彈幕電影,究竟是噩夢還是潮流

A moviegoer's worst nightmare or the coolest wave of the future?

它是觀影者最可怕的噩夢還是未來最酷的潮流？

The new "bullet screen," or danmu, model of movie-watching that has recently been introduced in select theaters in China can perhaps be most pithily summed up with the title of the 2010 Chinese action comedy "Let the Bullets Fly."

最近中國的一些劇院引進了新的觀影模式——“彈幕”，它也許可以用2010年中國動作喜劇電影《讓子彈飛》的標題來簡潔地概括。

In this case, the bullets don't refer to actual bullets, but to text messages that audience members send via their mobile phones while watching the film. The messages are then projected onto the screen, so that at any given time the scene may be overlaid with multiple "bullets," or comments, scrolling across the screen.

在這裏，子彈指的不是真的子彈，而是觀衆在觀影時用手機發送的短信。這些短信投射到銀幕上，所以銀幕隨時可能被好多滾動的“子彈”或者評論所覆蓋。

What might seem like a hellish scenario for those still keen on the solitary escapism associated with a traditional movie-going experience is meant to appeal to younger audiences for whom mobile phones have become lifelines and sharing one's every thought — even about something as banal as the air-conditioning in the cinema — has become a way of life. Over the past month, several theaters around China have been experimenting with "bullet screen" showings of films like the 3-D animated film "The Legend of Qin" and the third installment of the blockbuster young-adult franchise "Tiny Times."

有些人仍然熱衷於傳統觀影體驗帶來的孤獨遁世感，對於他們來說，“彈幕”可能是地獄般的場景；不過它是爲了吸引更年輕的觀衆，對他們來說手機已經成了生命線，分享每一個想法已經成了一種生活方式——哪怕是關於影院空調這樣的瑣事。在過去一個月中，中國的幾家影院試着用“彈幕”放映了3-D動畫電影《秦時明月》和轟動一時的青春電影系列《小時代》的第三部。

Since the release of "Tiny Times 3" in July, its distributor, Le Vision Pictures, has organized several "bullet screen" showings in Beijing as part of a post-release marketing strategy.

自從《小時代3》7月份上映以來，它的發行公司樂視影業在北京組織了幾場“彈幕”放映，作爲上映後市場推廣策略的一部分。

"We wanted to create a social experience and promote it among young people," said Enya Sun, a public relations manager at Le Vision Pictures. "If it was a Zhang Yimou film," she said, referring to the celebrated Chinese film director, "we probably wouldn't do it, because it would be less focused on young people. But if it's a movie oriented to very young people, we could potentially do it on a national scale."

“我們想創造一種社會體驗，在年輕人中推廣它，”樂視影業的公關經理孫亞雄說，“如果是張藝謀的電影，我們很可能就不會這麼做，因爲他的電影不是以年輕人爲主要對象。但是如果一部電影就是針對年輕人的，那我們可能在全國範圍內採用這種放映方式。”

The idea behind "bullet screens" originated in Japan, where they were first popularized by a Japanese ACG (animation, comics, games) video portal called Nicodou, which later became the inspiration for similar Chinese ACG video sites such as Bilibili.

“彈幕”發源於日本，首先被日本ACG（動畫、漫畫、遊戲）視頻門戶網站Nicodou推廣，後來在中國催生了類似的ACG視頻網站，比如嗶哩嗶哩(Bilibili)。

While comments can be so numerous that they obscure the entire screen, many "bullet screen" proponents say the point is often not to watch the actual video in any case, but to get together and "tucao," Chinese for "spit and joke around," about the silliness of the video.

雖然有時評論多得遮住了整個銀幕，但是“彈幕”的很多支持者說關鍵不是看電影，而是聚在一起“吐槽”，談論這部電影的荒謬。

"Even when the videos are boring, the viewers are getting together and entertaining each other," Hiroyuki Nishimura, the Japanese founder of Nicodou, said in a 2008 interview with Wired magazine.

“即使視頻很無聊，觀看者也可以聚在一起，彼此娛樂，”Nicodou的創始人西村博之2008年接受《連線》(Wired)雜誌採訪時說。

The feedback from viewers appears so far to have been positive.

到目前爲止，觀衆的反饋似乎是正面的。

"Implementing a ‘bullet screen' doesn't require that much technological capability and it is a good strategy for attracting audiences to somewhat controversial films," said a user called Wuyun Zhuangban Zhe, writing on his Tencent WeChat public account about his experience at a "bullet screen" showing of "Tiny Times 3."

“實現彈幕或許不需要太高的技術含量，但是對很多比較有爭議的電影而言，這是一種吸引更多觀衆進入影院的絕佳方式，”一個名爲“烏雲裝扮者”的用戶在他的騰訊微信公號上談論觀看用“彈幕”放映的《小時代3》的體驗時說。

In a photo posted in his description, audience members can be seen hunched over bright mobile phone screens as the film is projected on the screen before them. The user also noted that audience members could send text messages noting their seat number to the screen when their mobile phone batteries were running low, whereupon a theater worker would come around and provide them with a portable battery to recharge their phones.

在他發佈的照片中，我們能看到觀衆們彎着背看着閃亮的手機屏幕，而電影投放在他們前方的銀幕上。這位用戶還提到，手機快沒電時，觀衆可以向銀幕發短信說明自己的座位號，影院工作人員會給他們送來充電寶。

A theater manager surnamed Zhang at the Luxin Cinema in Shandong Province told the China Youth Daily newspaper that for an Aug. 6 "bullet screen" showing of "The Legend of Qin," 90 percent of the seats were filled, mostly by young people who texted in their thoughts at about 0.1 renminbi, or 10 cents, per message.

山東魯信影城的一位姓張的經理對《中國青年報》說，8月6日用彈幕放映《秦時明月》時，上座率達90%，觀衆大多是年輕人，彈幕信息每條收費0.1元。

"Right now everyone thinks this is pretty novel and pretty cool," Mr. Zhang told the newspaper. "But in the long run this might have an impact on people's attention spans during movies."

“目前大家都覺得比較新鮮，感覺不錯，”張經理對《中國青年報》說，“但如果長期下來，也許會影響大家對電影的專注度和觀影秩序。”

Others remain wary of where "bullet screens" might take the viewing experience, expressing concern about a possible barrage of commercial advertisements, hate texts or other sensitive content in real-time messages on the screen.

也有人爲彈幕會把觀影體驗帶向何方而感到擔憂，對銀幕上可能實時出現大量商業廣告、仇恨短信或其他敏感內容表示擔憂。

He Ping, a Chinese film director and former secretary general of the China Film Directors Association, voiced concern that the popularization of "bullet screens" may subvert the aesthetic intentions of the filmmakers.

中國電影導演、中國電影導演協會前祕書長何平表示“彈幕”的普及可能破壞電影製作人的審美意圖。

"If these ‘bullet screens' become widespread in the future, they should first be authorized by the writers and directors of the film," Mr. He told China Youth Daily.

“如果此放映氾濫，建議導演及著作權法規定的影片作者們在與製片人簽約時明款規定彈幕放映必須經過作者許可的條款，”何平對《中國青年報》說。