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未来电影特效改变影片制作

When you watch a movie these days, it’s difficult to tell what’s real and what’s created in a computer. In the future, visual effects could even alter how movies are made.

今天，你看电影的时候，很难分清哪些场景是真的，哪些是电脑制作的。将来，电影特效可能根本改变电影的制作方法。电影特效的这一领域的进展，创造电影幻觉的下一个疆界又在哪里？

Almost anything that can be imagined by a director can now become reality in the world of movies.

电影导演能想象出来的几乎所有画面都能在银幕上成为现实。

“We’re really not limited by the technology to build pretty much anything we want,” said David Smith, of Sony Pictures Imageworks. Smith said that with today's computer processing power and speed, the digital world is more realistic than ever before.

索尼电影画面制作公司的史密斯说：“我们制作想做的任何画面都没有技术限制。” 索尼电影画面制作公司的史密斯表示，今天的电脑处理能力和速度使数字世界比以往任何时候都更真实。

For The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Smith's team created a Times Square that was indistinguishable from the real one in New York.

史密斯的“惊人的蜘蛛侠续集”制片组创造了一个时报广场，跟纽约真的时报广场真假难辨。

“If there’s lights inside the stores that are lighting¹ areas inside the store, we put those lights in there. All the street lights on the street we put versions of that into the computer world so that it mimics² the real world exactly,” said Smith.

史密斯说：“商店里有灯光，照亮商店里一些地方。我们把灯装在那里。我们把街上的灯光输入电脑，仿照真实世界，以假乱真。

But there is still one challenge for visual effects artists, said Paul Debevec of the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies.

但是，南加州大学创造性艺术研究所的德贝维奇说，对视觉效果艺术家来说，还有一个挑战。德贝维奇使用这个灯光平台扫描人物的脸，创造数字克隆形象。

“We’re still trying to figure out how to perfect the human face in movies,” said Debevec.

“我们仍然在努力设法在影片中制作完美的人脸。”

Debevec said the 2008 movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is still the best example of a computer-generated face, as actor Brad Pitt aged³ - backwards⁴ - from a wrinkled old man to a baby.

德贝维奇说，2008年的影片“本杰明-巴顿奇事”是电脑造脸的最佳例证。这部影片造的是演员布拉德·皮特的脸。

Debevec added that in addition to changing the look of an actor's face, there could be another use for digital faces in the world of entertainment.

但是德贝维奇说，特效艺术家正在超越今天在世的影星。

“There’s also a big interest in trying to bring back actors who are no longer with us and that’s a big deal right now,” said Debevec.

Last year, effects artists created a digital double of deceased Asian pop singer Teresa Teng in concert with Chinese pop star Jay Chou. Fans can still see and hear the concert on YouTube.

去年，他们创造了已故亚洲流行歌手邓丽君的数字克隆，让邓丽君出现在中国流行歌手周杰伦的音乐会上。

“With a ton of data from us and a ton of artistic⁵ effort and technical know-how⁶ from Digital Domain⁷, they were able to create a singing face of Teresa Teng where she performed not only one of her original songs but two songs that weren’t even written at the time she was alive with Jay Chou,” said Debevec.

德贝维奇说：“我们提供巨量信息，艺术家也付出巨大的努力，加上数字域名公司提供的技术。他们能够创造邓丽君的面孔。她不仅演唱了一首自己的原创歌曲，而且和周杰伦一起演唱了两首她在世时根本还没有写出来的歌曲。”

Debevec expects directors will start to use more virtual production techniques, like those seen in the movie Avatar.

德贝维奇预计，导演们将开始更多使用虚拟制作技术，就像影片阿凡达展示的那样。

“Even though it looks like that’s a bunch of expensive technology, ultimately it’s going to be much easier to make movies that way,” he said.

“虽然看上去这不过是一堆昂贵的技术，但是这种制片方法最终会变得简便得多。”

Debevec said that with virtual production, there won’t be a need for as many people behind the scenes.

德贝维奇说，使用虚拟制作技术，就不需要那么多人在幕后工作了。

Sony Pictures Imageworks' David Smith pointed⁸ out that computer generated locations can also be more realistic to actors.

史密斯说，对演员来说，电脑创造的场景也能显得更有形、更真实。

“That’s where potentially in the future, if we can help create the world in the computer and bring it to the set so they’re not acting⁹ in front of a green screen but they’re acting in front of a set that we’ve sort of mocked up in the computer that eventually will look more grandiose¹⁰, they’ll have something to grasp there," said Smith.

“未来可能的情形是，如果我们能通过电脑中创造虚拟世界，并把它放在拍片现场，使演员不在一个绿色的空白屏幕前表演，而是在一套虚拟场景前表演。那么最终场面会变得更宏伟，演员将能感受到场景。”

But visual effects artists agree, even with improved technology and the potential to create anything in the virtual world, there is no replacement¹¹ for a real actor interpreting a character in a movie.

但是，视觉效果艺术家们同意，即便改进了技术，在虚拟世界创造的潜力还是不能取代真人演员在电影中演绎一个人物。