http://tinyurl.com/2v3pxn Mar 26, 2007《纽时周报全文精译》 滑鼠轻按 改变电影风貌 The Shape of Cinema, Transformed at the Click of a Mouse 田思怡译 For some time now, it has been possible to imagine a moment when you － yes, You, the Person of the Year, the ultimate arbiter of cultural relevance － will be able to watch whatever you want whenever you want in the setting of your choice. The handful of Web sites that now offer streaming or downloadable feature films, along with wider video on demand through the cable box or satellite dish, offer a glimpse of what is to come. 已有一段时间，可以想像这麽一刻，你──没错，就是你，去年时代杂志年度 风云人物，文化关联性的最後仲裁者──将能在你的设定下，在任何时间看你 想看的任何东西。好几家网站现在就提供源源不断或可下载的剧情片，并且 透过机上盒或卫星天线提供更多随选视讯系统，藉此一窥未来的样貌。 Perhaps the most intriguing promise these sites hold is of a kind of virtual cinematheque. The retrieval and preservation of film history has been a project of many decades, accelerated and democratized by the rise of the DVD, which has put integral, aesthetically credible versions of hundreds of old films in easy reach of the multitudes. 也许这些网站提供的最引人入胜的前景，是某种虚拟的文献电影馆。电影史的 挽救和保存已是几十年来的大业，靠着DVD崛起而加快脚步民主化，将数以百计 保存完整、未失去美感的老电影版本存放在方便大众取得的媒介里。 Not that the effort has been systematic or complete: there are still hundreds more titles awaiting transfer to digital media. But the Internet extends the promise of comprehensiveness and universal accessibility. It is now possible to imagine － to expect － that before too long the entire surviving history of movies will be open for browsing and sampling at the click of a mouse for a few dollars. 倒不是这项大业已完成或系统化：仍有几百部电影等着转换成数位媒介。 但网路提升无所不包和全球供应的前景。现在可以想像并期待，不久後，整个 存活下来的电影史将开放，只要花几美元，按一下滑鼠就能浏览浅尝。 This aspect of the online viewing experience is not, in itself, especially revolutionary. It makes established home viewing habits a bit easier to indulge. What seems potentially more consequential is the rise of video on demand as a form of first-run distribution, a way not only for old movies to be saved, but also for new ones to be discovered. 这方面的网路观赏经验本身不算什麽革命，只是使人更容易耽溺於在家看 电影的老习惯。潜在的更重要後果是，随选视讯系统成为电影首轮发行的 形式，不仅挽救老电影，也发掘新电影。 More and more movies that gain a bit of exposure on the festival circuit will find their public not at the multiplex or the art house, but at your house. 未来会有愈来愈多在影展上获得一点曝光机会的电影，不在大型电影院或 艺术电影院找观众，而是在你家里找。 This, at any rate, is the possibility held out by sites like GreenCine, Jaman, EZTakes and others like them, and also by Google Video, through which you can purchase or “rent” a wide variety of films. If you look at Google’ s extensive documentary menu, you may be struck not only by the diversity of subject matter, but also by the variety of running times. One thing online distribution seems to accomplish is the erosion of the tyranny of the feature. It is nearly impossible for a film that runs less than 70 minutes to be booked into a theater by itself, or for, say, a 67- or 17-minute movie to be given a block of television time. But on-demand screen time is more flexible and may thus reward filmmakers for brevity or at least economy of expression. 无论如何，GreenCine、Jaman、EZTakes和其他类似网站提供的就是这样的 可能性。还有Google Video，透过这个网站，可以买或「租」各类型电影。 你看Google庞大的纪录片目录，也许不只惊讶主题的多样性，放映时间也长短 不一。网路发行似乎成就一件事，就是打破剧情长片独占市场。一部不到70 分钟的电影，几乎不可能打进电影院，一部67分钟或17分钟的电影，也不可能 分到电视播出时段。