Making a TED-Ed Lesson: Two ways to animate slam poetry

譯者: 瑞文Eleven 林Lim 審譯者: jim 陳哲民

In this short video,

在這部短片中

we're going to show you how we use

我們要告訴你我們如何使用

two different animation techniques,

兩種不同的動畫技術

both rotoscoping

轉描

and traditional hand-drawn animation

和傳統手繪動畫

in the TED-Ed Lesson,

來製作 TED-Ed 課

"Miss Gayle's 5 Steps to Slam Poetry:

蓋爾小姐的說唱詩的五個步驟

A Lesson of Transformation."

轉型的一課

（什麼是詩歌擂台賽）

（為什麼要使用兩種動畫技術）

A poetry slam is a competition

詩歌大滿貫是一種比賽

in which poets are judged on their poems,

詩人的詩在此會受評判

often for qualities of emotional power

往往是情感力量素質

and lyrical resonance.

和抒情的共鳴

Our Lesson was created by Gayle Danley,

我們的課程是由蓋爾小姐創建的

a veteran slam poet

一位資深的滿貫詩人

who spent decades teaching children

幾十年來她都致力於

to express themselves through spoken words,

教導學生如何用言語表達自己

a Lesson, which offers a guide to creating poetry

一個課程，它提供了一個指南

去寫出有衝擊力的詩

with immediacy and power,

also serves as a great example of exactly that.

也可作為一個很好的例子

It's a story told in the form of a poem

這是在一首詩的形式 講述了一個故事

她通過一個富含感情的故事 闡釋了這個過程

that packs a real emotional punch.

She introduces Tyler,

她介紹了泰勒

who's sitting in an 11th grade writing class,

這位十一年級的學生正在上寫作課

struggling with the assignment of having to write a poem

要基於親身經歷寫一首詩

based on a personal experience.

這個作業讓他感到很掙扎

The story is told from two perspectives,

這個故事是從兩個角度說

one external

外部

and one internal.

和內部

Miss Gayle's narration sets the stage

蓋爾老師的敘述

of the outside world,

構建了外部世界

and spoken word artist Pages D. Matan

和口頭語言藝術家 D. 馬坦

performs Tyler's inner voice.

表演了泰勒頭腦中的聲音

To set these two realms

為了區分這兩個世界

of inner- and outer-experience apart,

內部與外部

a different animation technique was used

使用不同的動畫技術

to illustrate each.

來進行說明

The real world was animated by rotoscoping,

表現真實世界時使用轉描技術

with a frame-by-frame tracing of live-action footage

這種技術是用黑白藝術線條

in black and white line art.

把活動影像一幀一幀描下來

The animation depicting the inner-stream

描繪泰勒的記憶

of consciousness world of Tyler's memories

就採用了傳統的動畫技術

was traditionally drawn on paper,

傳統的畫在紙上

featured watercolored backgrounds

而背景用水彩畫

and a more expressionistic design.

以強調設計感

Once deciding on this general approach,

在決定這個方法時

the project went right into pre-production.

該項目就進入了前期製作階段

（什麼是前期製作）

（為什麼前期製作重要）

In animation, pre-production is the planning stage.

動畫前期製作是在規劃階段

It's all the decisions that need to be made

要在這個階段

before going and actually making the thing

試驗發展很多事情

然後做出所有決定

in its final form.

This can include developing

這包括進一步發展

the look or design of the piece,

呈現這段動畫的設計或風格

experimenting with colors and camera angles,

試驗色彩和攝像機角度

修改劇本

revising the script,

and so on.

等等

All these decisions are important

這些決定非常重要

because they determine how much work and time

因為它們決定花費多少工作和時間

the production will take.

來製作

Extra time spent here figuring things out

在這裡花額外的時間整理事情

can often save a lot of time down the road.

能為接下來的工作節省很多時間

For our project, a storyboard was first created,

對這個項目來說 首先要做一個故事版

in which the framing, composition, and imagery

確定每個鏡頭中的取景

for each shot was determined.

構圖和圖像的每個鏡頭

Then an animatic was made,

然後製成動畫腳本

which is basically a movie of the storyboard.

基本上就是故事板的電影

This helped us figure out the timing of each shot.

它能幫我們分析出 每個鏡頭需要多少時間

It also helped us get an idea

它也幫助我們初步了解

of how well everything would flow together visually

每樣東西的視覺流動感

between our rotoscoped

如何在轉描

and traditionally animated scenes

及傳統動畫場景間呈現

once they were assembled.

