This article dedicated to Kashen was written from January 4, 2010 to January 25, 2010.
During the period, I watched "Avatar" four times, IMAX 3D twice, and digital 3D twice. So far, he has contributed a total of 880 yuan in the box office including treats.
Dedicated to all fans who love "Avatar".
Dedicated to "Avatar" who just sank "Titanic".
Dedicated to the God of Genesis, who brings the gospel of the new century to fans.
[Zero]
Many years later, when I put "Three-Body" on the big screen, I still vaguely remember that cold night in my youth, and contributed to "Avatar" the first batch of box office glory in mainland China, located in Shanghai Heping Film Capital IMAX Hall, 3D film format, Zero Point Mainland Premiere.
What I remember clearly now is that 12 years ago, when we were in the third year of junior high school, Hu Xiaobin asked me what I thought of the hot sale of "Titanic". I said that Cameron might not be filming for a long time because of his creation. A peak that even oneself can never climb-at the box office.
Like most of the nonsense I said, I was half right and half wrong.
But today, I don’t want to talk nonsense. I want to say nothing.
Hollywood has many godlike existences. Now I am more convinced that Cameron is undoubtedly the god of gods, the king of kings.
I cannot guarantee that this film review will be objective. You expect a completely crazy person to speak impartially.
I also cannot guarantee that this film review will not be spoiled. My idea is that if you have time to watch my film review for a bit of spoiler thrill, you might as well write a leave report immediately, use all available resources to buy tickets, go to the 3D theater to watch "Avatar" again, or watch it again.
There is only one I can guarantee. Cameron has succeeded in becoming a destroyer and reinventor of the existing Transcendent A-level commercial film production standards, and he has done it more destructively than before.
I once thought that the box office myth of "Titanic" is no longer repeatable. Now I firmly believe that it can.
I thought that Cameron’s peak period was over. Now I realized that he was already ahead of the world's expectations.
I won't compare Cameron with any other film masters alive today. I just want to compare him to Hitchcock, compare him to Eisenstein, compare him to Griffith, I even compare him to Michelangelo, and compare him to Leonardo da Vinci. . Similarly, history will call him the first person to promote the "theatre revival".
From now on, all Hollywood business giants are faced with this decision again: whether to follow Cameron or run with Cameron.
Since I watched "TDK" last year, I have already described its box office performance as "against the sky". Now facing "Avatar", I can only use AVATAR to describe "Avatar".
I guess the "Avatar" sequel will be born in the future, the industry will express it as "A2", and "Alien" will give way from then on. In addition to the "article" in Wikipedia's interpretation of the word A, there will be another one, which is the abbreviation of "AVATAR".
I look forward to the relatives and friends around me who will not keep me away from me in 2010 because I talk about this movie all day long.
I even pray that "Avatar" will not destroy my enthusiasm for watching other movies-but it seems to be too late.
Now I, in my eyes, in my mind, and in my dreams, there is only Pandora!
The above was written at four o'clock in the morning on January 4, 2010, and the state was sleepy and crazy.
[1] Movie Cybernetics
More clichéd than the "Avatar" story, that is to say, the cliché film review of the "Avatar" story. These people have absolutely no malice, and they are absolutely correct. They just don't understand or are unwilling to explain more: what kind of story is really needed for a Hollywood Super A Grade production to surpass the most impossible peak. The so-called "Super A-level production", I think the current standard is a movie that can cause big studio owners to step down in the event of a box office failure. In addition, among all the Super A Grade productions that have appeared in recent years, "Avatar" is one of the few non-sequel movies, and it is the only movie that has no audience basis before its release. So here, I must defend the cliché story of "Avatar" seriously: Do you think Cameron relies on any other magic weapon to dominate the earth? For him, the classic story is 99% cliché plus 1% inspiration. This one-percent aura is like the top secret recipe of a peerless chef, giving the gluttonous feast a new look. After analyzing it now, Cameron’s choices in the plot, narrative and detail setting are almost all correct. He is not going to be a CULT movie, he just wants to leave all previous commercial blockbusters far behind, once again.
And the biggest problem he faces is: in today's increasingly critical tastes of movie fans, how can we make Pandora's world appear unobtrusive when it is truly on the screen? I think everyone will admit that last year’s "Avatar Day" pre-launch trailer downloaded by fans all over the world was very ridiculous. This problem may have made Kashen lonely for fourteen years and busy for fourteen years.
