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用户名:一枝熊 笔名:一枝熊 地区: 北京-北京 行业:其他 |
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现实的理想主义者
美科学家让鼠脑中长出人脑细胞---这是一个好路牌
新华社洛杉矶讯 美国加州索克生物技术研究所的科学家12日宣布,他们将人类胚胎干细胞植入鼠胚胎的脑部后,使出生的实验鼠脑颅中长出了人脑细胞,而且这些人脑细胞具有完整的功能,形成了独特的“人-鼠脑”。
这一成果发表在当天出版的美《全国科学院学报》上。项目负责人弗雷德•盖奇称,他们的实验是干细胞技术的一大进展,为研究帕金森氏症、早老性痴呆症等人类脑疾病提供了更好的动物模型,但这一研究遭到伦理学人士的质疑。
研究人员在论文中说,他们向发育了14天的鼠胚胎注射了10万个人类胚胎干细胞,在这些幼鼠出生后,脑组织中含有大约0.1%的人脑细胞。两个月后,研究人员发现这些鼠脑中不仅有人类的神经元细胞,还有人类的神经胶质细胞(在神经元细胞之间起通信联系作用),这些细胞不仅已迁徙到鼠脑的各个部位,也已与鼠脑紧密融合为一体。
18个月后研究人员再次检查时发现,鼠脑中的人脑细胞具有良好的生物电传导功能,也就是说它们是功能完整的人类脑细胞。而且在此期间,实验鼠没有出现排异、肿瘤等异种干细胞移植中常见的反应。
盖奇等人在论文中说,他们的实验表明植入鼠胚胎的人类干细胞能发育为功能完整的神经细胞系,并产生成熟而活跃的人类神经元细胞与鼠脑细胞结合成一体。这一“人-鼠脑”模型尽管“疯狂”,但却表明哺乳动物在进化中保持了共有的神经元细胞诱导信号机制,同时也表明人类胚胎干细胞可以移植到许多动物体内,用来研究人类神经系统衰退疾病(如帕金森氏症等)和精神病的机理。
尽管盖奇等人反复表明,掺少量人脑细胞的鼠脑依旧是鼠脑,不会改变动物本身的性质,但“人-鼠脑”问世的消息披露后还是引起了部分人士的忧虑。斯坦福大学生物医学伦理中心主任戴维•玛格努斯当天发表声明说,异种干细胞移植应有一定的限制,把模型动物“人类化”将会跨越“危险的界线”。他认为,这一成果本身可能还不到“越线”的程度,但将来的发展趋势让人忧虑
time management for everyone
这个flash是来自jim munroe网站的介绍时间管理思想的,虽然道理不难,但是非常的有意思。
india first dv film
Let's Talk 印度第一部DV电影
author:Deepa Gumaste editor:Danad
导演Ram Madhvani访谈
Resource:BRAINTRUSTdv Editor:Danad
Ram Madhvani是第一个使用Mini DV带拍摄电影长片在主流影院渠道放映的导演。 2002年12月,该电影在孟买上映座无虚席,曾在印度星空电影频道的黄金频段播出,也在北美发行上映。以下是BRAINTRUSTdv对Ram Madhvani的采访。Ram Madhvani简称RM,BRAINTRUSTdv简称BTdv.
Thumri&dv,我选择我要的选择。
BTdv:你曾说过Let's Talk的结构灵感来自于Thumri(印度语方言演唱的一首歌曲反复咏唱,但是每次都使用不同的情绪音调,表达一系列不同的感情色彩。)你能够解释为什么你要把这种形式转化到电影中?
Ram Madhvani:在Thumri里能够用不同的感情唱出同一段歌词。拿“爱”这个字来举例,你能够把“爱”用生气或者伤感或者发泄或者温柔的语调唱出来,如果一段音乐能那样,电影为什么不行?不过当我告诉人们我们将要用不同的感情去演绎一个场景的时候,他们认为这只是一种表演训练而已,但是我的决心反而更大了。事实上,电影的故事情节也同时决定了这种安排。
BTdv:这部影片的制片人Sumantra兼做摄影师,这在电影界是难得一见的,谁做出这个决定的?
RM: Sumantra建议我们用DV拍摄,然后我说,好吧,那就你来吧。他是一个导演,同时也是我的搭档,他也是电影制片人之一。他对摄影非常感兴趣,而且我曾经在我很多的广告片拍摄中使用过他,其中有一部广告片就在戛纳广告节上获奖。这次拍摄中我非常抱歉的就是没有更多的时间让他练习灯光的布置,但和他一起激情工作是一件美妙的事情。
BTdv: 你们在拍摄Let's Talk中使用了什么设备?
RM:我们使用Sony DSR PD100,两台带有光学变形适配器,此外我们的照明设备不多;声音有专业人士负责。
BTdv:为什么要选择DV?
RM:我是从拍摄广告起家,所以之前就大量接触和使用过数字录制。为何要使用dv拍摄的原因是,我觉得这样能够解放演员。我同样希望能够使用一个较小的剧组来运作一个电影。我想最多使用10到12个人。我不希望有一帮不能够真正参与这部电影制作的人,不希望没事有一大帮人围在摄制现场,总之我不喜欢按照常规的方式做,因为我已经对150到200来号人耗在一部电影上的感觉非常的感冒和疲倦。所以我希望能够更独立一点,我觉得dv正好满足我的要求。
BTdv:你曾经说过:“我并没有选择dv,是dv选择了我”,能详细阐述一下吗?
RM:因为,你知道,通常你会讲:“啊,我可是个电影导演,所以当然应当用35mm胶片拍摄”,在印度,特别是当你用数字拍摄的时候,你真的不是那么“专业”,你会显得很“老土”。然后他们一般会瞧不起你,因为你是用数字机。从自尊心出发,我的确不会想去用数字拍摄。因为每个人都认为你用35mm拍摄,你才是真正的电影导演。但是我很高兴我这样做了。如果我用35mm拍,我就不能够完成这部电影,那将会是一个另外不同的电影。所以说,也许我下一个电影会使用35mm拍摄,因为主旨表达可能会要求那样。但这这部电影有它自己完成的方式,诠释了它特有的主题和哲学,它需要数字拍摄,给了我自由发挥的空间。
BTdv:把dv翻转成35mm,你是否受到国外电影的影响?
RM:没有,我并没有受到任何国家的dv影片翻转成35mm然后放映的影响。虽然我知道他们中的很多,比如《黑暗中的舞者》。我只想看看翻转的结果如何。我了解过Lars Von Trier曾经做过这些,当然。我知道Dogma运动。但是我们把他们更多归到技术上而不是思想上的原因。我认为电影能够感染你,技术不能够。我想电影所蕴含的激情和感觉在感染你。
BTdv:我听说你用镜头变形适配器来得到16:9的图像。
RM:对,我们的确使用了光学变形。因为 Lars Von Trier也曾在《黑暗中的舞者》中使用过。我们来自Prime Focus技术咨询Paraminder Singh Chaddha告诉我们如果我用变形适配器,图像的质量在翻转的时候会损失更少。
小机器&好演员,享受弹性的拍摄过程。
BTdv:为什么你要选择拍摄Let's Talk的一小时草稿。
RM:嗯,我们拍摄草稿的原因是我们缺乏勇气一鼓作气拍完整部长片电影。我们中的大多数只能谈论电影,并不能操作他们。使用数字还有小机器的伟大之处便在于它便宜。你可以随时,然后看条件适不适合拍摄。它能够帮助我们因为我们能够看清目标,因为我们都是诚实、严格律己的团队---尤其是存在那么不安全因素的时候。我认为导演需要允许人们真诚合作以便完成整个过程,并提供给大家合作的一个远景描绘,并且用这个指导大部分人朝着一个目标前进。
我们拍摄草稿并且放给人看,然后去并且排演整部影片,在这过程中重新修改电影剧本。最终保持草稿中的两个或者三个场景,但是即使是这些场景也是重拍的。
草稿大约一个小时,这给我们很多反馈,并且也给我们完善这部电影时间和勇气,因为人们都说“继续去完成它吧”“真不错”“值得看一看”。所以我们保持我们喜欢的片断,而不是取消他们,因为我感觉到某些时候改写脚本太过严肃,我宁愿叫Boman and Maia马上过来操演排练不同的台词,读出来,或者有时候让他们先写下来然后马上试演一遍。。
BTdv:演员和剧组成员从草稿拍摄中获得了什么?
