In high school, I took a bus to school

高中時，我每天坐巴士上學，

an hour each way every day.

單趟就要一個小時。

And I was always absorbed in a book,

而我常常沉醉於書本中 --

science fiction book,

科幻書籍，

which took my mind to other worlds,

它會把我的思想帶領到其他世界中，

and satisfied, in a narrative form,

用文字的方式，

this insatiable sense of curiosity that I had.

滿足我貪得無厭的求知慾。

And you know, that curiosity also manifested itself

你要知道，我的好奇心很強烈，

in the fact that whenever I wasn't in school

當我不在學校時，

I was out in the woods,

我就在樹林中，

hiking and taking "samples" --

遠足和收集樣本 --

frogs and snakes and bugs and pond water --

青蛙，蛇，昆蟲和池塘水 --

and bringing it back, looking at it under the microscope.

然後把它帶回家中放在顯微鏡下觀看。

You know, I was a real science geek.

我是一個典型的科學怪胎。

But it was all about trying to understand the world,

但這全因為我想瞭解世界，

understand the limits of possibility.

瞭解所有可能發生的事的極限。

And my love of science fiction

我對科學的鍾愛，

actually seemed mirrored in the world around me,

實際上可反映在我週圍的世界中，

because what was happening, this was in the late '60s,

因為在六十年代末發生了許多事，

we were going to the moon,

包括人類登陸月球、

we were exploring the deep oceans.

探索海洋的深處。

Jacques Cousteau was coming into our living rooms

傑克．庫斯托(著名深海探險家)拍攝了

with his amazing specials that showed us

奇妙的電視特輯 --

animals and places and a wondrous world

包括我們從前從未想像過的

that we could never really have previously imagined.

動物、景點及奇妙的世界。

So, that seemed to resonate

所以這好像

with the whole science fiction part of it.

與整個科幻領域產生共鳴。

And I was an artist.

當時我是一位藝術家，

I could draw. I could paint.

我會畫，也會上色。

And I found that because there weren't video games

我發現我繪畫是因為那時沒有電視遊戲，

and this saturation of CG movies and all of this

沒有這些色彩飽和的電腦動畫電影，

imagery in the media landscape,

更沒有現代媒體所創造的影像，

I had to create these images in my head.

我需要在我的腦中創造出那些影像。

You know, we all did, as kids having to

就像小孩讀書一樣，我們所做的，

read a book, and through the author's description,

是透過作者的描述，

put something on the movie screen in our heads.

把畫面呈現在我們腦海中的電影螢幕上。

And so, my response to this was to paint, to draw

所以，我的作法就是把它描繪出來，

alien creatures, alien worlds,

把外星生物、外星世界、

robots, spaceships, all that stuff.

機械人、太空船等所有這些東西畫出來。

I was endlessly getting busted in math class

我不斷地在數學課中遭到挫敗，

doodling behind the textbook.

只好躲在課本後面亂塗。

That was -- the creativity

這是創意，

had to find its outlet somehow.

需要找一些方式宣洩。

And an interesting thing happened: The Jacques Cousteau shows

然後有一件有趣的事情發生了，傑克．庫斯托的節目

actually got me very excited about the fact that there was

告訴我們地球上有一個外星世界存在，

an alien world right here on Earth.

這讓我感到興奮極了。

I might not really go to an alien world

我或許不會真的坐太空船

on a spaceship someday --

到外太空，

that seemed pretty darn unlikely.

看起來也真的不大可能，

But that was a world I could really go to,

但他所介紹的地方，是我真的可以去到的地方 --

right here on Earth, that was as rich and exotic

就在這地球上，就和我讀科幻書

as anything that I had imagined

幻想到的東西一樣豐富、

from reading these books.

一樣奇特。

So, I decided I was going to become a scuba diver

所以，在我十五歲那年，

at the age of 15.

我決定學會潛水。

And the only problem with that was that I lived

但唯一的問題是，

in a little village in Canada,

我住在加拿大的一個小村莊，

600 miles from the nearest ocean.

離最近的海洋也有約一千公里之遠，

But I didn't let that daunt me.

但我沒有被這嚇倒。

I pestered my father until he finally found

我苦苦糾纏我父親，後來他終於發現，

a scuba class in Buffalo, New York,

紐約水牛城有開設一堂潛水課，

right across the border from where we live.

