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《Avatar》 阿凡达 一场绝美的视觉盛宴

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2020年02月10日

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No.008 《Avatar》 阿凡达 一场绝美的视觉盛宴

英文导读

Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi—a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora.

Avatar takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscarwinning director of "Titanic", first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, Avatar, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

We enter the alien world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi.

Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who has become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake's relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na'vi way and finally takes his place among them. Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

Development of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language of the film's extraterrestrial beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006. Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for promotion. The film made extensive use of cutting edge motion capture filming techniques, and was released for traditional viewing, 3-D viewing (using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats), and for "4-D" experiences in select South Korean theaters. The stereoscopic filmmaking was touted as a breakthrough in cinematic technology.

The film broke several box office records during its release and became the highest-grossing film of all time in North America and worldwide, surpassing Titanic, which had held the records for the previous twelve years. It also became the first film to gross more than $2 billion. Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. The film's home release went on to break opening sales records and became the top-selling Blu-ray of all time. Following the film's success, Cameron signed with 20th Century Fox to produce two sequels, making Avatar the first of a planned trilogy.

获奖情况

2010年第82届奥斯卡:最佳视觉效果、最佳艺术指导、最佳摄影、最佳艺术指导奖,并荣获最佳影片提名、最佳导演提名。

《Avatar》 阿凡达 一场绝美的视觉盛宴

影片信息

导演:詹姆斯·卡梅隆

编剧:詹姆斯·卡梅隆

主演:萨姆·沃辛顿、佐伊·索尔达娜、西格妮·韦弗、史蒂芬·朗

类型:动作、科幻、奇幻、冒险

制片国家(地区):美国、英国

上映日期:2009-12-18(美国)

片长:162分钟、178分钟(加长版)

又名:《天神下凡》《化身》《异次元战神》《神之化身》

剧情简介

因在战斗中负伤而下身瘫痪的前海军战士杰克·萨利决定替死去的同胞哥哥到潘多拉星球,操纵格蕾丝博士用人类基因与当地纳美部族基因结合创造出的“阿凡达”混血生物。杰克的任务是打入纳美部落,说服他们自愿离开世代居住的家园,从而使采矿公司可以肆意的开采地下昂贵的“不可得”矿。这种矿物元素是别的星球上没有的,所以人们对它的渴求到了疯狂的地步。

在探索潘多拉星球的过程中,杰克发现这里就像梦中的奇幻花园,美景简直无法用语言来形容:高达900英尺(约274米)的参天巨树、星罗棋布飘浮在空中的群山、色彩斑斓充满奇特植物的茂密雨林、晚上各种动植物还会发光。

不过,在这片美丽的土地上,到处充满着危险:一头圣兽与他狭路相逢,在逃命过程中杰克与队友失去了联系,在晚上的时候又被一群土狼袭击,杰克奋起战斗,在整个战斗的过程中杰克寡不敌众危在旦夕,危急关头中一支箭射死了土狼,杰克得救了。救他的是那维族的公主,杰克从她口中了解到了更多潘多拉星球的知识。

然而,人类在利益的驱动下,不管杰克等人的意见,执意摧毁那维族人所生存的家园树。杰克与他们协商,自己去和那维族人交涉,让他们离开那颗大树,然而当他说明了一切之后,那维族人都很愤怒,特别是杰克喜欢的那个那维族人女孩更是愤怒,那维族人就把杰克和一名女教授一起捆在了刑架上。采矿公司派遣的战机发现他们协商失败了,于是就下令开火,摧毁了他们前进的障碍——那维族人赖以生存的那棵巨树,那维族人的领袖也被炮火炸死。

没有了生存之地的那维族人被迫暂居神树之下。而杰克等人的正义行为因为和采矿公司的利益相冲,被他们关了起来。后来,他们借机驾机逃跑了,杰克骑着“魅影”到达了那维族人暂居的神树下,呼吁那维族人作出反抗,他终于又得到那维族人的信任。那维族人的反抗联盟和采矿公司的军队展开了血战。结果,那维族人反抗军最终打败了人类。

在那维族的精神领袖的带领下,那维族人用自己的感受器(辫子)与神树相连,借助神树的力量,将杰克·萨利的精神(灵魂)转移到他的阿凡达身上,杰克最终成为了这个星上那维族人的领袖。

《Avatar》 阿凡达 一场绝美的视觉盛宴

制作花絮

曾凭借《泰坦尼克号》创造过惊世票房纪录的好莱坞重量级导演詹姆斯·卡梅隆,经过14年的酝酿,耗资5亿美元(约合人民币27.2亿元),历时4年拍制的科幻巨献《阿凡达》于2009年年底亮相。

男主角杰克·萨利由澳大利亚籍男星、《终结者2018》男主角萨姆·沃辛顿出演,女主角妮特丽则由曾出演《星际迷航》的黑人女演员佐伊·索尔达娜出演。此外,《赛车风云》野性女星米歇尔·罗德里格兹和《异形》系列女主角西格妮·韦弗也在片中参演重要角色。

奥斯卡奖金牌制片人乔恩·兰道及金奖配乐大师詹姆斯·霍纳也继《泰坦尼克号》之后再度与詹姆斯·卡梅隆携手。

动画渲染需要的硬盘存储空间就超过1PB,要由500块2TB的硬盘搭建这套存储系统。其中40%的画面由真实场景拍摄,60%完全由电脑动画生成,拍摄立体画面使用的全新3D合成摄像机系统也耗费了大量的成本。

卡梅隆自己的Raelity摄像系统公司,主要负责3D效果的拍摄与制作。

重点学习

Jake is still a warrior at heart

我们都知道,at heart是“在心里,在内心”的意思,它常常被引申为“本质上,实际上”的意思,比如:Yet, even though you may be angry, I would know that at heart, you are a kind person. (然而,即便你可能生气,我也知道你本质上是个好人。)另外,at heart还可引申为“秘密地;关心,重视”的意思。

Jake is taken in by her clan

Take in是英语中应用十分广泛的一固定搭配,它词义丰富,在文中是“让…进入;接纳,接受;吸收”的意思,比如:Our club plan to take in 20 new members.(我们俱乐部计划吸收20名新会员。)

另外,该短语较常用的意思有“拘留,把…带至警察局拘留起来;注意到;看出;一目了然;领会,理解”等,此外,该短语还常用于口语表达中,是“欺骗,哄骗;使上当”的意思,比如:He took the girl in with his story.(他用一套谎言蒙骗了那个女孩。)

单词时间

epic[ˈepik] adj. 史诗的,叙事诗的

mineral[ˈminərəl] n. 矿物;(英)矿泉水

habitable[ˈhæbitəbl] adj. 可居住的;适于居住的

indigenous[inˈdidʒinəs] adj. 本土的;土著的;国产的;固有的

cinematic[ˌsiniˈmætik] adj. 电影的;影片的

revolutionary[ˌrevəˈlju:ʃənəri] adj. 革命的;旋转的;大变革的

warrior[ˈwɔriə] n. 战士,勇士;鼓吹战争的人

consciousness[ˈkɔnʃəsnis] n. 意识;知觉;觉悟;感觉

infiltrate[ˈinfiltreit] vt. 使潜入;使渗入,使浸润

stereoscopic[ˌsteriəuˈskɔpik] adj. 立体的;体视镜的;有立体感的

filmmaking[ˈfilmˌmeikiŋ] n. 制片,电影摄制

breakthrough[ˈbreikθru:] n. 突破;突破性进展

trilogy[ˈtrilədʒi] n. 三部曲;三部剧

 


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