VOA常速英语2015--好莱坞大片中的视觉效果制作

好莱坞大片中的视觉效果制作

Today’s moviegoers know that many breathtaking special effects are created by powerful computers. What they often don’t know is that these scenes still require a lot of work and preparation by creative people.

With every blockbuster season, visual effects in Hollywood action movies are getting more realistic and believable. That's because the work is no longer done solely 1 by computer enthusiasts 2, says Aron Hjartarson, executive creative director of the London-based visual effects company Framestore.

在每个大片旺季，好莱坞动作片的视觉效果都变得越发真实可信，那是因为这项工作已经不再是电脑发烧友们单枪匹马努力的结果，总部在伦敦的视觉效果公司Framestore执行创意总监阿伦如是说。

“But it's progressed now and now it's actually real artists that are really good at their job, like true craftsmen 3 and true artists that are making sculptures, that are doing camera work, lighting 4. As far as filmmaking, it's a whole crew, right there," said Hjartarson.

“这一点已经在进步，目前事实上是真正的艺术家在做这件事，他们非常善于这项工作，就像制造雕塑的工匠和真正的艺术家那样去做摄像有关的工作和灯光。就电影制作来说，是有整个团队在做的。”

Contrary to popular belief, a lot of effects don't involve adding computer-generated objects or characters. Instead, they involve visually removing safety props 5 used to create the scene.

与一般的看法相反，很多特效并不需要增加电脑制作的物体或角色，相反，这些工作总是需要将制造场景的道具去除掉。

The script for this commercial envisioned a huge truck being abducted 6 by aliens. It was actually lifted by a crane but with the help of computer software, cables were simply erased 8 from the picture.

这部商业片的脚本上设想了一辆大卡车被外星人劫持，事实上是被起重机吊起的，但在电脑软件的帮助下，绳索被轻而易举地从画面中移除。

Hjartarson says computers can erase 7 anything without a trace.

雅塔森说电脑能不留痕迹地去掉任何东西。

“They can be robot rigs that actually may puppeteer 9 a stunt 10 person through a scene. They could be motion control for cameras - which is essentially 11 a big robot that controls a camera that shoots the scene. Lighting rigs, whatever needs to get removed. We can even go so far as to remove and augment 12 vanity items like enhancing physical features and proportions etcetera, which has been known to happen," he said.

“也可能是通过场景操纵替身演员的机器人平台，也可能是摄像机的移动控制装置，事实上是控制拍摄场景摄像机的大机器人。灯光装置，以及任何需要移除的东西。我们甚至可以移除或加强一些装饰道具，比如加强身体特征和比例等，这些都是已经可以实现的。”

Dangerous scenes used to be shot with stunt specialists rather than risk the movie stars. But since safety equipment can now be digitally erased, Mike Chambers 13, chairman of the Visual Effects Society Board of Directors, says many actors want to perform their own stunts 14.

过去拍摄危险的场景总是会用替身特技演员而不是让电影明星去冒险，但由于安全装备可以轻易地通过数字化手段去除掉，视觉效果协会董事会主席迈克·钱伯斯说很多演员都想自己亲身做特技。

“When you have Sandra Bullock, who's going to get on rig, there are stunt people who train her and make sure she knows exactly what she's doing, so she doesn't get hurt," said Chambers.

“比如桑德拉·布洛克准备拍摄的时候，会有特技人员来培训她，让她知道自己具体要做什么，这样她就不会受伤了。”

Still, it is not always easy to remove unwanted objects from the picture.

不过，将不想要的东西从画面移除掉并不是总那么容易的。

Effects specialist Isabelle Langlois, who worked on the award-winning film ‘Birdman,’ says advance planning can prevent many difficulties.

特效专家伊莎贝尔曾在获奖影片《鸟人》的拍摄中工作过，她说提前计划好可以预防很多困难情况的发生。

“The filmmakers are thinking about it from the early beginning and involving us on the shoot and visual effects work in establishing methodology and making sure that it's shot in a way that it's going to be easy to do it at the end in post-production," said Langlois.

“电影制片方从一开始就会考虑这个问题，让我们参与拍摄和视觉效果过程，找到合适的方法，确保拍摄出来的效果方便后期制作。”

Experts say with more sophisticated software and the ever-increasing speed of computer processors, moviegoers can expect to see their favorite stars in even more exciting scenes and situations.

专家们称，有了更先进的软件和越发快速的电脑处理器，观影者可以期待看到自己最爱的明星出现在更激动人心的场景和情景中。