捲底片 Storin’ Film
Tangled with a clear mind.
Catalogue 目錄⚪ 中文故事⚪ English Story⚪ 繼續閱讀「拾光系列」(Continue Reading this Series)
中文故事：
走在街上，我跟我最好的朋友 S 隔一年後又見到了彼此，面對面實在有種說不出的感動啊！隔離結束，我和他見面的那個下午只有安排一項活動：聽聽不同作曲家的古典音樂去構思一個故事。然而，所有的故事必須盡量與作曲家的年代相符，等於去撰寫一齣迷你時代劇。來到他房間的電腦前，他 Spotify 的播放清單上有貝多芬，莫札特，拉威爾等人的代表作。雖然都是很棒的作品，卻讓我一開始都提不起勁。例如，莫札特的G大調《弦樂小夜曲》第十三號的曝光率高到令人煩躁，不妨聽聽他 1785 年於維也納首演的《第二十一號鋼琴協奏曲》Andante in F. Major，作品號 K. 467，個人最愛之一。事實上，三個樂章都是上等之作，喜歡古典音樂的人可以查查看。
很快我們進入到第一篇試聽的樂章：貝多芬的C小調《第五號交響曲》，第一樂章：Allegro con brio (帶生氣的快板)，又為《命運交響曲》。我相信大家都能在腦海裡浮現「登、登、登、登~」(短、短、短、長) 的旋律。我問他為什麼不找點冷門作品，感覺探索劇情方面會更有趣啊？
S 說道：「就是因為這些樂章我們已經聽到膩，所以心態固化了。我想一定有新的東西可以發掘吧！」
當第一個音符落下時，我按下大腦中裝有錄相機的播放按紐。「底片」運著回憶不斷地轉，影像清晰可見。這是我 19 年以來看到的藝術作品、日常生活合輯，收錄在一捲捲底片中─只屬於我一個人的底片。雖說大腦的神經元之間需要透過反覆訓練才能形成長期回憶的橋樑，影像的衝擊點一旦成立便會過目不忘。過了好一陣子，我才拼湊出兩位兄弟成為死對頭的畫面。我的靈感來自許多電影像是《真寵》、迪士尼的《鐘樓怪人》及《魔戒》。哥哥是反派，擁有一支龐大的軍隊佔領一座小鎮，令許多平民心生畏懼。反觀，弟弟是好人，準備帶著他的手下把身為暴君的哥哥拉下台。城堡該長成什麼樣子？攻城的戲碼又該如何進行的流暢？最後兄弟間的對質又該如何上演？
聽到音樂似乎能喚醒我腦中的底片，一幕幕播出我期待中的影像。或許，哥哥在高歌慶祝殺死弟弟派來的刺客時，舉杯慶祝的地方，能夠是《真寵》裡政客討論內政的大廳。再來，攻城的戲碼也能有《魔戒》般的規格。當貝多芬將第一樂章推向最後高潮時，我想到了《鐘樓怪人》的獨唱 Hellfire，惡魔團團包圍主教的畫面太震撼了！我從膠捲中提取了這些零碎的畫面，企圖將它們合理化。直到 6 分鐘結束，我還意猶未盡，因為這些畫面的整合程度是不過關的。我需要乘著音樂找出合適的航線，達到預設的理想結局。
我賣力地向我好麻吉講解我的藝術理念，靜待他思考幾分鐘後，他說他還要再聽一次。第二次完畢，我只不過加強了原有的靈感，將他們串成一個更為完整的故事。S 跟我想法不同，他說，「我看不到兄弟間的爭吵。該不會這是穿插現代跟古代的故事？在近代，村民正在慶祝祖先的紀念日，而貝多芬把我們帶回了古代，告訴我們這座村莊正位於一個曾是血淋淋的戰場。」第三次播放音樂，闔上雙眼，我盡了一番心力後才進入了 S 腦海中的視野。是的，我看見了戰場與和平的小村，那些激憤的情緒和最終的大獲全勝。最開心的是，他也看到了我膠捲上的內容，無論剛開始聽起來有多麼荒謬。
我相信每個人的腦海中都有這麼一個錄相機。它能自動收錄新的回憶、作品及聲音，帶領我走過許多創意思考上的難題，甚至還附上說明書。書上寫道，伏爾泰的名言，「原創不過是明智謹慎的模仿」。
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.
