Pixar wouldn't be Pixar if it didn't continually challenge itself. That's exactly what the venerable studio is doing by releasing two films in the same calendar year in 2015, the first time they've ever attempted such a feat. Following summer's beloved Inside Out , their attention has now shifted to The Good Dinosaur —a project with great potential from the outset, but one that the world almost didn't get to see.
如果不去不斷挑戰(zhàn)自我，皮克斯便不稱其為皮克斯了。這正是這家受人尊敬的工作室在2015年的所作所為——同一年發(fā)行兩部電影，這是他們頭一遭嘗試如此壯舉。緊接夏季廣受喜愛的《頭腦特工隊》，他們的注意力已轉(zhuǎn)向《恐龍當(dāng)家》—— 一個從一開始就大有潛力的項目，但差一點跟世人擦肩而過。
If the title sounds familiar, it's because The Good Dinosaur has been in the works since 2009. Even for animation, that's an unusually long gestation period (something director Peter Sohn himself admits upfront). When the project wasn’t quite jelling a few years ago, Sohn, with his experience working as an animator on Finding Nemo , The Incredibles , Up , WALL-E , Brave , and Ratatouille —and as writer and director of the studio’s 2009 short film Partly Cloudy —was tapped to“refocus and simplify” the film. He took over the reins as director in 2013, setting out togive the story a new voice.
如果片名聽起來很熟悉，那是因為《恐龍之家》早在2009年便開始啟動了。即便對動畫片來說，這也是非常漫長的醞釀期（導(dǎo)演彼得·索恩本人直認(rèn)不諱）。幾年前當(dāng)項目還未成形時，索恩憑其擔(dān)任《海底總動員》、《超人總動員》、《飛屋環(huán)游記》、《機器總動員》、《勇敢傳說》和《料理鼠王》的動畫師——以及皮克斯2009年短片《暴力云與送子鸛》的編劇與導(dǎo)演的經(jīng)驗——被挖掘來“改編和精簡”電影。2013年他接棒做導(dǎo)演，開始給故事帶來一個新的聲音。
Sohn specifically credits his work on Pixar veteran Brad Bird's The Iron Giant with preparing him for The Good Dinosaur. The 1999 hand-drawn animated film, which unfortunately never found much commercial success, won over critics and has an enduring legion of fans to this day. “That experience taught me a lot about priorities. Because that movie didn't have a lot of money, it was always about trying to do whatever idea is the best. It can come from anywhere—if you’re hungry,you get the work.”
索恩尤其感謝皮克斯老將布拉德·伯德的《鋼鐵巨人》為他著手《恐龍當(dāng)家》做好了準(zhǔn)備。這部1999年的手繪動畫片不幸地沒什么商業(yè)作為，但卻贏得了影評人的好評，時至今日還有熱情不減的大批粉絲。“那次經(jīng)歷教會我輕重緩急。因為那部電影沒有很多資金，總是嘗試什么想法最好就怎么去做。它什么都可能——如果你吃不飽，那這活就是你的。”
Sohn's admiration for Pixar is underscored by the fact that “the executives are all filmmakers, and they've all been on that journey.” Having the trust and support from producers who felt like family, Sohn says, allowed him and his team to approach the project with confidence and a fresh perspective.
索恩愈發(fā)欣賞皮克斯，因為“其高管清一色的都是電影工作者，他們都是這條道上的過來人。”擁有如家人一般的制片人的信任與支持，索恩說，這促使他和他的團隊有信心和新的視角去完成項目。
Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, impressed upon Sohn the difficulty of developing a story. He said, “Try and fail as fast as you can,”Sohn recalls. “When you follow the what-ifs and they don't pan out, reinvest your heart into something else and keep going.”
《海底總動員》與《機器總動員》導(dǎo)演安德魯·斯坦頓令索恩對鋪陳故事的困難留下了深刻的印象。他說，“盡可能快地反復(fù)嘗試，”索恩回憶。“如果按一套因果思路走進(jìn)死胡同，那就改弦易轍，繼續(xù)嘗試別的。”
Sohn, who grew up working in his dad's grocery shop, says family is very important to him, and The Good Dinosaur has evolved around that value. He adds that he’s always loved family-centric movies; he includes the films of David Lean and Steven Spielberg among his influences.