RM:我发现在拍摄草稿的时候,我们有了一种接触束缚的感觉,不安全感被降低了。引用以前的话;第一,如果演员不依靠高度兴奋的状态,你就在浪费时间、感情;第二,如果演员依靠状态,你也许就要重拍。拍摄草稿草稿的方式,就能够给你一张安全网,让你任何时候都可以准备开始。
如果你知道什么时候你可以开始并且没不畏惧失败的话,你就可以自己壮胆去做了。反而一切都会非常顺利。所以我想把紧张的气氛去掉,让我这部电影进行得非常顺利。这个经验实际上是来自我的广告拍摄。我们任何时候都在拍摄草稿,我们随时研究思考拍摄内容。而且我发现在外出拍摄之前拍拍草稿,能让所有人心中有数,知道电影运作的如何。
BTdv:观众对片中丈夫的扮演者Boman Irani印象非常深刻,你为什么会选择他?
RM:嗯,谈到Boman我能说个不停。我在戏剧舞台上看过他扮演甘地,也看过他扮演一个70岁的巴黎老绅士。我发现他是一个能跳能演的好演员,是一个能让你感动的演员。他扮演甘地的表演甚至让我也想哭。我想他就是我要找的那个人。整个印度像他一样的演员越来越少:对细节的记忆如此惊人,对生活的感悟非常透彻。他最伟大的地方在于他表演的了无痕迹。
BTdv: 两位演员对数字格式的拍摄怎么看?
RM:还是在自由度上,数字拍摄让演员更加注重自身的表演,而不用像35mm拍摄时老是要去分心考虑一些技术上的问题。
BTdv:有一些观众注意到片中的房间窗户的灯光太刺眼,转移了他们的视线;这是您特意的效果还是dv格式的缺陷?
RM:窗户光线的过度曝光不是有意,这是数字拍摄中的缺陷。当窗户进来的光线成为你拍摄的主要光源的时候,我不能够把它去掉。如果我们有直升飞机,我们可以在小棚屋里面布光。但是我并不认为窗户的灯光影响了影片的叙事。
BTdv: 我能够理解你不想谈论这部影片的费用,但是你曾说过用35mm拍摄会比数字的更便宜;通常我们认为是贵的,您的这部制作是怎么回事?
RM: 制片成本增加的原因是冲洗翻转。数字转胶的确不是一项便宜的工程。如果从价格上来说,拍一部传统电影用35mm比数字要有效。当然,方式不同,电影也不同。
发行&理念,
BTdv:发行是怎么样的?
AM:Let's Talk是一部英语电影,需要特殊市场策略去发行传播,所以我们针对制定了不同常规低成本的方案。
包括1)宣传张贴环节。我们以低价印刷制作精美的海报,在户外广告牌和路口定点张贴,并且有目的的赠票造势。
2)名人造势活动。我们请了好几个知名的艺人和艺术家观看我们的影片并且发表评论,然后我们把他们的评论登载到报纸和其它媒体上面,还制作广告宣传。
3)MTV玩笑。这里采用我们地方民间娱乐的方式。
4)电台宣传。
反映交给Shringar发行,他们在印度发行了5套拷贝,在孟买的三家电影院线同时上映三周,还包括各种类型的活动和交流推广。
BTdv:在星空电影频道上成功么?
AM:星空电影频道策划了“Made in india”的系列节目,放映一些印度制作的英语电影;包括我这部片子都是在黄金时间播出。
BTdv:国际发行方面如何?
AM:我们联系一家美国发行商,DVD已经发行了, 我们同样在谈电视上发行的买卖。英国也在考虑;而法语字幕的版本也在制作中。
BTdv:你看上去对dv拍摄又憎又爱,勉强到底是怎么样的?
Ram Madhvani:一方面,数字拍摄这种方式并没有被大家所了解。实际上数字电影已经非常多了,用数字拍摄的或者后期用数字编辑的电影都有;即使在数字电影的这个范畴里面,还有很多不同,比如我这个是独立电影。我曾经在高清电视上做过测试,效果非常得不错。我仍然感觉35mm的画面质量看上去会更好,但是在技术日新月异的背景下,我想在今后的三到四年里面,数字拍摄的效果会更接近35mm。
另一方面你的眼睛已经太过于习惯35mm了,你并不习惯看数字拍摄的电影,这就是为什么我们必须训练我们眼睛的原因。最后,观众并不在乎你用什么拍摄。他们关心的是你拍出的东西是什么。所以说,我基本上认为这是形式与内容的区分。如果内容要求数字化,那你就去用dv之类,反之亦然。总之这取决于你要拍摄的剧本要求,一些用dv拍起来更像回事,另外一些不是这样。
BTdv:你对数字视频技术在未来的地位如何看.
RM: 未来都会是数字化,我相信,而且,我所做的就是一个阐述。
声音:把嘈杂的弄简单,把简单做优秀
Author/Jay Rose 编译/熊一枝
我的儿子丹邀请我去他家,跟他的一个朋友卡丽谈生意。我妻子和我到达的时候,临屋有轻柔的音乐在播放。然后我们四个人开始聊天,一切都进行得非常顺利。但当我们的对话开始错开,我和卡丽交谈,我的妻子和丹说话之后,我的脑袋就开始范晕了。音乐和大家的对话交织,我只能听到嘈杂的声音搅在一起,就跟开鸡尾酒会的时候大家的交流一样,我把它称为鸡尾酒会效果。这种现象非常有意思,比经济数据表格之类的有趣多了。我当时只得关掉立体声,因为接下来我必须听清楚卡丽说出的那些经济数据,和她谈生意。
一段优秀的声音,它的趣味点在不断的变化转移。
许多人拥有这样的能力,就是甚至其他人大声说话的时候,或者附近还有发狂一样的声响的时候,你还是能够和某人交谈。如果声音从不同的方向来的时候,当说话者各有各自不同的风格或者方言的时候,当这个话题的确能够转移你的注意力的时候,当说话者的嘴唇能被你看到或者他在用足够多的肢体语言配合表达的时候,这种鸡尾酒会效果就会变得很明显。过去50年这个现象得到了研究,令人惊奇的是无论地球哪个地方的人群都会产生这种现象。当然,因为专业的关系,对我的作用表现得还不是那么剧烈,我有认识的一些古怪的玩电子设备的人,他们一生扑在音频或者音乐上,或许也都还可以忍受。
许多年前,一位音乐教师告诉我,许多人并不真正听过一段赋格曲(那是一种音乐形式,就像轮唱一样,但是赋格曲的声音是从不同的音调进入,发展成复调的旋律)。许多人,他说,只听到和声而不是复调的声音。这并不是说和声不重要(在一段优秀的赋格曲里面,不同的音乐旋律交织在一起才能形成协奏),但是有至少一些有音乐素质的人也能够分辨出不同的音乐旋律。事实上,我们的注意力不断地从一段声音跳跃到另一段声音上,注意到这两段声音之间有什么联系,而对接下来的一段声音产生期望。这发生的非常快,以至于大脑对所有的复调曲子形成了一个总体的印象。这就解释了在丹的家中为什么会发生问题:我的大脑正在注意不断演绎中的人声和音乐的合奏,没有足够的带宽去分析卡丽说出的经济数字。我经常会受到这种影响忽视对方的话,所以这种现象往往让我在鸡尾酒会上常常被误认为是一个讨厌的家伙,但这对我这样的专业人士来说,的确是一个思考声音混效的好机会。
一个好的音频,比单纯人声、音乐还有音效意味着更多。那些单纯的声音必须相互配合作用,在音频监视器中得以相应的观察。许多音乐制作人仅仅认为这只是说所有的音乐素材不应当相互竞争干扰而已;但是,这里我说更重要的是:这还意味着各个音乐素材之间必须交织在一起,并且每次轮换成为欣赏者的兴趣点。一段优秀的声音,它的趣味点在不断的变化转移。这就像是针对鸡尾酒会效果的反向效果:虽然大部分人认为他们真的把全部注意力集中在对方的谈话上,但是实际上进入他们耳朵的声音还是很多,而他们只是在所有的声音来源中主观屏蔽了其他对他无用的声音。对于欣赏音乐来说,听众没有固定的注意对象,所以这就要靠音乐制作者来制作兴趣点引导听众。所以如果要编辑制作音频,你必须在录制过程中好好考虑一下音色还有节奏,然后再编辑过程中调节音色、音响和混响。
不同的均衡处理能够帮助欣赏者决定两人的话中谁的更加重要。