我雖然從小就被教育要盡可能去「創新」，但很玄的是，老師都不會跟你細講該如何創新。到底什麼樣的人才有資格被稱為有創意的人？既然我們都是不斷的再模仿，又何必為了適當程度的模仿感到擔憂呢？事實上，從十年前，我就加入了這場模仿遊戲。
繼續閱讀｜回目錄2010 年，高雄美術館舉辦了一場為期一年的《皮克斯高雄總動員》(Pixar: 20 Years of Animation)；展內收錄近 500 件皮克斯內部的珍貴手稿更架設了一台幻影箱 (zoetrope)。進展場前，有人遞給了我一本《鳥！鳥！鳥！》(For the Birds) 角色設計為封面的導覽手冊，我到現在都還留著。那時，我還非常迷戀皮克斯全盛時期的所有作品，甚至吵著要買一本關於《料理鼠王》的咖啡桌書回家。雖然當時沒有跟媽媽談成交易，但我在12歲的生日的確收到一本 The Art of Pixar: The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation。它收錄了皮克斯 25 年來所有長片的色彩腳本 (color scripts) 和概念圖，精裝版共 320 頁，傳達著工作室職人精神的態度。我家裡甚至還有一本被翻爛的《皮克斯傳奇》(The Pixar Touch)，可見我當時對電影長片的興趣不是沒有道理的。我開始發掘我對於藝術的興趣，我想知道我是不是認真看待電影的。
從 2015 至 18 年，我在痞客邦開設了一個電影評論部落格，做了整整三年都沒有停更。第一篇評論獻給《鳥人》，之後也評比了各式各樣的電影包括：《丹麥女孩》、《惡靈古堡 6》、《衝出康普頓》及很多爛片和入圍過奧斯卡的小眾電影。在即將停更的 ’18 年，我寫了關於《淑女鳥》(Lady Bird) 的電影心得。回顧以前的文筆還真想掐死自己，標點符號用錯，用字遣詞過於口語，但或許是因為這樣我才能提醒自己早已在寫作這條路上，走了多遠。有位網友 @Po Chuan Chung 幫我打氣，謝謝你。
你才16歲嗎？？你的文字不像只是個高中生而已，相當成熟！電影非常好看，雖然剪接敘述有點跳躍太快不夠留白，但是非常直接好幾段都超哭的哈哈，跟家人朝夕相處就是又甜蜜又痛苦阿。
我節錄了一段影評給大家讀讀：「對於現在16歲的我，這部電影來的正是時候。它對於我們家人間磨合相處，練習愛情的經驗，不加以批評或勸導該怎麼樣才會轉好等等。反而，[《淑女鳥》成了] 我們可以依靠的肩膀，告訴我們：世界上某個角落，也有人懂你的感受。」我對於 Saoirse Ronan 飾演的 Lady Bird 的叛逆、蛻變及成熟都牢記心上，特別是結尾。經過 94 分鐘的磨合與鬥嘴，最後一顆鏡頭，我們看到在紐約市的 Lady Bird 給遠在加州的媽媽打了通電話，說明他有多麼感謝他為他付出的這些年，決定重新來過。找個沒有事情的下午，《淑女鳥》很適合加到你的片單裡。
我在收掉部落格的隔年秋天便進入了 UWC Dilijan 選修 IB 高階戲劇課程，接受扎實的戲劇訓練。我原本想選修高階電影課，無奈 Dilijan 沒有師資能教導這門科目。所幸，我對於藝術的執著從原先站在一名「消費者」的立場，轉型成為一位「創作者」。然而，創作很難，要做出有內涵的作品更是難上加難。有時面對創作壓力，我腦海的底片是完全纏住的，死命地按著播放鍵，它就是一動不動。我為了繳交作業，千辛萬苦產出的作品又有什麼意義？它最終不過成為雲端的一組數據，由監考官決定我的分數，並登錄進我的考生資料。說直白點，製作藝術到底有何意義？我在食堂裡與他人的對話，更加催化了我想探討藝術本質的慾望。
繼續閱讀｜回目錄每學期在我母校，高二生 (DP1s) 和高三生 (DP2s) 會有共識決定誰先去打飯，不然一排長龍都要等很久。平日中午的 12:10 分至 1:30，我們食堂要輪流容納老師和兩屆 200 多名的學生，想必是很吵雜且擁擠的。有一天中午，我恰巧看到食堂最後一個空位，就在亞美尼亞和俄羅斯學生坐的長桌那兒。雖說我兩國語言都不會說，但想到對面坐的是認識很久的朋友，勉強還不會尷尬。沒想到，我旁邊的男生一聊竟談到藝術在社會中的價值。他半開玩笑的說「藝術是無用的」！會作畫不代表能蓋出畫布上栩栩如生的高樓大廈，而一部電影帶給觀眾的情緒張力，可能過幾天就淡掉了。第一點無法否認，畢竟術業有專攻，而第二點則是絕大多數藝術家無法預測的事。當然，每種藝術媒介的呈現是有相對應的手法：故事張力、高潮設計、人物弧光 (character arc) 等。但面對爛到好笑、毫無手法可言的片子，一笑成粉絲的還不少呢！只能說，一部作品想要深植人心，就要遇到對的人。
藝術家只能提供接觸五感的媒介，而箇中滋味需觀眾細細品嘗。在我所認知的世界中，藝術並沒有無用。我們需要它紀錄時代的軌跡，看見世界上各種思維，甚至能逃脫一下現實也好。任何藝術家都是透過篩選後的視角去呈現他們看到的世界，舉凡一部製作精美的紀錄片或偶像愛情劇，那些通過剪輯師手上的畫面，最終也只能模擬生活、勾勒情緒罷了。人們能掌握視角的權力使創作鮮明。在一個時間無限拉長的維度中，我們有了定格、喘息及反思的空間。
科技的腳步總是隨時代變遷，不夠新穎就得被淘汰。Alexander Bell 1876 年研發的電話筒正展示於博物館內，以前在《少年時代》(Boyhood) 看到 Apple 1998 年推出的 iMac G3 也早退出日益競爭的電腦市場。反觀，藝術迷人之處在於公元前 2100–1200 世紀的詩集，到現代都還有人重新詮釋。作家 Stephen Mitchell 的 Gilgamesh: A New English Version 是我身旁朋友有接觸到的作品。原作《吉爾伽美什史詩》Epic of Gilgamesh 為古美索不達米亞文明的史詩，紀錄著英雄吉爾伽美什的傳說，囊括兩河流域的眾多神話傳說。原來看似離我們遙遠的世界，一直以來都寸步可及。
不是所有作品都要像史詩般一樣偉大。素描本上隨手畫下的風景，一架攝影機拍下的全家福，那些畫筆下栩栩如生的人物：我們都有能力創作，而它們的價值不過是透過包裝而成。面對最真實的自己時，創作不需要有更多的價值，只需靜靜捲入我收藏已久的底片中。