但随选视讯系统的播放时间较具弹性，因此能够奖赏拍片 简洁，或至少表达精简的电影人 But the filmmakers whose work circulates primarily through the various Web and on-demand applications will be entering a marketplace that is already glutted. The number of theatrically released films to open in Manhattan － that is, the movies that merit a review in The New York Times － has nearly doubled since the start of the decade, to around 600 a year. Add the films that play only at festivals, and the number reaches the thousands; include straight-to-video movies, on the Internet or DVD, and you have the potential of tens of thousands of movies competing for the attention of the viewers. 但作品主要在网站和随选视讯系统播放的电影人，进入的也是一个已经饱和的 市场。在纽约曼哈坦上映的院线片，也就是有资格获得纽约时报评论的电影， 其数量自2000年初以来几乎倍增，一年约600部。加上只在影展上放映的电影， 数量即达几千部，包括直接拍成录影带的电影，网路播出或制成DVD，可能有 成千上万部电影争相引起观众注意。 How will they be sorted out? How will you know which ones you might want to see? I don’t ask this question defensively, as a cultural gatekeeper fretting over my waning authority － enough about you! some of us are trying to make a living here － but out of genuine curiosity. It has become something of a truism that Web culture is driven not by traditional forms of taste making like the judgments of professional critics or the strategies of corporate marketers, but rather by the lateral operations of social networks. Niches and coteries form organically, as like-minded people bond in cyberspace over shared enthusiasms. And this, in turn, encourages an independent approach to production and distribution. 如何把这些电影整理出来？你怎麽知道你可能想看哪几部？我并不是出於防卫 心理提出这个问题，身为一个忧心自己权威渐失的文化守门人──真是受够你了！ 我们只是想混口饭吃而已──而是纯粹出於好奇。网路文化不由专业评论家的 评论或企业行销人员的策略之类传统品味塑造模式带动，而是由社交网络的横向 操作推动，已是老生常谈。想法相近的人因共同的兴趣在网上连结，小众市场和 小圈圈自然形成。紧接而来的是鼓励独立制片和发行。 Surely there can never be too many movies. Or, to put it another way, there will always be too many movies, more than anyone can keep track of. That more will be made, and that more will have a chance to be seen, is hardly cause for complaint. 当然，电影永远不嫌多。或换句话说，电影总是太多，多过任何人能跟得上的地步。 未来还会拍更多电影，更多电影有机会被看到，几乎没有理由抱怨。 But by now we should have learned to regard Utopian － or apocalyptic － predictions about the Internet with a measure of skepticism. The technology has yet to be developed that can increase the number of hours in the day, which means that, somehow, we will still need to choose among the thousands of movies at our instantaneous disposal. 不过，我们现在应已学会带一点怀疑来看待有关网路乌托邦或启示录式的预言。 能使每天时数增加的科技尚未问世，这意味着，无论如何，我们仍有必要从成千 上万部任我们立即选看的电影中挑选。 What will guide those choices? I doubt that, at least in the foreseeable future, a filmmaker with a choice will refuse theatrical distribution in favor of the Web, or that a Web-distributed feature will match the gross of even a modest art-house release. But at the same time it seems likely that a hot new filmmaker will be soon discovered on a download site and given a shot at old-fashioned Hollywood success, a chance to make movies for the big screen. In any case, we’ll have to keep watching. 用什麽来引导我们挑选？我怀疑，至少在可预见的未来，有选择权的电影人会 拒绝院线发行，而选择在网路上发行。我还怀疑，网路发行剧情片的总收入， 能比得上较小众的艺术电影院线。但同时，炙手可热的新电影人将很快在下载 网站上被发掘，在老式好莱坞成功模式中试试身手，而有机会为大银幕拍电影。 无论如何，我们必须持续观察。 By A. O. Scott 【2007-03-26/联合报/B6版/UNITED DAILY NEWS】 -- ﹨●∕─╭───────────────╮ 古 ｜"无清河！碧潭的水再脏也没你脏"｜ ∕﹨ ╰───────────────╯ @thefaith █████◣▇▆▅▆▇ ▇▆▅▆▇ ▇▆▅▆▇ ▇▆▅▆▇█▇▆▅▆▇█▇▆▅ █◣＿ˍ▁▂▃▄▃▂▁ˍ＿ˍ▁▂ 碧潭▃▄▃▂▁ˍ＿ˍ▁▂▃▄▃▂▁ --

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