你应当注意到,我在之前的句子中提到了两次“音色”,它是描述一段音频的各个独立和声素材的不同以及它们之间是否和谐的衡量方法。就是“音色”,解释了甚至在同一个音符上演奏,用长笛和双簧管发出的声音质感都是不同的。所以当你要决定那些声音部分能够和谐共存的时候,你必须好好思考音色。进而当你最后开始编辑混音的时候,你就可以用均衡器好好调节一下音色。
这里一个经典的例子出现在好莱坞御用作曲家、多次奥斯卡最佳电影配音奖获得者约翰·威廉姆斯的一些乐谱中:电影《大鲨鱼》主旋律中那些预示危险的低重音符补充了海洋环境的中音还有海鸥们高音;因蒂安娜琼斯中宽音域的摇滚乐演奏让震撼的摇滚轰鸣声从头到尾表现出来。人声的关键频率范围一般是从130Hz-800Hz,还有从1.6KHz-4KHz。一个优秀的作曲家会在着重人声的时候压低所有在这些频率范围里其他在发声的乐器,然后在人声结束之后再把音乐重新调高。而如果你是预先录制纯粹作为背景的音乐,你完全可以使用均衡器把这个频率段下调几个分贝。
最困难的情况是当多重声音是在同一个时间发生,你需要注意监视器上显示的鸡尾酒会效果。混合不同特征的声音会让你得到那种效果:混合男声和女声,或者至少是男中音和男高音;甚至是不同的演唱风格和口音都会增加这种效果。有一次我就制作一段录音,为了描绘一个声音洪亮的演讲者不停的被一个自认为聪明的后台人员打扰。这些演员的声音非常近似,但是他们不同的讲话风格使得听众非常容易同时听懂。
如果剧本允许的话,我可能当时会使用线路通话方式来传送后台人员的声音,以便确保这段声音能用在更多的加工上;不同的均衡处理能够帮助欣赏者决定两人的话中谁的更加重要。这就是我在对译制片画外音混音的小诀窍。虽然原作画面中的语音环境特别是语言不是观众本国的语言,但是因为画面中演员的嘴唇在动,观众的注意力仍然容易转移到原作的语音环境中去,这样就没法配音了。所以我会使用均衡器把原作的语音调低,然后使用多频带的压缩器加强我们翻译过来的画外音。
音视频混合最好的并不是完全让两部分同步与直觉相违背,但事实确实如此。
音乐当然有节奏,而人声和对话同样有,还有各种各样的音效也是。这些节奏往往能够游旋于各种声音之间,最终为画面节奏作补充--即便是你并没有按照节拍剪辑画面。尝试做这个试验:那一段事先编辑好的video,安排一段合适的audio并入影像轨道,合成后播放几次,逐渐对这种音画并列安排产生熟悉感,然后将这段audio向前或者向后滑动一帧或者两帧;接下来出现的状况肯定是完全不同的效果。一个更有趣的实验是把音乐混在人声中而不管画面,当你移动音乐片段,说话的声音部分便表现出不同的节奏;这时候再去看画面,整个剪辑的效果便更加不同了。
所有的节奏都是强调和舒缓两种类型组成,无论他们是音乐中重复的强拍,或者是一段语音中的偶然的韵律。音视频混合最好的并不是完全让两部分同步,这好像和我们大家的直觉相违背,但事实确实如此。很多好的流行和爵士乐歌手都知道这点:即使歌谱上面歌词准确地落在乐谱的音律上,有些歌手为了在词曲的对应点早一点点就把歌词唱出来,以确保词曲的节奏同步,会自我做一个预期提前量,结果演唱出来的效果却四平八稳的,平淡无奇。这种情况同样发生在将音乐与人声的节奏完全对应的时候。如果重音符与重音调同时发生,他们反而会相互减损。好的方法是:将你的音乐稍微平移一点。如果你正在制作画外音,你也能用这个方法巧妙处理节奏。(这种情况好像也在编辑声音和画面的时候适用。如果每一个剪辑点都完全落在音乐节奏上,整个片断就显得非常的枯燥。而让两个剪辑点间的画面提前或者推后与音乐的节奏并列,整个片断就活泼有趣多了)
音效也有节奏。即使一个特制的音效按照画面的需要放到相对应的音频中,但是你还是必须了解音效的这个节奏是否与其他的要素配合妥当。更要从整个背景音乐的长期节奏来考虑。如果特效、音乐还有画面大致按照一种节奏下来,整幕场景便会显得非常的吸引人。短频快不断变换的声音预示着剧烈运动:这就是为什么追车戏中不能避免运用那些轮胎摩擦尖锐刺耳的声音。持续不断的声音预示着一个相当恬淡的场景中。当你想给观众以强烈的刺激的时候,便需要所有要素节奏的配合,就像低缓的海浪声,适度管弦乐的冲击,再加上尖高的海鸥的叫声,“大鲨鱼”便场了。
当你没有条件用到环绕声或者立体声的时候,你也能够用混响的方式来暗示空间感。
空间定位能够帮助欣赏者追踪到多重声音的各个元素。甚至当你没有条件用到环绕声或者立体声的时候,你也能够用混响的方式来暗示空间感。富有戏剧性的电影中的人声部分经常会用置顶的悬臂麦克,以捕捉自然空间环境下的声音混响和质感。如果你必须使用洗手间或者在工作室加录人声,你就有必要在最恰当的点人工加上空间环境的声音混响。者能够帮助我们引入真实感人的体验感受空间。(当直接采访不知道其周围环境的人物或者发言人,特别是当他们直接对着镜头说话的时候,他们已经非常密切的和观众交流,所以这时候混响是没有必
我们录制的音效经常是纯粹而没有添加效果的,那就是说,完全没有混响,这是为了以后能够对他进行多重加工,修饰后用在不同的地方。毕竟,轿车“嘭”的关门音效,在产生回响的地下停车场的听觉效果,就不能够用在空旷无人的大街上。所以处理音效,你经常需要至少增加一些混响,然后贴切的去配合人声内容。如果你想减弱某段声音的重要性,只要把它的音量降下来,然后多加上一点混响;这样的效果就相当于你把声音放置到更远离镜头的地方了。如果剧中人物将要对某段声音起反映,你只要减少声音的混响效果,这样你就把声音拉近了,意味着剧中的人物正全神贯注在它上面。
影像作品中表达内心思考的画外音必须要有混响,这一点早就已经过时了,你完全可以打破那种规则。缺少混响暗示亲密。因为直觉告诉我们,当声源靠你靠得越近,我们便越难听到混响的效果。一对恋人密切的抱在一起窃窃私语是不可能会有什么混响的。描写头脑中心理活动的旁白也是如此,对于一个人来说,还有什么比自己脑子里想的东西更隐秘么?
把人声、音乐还有音效交给音频工作室
这里还需要提到一件事情,对于如何协调人声、音乐还有音效三者事件的关系,硬件能够实现三种声音的均衡调节。在混合成功的音频当中,各个音轨音量都做稳定的细微跳动,一条音轨高几个分贝,另一条低几个,甚至有些时候在一两个音节上,这样来确保所有元素的贴合。现在你能够花几千块购买一台多轨音频编辑软件,或者你先把素材编辑好,然后把制作好的各个音轨交给音频工作室合成。当然,如果到我工作室来,我很欢迎,但是希望你不要在工作的时候说话,就像文章开头在我儿子家里发生的那样,我可受不了那样:)
作者简介:
Jay Rose ,男,美国著名声音设计师、音频咨询师和专业撰稿人。为A&E, CBS, PBS, Buena Vista, Showtime还有美国国内十几家电视制作机构服务。他的个人网站共享了很多他多年的工作经验和实践著作。在1998年八月就开始陆续为大家免费提供资料,在提到为什么要把自己好不容易学到的实践经验共享给大家而不怕竞争,他简短有力地说“I have no competition”。有魄力!但这只是他开玩笑似的回答,他在网页上说明了这是由于很多导师曾经鼎力帮助过他,并且他得到很多帮助:NBC前主席Laurence Holcolmb告诉他,说话时每一个字都要算数,他把这句话引申到专业中就是:每一个细小的声音都要算数;广播设计先驱Tony Schwartz给过他最初期的辅导,把他带入到这个领域中。伍德斯托克摇滚音乐节的主持人Wavy Gravy(威维·格雷)告诉我,如果你真正认识自己,你就百毒不侵了……最后,Jay Rose说,其实,他对竞争不在意的原因,主要是这样能够促使他继续前行。他的个人网站地址是:http://www.dplay.com
要继续垄断体育教学类的闻鸡起舞
高清HDV,直指2008
被采访人:赵润田
“没有问题,我就买了”
《DV@时代》:介绍一下你们公司的情况?