從小在父親雜貨店打雜長大的索恩說，家庭對他來說非常重要，《恐龍當(dāng)家》便是圍繞這種價值來展開的。他補充道，他一直熱愛以家庭為中心的電影；包括大衛(wèi)·里恩和史蒂芬·斯皮爾伯格的電影都影響過他。
Refusing to let a great concept falter,and working in a place where ambition and creative freedom are both encouragedand practically required, Sohn and his team did what Pixar tendsto do best: work minor miracles. By all accounts, it was his and histeam's passionate drive that willed the final product into existence.
索恩與其團隊絕不讓一個極好的概念泡湯，在一個不僅鼓勵而且也迫切需要野心和創(chuàng)作自由的工作環(huán)境中，他們做到了皮克斯常常最擅長的：創(chuàng)造小奇跡。從各方面來看，正是他與團隊飽滿的熱情成就了最終的作品。
The movie's concept is more than just another family-themed narrative from the animation giant. At its heart The Good Dinosaur is a classic boy-and-his-dog tale—except they've turned it on its head. In a reversal ofthe genre, a young and adorably vulnerable Apatosaurus named Arlo is cast in the traditional boy's role.When he's separated from his family, he must learn how to navigate the frontier world of the dinosaurs in his trek to reunitewith them. In the process, he encounters a human boy named Spot who has no family but knows how to survive on his own in the wild. Together, their journey begins.
這部電影的概念可不僅僅是出自這家動畫巨頭的又一個家庭主題的故事。《恐龍當(dāng)家》實質(zhì)上是一個典型的男孩與狗的故事，但他們將角色調(diào)了個頭。通過角色顛倒，一只年輕可愛但又脆弱的名為阿樂的迷惑龍扮演傳統(tǒng)男孩的角色。當(dāng)他與家人走散時，他必須在長途跋涉中探索恐龍尚未開拓的疆土，設(shè)法與家人團聚。在此過程中，他遇到了一個名為點點的人類男孩，他沒有家人卻知道如何在荒野中求生。在一起，他們的旅程開始了。
Along with the usual one-two punch of heart and humor that we've come to know, love, and expect from Pixar projects, the studio has set new benchmarks in animation throughout production. For example, by using United States Geographical Survey data and Google Earth, the art department created digital sets more complex than anything they'd attempted previously. Sets Supervisor David Munier boasts, “You can see as far as 50 miles out in the background of certain scenes.”
除了我們已知的接踵而來的心靈撞擊和幽默，愛，以及皮克斯項目的期望值，在整個制作過程中工作室創(chuàng)造了動畫的新基準(zhǔn)。例如，通過使用美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局?jǐn)?shù)據(jù)與谷歌地球，藝術(shù)部門創(chuàng)建了比任何以往嘗試都更復(fù)雜的數(shù)字布景。布景主管大衛(wèi)·米尼耶夸口，“在某些場景的背景中你能放眼看到50英里之外。”
Those USGS surveys were based on locations in the northwestern United States, and Sohn and his team spent time in the wilderness themselves to research what would become the setting of the film in an alternative past.(The premise of the film: What if a giant meteor never killed Earth's dinosaurs?) From braving rapids to hiking,horseback riding, and exploring the vast landscapes of the tranquil Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the crew gained a firsthand experience of what Arlo and Spot's arduous adventure might look and feel like.
這些美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局的調(diào)查是基于美國西北部的位置，索恩與其團隊在曠野上下足功夫，研究在另類的遠(yuǎn)古時代，電影的場景會是怎樣。（電影假設(shè)：如果一顆巨大的流星沒能導(dǎo)致地球恐龍的滅絕，那會怎樣？）從淌過激流險灘到徒步旅行、騎馬，探索位于懷俄明州大提頓國家公園的遼闊大地，劇組收獲了阿樂與點點艱巨探險情景的第一手經(jīng)驗。
One particular and crucial scene early in the film depicts Arlo caught up in a strong river current. One trick they used to aid the virtual workload was to recycle and relight certain renderings of flowing water. Effects Supervisor Jon Reisch loosely compared the method to one used in Spielberg's Duel, which featured a car chase spanning far more than the simple mile or two of road they actually used and continually repurposed to shoot on.