繼續閱讀｜回目錄English Story:
My friend S and I have finally reunited after a year since I left for Armenia, and it was nice to see each other again. After quarantine, I went over to his place to make time for only one activity that we would do that afternoon: to construct stories from classical music. However, these stories must align with the composers’ time and age, almost like creating period drama. I started to glance over the pieces he had included on his Spotify list. There were the signature works of Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, etc. Although these are great pieces, I wasn’t intrigued at all. For example, the exposure rate of Mozart’s Serenade №13 for strings in G major, K. 525, is so high that it’s annoying. If you have time, make sure to check out his other piece, Piano Concerto №21 in C major, Andante in F Major, K. 467, that debuted in Vienna in 1785. It’s one of my favourites of all time, but the three movements are equally stunning.
Soon, we entered the first piece that we were to appreciate and construct a story. It was Beethoven’s Symphony №5 in C minor, I. Allegro con brio, otherwise known as the Symphony of Fate. The name might sound unfamiliar to most, but if I were to describe to you its first four notes being “short-short-short-long,” then you will probably get it (dum, dum, dum, dum~). I asked S why didn’t he find pieces more obscure? It would’ve made the game much more fun.
S said, “Even though we’re so used to them, we can definitely mine something new.”
When the first note fell, I pressed play on the projector in mind. The film, carrying all thoughts and memories, started to unwind with its increasing catalogue of moving images. It is a compilation of all artworks, pieces, and daily moments that I’ve come across over the past 19 years. Even though the neurons require intensive review to establish long-term memory with each other, some visuals make an everlasting impression from the first go. It wasn’t until halfway through the first movement that I could picture this sibling rivalry unfolding between two brothers. My inspiration comes from movies such as The Favourite, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Lord of The Rings. The bigger brother will be the antagonist of this narrative, who had a huge army that overtook a small village, making him a daunting presence. Because of this, his younger brother is ready to rescue the villagers with his troop. What does the bigger brother’s castle look like? Is there any way to make the siege look fluid in motion? Once we reach climax, how should it unfold?