赵:我们主要是以体育为主的一个影视制作公司。我们有很多栏目在电视播出,虽然大部分是用大机器完成的,但是所有的这些节目里面都有DV拍摄的画面,效果还是不错的。
在中央电视台播出的《闻鸡起舞》---我们公司也是以这个名称命名的--从95年一直做到现在,原来在中央台一套,后来调到中央台五套后节目延长了,分成两个部分,增加了一个《青春时光》;一个在6点到7点,一个从7点到8点。另外,在地方电视台联播的还有《时尚健身》,当时有一百多家,现在结束了,还有《天天健身》。可以说我们是一个体育节目提供商,另外我们还做发行,因为老百姓不一定能够准时收看电视,所以我们做了碟片发行,反映非常好,不过目前受到盗版影响,每个月发行从原来的25到30种产品到现在4-5种。之前我们用的BETACAM SP,DVCPRO,然后我们上了演播室,最后为了降低陈本,使用虚拟演播室,提高了效率;然后拍外景的一般都用DV,再往后加入HDV。如果继续投入设备,我们将继续投入高清DV,还有我们除了把节目供给电视台播出之外,还做其他发行。第一部用DV完成的作品是这张vcd“迪厅街舞”,还有很多陆续后来推出的一些光碟制品。总体感觉还是不错,因为老百姓没有觉得因为是用DV觉得画面受到什么影响。
《DV@时代》:本次苏迪曼杯羽毛球公开赛是你们公司承办的吧,试过您刚买的这台索尼专业HDV拍摄吗?
赵:这次我们作为苏迪曼杯的承办单位之一,第一次引入中国,包括推广、执行都是我们公司参与制作。作为直播,国际上对电视信号的要求还没有达到高清,我们这次比赛用这台HDV HVR-Z1C拍摄一些资料来作为储备,我们用高速低速都试了一遍,N制的高速下拍摄效果还不错,作为资料来说都达到了要求,使用的情况还不错。
《DV@时代》:什么时候买的?
赵:今年CCBN上,我第一次看到这台机器,我首先就把这台摄像机转过来观察展馆内其他各个地方,因为对于场内打好光的静物看不出任何东西,找了其他几个点一看,OK,完全没有问题,够了;之后我又翻了你们《DV@时代》,了解了一下具体数据,没有问题,我就买了。
《DV@时代》:在这段时间你在使用HDV HVR-Z1C过程当中,发现有什么优点?
赵:在镜头方面,我觉得这台变焦的12倍,感觉可能要比标清的12倍要好;因为它本来镜头就大,然后是16:9画幅的,广角问题解决得非常好;另外一个突出优点就是低照度方面,一般摄像机会在黑和不亮之间会有很大的躁波,但是HDV HVR-Z1C没有,这点确实让我觉得它很神奇,处理得很好。
《DV@时代》:那你觉得它有什么缺点没有?
赵:迄今为止,还没有发现什么问题。
“用这台Z1C直接一次就把两项工作做了”
《DV@时代》:听说您对DV一直非常的关注。
赵:对,说起来使用DV这个设备,其实早从2000年就开始了。当年我有个朋友从美国买了一台DV不会用,找到我,我拿过来试着拍了一下,效果还不错。正好当时办国际车展,我就拿着这台DV去车展拍了点场景,结果令人非常满意,感觉跟普通的BETACAM SP比起来质量上不错。
这次我为什么要买一台索尼的专业HDV HVR-Z1C呢?一个是电视的发展,高清是必然的趋势,另外一个是我们制作的一类节目中需要有一些配图,如这张太极拳,我们有本小册子附带光盘,上面有指导性的图片;以前我们都是先拍摄电视节目,然后再用数码相机来拍摄说明图片。这次我们就想用这台Z1C直接一次就把两项工作做了。视频拍好了然后我们就去截图,因为要做这么大的印刷画面来看,我们试了一下,用Z1C来做截图应该是够的。这是我们这次选择高清的一个原因吧。
DV设备现在有三台,除了这台高清。以前两台也都是索尼的,因为从专业机器过来,一直用的是索尼的,非常认可,转换过来比较熟悉。
《DV@时代》:个人对于高清应用在体育类节目中的看法?
赵:我们已开始做体育节目都是用BETACAM SP的格式,用DV总体的效果比以前要好,经过一段时间,重新选择室外的设备以后,保留下来都是高清的画面,作为资料会好一些。还有因为我们公司制作的节目还用做碟片发行,改用DVD效果就更好了。
《DV@时代》:据我了解,你们公司和电视台包括中央台合作非常密切。
赵:对,除了上面我说那些体育健身节目外,我们还做了一档节目叫《科学苑》,指导父母怎么去科学的护理孩子的教育,这个过程重要用摄像机来拍小孩,用大型摄像机来拍挺难得,然后我们选用DV后,小孩的注意力更不会受到干扰了,当时拍的效果不错,在中央台播出了一年半,也没有人提来说画质有什么问题。所以DV的技术作为电视播出没有什么问题,高清的更不会有什么问题。
《DV@时代》:那么说从画面质量来说,你已经认同DV了?
赵:从画面质量感觉上来看,很难用肉眼区别这是用DV或者其他设备拍的;过去标清的DV在近景上、特写上都没有任何的问题,根本看不出来而且画面非常的好,但是在远景上边缘不会那么直,那么清晰;而这次我试了高清,这个问题不成为问题了。
“用高清来拍摄积累一些东西和2008接轨”
《DV@时代》:既然画面质量不成问题,DV的另外一个优点是它的便携性和灵活操作性,您是否考虑在一些剧烈的户外运动中考虑使用它。
赵:以前我们户外运动都用的是大型摄像机,操作上没有什么问题,但是的确体力上非常辛苦。这次买了高清DV之后,我们还会考虑增配,因为大量的体育活动,都是运动的,都是需要便携、轻便的设备,另外DV的自动聚焦这个特点,的确是比专业机器要好,除了背景太复杂,根本不会有什么问题,适合拍摄时刻运动的体育活动。
《DV@时代》:2008年奥运转播要使用高清,你这次使用Z1C是否有这方面考虑?
赵:是这么一个概念,2008年使用的高清肯定不是我们现在DV的高清,但是在这个准备过程中间,会有一个资料准备过程,包括宣传片,应该用高清来拍摄积累一些东西和2008接轨,即使在现在使用会有一些技术上的转换处理,但是作为资料储备来讲,现在应该是买高清的最好时机。
《DV@时代》:你对HDV算得上发烧,会考虑在高清DV方面做什么进一步的升级和投入吗?
赵:首先我选择发烧,我非要感受这个机器出现什么样的效果,然后在个人发烧的同时准备商业上的考虑,现在拍的不一定会用,但是将来这些都是高清的素材,都是有用的积累。对于以后高清HD等设备,还是从需求上看。
《DV@时代》:在较短的时间内,你们公司在市场上占据了体育教学类光碟节目供应的主要市场,效率怎么这么高?
赵:我们使用虚拟演播室,不受任何时间、天气和地点的限制;最近与我们关系密切的奥维逊公司即将推出DV高清的演播室,我将来会和他们合作,这样的话,成本上又能够降下来。
《DV@时代》:对于DV的大众性和普及如何看?
赵:DV除了家庭记录之外,要进入传播肯定需要引导,需要培训,当然DV爱好者也能拍出好片;另外,我们公司最近正在组织的全国街舞大赛正在进行,欢迎各地的爱好者来参与这个事情,今年是第三届了,希望能够有所变化,吸引更多的人。
《DV@时代》:谢谢您接受采访。
好莱坞希望利用BitTorrent发行电影
据TCP/IP协议的联合创立者、现任ICANN(国际网络域名和地址分配局)的主席Vinton Cerf透露:好莱坞希望利用现在流行的端到端共享技术BitTorrent 发行电影,正在跟至少两家电影公司讨论这件事情。Cerf说:" 我所知道的情况是,很多的电影机构都对利用网络(包括BitTorrent)发行电影兴趣浓厚。但是他们并没有足够的知识来了解这种方案的可行性,现在才刚刚开始考虑”。
对于通过网络传输电影在大众中尚存在偏见,Cerf解释说:“一提到视频,人们往往就想到实时视频,至少能够一边下载一边观看,实际上现在有了视频录像之类的设备,大部分视频可以不用实时观看。只要能够观看,人们不会去关心这是实时的还是通过itTorrent文件进行传输的,也不会去在意下载的时间,只有有限的部分网络软件才要求实时能力”
把这件事情和目前火热的IPTV关联起来思考,网络作为电影电视还有广播的另一个平台和载体的具象逐渐清晰起来;在未来,基于数字的、网络的媒体供应需必然是如火如荼。
CHI 2005
我眼中的NAB 2005
假大空之一
Fast&Furious 疯狂飙速
4月份世界值得注意的电影节
《DV@时代》3月封面策划文章;3.15的功夫,看你“服”不“服“
普通人,做了也有可能
7天冰川追摄座头鲸---登载于《dv@时代》2005年第三期
google的前途是反google
《风马牛不相及》
前传
楔子
须臾之间
风至
马
冲天一啸
风徐徐然开口便道:"马弟,如何?想好没有"
"呃~~~"马言语踌躇间顾视四周,房门被风拽的的嘎吱作响。门上本贴了一张徐悲鸿的画---《奔马图》,画幅下角脱落的条缕被风扯的乱舞。
马一直注视着,此时便越发没有了表情,瞳孔越缩越小。
"天啊,你还没睡够阿,你去变猪好了!"
