Breaking Baymax How Disney Found the Story of Big Hero 6《超能陆战队》是怎样炼成的

Breaking Baymax How Disney Found the Story of Big Hero 6《超能陆战队》是怎样炼成的

　　“迪士尼出品，必属精品”，而这一个个精品的背后，却有着一部部不为人知的“血泪史”。《超能陆战队》也不例外。且随下文，走到影片幕后一探究竟吧。

　　"The first screening is always a disaster. Every time." Robert Baird， co-writer of Disney Animation's superhero cartoon Big Hero 6， has worked at Disney and Pixar long enough to have attended his share of disastrous first screenings of animated movies. "I've never worked on a movie where it was right the first time."

　　Every Disney Animation film goes through a process that everyone involved calls "iterative1）"， a multi-year effort that's filled with false starts and bad choices. But they all begin with one core idea， and in the case of Big Hero 6 that core idea was a boy and his robot.

　　“动画电影的首次试映总是惨不忍睹，每次都是这样。”罗伯特?贝尔德是迪士尼超级英雄动画电影《超能陆战队》的编剧之一。他在迪士尼和皮克斯公司工作有些年头了，亲历过很多次他参与编剧的动画电影惨不忍睹的首次试映。“我从没经手过一部一次就能过关的电影。”

　　每一部迪士尼动画电影都要经历一个被所有影片制作人员称为“迭代寻优”的过程。这个过程包含着长年累月的努力，期间还充斥着种种错误的开端和糟糕的抉择。但这些电影在创作之初都只有一个核心构思，像《超能陆战队》的核心构思就是一个小男孩和他的机器人。

　　Start from a Core Idea 从一个核心构思着手

　　Technically Big Hero 6 adapts a little-known Marvel comic， but the truth is that director Don Hall took only the title and character names from the book， leaving almost everything else behind. It was that boy， Hiro， and his robot， Baymax， that seemed to be the starting place for a movie.

　　"When Don first pitched2） this idea there was something at its core， this story of a boy who experiences a loss and gets through it with the help of his robot，" says Chris Williams， co-director of Big Hero 6. "That's where you start， and then you get this group of people and embark3） on a journey of years to develop the story."

　　The standard version of Hollywood screenwriting is a tortured guy typing away on his own （or in a Starbucks）， but the animated process is very different. "It's more like writing a TV show. People sitting in a room talking for months and months，" says Baird. Those people are the story team―the studio's stable of directors and writers and， every now and again， John Lasseter―the Chief Creative Officer of Pixar and Disney Animation―himself.

　　That group sits in a room and begins hashing the movie out4）， using the core concept as a starting point. The first problem they have to solve， according to Baird， is answering one question： "What is this movie about？ Not plot-wise， but what are we trying to say？"

　　Those initial meetings go on for a long time. Ideas are put on a white board and everybody sits around the table and argues. And fights. Fists get pounded on tables. Voices get raised. The story team will break for lunch and dinner at the studio commissary5） and be friendly and then return to the conference room and start yelling at each other again. Eventually those ideas on the whiteboard become story beats6）. Those beats become a 30 page treatment7）. And all along the way the team has to meet with John Lasseter. "At regular intervals you have to pitch to John，" says Baird. "Nothing motivates like that fear." 　　With Lasseter's guidance （"Story is king" is the Lassterism most quoted in the halls of Disney Animation） that treatment becomes a script. At this point it isn't just writers toiling away on an early， doomed version of the movie； down the hall storyboard artists8） are churning out9） heroic amounts of work while the art department is looking at the basic story beats and trying to design characters and the world. The writers will break the film down into 30 sequences and give them to the storyboard artists， who will create thousands of images for each sequence. "It's crazy to see all the work，" says Baird. "And they do it so FAST."

　　严格说来，《超能陆战队》改编自一部鲜为人知的漫威漫画。但实际上，导演唐?霍尔只借用了原著的标题和角色名称，其他部分几乎全都弃而不用。那个名叫小宏的男孩和他的机器人大白似乎就是一部电影的起点。

　　“唐最初选定这个构思的时候，就已经想好了故事的核心，即一个失去亲人的男孩在他的机器人的帮助下渡过难关的故事，”《超能陆战队》的联合导演克里斯?威廉姆斯说，“这是第一步的接下来就是组建团队，开启一段为期数年的拓展故事情节的旅程。”

　　好莱坞剧本创作的标配是：一位饱受折磨的编剧独处一室（或是置身星巴克咖啡店），埋头打字。但是，创作动画电影的过程却截然不同。“编动画更像是写电视剧，大家要坐在一间屋子里讨论好几个月。”贝尔德说。这些人构成了故事编创团队，其中有迪士尼公司旗下的导演们和编剧们，皮克斯动画工作室和迪士尼动画工作室的首席创意官约翰?拉塞特本人也时不时会加入。

　　这个编创团队坐在一间屋子里，从那个核心概念出发开始讨论，直到得出整部电影。贝尔德介绍说，他们需要解决的第一个困难是回答一个问题：“这部电影要讲什么？不是说情节方面的，而是说我们想要表达什么？”