The story capacity of 2 hours and 40 minutes bears the responsibility of opening up a brand new and complete worldview, and this is only the basis for the audience to understand the story. This is not a hard bone that everyone can chew. Although people around the world can understand and accept a non-existent world within an hour of the beginning of the film, it does not seem to require shocking narrative skills, but a simple comparison shows that "Avatar" and the past can be seen as a great part of it. Movies with complex overhead worldviews are different: we watch "Transferring City", watch "The Matrix", watch "Star Trek", and then watch "Avatar". What's the difference? In the first three, the worldview itself is a story; in the latter, the worldview is just an unusual background for an ordinary story, which requires you not to over-inscribe the worldview, which leads to the loss of one and the other. Cameron has the ambition and ability to create a world, but what is more commendable is his restraint. To make everyone (not only niche fans, but also the general public) attracted by the characters, conquered by the story, and even more crazy about the world view, it is absolutely impossible without two thousand brushes. Every step in the development of the story cannot be wrong, and every line of the character cannot be wasted. At the same time, the integration of the worldview and the story must be taken into consideration. Once you lose sight of this and the other, Pandora becomes a "circle with a ring", the Na'vi people become Haibao, and Transcendent A Grade production becomes Super B Grade production.
Cameron reassures us because it is a tricky thing in the eyes of other directors. He has a way to control the audience.
Movie cybernetics has always been a point I want to talk about, because our movies are too lack of control methods. When our movie wants to make the audience cry, the audience often wants to laugh; they want to make people nervous, but people yawn. Commercial film is a hypnotic technique, a technique to control people's emotions and thinking. The director is like a hypnotist, engaging in a subconscious battle with the audience. Only by controlling the audience can you break through the box office limit.
Just as you want to get a person’s attention, the most effective thing is not to hang around in front of him, but to yell into his ears; for most audiences, stories need the most primitive and simple stimuli. The stimulus will provide the audience with the motivation of the characters, and the stimulus will give the audience a state of selflessness. Cameron firmly believes that the stimulation must be primitive and simple. The more primitive it is, the more it can be directed at people's hearts, and the simpler it is, the more people can be controlled. Yes, the competition between the ultimate Super A-level commercial movies is like the PK of the top martial arts masters. What visual effects, what marketing strategies, what big-name celebrities, these superficial moves are just a billion-level basis, if you want to go further On the first floor, what they really competed against was the kung fu of "control". The more viewers you can control (large box office base) and the deeper you can control (long-term trends and secondary ticket sources), you have the chance to win. Therefore, the director who says that the audience is God is never promising, and you must let your audience be led by your nose forever in order to become the supreme emperor of commercial films.
Just like all the outstanding commercial films with good box office harvests, "Avatar" has brought us countless revelations of film control methods. Let's see how it controls me through stimulation.
[2] The soil
"Avatar" gave me the first excitement, it appeared on the soil.
Having said this, I have to sincerely admire Cameron for his grasp of details. I fell in love with this movie when Jack with his stump entered Avatar for the first time, ran out of the laboratory madly, and enjoyed barefoot rubbing on the land of Pandora intoxicated. Such real details are often overlooked in many box office rebounces because of the need to rush to the market. In retrospect, this paragraph with the foot in the soil appeared very timely, which has at least two benefits.
First, it did not leave enough time for the audience to question the grotesque and nonsense setting of Avatar. This is the first time Avatar has appeared on the scene. In view of the “thunder” set by the Na'vi people on the Internet long before the film’s release, this appearance can be described as “the first time an ugly wife meets his in-laws”, which is very important. Not to mention how many movie fans will react to whether this setting is a copy of "The Matrix" or "EVA", perhaps some people wonder whether scientists want to remotely control Avatar using 3G or 4G? If movie fans think about it like this, not only will the show come out, but it will also cause movie fans to disagree with the Smurfs. As long as the audience is given a breather to play at this moment, then the movie will inevitably fail. In order to control the audience's thoughts, Cameron used a very simple method: to create a little Trouble-let Jack rush out at all costs, let the scientists chase him, naturally attract the audience to divert attention. And Trouble is here, how to calm it down? So the very tasteful shot of feet in the soil came, as if a perfect "transition" that made everyone comfortable while forgetting their own cleverness. Many big productions are reduced to bad movies because they are not dealt with at this point of view, so that the audience has time to jump out and laugh.
Second, it once again emphasized Jack's disability status, allowing the audience to identify with Jack's motivation for being so keen to enter Avatar in the future. How important is this motivation? In other words, how important is Jack's disability status? It can be said that it is the first driving force of the whole story. It promotes Jack to Pandora, it promotes Jack to become an undercover agent, and it promotes every choice of Jack as a Neville. It is even more important. The human camp made an important comparison of Jack's attitude before and after the stump. Disability is a very perfect and primitive "stimulus". Whether it is a kind, pure or evil person, they will always feel uneasy when they see a disability. This is the most primitive animal nature and has nothing to do with morality. A complete and healthy body is the most basic aspiration of human beings. Cameron has effectively used this subconscious tendency of the audience, that is, the audience would rather see a healthy avatar bouncing around than sitting in a wheelchair all day. The disabled Jack, to quietly control the audience’s preferences.
[3]
The second stimulus given to me by the dream "Avatar" is Pandora that no one can avoid.
Looking at all the super-A-class blockbusters with overhead themes, from "Star Trek" to "Star Wars", from "Alien" to "The Matrix", it is not necessary for the length of a whole series to support a world view. The ability to show such a detailed and basic original world that can withstand scrutiny within the capacity of a single movie is enough to send "Avatar" into the commercial film textbook-and the teaching question is: "How to explain yours to the audience in the shortest time World background?"
