节目资讯
刊物:娱乐时尚
日期:2010-03-08
难易度:Medium
关键字:artistic, wipe out, vision, composition, visual ef
(Music).
Hi, friends, welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for joining us today.
This month, Studio Classroom talks to John Han about his experiences creating
visual effects for movies and TV shows.
Mr. Han has worked on movies such as Spider-Man 3 and The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian.
His most recent movie was 2012, which was recently released just a few months
ago.
How are visual effects created?
That’s the question we asked.
Let’s go behind the scenes and learn.
Now please open your magazines to page 22, and follow with us as we read today’s
lesson titled: Making Movie Magic.
Making Movie Magic.
Go behind the scenes and see how things are really done.
What does a visual effects supervisor do?
I work with a team of visual effects artists to create things that aren’t real
for the movie or television screen.
We use a combination of artistic techniques, from the classic skills of drawing
and painting to modern techniques of computer animation and 3D.
What is a favorite visual effect scene that you personally worked on?
How did it work?
My favorite scene would have to be from my most recent project, the movie 2012.
Hi, friends, and welcome. I’m Chelsea.
And I’m Chip.
And thanks for joining us for our first day in our Ask the Expert article this
month.
And as you know, in our Ask the Expert articles we... uh, Studio Classroom is
talking to an expert about some of the work that they do.
Today we’re talking to John Han, who is a... an expert in the field of visual
effects.
And we will be learning how Han is involved in making movie magic.
He has worked on such movies as Spider-Man 3 and The Chronicles of Narnia.
And his latest project has been the movie 2012.
Now, Chip, a moment ago you mentioned that his job is something to do with
visual effects.
Right.
And when we’re talking about visual effects, we could be talking about things in
movies, such as John works on.
Or even things in plays or operas - things that are done on stage.
Now, ”visual” refers to your vision - things that you see.
And effects... When we put these together,
”visual effects” refers to things that you might see in a movie that look real,
and look like they’re really happening, but they aren’t really happening.
And that’s exactly what our first question is for John.
We asked, ”What does a visual effects supervisor do?”.
And his response is that ”I work with a team of visual effects artists to create
things that aren’t real for the movie or television screen.”.
And Chip was just explaining that ”visual effects” are those things that appear
in movies and on television, that appear real, but they are not.
And it sounds like John has a whole team of people - a whole team of artists -
who help create these special visual effects.
Right.
As you might expect, there’s a lot of time and energy that goes into creating
and producing the visual effects used in a movie.
So his team, John goes on to say, uses a combination of artistic techniques.
Now, anytime you see the word ”artistic”, you know that you’re talking about
art.
So ”artistic techniques” would be techniques or skills used to create art.
And some of these artistic techniques that they use go from the classic skills
of drawing and painting to modern techniques of computer animation and 3D.
So on the one hand, they use some of these techniques that have been around for
many, many years.
And on the other hand, they like to incorporate techniques that are fairly new -
things like animation.
And when we’re talking about animation, we are talking about a style of film
where non-living things appear to actually be living.
Right.
We see this style of film in cartoons - movies that are cartoons and....
Right, animation is a... is a very fascinating technique where still pictures,
or pictures that don’t move, are combined to create an effect of movement.
So you put all of these still pictures together, and you look through them very
quickly, and it gives the appearance of movement.
And these animated films, in the recent past, have become huge hits, and a lot
of people enjoy seeing them.
Well, right now we have some more information on... for you on the difference
between a special effect and a visual effect.
There is actually a big difference between special effects and visual effects.
Special effects are done live on stage when filming a scene.
They could be anything from explosions to glass breaking.
Visual effects, however, are done after a scene is filmed, mainly through
computer graphics.
Visual effects could also mean filming different elements of explosions and fire
separately and then putting them back together later.
OK, very interesting.
It’s good to know the difference between a special effect and a visual effect.
Well, SC goes on to ask John Han: ”What is a favorite visual effect scene that
you personally worked on?”.
Now we could have asked him what is his all-time favorite, or his favorite.
Uh, but we asked him what is ”a” favorite.
So he’s... probably, he could give us just one of his favorites.
OK, and then we continued to ask him, ”How did it work?”.
Well, his response to the first part of the question is that ”My favorite scene
would have to be from my most recent project, the movie 2012.”.
Now as many of you know, that was a huge blockbuster hit, a... a huge movie that
many people went to see.
And it had a lot of special effects, and certainly a lot of visual effects.
And John here worked on that movie himself.
And it sounds like this is maybe his most... the most recent project is also
turning out to be one of his favorite projects.
Right, and this is pretty cool that we have a chance to talk to him right when
this... uh... this movie was coming out, and when this movie was new.
It was a big blockbuster film.
It was a very popular and successful film when it came out.
Now, I didn’t personally see the movie, but I know a lot of people who did see
the movie, and they were very, very impressed with the visual effects.
And, if you recall, we mentioned earlier that this is not the only movie that
John has worked on.
He has also worked on other huge movie successes such as Spider-Man 3 and The
Chronicles of Narnia.
And if you’ve seen any of those films, you know that the visual effects play a
major role in the entertainment of those movies.
They just wouldn’t be the same without those visual effects.
Right. And in movies such as The Chronicles of Narnia and 2012, the visual
effects are pretty obvious.
I mean, it’s obvious that things appear to be happening on film, that aren’t
really happening in reality.
But as we’ll see after the break, that... a lot of movies - if not all movies -
have some kind of visual effects being used.
Well, we’re going to take a break now.
And we’ll come back and hear more from John Han.
Before we take a break, let’s visit the Chat Room.
Hi, Ken.
Hi, Ashley.
Say, Ashley, how come every time I come to the library, you’re the only person
here?
Aren’t there other people working here at the library?
Of course there are.
It’s just that you always come in when I’m on duty, and the others are somewhere
else.
As a matter of fact, we have lots of people working behind the scenes.
Working behind the scenes?
Are they working on the movie?
No, Ken. ”Working behind the scenes” means to work away from public view.
So, they’re in the office in the back.
Origionally, the phrase refer to those who work in the theater but did not
appear on the stage.
I see.
But in today’s Studio Classroom article, it talks about going behind the scenes
of movies.
That’s also an extended usage of the origional phrase.
People who work behind the scenes don’t appear on screen in a movie, but they’re
often the heroes that bring us the movie.
So their job is to make a scene.
Mm... No. You can’t say that.
”Making a scene” has a different meaning.
If you make a scene, you’re drawing attention to yourself by making an excited
emotional display in public.
Let’s say you find a cockroach in your soup in a restaurant, and you start
yelling at the owner and complaining angrily in front of everyone.
That’s making a scene.
And you also make people around you feel awkward.
Yep.
Sometimes here in the library, I see kids embarrass their parents by crying and
screaming in public.
That’s making a scene.
I see.
OK, going back to ”behind the scenes”, doesn’t ”behind the scenes” also mean
doing something in secret or in private?
Yes, it does.
People might have behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Oh... It’s like negotiations behind closed doors.
Exactly.
Well, speaking of behind the scenes, I should go behind the scenes and see what
my coworkers are up to.
OK, I’ll see you.
(Chinese).
Well, it’s time for me to go behind the scenes because it’s time for a break.
Studio Classroom will be right back.