在電影開頭一個特別和關(guān)鍵的場景刻畫了阿樂陷入一團迅猛的江流中。為減輕虛擬工作量，他們的一個竅門是重復(fù)利用某些流水的渲染效果并加上光效。特效總監(jiān)喬恩·賴希粗略地比較了用在斯皮爾伯格《飛輪喋血》的方法，有一幕車輛追逐的戲跨越遠(yuǎn)超實際使用的一、兩英里的公路，他們也是反復(fù)構(gòu)建來拍攝。
He further explained that“getting water right is really tough”in animation because of the density, physics,motion, lighting, and other elements crucial to providing realism. The footage they screened looked spectacular,though. Reisch went on to note that The Good Dinosaur crushed the studio's previous record for storage of effects data, taking up a whopping 300 terabytes (over 300,000 gigabytes), or about 10 times the amount used on Monsters University . “Just the rivers themselves are bigger than the entirety of Cars 2 with all the characters, environments,and effects.”
他進(jìn)一步解釋說，在動畫中“將水處理好非常困難”，因為密度、物理特性、運動、照明和其他元素對實現(xiàn)逼真效果至關(guān)重要。然而他們拍攝的腳本看起來很壯觀。賴希接著指出，《恐龍當(dāng)家》打破了工作室以往效果數(shù)據(jù)存儲量的記錄，占用了高達(dá)300太字節(jié)（300,000千兆字節(jié)），大約《怪獸大學(xué)》使用量的10倍。“僅僅河流本身就大于《賽車總動員2》所有角色、環(huán)境與效果的全部數(shù)據(jù)。”
Pushing new technical boundaries allowed the creators to build a massive set to play in. Virtual location scouting provided a wealth of settings ranging from breathtaking and beautiful to mysterious and dangerous. The result appears to be the widest visual scope yet for Pixar, with the team repeatedly mentioning that only
Brave has come anywhere close.
開拓新的技術(shù)疆界便利創(chuàng)作者建造巨型場景來表現(xiàn)。虛擬場地搜尋提供了豐富的場景，有雄偉與壯麗的，有神秘與危險的。結(jié)果似乎得到了對皮克斯而言最廣闊的視覺領(lǐng)域，團隊反復(fù)提及到只有《勇敢傳說》才能望其項背。
The expansion of the team's digital playground turned out to be a boon to the storytelling too. “In the past, we would only linger on shots every so often. Here,Peter wanted the scenery to be a character itself,” says Story Supervisor Kelsey Mann. Because the plot revolves around Arlo's emotional and physical struggles against nature, the marriage of his journey with Pixar's biggest canvas to date is a match made in heaven.
事實證明團隊數(shù)字陣容的擴編也成了講好這個故事的福音。“在過去，我們只能停留在每隔一段時間的拍攝方式。在這里，彼得想讓布景本身變成一個角色，”故事總監(jiān)凱爾賽·曼恩說道。因為情節(jié)圍繞著阿樂跟自然界的情感與身體對抗展開，他的旅程與皮克斯迄今為止最大的布景組合堪稱天作之合。
Mann and screenwriter Meg LaFauve, both of whom have previous experience on Pixar films, joined the project shortly after Sohn was named director. “We were both fresh eyes coming in,” says LaFauve. Although there was need for an expedited production schedule at that point,both view it as a benefit to the movie's
development. “The fast pace created a lot of camaraderie,” she says.
曼恩與編劇梅格·拉法夫以往均有皮克斯電影的經(jīng)歷，在索恩被任命為導(dǎo)演后不久加入了項目。“我們都帶著嶄新的視角加盟，”拉法夫說道。盡管當(dāng)時需要加快制作進(jìn)度，但他們雙雙認(rèn)為這有利于電影的良性推進(jìn)。“快節(jié)奏締造了許多友誼，”她說。
Reflecting on some of the broader enhancements they brought to the story, Mann adds, “We were building a mood; a quiet and poetic way to tell the story was a big change.”