Yes, if other NB directors were the answerers, what would he do? Michael Bay would say, "This is too esoteric, let me explode first." George Lucas would say, "How can it be so troublesome, and the scrolling subtitles in the last paragraph will be enough." Roland Emmerich would say, "I will Arrange for an Indian scientist to explain everything and the results at the beginning." Spielberg would say, "Ah, um, this, I think, I'm the producer, or leave it to the director to answer..." Watjos Sister Key would say, "We will arrange a group of people to speak a lot, but we guess you still can't understand." Christopher Nolan would say, "Easy, take a prequel first." Peter Jackson would say, "Well, The new line boss said that he must add an additional title with narration. This has to be discussed with my wife Frank. Time is too late..."
And what about Cameron? If you ask him this question, he might rant: "WHAT DO YOU FXXKING UNDERSTAND ??? WHY DO YOU TRASHING MY SCENE??? YOU ARE TRASHING MY SCENE!!!"
I don't want to be ranted by Cameron, so let's honestly analyze it with limited memories.
Cameron’s first approach was "visual creation of faith." Until now, I still believe that Pandora exists, although I know that Pandora does not exist. It is no exaggeration to say that I have dreamed of Pandora every night since the premiere for a week, just as I dreamed of my hometown every day when I was a child. It is terrifying that a virtual world can affect my subconsciousness in this way. As the saying goes, "You can't lie to my eyes", but the eyes can lie to you. No matter how fake things are, the new 3D magic can turn them into the most authentic things. What unfolds before my eyes is not a wall, but a large window. The screen has a real depth, where all the facts are deduced. Reason has no way to refute sensibility, logic is defeated, illusion is defeated. Just as CG graphics saved the authenticity of the T-1000, 3D allowed us to "really" take a Pandora tour. At this level, 3D has become the basis of narrative, Cameron only allows 3D technology to solve the problem of "trust"-simple enough, rough enough, but effective enough. When I looked at the concept map before, I also found it strange. It stands to reason that many of Pandora's conceptual designs could be perfect in the "Lord of the Rings" period. What technology did Cameron wait for? Only now has I realized that our way of thinking and Cameron are not on the same planet. Cameron didn't want us to see SEE, he wanted us to be aware of BELIEVE. "Avatar" is undoubtedly the first film in decades to strictly define its own way of watching, and through this, to re-adjust the definition of Hollywood movies in the new century. Since then, should all the conversations that take place in Hollywood be divided into two paradigms: 3D and non-3D?
Cameron’s second approach is to "technology force the truth." Cameron, as the number one master of Hollywood technology, is not called angelic seriousness, that is called devil-like paranoia. Anyone who has seen Jin Yong knows that "Dugu seeks defeat", when his swordsmanship reaches a certain level, he can win without a stroke, and everything can be a sword. Cameron’s demand for technology has reached this “no move” realm: paranoid use of technology to solve problems that no one would use technology to solve in the past, such as: the authenticity of the setting, the authenticity of the details, and the performance. Authenticity. Although I knew it beforehand, I couldn’t separate my attention to look at the four fingers of the Na'vi people when I watched it for the first time. I only plan to take care of these details after reading it five times; I don’t even want to learn it now. "I SEE YOU" in Weiyu, that is after ten times. But this is not Cameron's standard, his standard is to let fans watch it more than ten times. Although the only thing I long for now is how to watch "Avatar" in theaters a few more times in my limited life to relieve my heartache, but I know that when I have a DVD, I will definitely die like EVA. Similarly, study the role of the Na'wei people's tail in regulating body balance frame by frame, study the differences in the patterns of male and female dragons, and study the number of times that Nadili, the Nawei version of Angela Chang, laughed, and the differences between them. Especially Nadili, through the new performance capture technology jointly developed by Cameron and Weta Studio, the realism of the emotional response generated by the animation has reached the level of shock. This may be the most exciting of all the technologies of "Avatar". Excited to shock.
This is very talkative, let's summarize the history first. Throughout all CG virtual characters in film history, the first virtual person to imitate the expression of a character was the water column in Cameron’s "Abyss" in 1989, and then the T-1000 in Cameron’s "T2" in 1991 was basically expressionless. Then there was a ten-year blank. In 2001, "Final Fantasy"'s freckled freckles and cramping face once again let expression capture encounter the cold palace, and then to Robert Zamski's persistent 3D and expression capture attempts failed many times. It wasn't until the emergence of Grum in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings 2 Twin Towers" in 2002 that everyone saw hope for the first time. Finally, in 2005, Peter Jackson's "King Kong" competed for this round of CG virtual characters. With a complete ending, I think Peter the Great has already stood at the first peak of CG expressions. But since the "peak" is the "first", it means that the "peak" is also the "bottleneck." Carefully ponder, what expression can Peter the Great do? It is nothing more than the four categories of "happiness, anger, sorrow, and prestige". Moreover, if you break away from the motion capture actor genius Andy Serkis, perhaps the final effects of Groom and King Kong will be greatly reduced. But now "Avatar" is here, and the golden rod of expression capture returns to Cameron once again after a brief circle around the world. Kashen has undoubtedly broken the boundaries of CG characters' possibility. Why do you say that?