When the projector rolls out unexpected footage one by one, I realize that listening to music seems to give energy to my soul. Perhaps, when the bigger brother rejoiced with his army as he killed the assassin sent by his younger brother, it could take place at one of the royal courts in The Favourite. Likewise, I imagine the siege to have the overall atmosphere of what Lord of The Rings has to offer. As Beethoven pushes the movement to its climax, I immediately recalled the sequence, Hellfire, from Disney’s The Hunchback, as the demonic fires surrounded Frollo to foreshadow his fate. I extracted these fragments from the film and tried to justify them with a logical sequence. Until the six minutes are over, I lingered on the notes because the overall playback of scenes does not flow as nicely. I need to ride upon the music on a ship, relying on the waves to push me toward the desired stop.
Soon enough, I tried to pitch my artistic vision to S. Silence. He said he had to listen to the entire movement again, so we did. Once the last note fell again, I purely strengthened the original thoughts that I had pieced together for the mini-film. However, S has a very different approach than mine. He said that “I cannot see the sibling rivalry. What if it was a story that crossed in between the past and present? In the present times, the villagers celebrate their ancestors’ memorial day by fighting off armies on the field. Beethoven was trying to tell us that this serene village used to be a bloody battlefield with barely any survivor.” Chills. The third time when S played the music, I finally entered his world. Yes, I saw the calmness and calamity mixed within raging emotions, succeeded by ultimate victory. Fortunately, he was also able to interpret the film in my mind, no matter how absurd it sounded the first time.
I believe that everyone has this magical projector in their minds. It automatically catalogues new memories, works of art, and sounds. Besides, it had led me through countless challenges that required me to engage in creative thinking. If you observe closely, there’s even a user’s manual with only a line of words from Voltaire printed:
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. (I love this quote, so bear with me.)
I’ve been told to stay innovative my whole life, but what’s surprisingly odd is that the teachers never tell you how to be original. Honestly, what kind of person will be qualified to be named as someone creative? If we continuously imitate others, why should any adequate degree of imitation be of concern to humanity? In fact, I’ve been a part of this imitation game for more than a decade.
Continue Reading｜Back to CatalogueIn 2010, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts held a special exhibition to my heart, Pixar: 20 Years of Animation. The main hall displayed nearly 500 manuscripts from the Pixar headquarters and set up a beautiful zoetrope with the Toy Story characters. Before I entered the exhibition, someone handed me a thin guidebook with the bird from For the Birds! as cover design. To this day, it is still on my shelves in the cupboard. At the time, I was obsessed with all the films created during Pixar’s “Golden Age” (1995–2010, The Atlantic), even wanting to purchase a coffee-table book, The Art of Ratatouille, by the time the exhibition ended. Although I couldn’t reach a deal with my mom, I did receive The Art of Pixar as a gift for my 12-year-old birthday. In 320 pages, it featured all the color scripts from Pixar’s feature-length films leading up to Cars 2 and a substantial number of concept arts included as well. There’s also The Pixar’s Touch on my shelves, which its paper cover has fallen off after countless reads! As I started to develop a genuine interest in the arts, I want to know if I mean it to continue this passion.
From 2015 to ’18, I ran a blog on Pixnet 痞客邦 (a Taiwanese blog platform) to review mainly cinema for almost three years straight. I wrote my first review about Birdman. Now in retrospect, it may have set the bar too high for a 14-year-old. The other movies I’ve reviewed include The Danish Girl, Resident Evil 6, Straight Outta Compton, and several shitty films mixed with those nominated for Oscars. In the year ’18, when I decided to stop writing more reviews, I wrote a lengthy one for Lady Bird. When I look back on how much I’ve written, I have to say it’s quite awful, haha. Syntax problems, incorrect punctuations, and the tone used do not make an enthralling read. Because of these mistakes, I realized how far I’ve come in terms of writing well. But well, there’s always improvement to make. I want to shout out to @ Po Chuan Chung for giving me the motivation to complete my few final reviews. Thank you. (Maybe I will start again in the future, who knows?)
You’re only 16?? Gosh, your words sounded mature for a high schooler! The movie was great. Even though the editing resulted in jumpy narration leaving many blanks, several scenes hit right in the feels for the tear duct. Spending time with family can be bittersweet, haha.
Here’s a translated excerpt of my original review. Read on!