　　这些前期的研讨会持续很长时间。大家把一个个想法写在白板上，然后围坐在桌边辩论争吵，人人都捶着桌子，扯着嗓子大吼。午饭和晚饭时间，编创团队会休会，在公司食堂用餐，这时大家都很友好，但一回到会议室，就又互相争吵起来。最终，白板上的那些想法变成了一个个剧情要点，这些剧情要点又会变成一个30页的电影脚本。在此期间，编创团队还要跟约翰?拉塞特不断碰头。“我们每隔一段时间就得向约翰推销自己的想法，”贝尔德说，“没有什么比这种忧惧更能激励团队了。”

　　在拉塞特的指导下（“故事为王”是迪士尼动画工作室内人们引用最多的“拉塞特主义”），脚本变成了剧本。此时，为注定被毙的电影初剪版辛苦操劳的就不单是编剧了，还有公司里忙得热火朝天的分镜师以及研究基本剧情要点、努力设计人物形象和场景的美编部。编剧们会将电影分割成30个片段，交给分镜师。接着分镜师会为每个片段绘制数千幅图。“看他们工作真是眼界大开，”贝尔德说，“而且他们干活的速度飞快。”

　　From a Script to the First Version 从剧本到初剪版

　　大约一年后，剧本就成形了。像《超能陆战队》的原始剧本约有135页；按照一页剧本等于一分钟画面的行业标准来算，这将生成一部长达两小时的动画电影――片长严重超时。于是剧本又被压缩到85页左右，砍去一大堆角色、细节和微不足道的瞬间。

　　现在的剧本对应的分镜头――多达数万个――被粗略地拼成电影，然后编创团队就开始着手录制临时的电影配音。编剧和画师会亲自为初剪版中的角色配音，有时他们会发现自己一直在给某个角色配音，直到电影制作完毕。譬如，《冰雪奇缘》里奥肯一角的最终配音就是由该片的联合导演克里斯?威廉姆斯完成。

　　初剪版会面向一百名左右的员工和值得信任的朋友放映。每个人看完都表示不喜欢。“初剪版试映之后，也许只有一两个地方还能保留下来，”贝尔德说，“上千幅图、上百页剧本都进了垃圾堆。”

　　After about a year there's a script. In the case of Big Hero 6 that first script came in around 135 pages； with an industry standard of one script page equaling one minute of screentime that would have been a two hour long cartoon―way too long. That script was culled10） down to about 85 pages， losing tons of characters， details and small moments.

　　The storyboards for that script―tens of thousands of them―are assembled into a rough approximation of the movie， and the story team gets to work recording a temporary vocal track. The writers and artists themselves will play the parts for this first version of the movie―and sometimes they'll find themselves sticking in the roles all the way through the end of the process. Co-director Chris Williams ended up playing the role of Oaken in the final version of Frozen， for example. 　　That's what is shown to an audience of about a hundred co-workers and trusted friends. Everybody ends up hating it. "You come out of those screenings and maybe 1 or 2 things will survive，" says Baird. "Thousands of drawings in the garbage. Hundred pages of script in the garbage."

　　More and More Iterations 不断的迭代寻优

　　"We work in an environment where we can screen to John Lasseter， to the other directors， to the Story Trust11）， and get feedback，" says Chris Williams. "We have to be very good about knowing what our movie is， what it's going to be， what the strengths and weaknesses are―but at the same time you have to be able to listen to other points of view， people who are challenging your assumptions. It's coming with respect and support and from a place of love， but they will challenge everything about the movie. Through that， through iteration after iteration after iteration， the movie finds itself. You find the tone and the personality. That's our process. You're forgiven when it's not great at first."

　　Armed with feedback the story team immediately evacuates12） the Disney lot13）. The next meeting after the first screening happens at an off-site retreat14）， so that everybody can yell at each other in a fresh new environment. Then it's back to the whiteboard， this time with the knowledge of what didn't work.

　　That first screening happens about one year into the development process. There are seven or eight more screenings over the next two or three years， each a new version of the movie launching from the basic core concept. Each version brings them closer and closer to the final product.

　　“我们的工作环境允许我们向约翰?拉塞特，向其他导演，向“创意委员会”试映影片并获取反馈，”克里斯?威廉姆斯说，“我们必须要非常清楚地知道我们的电影要讲什么，会变成什么样，有哪些优点和缺点。同时，你还必须能够听取那些质疑你想法的人的观点。他们肯提出意见是尊重你，支持你，是善意的，但是他们会质疑与电影有关的方方面面。通过这么一个过程，通过一次又一次的迭代寻优，电影终于变得像模像样，基调和个性也显现出来。这就是我们的工作流程。刚开始做得不好并不要紧。”

　　编创团队获得反馈意见之后，立马撤离迪士尼制片厂，转移到一个安静、隐秘的场所召开初剪版放映后的研讨会，以便大家能在一个全新的环境中继续争吵。如此，工作就又回到了白板前，不过这次他们知道哪些地方行不通。