In fact, many ordinary viewers, including many of our directors, do not understand the peak breakthrough of CG in "Avatar", thinking that leaving 3D "Avatar" is an ordinary special effects blockbuster. Before introducing the CG achievements of "Avatar", it is necessary to talk about another concept: "Weird Canyon". This is a proper term that I only learned a few days ago. I will pretend B here. "Weird Canyon" is a phenomenon observed by people charging and fighting in the field of artificial humans: a dummy you created, when it gets closer and closer to the features of our human face, the audience's intimacy towards it It is getting stronger and stronger; however, this is not always proportional. When its fidelity is close to that of a human face, the audience looks almost the same, but they realize that this is not a real face, the intimacy will drop sharply and the emotions The response is not acceptance but rejection. If it is drawn as a curve, a "weird canyon" will appear. This is why the exploration of "Final Fantasy", "Polar Express" and "Beowulf" failed: it is true enough, but not true enough, which is why almost all the protagonists of animation commercial masterpieces are set in animals or exaggerated Cartoon characters, no one dared to cross the thunder pond in fidelity again. And what evidence can show that "Avatar" has once again expanded the boundaries of CG? What evidence proves Cameron is the god of technology? The answer is love!
When it comes to expressions in the world, the most difficult thing to understand is the expression of love. Not to mention the virtual characters created by CG, even the real people, the expressions of love are the most difficult to recognize. I said "love" is written on my face, you may read "hug", he may read "insignificant", God knows what the expression of love is (perhaps Tim Rose also knows). However, Nadili, Princess of Neville, who looks like Angela Chang, did it! When she saw her saving Jack for the first time and said that he was "very strong", I saw Sophie Marceau in "Brave Heart"; when she failed to teach Jack to ride a horse for the first time, Calmly said "Do it again", I saw Li Ruotong in "The Legend of Condor Heroes"; when she kicked Sutai down to protect the unconscious Jack Avatar, I saw Linda Hamilton in "T2"; Dang Kan By the time she knew Jack's infernal status, that expression of grievance, sadness, disappointment, and anger, I saw it-my wife! ! ! OH MY GOD, alive, I SEE YOU! ! ! It's so shocking! Never seen before! Thinking of the countless love and hate stories that such delicate and real expression capture and expression reconstruction technology will interpret in the future, as a technology-controlled person, I am really excited to jump through the floor!
Cameron's third approach is "aesthetic breeds simplicity." Note that it is simple, not complicated. To be simple, we must first review Cameron’s aesthetic. Everything on the planet Pandora is not something we have seen before. It is said that "Avatar" plagiarizes "The Matrix", "Dancing with Wolves", "Pocahontas", "Princess Mononoke", "City in the Sky" and even "The Legend of Condor Heroes", but I think these are secondary; the most important thing is that he is famous for his paranoia, and he has added all his aesthetic preferences for many years to Pandora. Plagiarized himself fiercely. His two most gorgeous works in art direction before are "Alien 2" and "The Abyss". In the world of "Avatar", the human base is like "Alien 2", and Pandora's night scene is basically the blue-purple tone of "Abyss". Being able to replicate himself so blatantly, yet able to break through and climb to the top again, shows that Cameron has absolutely no audience in his eyes, only himself. But since Cameron has stricter requirements for himself than we are, then we, as movie fans, can feel happy. As a movie fan, I always believe that Cameron does not have a systematic aesthetic tendency and does not have an absolute label of his own film aesthetics. This is not so much a limitation as it is liberation. The five worlds he created before "Avatar"—Terminator, Alien, Abyss, True Lies, and Titanic—have basically no intersection in aesthetics, each shooting far in five different directions. When people mention the metal frame of the Terminator, they naturally think that it is the representative of Cameron’s iron-blooded aesthetics, but to say that the Terminator represents Cameron’s aesthetics, what is the Titanic shrouded in sunset? But when we look at "Avatar" again, we will find that Pandora looks like a private mirror, giving us a better glimpse of his "private" aesthetic preferences than any previous works by Cameron. I sum it up as follows: First, it is the blue-violet light source that loves to hide and seek; second, it is the skeletal mechanical aesthetics of the akimbo muscles; third, it is the non-toxic, harmless and side-effect soft luminous translucent jellyfish skin that loves to make soy sauce; , Is Monet's water lily oil painting that loves the tiger of the week (the 90-degree overhead view of the master and apprentice swimming). Since Cameron claims that this is the realization of his dream from childhood to big, then we might as well follow the boat and sum up Cameron’s personal preference aesthetic style as "Pandora" style, which is a combination of "World of Warcraft-style ecology + StarCraft" The sci-fi style is a mix and match of "style machinery + mystic blue-purple light source + religious holy creatures + impressionist color aesthetics". The magic weapon of the "Pandora" style is: a little lead, a little follow suit, very popular, very simple, and beautiful. That’s why, we found "Afan The picture of "Da" can almost capture the hearts of audiences of all ages and preferences, because Pandora's "beauty" is so simple that it only needs to be reduced to one word: "dream". This dream is not David Lynch’s nightmare, Terry Gilliam’s weird dream, Tim Burton’s dark gothic dream, and David Cronenberg’s dream of physical alienation, but a beautiful dream, a child’s desire. The dream of traveling far is the dream of the homeland of adults who have been away from home for too long!