從我們住的地方跨過邊境就到了。

And I actually got certified

而我真的在一個嚴寒的冬天裡，

in a pool at a YMCA in the dead of winter

在紐約水牛城女青年會裡的游泳池，

in Buffalo, New York.

取得了潛水資格。

And I didn't see the ocean, a real ocean,

在那之前，我沒有見過真正的海洋，

for another two years,

直到兩年後，

until we moved to California.

我們搬到加州來。

Since then, in the intervening

從那時起，

40 years,

四十年來，

I've spent about 3,000 hours underwater,

我已在海底待了大約三千個小時，

and 500 hours of that was in submersibles.

其中五百小時待在潛艇裡。

And I've learned that that deep-ocean environment,

我發現，不論是在深海

and even the shallow oceans,

或是淺海，

are so rich with amazing life

都蘊藏了豐富且奇妙的生物，

that really is beyond our imagination.

遠遠超過我們所能想像。

Nature's imagination is so boundless

大自然的想像力是無邊際的，

compared to our own

相較之下，

meager human imagination.

人類的想像力貧乏的可憐。

I still, to this day, stand in absolute awe

直至今天，

of what I see when I make these dives.

我仍敬畏我在潛水時看到的景像。

And my love affair with the ocean is ongoing,

我對海洋的愛是持續的，

and just as strong as it ever was.

仍然和以往一樣強烈。

But when I chose a career as an adult,

但當我像其他成年人一樣選擇職業時，

it was filmmaking.

我選擇了拍電影。

And that seemed to be the best way to reconcile

這好像是調和我想講故事與

this urge I had to tell stories

我想創造影像這二種慾望

with my urges to create images.

的最好方法。

And I was, as a kid, constantly drawing comic books, and so on.

當我還是小孩時，我經常畫漫畫之類的東西，

So, filmmaking was the way to put pictures and stories

而拍電影是把圖像、故事放在一起，

together, and that made sense.

那很有意義。

And of course the stories that I chose to tell

當然，我想要講的故事

were science fiction stories: "Terminator," "Aliens"

是科幻故事，像是"魔鬼終結者"、"異形"、

and "The Abyss."

和 "無底洞"等，

And with "The Abyss," I was putting together my love

而在"無底洞"裡，我把我所愛的

of underwater and diving with filmmaking.

海底世界、潛水拍成電影，

So, you know, merging the two passions.

這等於是把兩種熱情融合在一起。

Something interesting came out of "The Abyss,"

在拍攝"無底洞"時，發生了一些有趣的事情，

which was that to solve a specific narrative

為了拍攝出影片裡所描述

problem on that film,

的某些特殊景像，

which was to create this kind of liquid water creature,

為了要創造出那個流體水怪，

we actually embraced computer generated animation, CG.

我們確實運用了一些電腦動畫技術。

And this resulted in the first soft-surface

它是第一個在電影中，

character, CG animation

運用電腦動畫

that was ever in a movie.

所繪製出的流體角色，

And even though the film didn't make any money --

雖然這部電影沒有賺錢，

barely broke even, I should say --

或者應該說只是勉強打平而已，

I witnessed something amazing, which is that the audience,

但我見證了一些奇妙的事 -- 就是觀眾，

the global audience, was mesmerized

包含世界各地的觀眾，

by this apparent magic.

都被這個魔法迷住了。

You know, it's Arthur Clarke's law

你知道，這是亞瑟克拉克的定律，

that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

任何全然先進的科技都與魔法無異。

They were seeing something magical.

他們見到一些神奇的事物，

And so that got me very excited.

這令我很興奮。

And I thought, "Wow, this is something that needs to be embraced

而我想: "嘩! 這是一項值得運用在電影上

into the cinematic art."

的科技。"

So, with "Terminator 2," which was my next film,

所以在接下來的電影"魔鬼終結者2" 中，

we took that much farther.

我們更進一步與ILM合作，

Working with ILM, we created the liquid metal dude

我們在片中創造了液體金屬怪物，

in that film. The success hung in the balance

成功則取決於那個效果

on whether that effect would work.

是否能發揮作用。

And it did, and we created magic again,

那個效果真得很好，我們再次創造了魔法，

and we had the same result with an audience --

觀眾的反應還是一樣好，

although we did make a little more money on that one.

