彭蒙惠英语：Hollywood Studios Are Hot Customers

Hollywood Studios Are Hot Customers

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Crunch¹ time

 

When crunch time came with the production of Shrek 2, DreamWorks tapped all of its 1,000 computers. But that wasn’t enough. So it plugged into HP’s “utility rendering² service,” effectively borrowing another 500 powerful computer servers at HP. During the rendering process, a computer takes software instructions from a programmer and creates an image out of millions of digital dots known as pixels. All told, DreamWorks used 10 million computer hours to complete the movie—more than three times the computing³ power it used in the first Shrek.

 

Much of the production in Shrek was dedicated⁴ to rendering human faces. They had to look like the real thing: The characters’ hair had to move just right, and light had to bounce off objects and produce shadows in precisely⁵ the right way. If not, the animations⁷ would destroy the illusion of reality and distract the viewer.

 

Because the artists had the utility rendering service at their disposal, Ken⁸ Bielenberg, visual effects supervisor⁹ on Shrek 2, said they didn’t have to plunder¹⁰ computing power from Madagascar, which was being worked on at the same time. Now DreamWorks plans to use its own in-house computers at the beginning of every film, then finish production with HP’s utility rendering service.

 

Time is money

 

In Shark Tale, DreamWorks used 1,000 HP servers as well as 300 of its own to render the movie, which included a complex scene where more than 16,000 computer-animated fish swam together. The companies also established a joint-marketing partnership¹¹ for DreamWorks’ Madagascar.

 

Gene¹² Becker, director of utility services for HP Labs, said the rendering services “doesn’t help DreamWorks do better stories, but it helps them stay on schedule, and that’s important with a $100 million budget.”

 

DreamWorks Animation⁶ President Patti Burke agrees. “As crunch time approaches, you have to get the pixels out the door.”

 

 

Vocabulary Focus

plug into (v phr) to start using or being involved in something

at one’s disposal (idiom) available to be used by someone

plunder (v) [5plQndE] to steal or remove something precious from something or someone

 

Specialized¹³ Terms

joint-marketing (adj) 联合营销的 relating to the process by which products and services are introduced to the marketplace by two or more companies

 

好莱坞片厂是当红客户

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紧要关头

当《史莱克2》制作过程中的紧要关头来临时，梦工厂把所有的1000台计算机都键满资料，但还是不够，所以他们利用惠普的“公用供给服务”，成功借助500台惠普的强力计算机服务器。在使用过程中，会有一台计算机接收程序师的软件指示，从数百万被称为“像素”的数字圆点中创造出一个影像。梦工厂总共用了1000万个电脑小时完成这部电影，比第一部《史莱克》所用电脑处理能力的3倍还多。  

制作《史莱克》时，大部分的心力是花在呈现人的面孔上。这些面孔必须看起来像真的一样：人物的头发要移动得刚刚好，光线要从人身上射出丝毫不差的影子；否则，动画会破坏幻像的真实感，而失去对观众的吸引力。   

《史莱克2》的视觉特效监制人肯毕兰柏格表示，因为动画家们可以利用公用供给服务，他们就不需要占用同时间在制作的另一部电影《马达加斯加》的电脑处理能力。梦工厂现在打算在每部电影刚开始时先使用公司内部的电脑，然后再利用惠普的公用供给服务完成制作。

 

时间就是金钱   

梦工厂使用惠普1000台服务器，加上自己的300台，完成电影《鲨鱼黑帮》，其中复杂的一幕有1.6万条计算机动画绘成的鱼游在一起。两家公司也为梦工厂电影《马达加斯加》建立起了联合营销的伙伴关系。

惠普实验室公用服务主管吉尼·贝克表示，这个服务“不会帮助梦工厂制作出更好的故事，但可以帮助他们保持进度，这点对耗资1亿的预算是很重要的。”   

梦工厂动画总裁佩蒂·柏克同意此点。她说：“一接近紧要关头，你就得把作品这些像素送出去。”

 

1 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

2 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

3 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

6 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

7 animations   

n.生气( animation的名词复数 )；兴奋；动画片；（指电影、录像、电脑游戏的）动画制作

参考例句：

• You'll see your team cheerleaders and mascot performing new animations as well. 你会看到啦啦队队长跟吉祥物也都会有全新的动作。 来自互联网
• Ability to create simple movie and animations using graphic & multimedia software. 能够用平面和多媒体软件制作简单的电影及动画。 来自互联网

8 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

9 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

10 plunder   

vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠

参考例句：

• The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
• Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。

11 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

12 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

13 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。