Cameron's fourth approach is "the rookie gave birth to the necessity." Here is the narrative method. We will find that Cameron uses a very easy way to introduce the world view, and it is also the narrative mode that I highly respect-the "apprentice" mode. The "apprentice" is often the most effortless treasure when it comes to introducing a worldview that is so magnificent that people don't know where to start! Everyone, use your little brains to think about how many huge overhead worldviews are told through the "apprentice" segment? "The Matrix", "Star Wars", "Macros", "Hunter", "Naruto", "JOJO's Bizarre Adventure", "EVA", "Leap to the Peak", "Slam Dunk", "Jian Tai "Sushi", "China Little Master", "Saint Seiya", "Dragon Ball"... Is this a cliché? It's a cliché, but also an expert! This is the ultimate wisdom extracted by industry insiders after experiencing countless failed narrative experiences! If the audience asks: You tell the story and you tell the story, why do you have to tell so much background knowledge? is it necessary? Then the director replied: If you say it is not necessary, then I will make it necessary. My protagonist is a rookie, and my story is about class! The "apprentice" mode not only greatly facilitates the introduction of the overhead world view, but also has a very unique function, that is, the rookie's huge growth space provides unlimited drama possibilities for the main story line in the future. Compared with "The Matrix" and "Star Wars", which are slightly unstructured apprenticeship courses, Cameron carefully weaves the motivation and foreshadowing of the story in the design of each major course: the first class bonfire party is Shows the conflict between characters and the internal structure of the tree of homeland. The second lesson on horseback is about USB connection (the core concept on Pandora), and the third lesson on dragon riding is a sign that Jack has truly become a warrior of the Na'vi tribe. Leads to the location of the tree of the Virgin of Eva. As for the sporadic small courses, for example, teaching linguistics is about "I SEE
[4]
The third stimulus that the cup "Avatar" gave me was the fall of the tree of home.
Destroying the tree of homeland is a peak visually and a climax emotionally. The "cup" mode is another mode that has been successfully applied in "Avatar" after the "apprentice" mode. Cameron has used this mode for the third time. In 1991, all the boys in the world were saddened by Schwarzenegger's thumbs up in the molten steel; in 1997, all the girls in the world were "NEVER LET GO" before DiCaprio froze to death. Murder napkins; this time, Cameron didn't believe in tears, he only believed in the shock of "home ruined"-also the simplest and most primitive stimulus.
The fall of the tree of homeland has sublimated "Avatar" on the theme. Ecological environmental protection theory, civilization conflict theory, demolition brigade and nail house, various post-view interpretations emerge like a volcanic eruption. Some people say that this reflects Cameron’s conscience as a commercial director. I don’t refute it, but I instinctively feel that this is not Cameron’s core motivation. When he wrote this script more than a decade ago, perhaps it was based on a very simple intuition: audiences like cups.
In fact, according to the current mentality and atmosphere of the world shrouded in the shadow of the financial crisis, it is really out of date to talk about cups. But it’s weird. You think people need washing utensils now. As a result, the audience voting with their wallets are all cups, either large-caliber cups or small-caliber cups. Even if they are not cups, they must be used as flavoring agents. .
Let’s take a look at movies that have grossed over a billion at the global box office. The previous year’s boss "TDK" was the first type, last year’s boss "Transformers 2" was the third type (the fall of the pillar brother), and this year’s boss "Avatar" was the second type. Look at other carrier-level blockbusters with a global box office of over 1 billion. "Titanic", which has become a big boss, is undoubtedly a huge emergency; the ending of "The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King" is super weird. This happy ending feels more sad than any cup. I’m afraid it’s because the road is too tortuous and the future is too bleak. People in Middle-earth can’t laugh anymore; the box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Soul Gathering Coffin" It turned out to be better than the third one. I think one of the main reasons is that Captain Jack was eaten by an octopus at the end.
Let’s take a look at the good reputations in recent years: The most memorable part of "Flying House" is the small sad love cup in the first 5 minutes; in "Earth Waste Packer", Xiao Wali died or lost his memory. It became the most successful "stimulus" in the drama. Looking back at China, "October Besieged City" and "The Wind" have a reputation far exceeding "Three Shots" and "The Founding of a Country." The audience really likes the excitement from the cup. The cup gives stimulus, and the stimulus is substituted, and the substitution can be controlled.