我們也在這齣電影中賺了多一點的錢。

So, drawing a line through those two dots

把這兩個經驗

of experience

結合起來，

came to, "This is going to be a whole new world,"

可以讓我們看到一個全新的世界，

this was a whole new world of creativity

這是電影藝術

for film artists.

的全新世界。

So, I started a company with Stan Winston,

之後我便和史丹．溫斯頓成立一間公司。

my good friend Stan Winston,

我的好朋友史丹．溫斯頓，

who is the premier make-up and creature designer

當時是一名頂尖的化妝及怪獸設計師，

at that time, and it was called Digital Domain.

我們的公司名叫數碼領域。

And the concept of the company was

公司的理念是要

that we would leapfrog past

超越過去

the analog processes of optical printers and so on,

類比光學沖印之類的玩意兒，

and we would go right to digital production.

直接進入數位製作時代。

And we actually did that and it gave us a competitive advantage for a while.

而我們的確做到了，還讓我們保持了好一陣子的競爭優勢。

But we found ourselves lagging in the mid '90s

但在九十年代中期，我們發現自己

in the creature and character design stuff

在人物和角色設計上落後許多，

that we had actually founded the company to do.

那已經脫離了我們當時成立公司的目的。

So, I wrote this piece called "Avatar,"

所以，我寫了一個劇本 "阿凡達"，

which was meant to absolutely push the envelope

我要把目前的

of visual effects,

視覺效果、

of CG effects, beyond,

電腦動畫效果推進到極限，

with realistic human emotive characters

我要用電腦動畫畫出

generated in CG,

有真人情感的角色，

and the main characters would all be in CG,

所有主角都是由電腦動畫繪製，

and the world would be in CG.

背景世界也是以電腦動畫繪製。

And the envelope pushed back,

但當時的技術做不到，

and I was told by the folks at my company

公司裡的同事們告訴我，

that we weren't going to be able to do this for a while.

就算再過一段時間也無法做出這些。

So, I shelved it, and I made this other movie about a big ship that sinks.

所以，我把它放回架上，然後做了那齣大船沈向海底的電影。

(Laughter)

(笑)

You know, I went and pitched it to the studio as "'Romeo and Juliet' on a ship:

你知道，我把這部片定調為在船上的羅密歐與朱麗葉，

"It's going to be this epic romance,

這將會是部史詩般浪漫、

passionate film."

熱情的電影。

Secretly, what I wanted to do was

其實，我心裡想做的，

I wanted to dive to the real wreck of "Titanic."

是潛入鐵達尼號的殘骸裡，

And that's why I made the movie.

那就是我拍那部電影的原因。

(Applause)

(鼓掌)

And that's the truth. Now, the studio didn't know that.

這是事實，電影公司並不知道我的想法，

But I convinced them. I said,

但我說服他們，我說:

"We're going to dive to the wreck. We're going to film it for real.

「我們潛入船體殘骸，拍些真實的畫面回來，

We'll be using it in the opening of the film.

把那些畫面當作電影的片頭，

It will be really important. It will be a great marketing hook."

一定要這樣做，因為這是一個很好的賣點。」

And I talked them into funding an expedition.

我說服他們資助我的這次探險。

(Laughter)

(笑)

Sounds crazy. But this goes back to that theme

聽起來很瘋狂，但這和我剛才所講的一樣，

about your imagination creating a reality.

你的想像力可以創造出真實的東西，

Because we actually created a reality where six months later,

而我們真的創造出真實的東西。在六個月之後，

I find myself in a Russian submersible

我乘坐俄羅斯的潛艇，

two and a half miles down in the north Atlantic,

來到北大西洋海平面四公尺以下的海裡，

looking at the real Titanic through a view port.

從舷窗裡看著真實的鐵達尼號，

Not a movie, not HD -- for real.

那不是電影、也不是高畫質影像，那是真實的鐵達尼號。

(Applause)

(鼓掌)

Now, that blew my mind.

那震撼了我！

And it took a lot of preparation, we had to build cameras

我們要做很多準備，我們要架設攝影機、

and lights and all kinds of things.

燈光及其他所有的東西，

But, it struck me how much

但這些深海潛水，

this dive, these deep dives,

更令我吃驚，

was like a space mission.

因為要潛入海底，就像要去太空一樣，

You know, where it was highly technical,

是高科技，

and it required enormous planning.

需要龐大的計劃。

You get in this capsule, you go down to this dark

你進入潛水艙裡，下到這個漆黑的、

hostile environment

不熟悉的環境裡，

where there is no hope of rescue

如果自己不能返回陸地，

if you can't get back by yourself.