“For someone who’s 16, this movie came right in time. It does not criticize or suggest ways to improve the bittersweet struggles we encounter in the household nor offers wisdom in young & awkward love. On the contrary, Lady Bird wants itself to be the shoulders that we can lean on, telling us that somewhere in the world, there will be those who understand how you feel.”
I have had a good impression of how Saoirse Ronan portrayed Lady Bird —her feisty attitude, going through transformations then arriving at closure with better maturity. By the end of the film’s 94-minute run, we saw how Lady Bird, alone in NYC, called her mom in Sacramento, CA, to tell her how thankful she is toward her relentless giving for a renewed beginning. If you’re free, find a time some afternoon, and Lady Bird will be a great addition to your to-watch list.
By next fall, when I stopped all activities on Pixnet, I enrolled UWC Dilijan to take the IB Theatre HL course, undergoing rigorous training in comprehensive ways. I intended to take Film HL, but Dilijan did not offer this course. (Jealous of the Mahindra kids, lol.) Fortunately, it had benefitted me so much from transitioning as a consumer of arts to creating art as an amateur. Nevertheless, creating is hard, and shaping something meaningful is even more difficult. Occasionally, when I undergo pressure to produce art, the film in my mind is absolutely tangled. No matter how many times I pressed play, nothing surfaces. What is the meaning of creating art that is for homework and assignments? It will soon be turned into another set of data stored in the cloud, sent to the examiners to determine my grades, and logged into my credentials for good. To be blunt, what’s the meaning of creating art? This particular conversation that I had in the cafeteria further pushed my incentive to discuss the merit of art itself.
Continue Reading｜Back to CatalogueEvery semester at Dilijan, the DP1s and DP2s take their turn to go to the cafeteria for lunch, or else, the line drives people insane. On weekdays from 12:10 to 1:30 pm, our canteen has to accommodate the rotating faculty and student body of around 200-something people. You can imagine how loud and noisy it is in there. One noon, I happened to see one of the last empty seats in the canteen with students from Armenia and the Russian speakers sitting there. I speak neither Armenian nor Russian, but there was a close friend around, so I guess it wouldn’t be awkward. Surprisingly, the guy next to me starts to talk about the place of arts in society, half-jokingly, of course. “Art is useless!” he exclaimed. If you can paint wonderful architecture, it doesn’t mean that you can build tall skyscrapers across the urban scene. Besides, if you were to make a film, the impact could fade away for the audience after a few days. I can’t deny his first point since all professions have their specific underlying mastery, but the second point raised is what most artists could never predict. Every medium of art has its traditional ways of representation. For filmmaking, you can elevate tension, design the climax, and construct compelling character arcs. But when you face those trashy films that are so bad that you laugh along, hey, a lot of people dig it! If a piece wants to make a lasting impression, it needs to encounter the right audience.
The artists can provide a passage in engaging with the people’s five senses through different media. The emotions that you experience will then be entirely yours to digest. In my perceived world, art is not useless. We need it to track the passage of time and see the multitude of thinking across the globe. If you just want to escape reality for a while, it’s fine as well. Any artist portrays the world as they see it. Whether it is a finely made documentary or romcoms, the images treated in the editing room could only emulate real life to a certain degree. The power that humans held to create with perspective makes art vibrant. In an infinite dimension where time is ceaseless, we have space to stop, breathe, and reflect.
The rapid pace at which technology evolves is an impressive feat because if it does not keep up with the trend, it will be the next one out of the market. Alexander Bell’s first practical telephone from 1876 is now locked away in museums on display. Meanwhile, the iMac G3 I’ve seen in Linklater’s Boyhood had long disappeared from the marketplace. On the other hand, it is worth noting how art, or epic poetry, created from 2100–1200 BCE, is still revered and reinterpreted in the modern age. Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh: A New English Version is one of the works that my friend had encountered during their time at school, and I will read it someday. The original work, Epic of Gilgamesh, is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, chronicling the legends of hero Gilgamesh with a collection of mythologies of the Tigris–Euphrates river system. Hard to believe that the world so distant from us has always been this close.
But, to be honest, not all works of art had to be as great as epics. A picturesque scene drawn on a sketchbook, a family group photo captured on set, and the lively characters painted by brushes can all be art. We are free to create, and that makes art free too. Its worth is only defined by how we package it to be. When I face my true self, there’s no need for art to possess more value. Instead, it rolls silently into my film collection.
Back to Catalogue