Grandpa Lu Xun said that a cup is to destroy the valuable things in human nature for others to see. Compared with the distorted cups of some domestic commercial cups such as "The Golden Armour" and "The Banquet", Cameron seems to have a more thorough understanding of the profound meaning of Lu Xun cups: the focus of cups is not about misery, but It is about value. "Golden Armor" is adapted from Cao Yu's "Thunderstorm", "Night Banquet" is adapted from Shakespeare's "Macbeth", but these two classic cups are adapted from the original background while also discarding the most important core values. , Humanity no longer has any value to watch, and the story is reduced to a fantasy palace history. Such movies have almost no value for discussion, and people with normal minds will not cry for it. And Cameron’s cup and set routines really don’t have any skills at all. He just showed people the good side of things in a step-by-step manner, and then ruined the good things. This was the case with the T-800 that sank into the molten steel, the same was true for the frozen Jack, and the same was true for the fallen homeland tree.
The key is, what is this value? What should I say? After the cup, how should it end?
Like all the keys to unlocking Cameron’s story, the answer to the popularity of the cup designed by Cameron is still "simple". The disappearance of parents ("T2"), the disappearance of lovers ("Titanic"), and the disappearance of homeland ("Avatar") can stimulate the most universal emotions of people all over the world. The simplest story is told with the most difficult to detect complex skills. This is Cameron’s only way to tell a story. The rhythm of "Avatar" is very fast, the amount of information is very large, and all the necessary information is hidden in other stories and pictures. To give a specific example, any information from Pandora appears in the pictures and lines once or twice before it is actually displayed. Hollywood playwrights call this the "three times principle", which means that the audience cannot remember the picture. With the full details of the lines, it is quite necessary to repeat any useful information about three times. Pandora's air is poisonous to humans. This message is only really revealed in the finale, but it was emphasized with lines before Jack landed on Pandora, and repeated in the following story with Colonel Quachi's actions. After more than three times, let alone countless hints on the screen. The role of Avatar braids was only shown when Jack was learning to ride a horse in the second act, but it was emphasized before Jack went to bed on the first night when Jack entered Avatar, and was repeated in the scene when Sutai appeared on horseback for the first time. Eva’s sacred tree seed appeared once before Nadili explained, and prevented Nadili’s assassination. The bows and arrows of the Na'vi people appeared on the huge tires of the earth-moving truck before Colonel Kwaqi gave his first speech. And knocking down the tree of homeland is the core story. It almost appears every time Parker plays... these big or small foreshadowings make everything that happens on Pandora look abrupt.
In comparison, domestic commercial blockbusters seem very strange: they use the simplest and poorest techniques to tell the most complicated stories. What "Golden Armor" wants to talk about is the corruption of a royal family, but the burden of the story is always unprepared. The exposure of any gossip is as if Cheng Yaojin makes people at a loss what to do. "The Promise" wants to talk about a cup of fate, but uses the funny concept of "Manshen" to explain it. What is nonsense is that Manshen has only appeared twice, and both are at the beginning of the story. The direction of the later story is simply horrible. . The cups of "Ambush on the Ten Sides" can be described as "turning around". The characters are good and bad, and it feels like a storyteller is constantly slapping himself, and muttering in his mouth, "Oh, what I said before doesn't count." . Skills can’t keep up with the story, and they are unwilling to make the story simple. It is a common problem for all of us directors who try to use cups and blockbuster films to make people’s reputation. The films they make are like drawing pictures. Of course, the box office is okay, this is our people's own cup.
Let's talk about the handling of the cup scene. After seeing a lot of sensational scenes of cups, "Avatar" is absolutely crisp and neat, which is especially likable at the moment. The tree fell, the person died, the heroine cried, the heroine scolded the hero, the hero returned to reality, the hero was knocked out, and the narration was added to increase the amount of information and rhythm, OVER. Several extremely restrained slow shots, extremely restrained lowering the color saturation, extremely short mourning. If you change into Lederliscott, you must add a few more emotional slow shots and another soprano will sing. If you switch to a mainland TV drama director, you will definitely add a bunch of scenes of the heroine crying, yelling "Dad, you can't die", and then yelling "You can't die, daddy". If you switch to a Taiwanese drama or a Korean drama director, then there will be a plot of Nadili's determination to commit suicide.
Finally talk about the ending. After cupping, an emotional excretion point is needed. This excretion point can be large or small. Director Gordon, as small as "TDK", looks at Batman's dark back, and as big as "Avatar" Eva counterattacks with victory. There is only one principle, and the momentum must be reached. Compared with "Titanic", the cup of "Avatar" only appeared at the end of the second act, and the third act completed an almost impossible reversal. Speaking of this, I'd like to talk about another correctness of "Avatar": the scene must be bigger and bigger.