預想合成之後的感覺

轉描場景是如何製作的

動畫是怎樣合成在一起的

For the rotoscoped shots, we first had to create

對於轉描鏡頭 我們首先必須創建

the live action footage to be traced.

現場拍攝的鏡頭進行偵測

Working with what we had in our humble office,

但我們只能利用這個 簡單的辦公室裡東西

we created a classroom of desks

所以我們要用一張小桌子

using only one small table.

創造出一間有好幾張桌子的教室

We shot this multiple times

故事版上出現的每個角度

from each angle the storyboard called for,

我們都要拍攝一次

each time with a different volunteer

每次在同事之間

from among our co-workers.

挑選不同的志願者

Our source footage elements

這時我們就需要

then needed to be composited,

合成源素材元素

or assembled and arranged together,

組裝並排列在一起

before we could rotoscope them.

才可以進行轉描

A composite is a special effects term

複合是一種特殊的效果用語

for a shot that combines two or more elements in it

分開創造兩組或多組元素

that were created separately.

於一個鏡頭

To do this, we used After Effects,

要做到這一點我們 使用動畫後製與剪輯軟體中

a digital compositing and motion graphics program.

數字合成和運動圖形程式

The first step was to isolate

第一步驟是

the part of the frame we needed

我們需要通過掩蔽掉

by masking off the unnecessary negative space,

不需要的的空間

or parts of the frame we didn't need.

或隔離開我們不需要的部分

The individual shots were then each layered

將每個鏡頭分別合成一個複合鏡頭

不同的部分稱為不同的圖層

into one composite shot,

resized and arranged appropriately

要適當調整它們的尺寸 並對它們排序

to create the illusion of them

然後再把他們合成

all being there in perspective at the same time.

它們是一個場景中 不同角度的錯覺

Every third frame was then exported

然後從這段鏡頭中每隔兩幀抽取一幀

as an image sequence,

作為圖像序列輸出

ready to be rotoscoped.

待轉描時使用

The tracing was done digitally,

轉描過程是數位化的

drawn directly on a Cintiq monitor.

把人物畫在新帝繪圖顯示螢幕上即可

傳統動畫技術 和轉描機技術有什麼區別？

The rest of the animation

其餘的動畫

was done by hand on paper.

直接用手在紙張上完成

Unlike rotoscoping,

與轉描不同

here the timing and motion of the animation

每場動畫裡動作的變化和所需的時間

was all planned out by the animator ahead of time.

都需要繪圖師提前計劃好

An appropriate number of drawings were then done

繪圖師需要畫好幾幅畫

to accomplish the movement.

才能顯示出一個動作

Each animation drawing is then scanned,

每幅畫都要被排序編號好

registered,

and sequenced together in the computer.

然後按序掃描到電腦裡

That animation sequence is then composited

然後這個動畫圖像序列

with the layered background art.

會和背景圖層合成到一起

Camera moves are then plotted out and executed.

之後製作人員會討論 攝像機該如何移動

詩歌和動畫有什麼相似之處

One way that poetry uses language

為了傳達感情和思想

to communicate emotions and ideas

is through the use of metaphor.

詩歌裡經常使用隱喻

"Mama's lies are footsteps too many to count

媽媽的謊言是腳步 多到數不過來

making excuses on black snow."

連下黑雪都可以是她的藉口

Animation's a medium that's also uniquely well-suited

動畫這種形式也特別適合

to communicating emotions and ideas

通過視覺隱喻

through visual metaphor.

來傳達感情和思想

Applying the dual techniques

轉描和傳統動畫這兩種技術

of rotoscoped and traditional animation,

每種都有自己的固有特徵

each with their own inherent looks,

通過使用這兩種方法

allowed us to visually represent

我們能在畫面上呈現出

這節課中描述的

the dual nature of the creative process

described in the Lesson.

創意過程的雙重屬性

There's the internal aspect of experience and memory,

對內要從自己的經歷和記憶中

尋找靈感

which is mined for inspiration,

and there's the external aspect

對外

of revealing it to the world

要構建出一首詩

through a structured presentation.

呈現給觀眾

We combined both techniques for the last shots

在最後幾個鏡頭裡 泰勒要把自己的詩呈現給世界

of Tyler delivering his poem to the world,

此時我們把這兩種技術 結合在同個鏡頭中

allowing us to convey in a direct, visual way

從而在視覺上

the power of that moment of communication

直接傳達出交流的力量

when internal becomes external,

這一刻，不管是詩歌還是動畫

which, in both poetry and animation,

內部都轉化成了外部

is where the magic happens.

魔法就在此時發生了