也沒有人會來救你。

And I thought like, "Wow. I'm like,

我想: "嘩，我像是

living in a science fiction movie.

活在科幻電影中，

This is really cool."

這真的很酷！"

And so, I really got bitten by the bug of deep-ocean exploration.

我愛上了深海探險，

Of course, the curiosity, the science component of it --

這裡面充滿好奇及科學的原素，

it was everything. It was adventure,

包含了一切。這是一種探險、

it was curiosity, it was imagination.

好奇心及想像力，

And it was an experience that

這是好萊塢所不能

Hollywood couldn't give me.

給我的經驗。

Because, you know, I could imagine a creature and we could

因為你知道，我可以想像出一個生物，

create a visual effect for it. But I couldn't imagine what I was seeing

也可以為它創造出視覺效果，但我卻想像不出我在海底

out that window.

所看到的生物。

As we did some of our subsequent expeditions,

當我們後續再進行其他探險時，

I was seeing creatures at hydrothermal vents

我看見有生物在深海溫泉附近活動，

and sometimes things that I had never seen before,

有些是我以前從未看過的，

sometimes things that no one had seen before,

有些則是以前沒有人看過的，

that actually were not described by science

在我們看到這些生物之前，

at the time that we saw them and imaged them.

還沒有任何科學家描述過那些生物。

So, I was completely smitten by this,

我被徹底的感動了，

and had to do more.

我想要多做幾次深海探險，

And so, I actually made a kind of curious decision.

所以我做了個令人驚訝的決定。

After the success of "Titanic,"

在鐵達尼號成功後，

I said, "OK, I'm going to park my day job

我說: "好，我要暫停我在好萊塢

as a Hollywood movie maker,

的拍片工作，

and I'm going to go be a full-time explorer for a while."

這段時間，我要做一個全職探險家。"

And so, we started planning these

因此，我們開始計劃

expeditions.

這些探險。

And we wound up going to the Bismark,

我們很興奮地去找俾斯麥號，

and exploring it with robotic vehicles.

用機械機具進行探索。

We went back to the Titanic wreck.

我們回到鐵達尼號的殘骸，

We took little bots that we had created

我們用自己製造的小機器人，

that spooled a fiber optic.

將它捲在光纖上，

And the idea was to go in and do an interior

把這個機器放進船艙裡，

survey of that ship, which had never been done.

探索船內的情況，這是從來沒有人做過的。

Nobody had ever looked inside the wreck. They didn't have the means to do it,

沒有人看過殘骸裡的情況，沒有適當的工具可用，

so we created technology to do it.

直到我們發明了這項科技。

So, you know, here I am now, on the deck

現在我在鐵達尼號的甲板上，

of Titanic, sitting in a submersible,

坐在潛艇中，

and looking out at planks that look much like this,

看著外面的地板，

where I knew that the band had played.

我知道有樂隊曾在這裡演奏過。

And I'm flying a little robotic vehicle

而我控制著一個小機具，

through the corridor of the ship.

讓它穿過船的走廊，

When I say, "I'm operating it,"

當我說我在操作它時，

but my mind is in the vehicle.

我的心其實是在機具裡。

I felt like I was physically present

我感覺有如置身在

inside the shipwreck of Titanic.

鐵達尼號的殘骸中，

And it was the most surreal kind

這是我從未有過的一種超現實、

of deja vu experience I've ever had,

又似曾相識的經驗，

because I would know before I turned a corner

在機具轉過某個轉角之前，

what was going to be there before the lights

在機具的燈光照射到某樣東西之前，

of the vehicle actually revealed it,

我就已經知道那裡會有什麼，

because I had walked the set for months

因為我在拍攝電影的幾個月時間裡，

when we were making the movie.

就曾走過這場景無數次。

And the set was based as an exact replica

我們是根據鐵達尼號的設計圖

on the blueprints of the ship.

複製出電影場景，

So, it was this absolutely remarkable experience.

所以這絕對是一個前所未有的經驗。

And it really made me realize that

這確實使我瞭解到，

the telepresence experience --

這種遠程遙控科技

that you actually can have these robotic avatars,

可以讓你遙控機具，

then your consciousness is injected into the vehicle,

也可以將你的意識注入於機具之中，

into this other form of existence.

讓你以其他方式存在。