I have watched "2012" three times on the screen. The impression is that Roland Emmerich is more and more able to do special effects, but less and less able to arrange scenes. The climax of the whole film was the escape in Los Angeles, followed by the eruption of the Yellowstone Volcano, and the last flood was the most anti-climax, which was not as cool as "The Day After Acquired", and the whole curve fell all the way. It’s the same in terms of emotion control. The Los Angeles earthquake section has the strongest sense of urgency. After that, the invincible skill of "the protagonist's undead halo" was used. When the story goes to China, I know that if the protagonist does not die in the end, then "2010 "There is no highlight in the story. Sure enough, the protagonist did not die, but I never thought that the final drama conflict turned out to be that a door of the Ark could not be closed. The contradiction between man and nature was transferred to the contradiction between man and machine, and the final battle was arranged. In a computer room, the scene is getting smaller and smaller, and the emotions and qi accumulated before are all dissipated, and it is simply brain-dead. Lu Chuan said that the director of "2012" should kowtow to Cameron. I don't think it is an exaggeration, although Roland Emmerich will definitely not kowtow.
And "Avatar" did not make this mistake, all contradictions were properly handled in the ending, damn death, go and stay. Although seeing this, any 3D spectacle will have aesthetic fatigue, but the scene of the finale of "Avatar" is still bigger than the paragraph of the tree of home. The camera has increased the frequency of push (also a very simple way to increase the impact of the picture), the number of both sides in the decisive battle is also more, faster and stronger, and finally fixed the frame in the duel between the Jacks and Colonel Kwaqi, completing a story contradiction And the complete release of the audience's emotions. In the end, when the title of "AVATAR" appeared, some audiences couldn't help applauding, not because they felt that their life had changed, but because they felt emotionally refreshed.
In theory, such a happy ending is the least characterless, so our commercial blockbusters with character have never bothered to make us emotionally refreshed. "Golden Armor" is inexplicably fixed on the chrysanthemum stand corrupted by Chow Yunfa's poison, "Ambush on Ten Sides" is inexplicably fixed in Andy Lau yelling in the flying snow, "Promise" is inexplicably fixed in Zhang Dongjian flying to the sky with Zhang Bozhi on his back. "The Banquet" inexplicably freezes Zhang Ziyi's glance back after being stabbed, and there is no excretion point. Just hold it back, it's strange if you don't have constipation.
[5]
The fourth stimulus given to me by the colonel's "Avatar" was the colonel's breath-hold shooting.
It may be an exaggeration to say that, but I think Colonel Kuaqi is the most important character in "Avatar". This villain does not seem to have said any key lines, but his role is like a gadfly stinging a cow's ass. He takes the promotion of the story as his own responsibility, concentrates on creating contradictions, and is a "trouble maker." Without him, the story of "Avatar" is like the scenery film of the "Global Walker" series shot by DISCOVERY. As the host, Jack takes us to appreciate the customs and customs on the planet Pandora. With him, the story of "Avatar" is a little bit like "Infernal Affairs". He created anxiety and anxiety for Jack. He kept reminding the audience of Jack's position. He provided "Avatar" with the game of the camp.
Regarding the story of the world, if you want to have such a big picture, the faction is indispensable. Only when there are camps can there be motives, only when there are motives, there are goals, and only when there are goals can we advance the story.
Then come back again. Without Colonel Kuaqi, the faction of "Avatar" would be too simple: company and indigenous people, so it is just like the two faction game "Red Alert", which is not very playable. But Quaqi, like a mouse loves rice, has an obsession with Jack, urging Jack to become a special swing third camp, so "Avatar" becomes a three-faction game "StarCraft". Five important meetings between him and Jack have pushed the story forward in a substantial direction. The first time he gave a speech to evoke the universal hostility to Pandora, the second time he proposed an undercover plan to Jack with the temptation to heal his legs, and the third time he used Jack’s words to see through his true purpose. Four times, he turned his face and arrested Jack and others. The last time he followed Jack to death, he kept reminding Jack that his camp was originally human. It can be seen that Kuaqi is the spoiler of the original stagnant water, he is an activist.
What does "action faction" mean? Shooting an action movie is not about talking about love, nor is it a treat. There must be such an active actor in it, who does nothing but does nothing, activates contradictions when the story is rigid, and makes everyone move. This is the "action school". ".
Do action movies simply talk about a group of people who are good at martial arts kicking and beating? How could it be so simple. Looking at successful action movies, first of all there must be a successful action group. Mike Lien, T-1000, the clown, Jason Bonn, Jack Bauer, they seem to have been infused with countless energy, not only moving on their own, but also swinging their whip to make the delusion lazily live, the delusion and the euphoria to fall in love, the delusion to scream All those who roared to the toilet moved reluctantly, jumped up, scolded, and fought. This is an action movie. If you look at the failed action movies, first of all, there must be no decent action group, and the plot can't move.
What deserves our attention is that the shaping of Colonel Kuaqi, an activist faction, is basically supported entirely by details.
The first detail is leather shoes. Cameron's action movies like to give close-ups of important people's leather shoes. The first shot of Colonel Kuaqi we saw was a 3D leather shoe, accompanied by a very sonorous accent: "As a safety officer, my job is to keep you alive. But I will not succeed." A rigorous and strict , The serious Colonel Kuaqi came.