风刚刚还柔声细语,这会儿喘着粗气喊上了
马的视界一下从无意识的黑渊中拉回来,直勾勾的盯着破烂不堪的《奔马图》,鼻子憋得通红。

"哼哼,听说你是古犹太教徒啊,你喜欢猪么,还有比如老鼠啊,蝙蝠之类的?还有骆驼啊,猩猩啊,鹰啊,嗯,那个蜗牛啊,蛤蟆啊,蜥蜴啊..."
"您还是那么博学啊"马突然开口了,"可那不是我的宗教!"
"但你既然不答应我,说明你有恐惧",风在马身边转起了圈圈,地面形成一小股旋风。
"而且,恐惧的人需要一些宗教信仰"风掐着鼻子接着说,尖锐刺耳的声音迫使马耳朵打了个机灵。
"但我不会落入你的陷阱"
"陷阱是设计好的阴谋,我带给你的可是绝对的纯粹未知世界"风徐徐道来:"对于未知的恐惧本来是一件好事情,这是因为无论何种恐惧,最终必将得到缓解"
(待续)
to google
google要联姻图书馆,无疑是信息管理的伟大进程;google为知识管理的发展走出了一条至关重要的道路。这种出路如果对接新实力媒体,我相信其实就是新时代的社会教育的一种成熟模式,或者说是历史和新闻信息传播流程的新挑战. 新年放假三天,没做什么事情;回来上班,看到一篇文章,翻完一本书。
文章是21世纪经济报道上的"google,还是图书馆?",书是《解密凤凰》。
一个人新年应该有新气象,对新世界展望的愿望也会很强。文章和书的阅读内容在我的大脑里进行了深刻的交流:信息传播的未来是什么?知识的历史纪录如何延续?社会思潮和意识形态如何面对虚拟化组织?......
《解密凤凰》这本书对凤凰卫视如何开创以"时事开讲"为代表的资讯观点评论栏目的身前背后,进行了一次细致的梳理;凤凰的胜利是个人实力品牌化的胜利,是信息泛滥化下定位观点提供商的胜利,是"创新"的胜利。
思想的活力和魅力永远体现在对鲜活现实的拷问和表达上。而这些无论是哪个主持人、哪个学者专家,都是通过其个人学识认知的过滤;"我说"永远是评论者评论的第一个潜台词。而这句话的潜台词就是:你如何能够避免成为一个极易流于主观化的传播者?其实,凤凰的"互动"也做得非常到位,大量的读者来信能够提供一种通道给传播者树立一个实时的坐标。
也许,这是我比较仰慕的精英传播模式,是我最推崇的新实力媒体。
google要联姻图书馆,无疑是信息管理的伟大进程;google为知识管理的发展走出了一条至关重要的道路。这种出路如果对接新实力媒体,我相信其实就是新时代的社会教育的一种成熟模式,或者说是历史和新闻信息传播流程的新挑战。
我相信当代社会的教育完全可以交给传媒来做,只是没有这么一个信息化的快速通道,也没有这么一个精英化的媒体领导。在我所展望的小未来,完全能产生这么一种社会人文催化流程,为培养丰富的个性表达,专门创造一套信息传播平台。
阅读我记忆的2004
《时间之死》将世界万象比作搬运,我们也只不过是这个宇宙的搬运工。当我把我的2004的些许感悟从脑细胞的化学反应搬到这个blog后,是否能够以此为伏笔打通督任两脉,实现我的终极梦想?
2004是我喜欢的一个数字,2和4都是非常匀称双数的数字,2在数学哲学上有初始化的含义,有一种"万物当春乃发生"的喜悦感,而4,对于喜欢挖掘符号含义的我,也意义非凡。
基因就是有4个碱基对的数字化系统;大学的时候就阅读过道金斯的《自私基因》,虽然没有读完,但是如果他提供了一个信仰归宿的话,我应该现在乖乖的在那里顶礼膜拜;这份信仰不是个人信仰,而是对于自然的敬畏。虽然,阅读所得出来的结论对于普通生活没有意义。从他那哪儿我知道:原来人和其他动物一样,都是基因的容器,都是基因进化过程中的一个片断、一个载体;或者形容在我刚刚阅读他的《伊匍园之河》之后:基因是一条河流,包括人在内的生物只是两岸的堆积物,基因席卷而去,冲刷出我们,也把我们堆砌在岸边潇洒而去。
这促成我这个博客有一个栏目"活瓶子",真是基于这个含义上,想对大自然各种各样的基因载体,也就是动植物和各种生物进行一种梳理、探索和思考;当然,还有,我也是水瓶星座的。
在哲学方面对我影响比较大的是今年在天涯上连续刊登的一本书稿,刘以明的《时间之死》。它不仅让我更了解了热力学第二定律和熵的一些科学知识和价值,更让我对整个宇宙和人的相互关系有了暂新的认识。我甚至,人和这个自然的存在是自组织抵抗熵的结果;天道酬勤的存在哲学能够给我生活上提供深沉的寓示。而哲学观点中量变到质变的另一个科学面孔---耗散原理,同样给我以思维享受般的震撼。
纯粹的思想总是披上冷漠的风衣,让人感觉到酷毙了,但是对于如火如荼的现实生活则很少能给你温暖;但哈维尔可以。作为捷克最伟大的政治思想家,政治这个字眼把我温暖起来。虽然我还只是读了他的几篇文章,但是我感觉到他字里行间对人性关怀的热度和激情。他是当代的耶稣,思想的深处总是燃烧着普种人性最高自由的善良梦想。
总是会《尘埃落定》,就像我的2004;阿来的这本小说和今年亲身遇上的一些事情给我一些做人的思考。如果非要一些极端的事情才能够出发你的潜能或者诸如良知等一些好的精神状态的话,我们无疑对这个世界的态度过于懒散和谨慎了。
《时间之死》将世界万象比作搬运,我们也只不过是这个宇宙的搬运工。当我把我的2004的些许感悟从脑细胞的化学反应搬到这个blog后,是否能够以此为伏笔打通督任两脉,实现我的终极梦想?
心动,行动吧!
基姆·弗洛拉卡通插画重获新生---today in the NY Times
Jim Flora 1955年画册封面《跳曼波舞的猫》
作为当时一位不知名的创作画家,基姆·弗洛拉的才华在原子时代暗流涌动,他的卡通画册呈现着毕加索式轮廓线条,立体平面画的错觉冲击风格让人耳目一新。他的那些新颖的设计风格,以一种乖巧流行的方式和载体,把超现实主义和几何视觉艺术等艺术思潮带给普通大众;作品几乎充斥了五十年代的各种cd封面,而这个极富个性的创作人才却少为人所熟知。
而紧接着六十年代的摇滚乐和美学颠覆运动,已不带争辩的彻底把他和他的作品弃入簸箕。
今日美国,不知什么时候开始,这些作品如星星之火一般,开始出现在各种杂货店铺和装饰市场上,他的才华作品又被重新挖掘出来...
下面我们来欣赏一些Jim Flora的绘画作品
Gene Krupa and His Orchestra(1947).
游评:这一幅cd封面设计的非常具有活力和灵感。黄绿色的背景非常抓住人的视觉欲望,棕色、青色和黑色,这三种色彩分布在画面主体和字体中,错落有致,都是比较重的色彩,形成一种张力;这是没有识别住提前的一种色彩预热;当我们注意力被主体轮廓和意向转移后,我们发现,主体人物和动作以非常的形式夸张化了,立体主义学派的某些技法使得这个鼓手拥有多种敲打动作;而鼓锣等各种乐器洒落在画面上,形成某种节奏,延长人的视觉感受。鼓手的眼睛还有中间一块突出的椭圆和鼓面都是白色的,这些白色起到了一个支撑和调和的作用,色彩上面的确是无可挑剔的均衡统一。
Mambo for Cats(1955)
游评:这一幅对猫的轮廓形体的几何性描绘和三只猫三角形对呈式的安排使得画面有一种极强的线条张力,整个平面在轮廓的波浪式描边中产生一种数学迷幻的色彩
Inside Sauter-Finegan(1954).
