情的衝突與情節全不相干。他試圖進入另一個展現第一人稱經驗的世界。我說，『算我一個』。」

But the brave new world Mr. Trumbull glimpsed was soon eclipsed by Hollywood’s embrace of the blockbuster, and the results, he said, are damaging the industry. “If you spend 150 to 200 million on a movie and take all of that value and try to cram it through this narrow slot,” he said, referring to the standard movie-house experience of small and underlighted screens, “you’re throwing away most of the production value.”
但莊伯所瞥見的美麗新世界，很快就被好萊塢只愛以巨資拍轟動大片之風所遮掩；他表示，結果傷害了電影業。提到在銀幕狹小且光線不足的電影院裡觀賞的經驗，他說：「如果你在電影上花個1億5千萬到2億美元，並打算把一切有價值的東西都經由這道窄縫填塞進去，是在浪擲大部分的製作價值。」

With a few simple changes, he said, “you could massively amp up the effect of these kinds of movies” – like the ones he’s known for, “Blade Runner,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” Make them brighter and bigger and run them at higher frame rates: that is, the speed at which individual pictures, or frames, are flashed in front of the audience.
他說，做些簡單的改變，「你便能大幅擴張這類電影的效果」─ 就像讓他揚名的「銀翼殺手」、「第三類接觸」、「星艦迷航記」等片。使這些電影更亮眼且碩大，並能以更高的畫面頻率來運作；畫面頻率是指個別圖像或畫面在觀眾眼前閃過的速度。

Since the silent era the industry standard has been 24 frames a second. Peter Jackson is shooting “The Hobbit” at 48; James Cameron may well make “Avatar 2” at 60. Mr. Trumbull is talking 120.
從「默片」時代開始，電影業的標準一直是每秒跑24格。彼得傑克森在「魔戒前傳」中每秒跑48格；詹姆斯柯麥隆可能會在「阿凡達2」中讓每秒跑60格。莊伯則談到120格。

Because of what is known as “persistence of vision,” the human eye is fooled into interpreting the rapid projection of individual images as motion. But though viewers may not realize it, at 24 frames per second, the eye is being presented with darkness more than half the time. The faster the frame rate, the more lifelike the image.
由於有「視覺暫留」現象，人類的眼睛才會把快速投射的個別影像誤認為連續的移動影像。但觀眾或許不知道，在每秒跑24格的電影中，眼睛有一半以上的時間只感受到黑暗。畫面投射越快，影像會越逼真。

“There are really no words for it in English,” he said of his development, “but it’s a window onto reality.”
提到他開發的技術，他說：「在英文中還真找不到文辭來表達；但這是個呈現真實影像的窗口。」

This isn’t the first time Mr. Trumbull has experimented with frame rate. In the ’70s he started the Future General Corporation to develop new film technologies, including Showscan, an Imax-like format that used 70-millimeter film projected at 60 frames a second. The film critic Joe Morgenstern saw a Showscan demonstration in Los Angeles in the late ’70s and said: “I remember the smoothness and richness of it, almost a three-dimensionality.”
這並非莊伯首次做畫面頻率實驗。1970年代他便創辦未來綜合公司，開發新的電影科技，包括「肖斯康」掃描系統，這是一種類似「最大影像」（Imax）的規格，使用70毫米軟片，每秒投影60格。影評人摩根斯登1970年代末期在洛杉磯看到「肖斯康」展示後說：「我記得影像既平順且豐富，幾乎就是3D。」

Paramount hired Mr. Trumbull to make the first feature in Showscan, “Brainstorm,” a film known less for its technical achievements than for the death of Natalie Wood, the event that led to Mr. Trumbull’s departure from his native Los Angeles.
派拉蒙公司曾聘請莊伯製作第一部「肖斯康」特效片「腦力激盪」，但這部電影的技術成就，卻不及女主角娜妲麗華香消玉殞更受重視，莊伯就此離開老家洛杉磯。

When it was finally released, the film wound up caught between traps. “The theaters said, ‘We love it, but we’re not going to put in projectors unless all the studios shoot that way,’ ” Mr. Trumbull recalled. “And the studios said, ‘We’re not going to make movies like this unless the theaters put the equipment in.’ ”
當這部電影終於發行後，膠捲緊繃而且卡帶。莊伯回憶道：「戲院老闆說，『我們喜歡這部片子，但除非所有電影公司都如此投射影像，否則我們不會添購這種放影機。』」；「電影公司則說，『戲院不購置新放映設備，我們就不拍這種電影』。」

Though his firms Ridefilm Theater and the Trumbull Company would later merge with Imax, Mr. Trumbull asserted that in comparison with Imax’s big-screen 3-D presentation, “my new Hypercinema 3-D 120-frames-per-second technology is far superior and much less expensive.”
雖然他擁有的動感影廳及莊伯公司後來與超大影像公司合併，但莊伯斷言，與超大影像公司的大螢幕3D放映效果相比，「我的新超級3D、每秒120格科技好得多，也便宜得多」。

What will be projected, he said, can be made at his Berkshires studio cheaper and faster than in the Hollywood system because he has developed technology that reduces the need for sets, locations or a large crew.
他說，在他的伯克夏攝影棚裡製作這種新影片，比好萊塢更便宜、更快，因為他已開發出能使設備、場地及人員都縮減的科技。

He contends that for Hollywood, it’s about self-preservation. “So if you want to get people to go out to the movies, to pay a premium price for some kind of premium experience, it better be damned premium. It better be extraordinary.”
他認為這關乎好萊塢的存續。他說：「如果你想要讓人們來看電影，為超值的經驗支付較高的票價，電影最好真的值得高票價。真的超好。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/movies/awardsseason/douglas-trumbull-honored-for-technology-hes-still-creating.html

Video: Douglas Trumbull's Virtual Set Studio
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/01/31/movies/100000001322916/douglas-trumbulls-virtual-set-studio.html

Video: Douglas Trumbull on Shooting Action
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/01/31/movies/100000001322969/douglas-trumbull-on-capturing-action.html

2012-02-14聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 任中原譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版上