回顧他們給故事帶來的一些更廣泛的提升，曼恩補充道，“我們是在打造一種心境：以一種安靜而富有詩意的方式講故事是一次很大的改變。”
LaFauve adds, “The immersive feeling is probably the biggest change. It used to be a quest movie, and now it's a“get home”movie. It became more able to focus on therelationship of these two boys.”
拉法夫補充道，“身臨其境的感受或許是最大的改變。它曾經(jīng)是一部探險電影，如今成了一部‘回家’的電影。它更專注于兩個男孩之間的關(guān)系。”
“There were a lot of discussions about Arlo and who he is,”LaFauve continues. “We had to layer him up because you can't just say ‘he's afraid’ or ‘he's incapable.’ That only goes so far. It has to also become about ‘what does he want?’ Yes, he wants to get home, but what does he want as a boy? Part of why he's going on this journey is to grow up and become that man he wants to become, but it's also because he's been wounded, and at this age he can't find the psychologicalor emotional way to come to terms with it. So this‘dog’comes into his life to help him open his heart again.”
“我們對阿樂和他是誰做了大量的討論，”拉法夫繼續(xù)道。“我們必須將他分成幾個層次，因為你不能僅僅說‘他膽小害怕’或‘他軟弱無能。’這些只能到此為止。電影還必須探討‘他想要什么？’是的，他想要回家，但他作為一個男孩想要什么呢？他開始旅程的一部分原因是要長大，成為他想成為的男人，但也同時因為他受傷了，而在他這個年齡段在心靈和情緒上都無法安然面對。所以這只‘狗’闖入了他的生活，幫助他再次打開心扉。”
The team's respect for Peter Sohn was another a recurring theme in our conversations. Discussing the process of storyboarding with a roomful of writers, editors, andanimators, Mann stresses that“when you really love something, you give it your all. It's a vulnerable state to be in, especially when you're working in an environmentlike this, because you're reworking it over and over. It's hard not to have your heart broken, but you have to put yourself in it to make a great film. Pete allowed that kind of safe environment to bring yourself—every fiber of your being— into what you do. It was a fantastic way to work.”
在我們的談話中，另一個反復(fù)提及的話題是：團隊敬重彼得·索恩。談到與滿屋子的作家、編輯、動畫師討論故事板的過程，曼恩強調(diào)“當(dāng)你真正熱愛某些東西時，你會完全投入。這是置于一種非常脆弱的狀態(tài)，尤其是你在這樣的環(huán)境中工作，因為你一遍一遍地反復(fù)工作。你很難不傷心沮喪，但你必須全力以赴才能創(chuàng)作出偉大的電影。彼得營造了這種安全的環(huán)境，令你——你的每一根神經(jīng)——全神貫注于工作。這樣工作太奇妙了。”
Pixar has never shied away from heart, humor, or ambition—the recipe of their undeniably winning formula—and the time and effort it took to achieve those things come across in early footage. With its depth of visual scope and genre twisting, both driven first and foremost by the story, The Good Dinosaur looks to hold up the studio's revered cinematic reputation while simultaneously introducing us to yet another talented young feature director with the ability to harness a creative vision. Indeed, the long wait for Pixar's 16th film in 20 years looks to be well worth it.The Good Dinosaur is in theaters November 25, 2015.
皮克斯從不回避情感、幽默或夢想——他們無可爭辯的成功秘訣配方——而為此所花費的時間與努力也反映在早先的鏡頭里。《恐龍當(dāng)家》具備視覺范圍的深度，加上角色反轉(zhuǎn)，兩者均首要地圍繞故事需要展開，看來不僅弘揚了工作室受人尊崇的電影口碑，同時也向我們推出又一位能駕馭創(chuàng)造性構(gòu)想的才華橫溢的年輕導(dǎo)演。的確，皮克斯這部20年來的第16部電影的漫長等待看來是值得的。《恐龍當(dāng)家》將于2015年11月25日登陸影院。