“微博”、“微信”、“微小說”……，“微”似乎已經成了時下最熱門的字眼。當然不可忽視的還有一個現象，那就是“微電影”。隨著微視頻的崛起，微電影的火苗正在熊熊燃燒。在極短的時間里、使用極少的經費，卻講述了一個精彩而發人深思的故事，這正是微電影獨特的風格和它日趨流行的關鍵。

周小敏 編/闌珊 注

When it comes to movies, we usually think big—big actors, big budgets, big screens, and, if lucky, big profits.[2]

Unfortunately, that puts up some big barriers for aspiring young filmmakers and their dreams.[3] However, thanks to easy access to technology, that’s all changing.

All anyone really needs nowadays is a camera, a computer, an Internet connection, and, of course, a good idea. With that, you can enter the microfilm world. Shooting a movie using friends and family as the cast has become a common class project for high school students.[4] After a little editing on a laptop, some even decide their creation is worth sharing online.[5]

Microfilms are shot within a short period of time and last only a few minutes or even shorter. Most are completed on an extremely small budget and offer a cheap way for grassroots[6] directors to realize their dreams.

Once the realm of film festivals, the genre has taken off due to being perfectly suited to new media platforms such as mobile phones and tablet computers.[7] They are also easily shared across social networks and microblogs[8] .

But microfilms are far different from the shorts commonly found on YouTube.[9] A microfilm must have a solid and thought-provoking plot.[10]

Most importantly, the movies are easily distributed and there can be no concern about long-term box office profits[11].

Most people who upload[12] a microfilm simply see it as an easy way to share their fun with a few friends and family. Others may be curious about what sort of reaction their production may receive from the general public.

In China, video sharing sites like Youku provide a massive audience and the potential to go from nobody to somebody overnight[13]. Such potential has not gone unnoticed by amateur[14] directors. A good microfilm, which gets noticed on a video sharing site, has the power to launch a career into stardom.[15] Recognizing that talent now has a new platform, famous international film festivals are now screening[16] microfilms. They are being acknowledged as pieces of art. Some people believe that keeping a project small—not having too many people involved who may simply want to change the original idea—makes it more authentic[17], more powerful. This has attracted even the big names[18] in the movie business to start thinking micro.

Vocabulary

1. micro cinema: 微電影，是指專門運用在各種新媒體平臺上播放的、適合在移動狀態和短時休閑狀態下觀看的、具有完整策劃和故事情節的視頻（“類”電影）短片，時長通常為30－300秒，制作周期較短，投資較少。

2. come to: 涉及，談到；budget: 預算。

3. barrier: 障礙；aspiring: 有抱負的。

4. Shoot: 拍攝；cast: 全體演員。

5. editing: 剪輯；laptop: 筆記本電腦。

6. grassroots: 草根，普通大眾。

7. 作為最初起源于電影節領域的一個類型，微電影因完美適用于諸如手機和平板電腦等新的媒體平臺而日趨流行。

8. microblog: 微博。

9. short: 電影短片；YouTube: 知名視頻網站。

10. thought-provoking: 發人深思的；plot: 情節。

11. box office profit: 票房收益。

12. upload: 上傳。

13. from nobody to somebody overnight: 從無名小卒到一夜爆紅。

14. amateur: 業余的。

15. launch: 發動，發起；stardom: 明星界。

16. screen: 放映，播放。

17. authentic: 真實的。

18. big name: 知名人士，大牌。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）