　　从电影初剪版试映到情节不断完善的过程约有一年的时间。接下来的两三年间还将有七八次试映，每次都会推出一个由电影核心构思而来的新版本。新版本日臻完善，越来越接近成品。

　　Changes Are Severe 改头换面的变化

　　The changes over the course of the iterations can be severe. The movie being released in theaters is quite different from that first screening. Some things stay the same， though. "The plot is different， but the idea of San Fransokyo and a boy and his robot， and the transformation of Baymax from a caring， compassionate nurse robot to this badass， meched-out15） warrior are all elements that were in that first screening，" says Don Hall. 　　Some of the things that are lost find their way back in during the process. In the first version of the film the protagonist， a young robotics genius named Hiro， spends his time in illegal back-alley16） bot fighting. "That went away for a while， the idea of him wasting his talent with bot fighting，" says Hall. "That was in the first screening， and then ideas changed and things came and went， but then it made its way back in―it ended up being a strong core idea. It just didn't work in the context of that first screening."

　　Live action movies usually begin with a singular vision that is slowly picked apart during the process， but animation comes at story from a totally different angle. It's wholly collaborative， and it involves lots of talented people spending thousands of hours doing work that will never go anywhere， that will never be seen by anyone， that will end up tossed away forever. A live action movie might be in development for a year and shoot for a few months―you could probably make three live action films in the time it took to take Big Hero 6 from an idea to a released film. And every step of that process looks like another failure―screenings of Frozen just a few months before release were reportedly abysmal17）.

　　"You know that screening after screening you're not making an actual movie―you're making a platform to see what the movie's going to be，" says Williams. "You build a higher and higher platform， but the nice thing is that everyone knows these are the tools to find the movie."

　　"It's hard，" Briggs18） says. "But I love it. I'm passionate about it."

　　影片迭代寻优过程中的变化可以达到改头换面的程度。影院上映的影片跟初剪版差别很大。不过，还是会有一些地方保持不变。“两者情节不同，但旧京山、男孩和他的机器人以及大白从一个关心体贴的护理机器人变成厉害的机械战士这些构思还都是从初剪版开始就有的东西。”唐?霍尔说。

　　有些被剪掉的内容在迭代寻优的过程中又被重新放入影片。初剪版里的主人公小宏是一个年轻的机器人奇才，整日参与非法的地下机器人对战。“小宏浪费才华参与机器人对战的这段一度遭到删剪，”霍尔说，“初剪版曾有这段情节，后来我们的想法不断变化，几经调整之后，这段又被放了进来，最终还成为一个突出强调的核心构思。但这段内容放在初剪版中就是不合适。”

　　真人电影通常从一个单一的视角缓缓地展开故事，但动画电影讲故事的角度完全不同。动画电影从头到尾需要多方协作，需要很多有才能的人耗费几千小时的心血来做一些将不知所终、永不会见天日、最终付诸东流的工作。一部真人电影可能只需运作一年，再拍几个月就能完成，而《超能陆战队》从构思到上映耗费的时间估计都够制作三部真人电影了，而且动画电影制作过程中的任何一步都似乎是另一起失败――据报道，《冰雪奇缘》发行前几个月的试映还一团糟。

　　“你明白虽然经过一遍又一遍的试映，你不是在做真正的电影――你只是在搭建一个平台，看看电影能变成什么样子，”威廉姆斯说，“平台越建越高，但好在每个人都知道这正是做出电影的办法。”

　　“动画电影难做，”布里格斯说，“但我喜欢这个工作。我对它充满热情。”

　　11. Story Trust： “创意委员会”，迪士尼动画工作室为确保所有制片人之间是合作而非竞争的关系而设立的创意团队，由10～20名动画导演、编剧和故事版画师组成。

　　12. evacuate [??v?kjue?t] vt. 疏散；使撤离；转移

　　13. lot [l?t] n. 电影摄影场

　　14. retreat [r??tri?t] n. 静居处；静养所

　　15. meched-out： （mechanized-out的缩写）被机械化的

　　16. back-alley： 秘密的，地下的

　　17. abysmal [??b?zm?l] adj. 极坏的；糟透的

　　18. Briggs： 指Paul Briggs （保罗?布里格斯，1975～），《超能陆战队》的编剧，也是片中Yama一角的配音。

　　大白的脸部设计灵感从何而来？

　　大白“两点一线”的脸部设计让它看起来呆萌无比。导演唐?霍尔表示，这种简单到极致的设计灵感来源于他拜访日本寺庙时看到的一种风铃，他说：“I was looking at this temple （in Japan） and I kind of looked up at these bells that were staring down at me and they had that kind of simple two circles with a line. And I was like 'That could be Baymax's face.'”而迪士尼动画首席创意官约翰?拉塞特也十分欣赏这种“少即是多”的设计理念。

　　大白为何人见人爱？

　　大白如此受人喜爱，一个重要原因就是它给予了小宏无私的帮助和关怀。对此，大白的配音斯科特?埃德希特说：“I think it's because he's without ego. He's there to essentially love you， without expecting anything for himself. I think we all love him because we have our own flaws and he is fairly flawless.”

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