The second detail is his pectoral muscles. Cameron arranged this scene specially to show that he is a powerful man. Then there is the ability to master AUP.
The third detail is that he was drinking coffee in the helicopter while attacking the tree of homeland. Express his incomparable self-confidence.
The fourth detail is that he pursed his mouth while talking with Jack. In the conversation, it was stated that Jack could return to Earth that night to heal his legs, but Jack lingered, he also expressed disappointment, disdain, and doubt.
The fifth detail makes me scream. When he found out that Jack had escaped from prison, he kicked open the security door immediately, ignored the safety of everyone in the headquarters, and shot the helicopter with his breath held in the poisonous gas. After he finished shooting the automatic rifle, he shot the pistol again. Then he put on the handgun and sent it leisurely until he finished shooting. Face mask. A cold-blooded killer who has super self-control, can prioritize tasks, and knows exactly what he is doing and what he can do emerges on the screen. At that moment, I remembered the T-1000, and the great feeling I was familiar with at that time came back!
These details gave the powerful and tough Colonel Kuaqi an incomparably powerful support. These supports made us not surprised at all the plots when Colonel Kuaqi survived the crash and duel with Jack one-on-one, and full of expectations. .
If Quachi is a hawkish activist, then Jack is a dove. Dovish activists are often more difficult to shape than hawks, because he must be well-behaved, and the trickier thing is that the activists are still disabled. But the funny thing is that Cameron’s way of shaping Jack is to make him behave. When Jack entered Grace's laboratory for the first time, we found that the nerd Norman wanted to lead him to look at the console, but he talked to himself and went straight to the Petri dish of Avatar. This not only helps the plot to enter the theme faster, but also helps us get a superficial impression: Jack is very active despite his disability. The second misbehavior is always looking up after entering the connector. The third time was after entering Avatar and rushing out. The fourth time I saw Nadili chasing after her cheeky, all of these continued to strengthen Jack's active and unruly character.
[6] The future of despair and hope
briefly reviewed a few stimuli, let "Avatar" once again completed the control of me. It's been a long time since I was washed away by such pure beauty. Some people on the Internet abroad say that they have the urge to commit suicide after watching "Avatar". Some people say, "I wake up in the morning and find that my world is gray. If suicide makes me go to Pandora, I think I will." I don't have the urge to commit suicide, but I'm afraid it's not much worse. So far I am not interested in watching any other movies. Not thinking about it for a second.
When I went to visit the "Avatar" grand occasion, I saw fans lining up to buy IMAX tickets with umbrellas to Ping Ying Du and queuing around Raffles City for half a week, and even the police were dispatched to maintain order. I really want to yell in the crowd that I have watched IMAX twice! Then happily let the eyes of these people kill me. But I'm afraid I will join them soon, and watch the fourth and fifth time... "Avatar" even made me not interested in its DVD for the first time. If this is one of the many great revolutions in "Avatar", this is probably the most revolutionary.
Tonight, "Avatar" may have broken the global box office record of "Titanic". Long before this, someone had posted a photo saying that if the United States issued one billion dollars in face value, Cameron’s head should be printed on it.
Watching the production of "Avatar", seeing Cameron holding a virtual camera facing the empty floor, and the monitor seeing the dense grass of Pandora, I truly understand the gap between our Chinese movies and Hollywood, and I understand better. What Hollywood will do next, it makes me desperate. Cameron does not need any proof of awards or box office numbers. He won the biggest capital gamble in film history and created a methodology that can sell more money, can comprehensively raise the standard of Hollywood Super A-rated movies, widen the gap with all countries, and then monopolize , And then output.
Chinese movies are 50 years behind, and they are not fake. "I was shocked," Ning Caishen's words were not fake. "Avatar" is selling crazy, but Chinese movies must be calm. If theaters blindly build IMAX, they will suffer miserable losses within a few years. Producers blindly introduce 3D equipment and capture systems, and they will lose miserably in more than ten years. The first thing to learn is not technology, but technique. Not the skills to please the audience, but the skills to control the audience. The directors who are now at the pinnacle of power can no longer be counted on. Claiming that they are not afraid of "Avatar", they are already blind. The WTO's resolution on the introduction of monopoly films in China has been knocking on the door of the Chinese film market. Now "Avatar" has finally opened, and the flood will come right away. No one can stop it, and wash away all the untimely corruption. Our Noah's Ark has not yet been completed. When chaos is at its extreme, there must be order. In this regard, we can still have confidence in the new generation. It's time to let the generation of the world's most outstanding fans cultivated by piracy rise up!
Looking back, "Avatar" is perfect without making any possible mistakes, but this is only limited to the top commercial film field. It completely won, but it is still not the best in my heart, because I know it can be better. Because of this, I just believe that this is the most beautiful thing about "Avatar", because we know that the better looks are still to come. Isn't this the happiest thing for us fans?
Completed on January 25, 2010
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