游评:夸张的人物动作、面部表情和身体细致的文理花纹撮合呈一种滑稽的风格
Pete Jolly Trio's "Coming Out Party" (1955).
Jim Flora's cover for a preview of the 1944 Columbia Masterworks label.

An illustration for "Gup," a 1942 small-press collection of three stories by Robert Lowry
2053:After Disability (之二)
2053没有专业体育竞赛,大部分人只是观看21世纪初期的奥运比赛纪录;2053也没那么多文化艺术。学者们相信,几乎所有的艺术活动的盛行,都得益于某些身体或者心智疾病,或者人格上各种各样紊乱的反映(比如创造性,原创性,表达欲望,反省)
Health 2053
But everyone knows that birth is only the start of the issue. There's all sorts of difficulties that can develop during the hundred years of average life. While most of the old infectious diseases have been eradicated, new epidemics of unknown origin have broken out several times in recent years. Until gene therapies or vaccines can be developed, people live in fear, and strict boundary controls and quarantine are vital. And then there's the wear and tear of life. Most people don't actually use their limbs very much - except for periodic workouts at the gym - because of the new personal travel and work devices, which enable machines to take the strain. But when things do go wrong with your body, new tissues are available, especially developed to suit your immune system, so you can simply replace heart muscle, liver, kidney or nerve cells and be good as new - or even better, if you pay the supplement for the enhanced service. In fact there's a wide choice of options, because many people favour organs grown in transgenic animals. Of course, members of certain religious minorities have reservations - bits of pig or cow seem to offend their sensibilities. But like all outdated superstition and morality, these ideas appear to be in decline.
2053年的健康
但每个人都知道出生只是一切的开始。人活百年,会遇到各种各样的困难。虽然很多常见的感染病毒已经根除,最近几年又多次爆发新的瘟疫,来源也不了解。在基因治疗和免疫发明出来以前,这些人必须生活在畏惧中,对于严格控制界限和免疫隔离,是生死攸关的。身体也随之开始出现消耗和损伤。现在除非定期在体育馆锻炼,很多人的确很少活动他们的肢体,新生的个人旅游项目和工作设备把重负转交给那些机器。但真当身体出了问题,获取新的机体组织是非常方便的,这些机体经过专门培育以适应你的免疫系统,这样你就可以直接替换心脏、肝脏、肾脏或者神经细胞,像新的一样好使,如果你愿意承担机体增强功能的费用,情况会更好。因为很多人钟爱在转基因动物中培育器官,这就产生更多的选择空间。当然,一些宗教信仰特殊的少数人群可以保留,碰上丁点的猪或者牛似乎就会冒犯他们。但是就像所有已经过期的迷信和道德信条,这些想法会越来越少。
当然不,世界现在如此理性。主流价值尊重每个人的自由选择。政府对自由公民没有商业上的强制禁令。人们可以培养繁殖他们需要的器官,用什么方式来治疗自己以及做自己想做的事情。每个人在某个限度内,都可以得到需要的身体、心智或者个性。当然,他们必须花钱去买,然后考虑这次能够维持多长时间。没有必要存在平等权利法规或者残疾歧视法案。没人再为身体自卑,因为每人都不会遭受残疾的意外光顾,而且人们不用因为危险而相互拒绝,如果不是这样,那是他们拒绝自己的错,谁说不是呢。
Leisure 2053
Of course, there's no professional sport these days. It all got ridiculous with the enhancement technologies and pharmaceuticals that athletes were taking to give themselves competitive advantages. Apparently, there is a return to amateur athletics somewhere in Greece, but mostly people watch old digital recordings of early twenty-first century competitions to relieve the thrill of natural physical contests.
2053年的娱乐
当然,今天没有专业体育竞赛。运动员能通过采用基因增强科技和药品来提高竞争力,这简直是太荒唐了。当然我们也看到,希腊某些地方重新出现一些业余运动员,但是大部分人只是观看21世纪初期的奥运比赛纪录,闪现当时自然躯体测试比赛的快感。
And there's not much culture either. Academics believe that almost all artistic activity arose through some form of physical or mental suffering, or various obscure personality disorders ('creativity', 'originality', 'desire to communicate', ' introspection '), and of course everyone knows that making music or literature or art was a tough and difficult business, which took an awful lot of time and energy. As soon as psycho-pharmacology had developed enough, people were able to take pills to stimulate feelings of bliss or catharsis or whatever other emotions they wanted. And the new brain machines enable individuals to switch on, tune in and drop out of daily life in a much more efficient way than visiting art galleries or going to concerts, plus they don't have to get involved with other people in the process.
同样,这时候没有那么多文化艺术。学者们相信,几乎所有的艺术活动的盛行,都得益于某些身体或者心智疾病,或者人格上各种各样紊乱的反映(比如创造性,原创性,表达欲望,反省);就像每个人都知道的那样:音乐或者文学或者艺术创作是非常艰苦困难的事情,那也将消耗极大的精力和时间。当心理-药理学充分发展之后,只要服用一个药片,人们便能够模拟狂喜或者宣泄,或者任何人们需要的情感。另外,新式大脑仪器能够作用于每个人,通过开关调台,载入载出每天的生活体验,比上艺术展览馆或者音乐厅更方便快捷,此外也不用在路途中跟别人打什么交道。
无聊之一--------地震与人肉
昨天乘公交车回家路上,一对情侣坐我旁边,女投男怀后男唾沫横飞,开始天花乱坠起来;回程尚远,闭眼养神的我一只耳朵就直勾勾的冲着他们听
男:知道海啸哪事吧,死了好多人了
女:听了,挺惨的
男:我们办公室今儿还就这瞎扯,我说最惨的不是那些直接被东西砸死的,是那些被压在下面,叫天不应地不灵的;
女:哦
男:主任说这还不算,丫压下面的哪有挂树上的惨,哇,整一树上面全挂满了人,你说多惨!
男带头两人笑得花枝乱颤,贴脸凑耳不知道有说些什么
女:什么比较好吃?
男:要说啊,还是人肉好吃
女:什么啊
男:这是真的啊!
女:〉。。
男:嘿,我还告诉你,这手指啊,最好吃
女:为啥啊
男:这还不知道,它老运动啊,你看你这手指关节多灵活,多嫩啊,肯定闭鸡爪子好吃
女:什么啊
男:很多人都以为女的肉好吃,不对!男人肉比女人肉好吃!
女:为啥
男:一个道理啊。男得多爱运动啊,女的都不动,肉都散的,不好吃
......
我在旁边真的是扔不住笑,这两人真是活宝:不过今天算是长见识了,总结一下:男人肉比女人肉好吃,人手指比鸡爪子好吃,人挂在树上比压在地下惨。
杂技的trick
很多人都尝试过学杂技团里小丑抛球的游戏,也一直认抛掷四个球比抛掷三个球更难,因为即便三个球在两只手之间准确的交换已经需要一定的悟性和联系了,四个球抛掷的表演让人望而却步了:这看上去需要更长的制空时间。
这是三个球抛球的动作分解,你可以通过这个训练出给你的朋友演示噢(图说明:十字符号是控制两个球抛掷的最高点)
第一步

第二步

第三步

第四部

而下面是四个球的抛掷表演

如果你仔细看,把两只手统一起来看,就是这样

知道了吧,呵呵,只不过一个简单的动作,但是要求两只手要错开时间差了。
农民工迁徙式中国家庭破裂-----纽约时报长篇讲述
每年指望他们春节回来,然后三月钱也用光了,就是他们离开的日子
父亲欠了医疗费,小孩的学费拖着,上有年迈老人也需要照顾。孩子说:他们需要去吃苦来养活这个家;孩子说:我也盼望那么一天,他们在外面一定很好。
在北京的父亲过着包身工样的日子,母亲在保定干活春节回家就扣掉全年20%的工钱,她打算晚点告诉孩子她春节回家的允诺不能实现。
最篇文章最震动我的是这一句话,它的表达增添了这种悲剧的力量。
"For the Yang family and millions of others in the Chinese countryside, the only way to survive as a family is to not live as one. "
对于中国同样类似的其它千万个农村家庭来说,一个家庭维持下来唯一的办法是:不能在一起生活。
By JIM YARDLEY ![]()
Published: December 21, 2004
HUANGHU, China - Yang Shan is in fourth grade and spends a few hours every day practicing her Chinese characters. Her script is neat and precise, and one day, instead of drills, she wrote letters to her parents and put them in the mail.
"How is your health?" she asked.
Shan, who is 10, then added a more pointed question: "What is happening with our family?"
Her parents had left in March. Their absence was not new in Shan's short life. Her father, Yang Heqing, has left four times for work. He is now in Beijing on a construction site. Her mother, Ran Heping, has left three times. She is in a different city as a factory worker.
Over the years, Shan's parents have returned to this remote village to bring money and reunite the family. They leave when the money runs out, as it did in March. Her father had medical debts and needed cash to see another doctor. Shan's school fees were due, and her grandparents also needed help.
"I think they are suffering in order to make my life better," Shan said of her parents. She added a familiar Chinese expression: "They are eating bitterness."
For the Yang family and millions of others in the Chinese countryside, the only way to survive as a family is to not live as one. Migrant workers like Shan's parents are the mules driving the country's stunning economic growth. And the money they send home has become essential for jobless rural China.
Yet even that money is no longer enough. Migrant wages have stagnated, education and health costs are rising, and the rural social safety net has collapsed - a crushing combination that is a major reason the income divide is widening so rapidly in China at the expense of the rural poor.
Migration also has meant that urban and rural children in China are growing up in starkly different worlds. In cities, upwardly mobile couples call their precious only child xiao taiyang, or "little sun," as in center of the universe. Children are indulged with clothes, toys and snacks: childhood obesity is a new urban ill.
In the countryside, the new vernacular phrase is liu shou, or "left behind" child. Millions of children like Shan are growing up without one or both parents. Villages often seem to be missing a generation. Grandparents work the fields and care for the children.
"We are a triangle, three people in three different places," said Mr. Yang, 36, the father. "The pain of missing one another is very difficult. All parents are the same in this world. All parents care about their children."
But Shan's parents, strapped with debt and obligation, are among the untold millions of people in rural China caught in a brutal cycle. Studies show that medical costs are the leading reason that people fall into poverty in China. Many city residents still have some health benefits, but peasants now fall under a pay-for-service system. Sickness can mean bankruptcy.
Mr. Yang went to Beijing in part to earn enough money for medical treatment. He was warned four years ago that he needed treatment for prostate problems, but he could not afford it. Now, his health has worsened on his construction job. He has missed days and is jeoparding the pay he needs to see a doctor.
His wife, Ms. Ran, 33, wants to visit her daughter in February for the Lunar New Year, when migrant workers traditionally go home. But she said her factory in the city of Baoding will fine her $72 - roughly six weeks' pay - if she does not work straight through to July. Shan's school fees are due soon, and the family needs more money.
Shan has never left this village in mountainous central China, a few hours' drive from the Three Gorges along the Yangtze River. She is still a child, but she understands the pressures on her family and how her own future depends on getting an education. She grew worried when the school began asking for next semester's tuition.
"I love school," she said.
A Desperate Village
The students in Shan's fourth grade class rose in unison as the teacher, Du Nengwei, tapped his pointer against his desk to start the lesson.
"Hello, teacher!" the children shouted dutifully in early December as Mr. Du, his eyes magnified through thick glasses, signaled for everyone to sit down. The children began shouting out memorization drills, and the sounds of rote drilling rose out of other classrooms, as noisy as squawking birds.
The village school, the focus of so much hope, is little changed from a century ago. The dirty, whitewashed building is made of mud brick and concrete. Shan's classroom has no heat or electricity. Light comes from two small windows.
Mr. Du said 8 of his 14 students had at least one parent who is a migrant worker. He knows that parents leave in order to pay tuition, about $50 a year for families that often live on less than $300 a year. School, even this school, is their only chance, he said.
"Some say they want to be a driver, a scientist or a teacher," Mr. Du said. "But nobody wants to go on being a farmer." Of Shan, he said, "she studies very hard and does well."
She usually ranks second or third in the class. At home, she studies as much as three hours a day. She said she wanted to advance to middle school, then high school, even college.
"The more schooling I have, the more knowledge I have," she said.
Her home is a mud-walled communal house built more than a century ago during the Qing Dynasty. Her grandparents sleep in one section, her aunt and younger cousin in another. Shan sleeps alone in two unheated rooms converted from a small barn. Her room is above the pen with the family's three pigs. Her parent's empty room is over the open pit that is the communal toilet.
"I'm not scared," she said. She has painted her colorless wooden shutter with the Chinese characters for "wealth" and "prosperity."
Her grandfather, Yang Xianglin, 72, said his three sons each contributed $150 a year to support the family. Two of the three are migrant workers; the third just returned home from a migrant job. But the money is not enough, so the grandfather must borrow from other relatives.
Shan knows she is poor, but does not seem to feel poverty's sharp sting. Asked if she has any toys, she brightened and showed off two tiny plastic figurines and a single silk flower. Her parents cannot afford more, though her mother stitched her a pink sweater.
"She misses them always," her grandfather said. "She keeps asking, when will her parents come home?"
Nearly every family in Shuanghu has had someone leave. Local wages are as low as $1 a day; a migrant can make $5 or more. A few fortunate families have built concrete homes with migrant money.
"We have more freedom now than when we had a communal life," said Lei Jinchen, 53, a neighbor whose two sons work at the same factory as Shan's mother. "We can now go out and find work. But we only have enough to feed ourselves. That's it."
Central government leaders often boast of new programs to benefit China's poorest villages. One national program called for farmers to hand over land for reforestation in exchange for annual payments. In 2002, Shan's grandfather surrendered two-thirds of an acre for promised payments of $65 a year. As yet, he and other farmers have received nothing.
Shuanghu was also designated for special antipoverty assistance, and about 50 families - including the Yangs - were named poverty households eligible to divide a $2,500 annual fund, or about $50 per family. But again, the Yangs and others have gotten nothing.
"Not many benefits get down to us," Mr. Lei said. "Local governments skim most of the money off."
So what remains is migrant work for the young and farming for the old. The mountainous landscape is impressive, but only narrow strips of land can be used for farming. In early December, Shan left for school one morning, and her grandparents walked up a rocky hillside toward their small plot.
The frost had lifted, and the grandmother, Hu Yangui, 65, squatted in the dirt and pulled turnips. She takes medicine for stomach ailments and arthritis, and the work tires her. She would let the turnips dry in the sun until afternoon, then feed them to the pigs beneath Shan's bedroom. The grandfather grabbed a large bale of corn stalks to use as bedding for the pigs and loaded it onto his back. His arthritis sometimes keeps him from sleeping, but he said the corn was not heavy. In a lower field, a child's voice echoed against the hillsides. It was Shan's cousin, Yang Qinlin, 4. Her own father works several hours away, and she goes months without seeing him.
An Ailing Father
On the worst nights, Yang Heqing is awakened by the cold. His bunkroom is in a warehouse district in southern Beijing that is home to tens of thousands of migrants. There is no heat for the subfreeng temperatures, and the bunks are planks of plywood attached to metal scaffolding.
The room, provided by the construction company, is like a map of poverty in China's rural interior. Mr. Yang and three others from around his village sleep on two rows of bunks. Farmers from central Sichuan Province are in a different section. Apple farmers from dusty Shaanxi Province sleep across the room beside a few men from destitute areas in Hubei Province.
There are 40 men in a room 30 feet long.
Asked how many of them have left wives and children at home, one man yelled, "All of us." Asked how much they are getting paid for working 12 hours a day, seven days a week for almost a year, they give an embarrassed answer.
"We don't know," another man admitted.
Mr. Yang, like the others, came to Beijing last March. He and his three friends learned from a cousin about a job working on a new government building. No firm promises were made on pay. Some men were told they could earn $500 or more for the year, nearly double the average income in the countryside. Others were told that workers from different provinces would be paid different wages.
No one knows. The crew bosses will pay them when the job is done in January. Until then, the company provides daily rice or noodles, and workers get $12 a month in spending money if they work at least 25 days. Mr. Yang said he had missed many workdays because of illness. He often gets only $6 in monthly spending money as a penalty.
"Sometimes I can feel the pain while I work," he said. "My chest hurts, and I have no energy."
Mr. Yang first became sick in 2000 after five months working for an oil company in the far western region of Xinjiang. He earned nearly $600, a bounty, but he would spend all of it on medicine and visits to doctors. The diagnosis was pneumonia and inflammation of his prostate. At a city hospital, a doctor recommended $1,200 in treatment, a price he could not pay. Mr. Yang returned home, and his wife feared he might have cancer.
"He lost hope," Ms. Ran said. "He said, 'If I die, I don't care.' I said, 'You can't leave behind your parents and your daughter.' "
Weakened, Mr. Yang stayed home for four years, and his wife left for work, alone, in May 2000. His father said he then became frustrated that his wife, not himself, was supporting the family. His daughter knew something was wrong.
"I always saw him buying medicine," Shan said. Her parents "don't know that I know," she added. "I'm afraid his sickness will become worse and worse."
In March, Mr. Yang felt he had to find work. He owed relatives nearly $300 for medical bills, and he could not make money at home. Sitting in his bunk in early December, he recalled the rush of excitement he felt arriving in Beijing to play some small role in building the country's booming capital.
His friend, Yang Xianglin, leaned over from the other bunk. He is a first-time migrant worker. Like many villagers, he thought working in Beijing would be exciting, even liberating. Now he wants to finish his job, get paid and never come back.
"It's not what we imagined," he said. "Migrant work is too hard. Even if the bosses are crooked, we have to obey them. I can't stand this. This isn't freedom."Yang Heqing agreed, more from exhaustion than outrage. He had missed so much work that he finally borrowed money from his crew boss and visited a city hospital on Dec. 10. A doctor examined his prostate and suggested tests. The cost was $250; the boss had lent him $12.
Mr. Yang walked from the hospital to a nearby pharmacy and bought over-the-counter anti-inflammation pills. He said he was tempted to quit, take whatever pay the boss will give him and see the doctor again. But he also knows that he might not even get paid enough to return home.
A Factory Mother
The outdoor market in Baoding is a patch of dirt where farmers have laid out mushrooms, tofu, cabbage and carrots. Cuts of meat are arranged on a flatbed, but Ran Heping cannot afford those. She and three relatives have just finished a 12-hour night shift at their factory and are making a weekly grocery run.
A handsome vendor haggles with Ms. Ran over the price of a head of cabbage. He is flirting and offers her a ride home. She laughs and walks away. She later says distance has destroyed the marriages of several workers at the factory.
Her factory in Baoding, about 90 minutes south of Beijing by train, makes metal balls for lawn games, to be exported to Europe and America, and smaller balls that Chinese manipulate with their hands as a form of traditional therapy.
It is dirty, difficult work, but the factory is a popular destination for migrants from Shuanghu because of word-of-mouth referrals. More than half the 70 employees are from around the village. The job is piecework, so workers get paid for each ball. During peak months, a worker casting metal or polishing can make more than $100. Usually, though, workers make less than $50.
Ms. Ran came here in 2000 when she left the village to support the family. Leaving her daughter worried Ms. Ran, but Shan was starting school and tuition was due. Ms. Ran also knew that her husband's illness gave her little choice.
"I knew we couldn't survive like this," she said. "I told Shan, 'I will go to work, and you be a good girl at home' "
She returned home nearly two years later. She brought almost $1,000, which went for medical bills, clothes, food, school fees, fertilizer and other farming costs. "When the money was gone, we needed more," she said. "I decided to go out again."
This time it was a shorter trip, from July 2002 until February 2003. She brought home only $210 after the factory deducted $72 for leaving without working a full year. She was furious and filed a complaint with the local labor bureau. Nothing happened.
The Yangs were together in the village for a year. But medical and school bills forced them apart again. When Mr. Yang left for Beijing last March, his wife left for a plastics factory. She later quit and tried to join her husband in Beijing.
"We are a family," her husband told her. "When we can, we should be together."
They were together for less than 10 days. Ms. Ran worked at a pastry factory but quit because the pay was so bad. She also said the cost of renting a room and living together in expensive Beijing would have erased the couple's savings.
She returned to Baoding and the metal ball factory in September. She is an inspector, an easier job that pays up to $40 a month. She is not lonely because several cousins work at the factory. They talk about their children or visit a local park together. There are days when she says being away in a big city can be exciting.
"There are no department stores where we are from," she said.
In November, she bought a bottle of shampoo for her long black hair. It was first time in her life she had ever bought shampoo. It cost $1.50.
These lighter moments are leavened by the dark. On the telephone, she pleads with her husband to see a doctor. "I said, 'When you get paid, spend all your wages to get better.' I said I would send my money home to take care of the family."
"But he doesn't really want treatment because it will cost so much," she said.
The grandparents called in December to ask for another $25 for Shan's tuition next year. Mrs. Ran wants to visit her daughter in February at New Year's. But her bosses insist she must work until July or again lose pay. She is angry but has decided she must stay. Her daughter does not know yet.
"I just hope that Heqing will recover and we can work together to put Yang Shan at least through high school," Ms. Ran said, when asked what she wanted for her future. "If his health doesn't improve, I'm worried we'll only be able to send her to middle school."
"It's a hard life," she added, "but we have no other choice."
An Unknown Future
Shan's grandparents say she almost never cries. She is happy playing with her friends and her cousins. Her parents both called on her birthday in July. She said it had made her happy.
In early December, she sat outside and practiced writing. The letters she had sent her parents months earlier never reached them; she did not have a reliable addresses.
Now, she started writing in a notebook.
"I want a ticket, a boat ticket and a bus ticket," she scribbled for a visiting photographer.
Where does she want to go?
"To see my parents," she answered. "I want to see my mom and dad. I think about them all the time."
For the moment, her earlier, darker image of their life had lifted. She wanted to join them. She wanted to be a migrant worker.
"I think their life is very good," the little girl answered.
"Their life is smooth."
《基督教箴言报》关于中国家庭的一个策划报道(待译)
感情和金钱成为一个家庭维持平衡的两大支柱。而后者的作用越来越大,单纯靠金钱来维持关系的婚外情很普遍。持"约会比工作更容易养活自己"的25岁的于女士,正在同时和两个已婚男人周旋。
家庭对于独立的要求导致传统家庭已经改变,家庭成员的关系越来越淡,像一盘散沙,社科院学者对记者这样说。夫妻选择与老人分开生活,使得老人越来越孤单。
这篇文章还提到去年的那部电影《手机》还有审美疲劳(Aesthetic fatigue),有人向记者指出:"单身汉从不谈婚姻,情人们决不讨论将来"。高等学校流传着"一周情":周一两情相悦,周二提出欲望,周三首牵手,周四共枕,周五产生距离感,周六你想退出,周日又开始找。
打着"为你找到佳偶"的服务公司在北京兴起,而调查显示,很少有人能在他们的帮助下成为夫妻,这些人大多是朋友、同学、同事和已婚人士。
道德在金钱社会的沦落成为一种潜在的威胁,对于未成年性行为和类似马家爵杀人案的悲剧要求需要一个全新的道德教育体系。

DATING: A couple hold each other as they walk through a Beijing shopping area. In the changing values of urban China, love and emotion are playing a greater role in relationships.
NICK OTTO - SPECIAL TO THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Zhu waited years to find a husband like Gao. It was Zhu, a little saucy, who first phoned Gao, a little quiet. They hit it off: Both are under 30, engineers, smart, living in Beijing, and, most crucial, they are from the same province, Shaanxi, which means annual visits home together. They lived together unmarried for 14 months, something illegal until last year, before Zhu, tired of waiting, proposed. Gao right away said OK.
Getting married in today's China is far easier than even four years ago: The couple took a number, waited in line, and said "I do" in just over an hour. The certificate costs about $1.15. Marriage forms no longer ask frightening questions about parents' history or Communist Party affiliations. Nor must couples seek permission from their "work unit" boss, a major shift from last year. Marriage and public security bureaus are reportedly no longer connected.
Today, urban Chinese are free as never before to pursue what have become the twin engines of family dynamics here: love and money. In the 200 cities with more than a million people, love and money are dictating historic changes in the traditional family that had already been shrinking due to the one-child policy. Dating and romance are in, living with parents is out, wives and daughters enjoy enhanced roles. A new galaxy of attitudes and values is transforming the basic building block of Chinese society.
Yet if it is easier to tie the knot in urban China, little else about marriage and family is so simple in a country constantly rebuilding, protean, where the pursuit of wealth and the sense of time are accelerating.
"It is easier to meet people now, but it is harder to find the right one," says a young female junior exec as she sips from her water bottle. "We never had cellphones or text messages before, and we can meet many new people every day. But our expectations for a partner are so high that few can match them."
Love and money
Now, for the first time on a wide scale, Chinese may pursue a spouse of their own choosing. Only 2 in 10 young Chinese used to choose their life partner; today, 9 in 10 sa